[Reflection] Hunger Strike: A Political Challenge

Hunger strike of Political Prisoners. Photo from hronlineph.wordpress.com

The hunger strike is a form of political protest by means of self-starvation. Throughout modern history, hunger strike has been a powerful non-violent political action that has successfully shaken up the political structures of many countries around the world. The hunger strikes of Mahatma Gandhi in British-occupied India, Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union, Nelson Mandela in apartheid South Africa, and Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army, made these people the symbol of their nation’s conscience.

Today marks the first week of the hunger strike of political prisoners in detention centers nationwide. Hundreds of political prisoners in the country have staged a full blown hunger strike last July 25 that coincided with the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

The political prisoners now numbering to more than two hundred have taken this political action not only to call on the President to pay attention to the plight of all political prisoners and act on their immediate release but also to protest over the death of political prisoner Mariano Umbrero who died without receiving pardon on humanitarian ground.

Tatay Umbrero, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer died at the National Bilibid Prison on July 15. What adds injury to insult is that four days later he was given an executive clemency by the president.

This prompted human rights groups, peoples’ organizations, religious groups and supporters to hold a solidarity fast inside the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) compound on July 28 to support the political prisoners’ demand for human rights and freedom.

The faux pas on the issuance of pardon for a dead man typifies the current administration’s lack of clear perspective on human rights. If the President could not immediately act on appeal for humanitarian ground, how could we expect him to act on more pressing issues like ending impunity and guaranteeing justice?

President Aquino as a son of a notable political prisoner and human rights victim under the Marcos dictatorship is expected to know better the plight of political prisoners and victims of human rights violations in the country. However, his first two SONAs ironically were completely devoid of clear human rights platform that could have addressed these issues and concerns.

With the nationwide hunger strike of political prisoners in full scale, his action or inaction will be a “make or break” for his administration. Acting on it will give more flesh to his government’s vision of “matuwid na daan”. But ignoring it will mean facing a big hurdle in treading this path. This is the political challenge of the hunger strike. The ball is now in the hands of the President. His integrity is now on the line. He should act NOW and act decisively and urgently to avoid tainting his hands with bloods of political prisoners who are hungry for freedom.

It is about time for the government to consider the political prisoners as such. They are not the ultimate problem but just a symptom of the endemic social disease. They only symbolize the unfulfilled aspirations and the unfinished revolution. The government which is installed for the greater demand of change can never realize peace and reconciliation it seeks without addressing the conditions that breed political imprisonment and the roots of social injustice.

If Pres. Aquino believed that his government’s major achievement so far is the transformation of the people’s attitude toward the government, the hunger strike of political prisoners is the major challenge on how government can transform not only the attitude but the lives of the people even those who aspire for change yet languish behind bars.

[Event] 2nd SONA Mobilization

PNoy's 2nd Sona, so what's new? Photo from bulatlat.com

SONA July 25, 2011
CAMP-FDC-PAHRA Broad Mobilization

THEME: “ Bagong Ekonomiya, Bagong Sistema tungo sa May Dignidad na Buhay “
Major SLOGAN: PDP (Phil. Development Plan) ni PNoy, Saling-Pusa lang ang Pinoy

Pre-SONA Activities:
July 21 : Press Con : State of HR PAHRA & Pol Groups
Launching PP’s Fasting
July 22 : UP march to NHA KAMP
July 23 – Press Con – State of labor sector CONTRA Broad Labor Alliance
July 23 – Green Mob Broad Environment Group
July 24 – Pre SONA activity Akbayan
(to be determined pa)
SONA day:
7 am : KPD in Mendiola
9 am : CONTRA Broad labor group Morayta to Mendiola
AM : Akbayan filing of case against GMA
PM : March from Tandang Sora to HOR (max target) Ever Gotesco (min.)

Assembly place: Under fly over of Tandang Sora [1:30 pm assembly - 2:00 pm march]

Let our voice be heard…. Join the action!

[Reflection] Pnoy’s 2nd SONA, So what’s new?

PNoy's 2nd SONA, what is there to say? Photo from pinoygigs.com

President Benigno S. Aquino III’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) for many of his critics was nothing but a mouthful of litany without a substance.

Will his second SONA be different?

I bet to the last cents that PNoy’s second SONA will not be any dissimilar from his first.

If I sense it right, it is just about two things: those that he will say with conviction and those that he will not dare to say in order not to bite his own tongue.

There is nothing in his first SONA that showed any forward-looking solutions that his government is proposing to address the country’s endemic problems.

In fact, PNOy has become strangely passive in office for his first year, acting as if his only task is to discredit the Arroyos and to let the government do its work in a business as usual manner.

But he can’t keep dodging the bullet when there are many critical issues that posed great challenges to his administration.

On corruption

PNOY will surely throw out the baby with the bath water. To show that he is keen in moving his campaign slogan, “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”, he will not miss this chance to expose new anomalies and irregularities of the previous administration that his government has unearthed. He will brandish that his war on corruption is gaining ground.

It is no longer new and surprising to know the extent and magnitude of PGMA’s misdeeds but what is good in barking without biting. It will best serve the interest of the public if this will lead to prosecution and punishment of Arroyo and cohorts and not just mere public exposition.

On economy

Pnoy will certainly blow his own horn by announcing that his economic blueprint, known as “Social Contract with the Filipino people” is on the right track as the economy is fast growing. The Philippine Development Plan or the six-year economic blueprint sums up the administration’s economic direction with its defined strategies and goals for the next six years.

The economists believed that PDP is straightforward. It means – keeping the economy afloat in the globalized free trade while intensifying privatization through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and implementing social support programs like conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and fuel subsidies.

If economy is indeed improving, do we feel better off? Pnoy’s second SONA may play with figures. But translating it to poverty alleviation will be the biggest question that Pnoy needs to answer.

On peace and security

Pnoy will definitely claim that his peace efforts are now in place in the resumption of the peace talks with Muslim and communist rebels.

But human rights groups have repeatedly recommended to the Philippine government to fully observe its legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. The continuing attack against the perceived legal fronts of the communist rebels through harassment, intimidation and criminalization of political offense will only squander the opportunity to address the root causes of insurgency.

On human rights

PNoy’s first SONA never said anything about human rights and his government’s commitment for its promotion and better protection except perhaps a passing mention of his administration’s effort to solve the six extrajudicial killings that happened during the first few months after assuming office.

The lack of a clear human rights agenda is believed to be the reason why human rights violations continue unabated.

On land reform

Despite having been the centerpiece program of her mother, the late President Corazon Aquino the agrarian reform program was completely left out from his first SONA. Although, Pnoy mentioned his plan to build grains terminals, refrigeration facilities, road networks and post-harvest facilities for agriculture. But the highly controversial Hacienda Luisita is one issue that he will not dare dip his finger in.

The uneven ownership of land continues to magnifies the uneven social gaps in the society. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programs despite claims of its success has not able significantly to redistribute wealth and liberate the vast majority of agricultural lands under the principle of “land to the tillers”.

On OFW, labor and employment

Despite assurance that wage hike is imminent, PNoy will not go far in his second SONA to commit his government in complying with its constitutional mandate to provide workers a family living wage.

The labor sector has been assailing ever since the big mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income as the wage system is based more on the ‘capacity to pay’ of an employer rather than the ‘capacity to buy’ of a worker.

While a small wage increase will only benefit a reducing number of regular workers due to outsourcing, retrenchment and contractualization, at least three million Filipinos are expected to be completely out of work due to the exodus of returning OFWs. PNoy has no other way but focus on local job generation rather than extending the “labor export policy.”

So what’s new?

Whatever are the hypes and promises that Pnoy will say in his second SONA, what we are expecting more to hear is for PNoy to declare that his government will work not only to improve governance but also to make the economy a foundation for humane and decent living with a guarantee of respect and protection of our fundamental human rights.

That will be music to our ears.

[Reflection] Pnoy’s first year not a straight path for people’s rights and welfare

Pnoy delivers speech during his first year celebration at Ultra. Photo from talakayanatkalusugan.com

The first year of President Aquino in office for many is quite a disappointment as it falls short of the expectation to improve people’s welfare and the human rights situation in the country. The people’s welfare and human rights are obviously not part of the new government’s top priorities in the past 12 months.

How P Noy fared during his first year mirrors that of the real state of the nation. While I recognize that the new administration has just inherited from its predecessor the heavy burden of a huge budget deficit, but after a year in office, change appears far from reality.

As the economy is slowly declining, joblessness remains high, and poverty continues to deepen, President Aquino seems to avoid facing the critical issue of land reform and agricultural modernization. These are fundamental reforms which the basic sector, the small farmers in particular, have been demanding from every sitting president. Instead, he is prioritizing mining — just like his predecessor did – which is not only said to be destructive to the environment but also infringes the basic human rights of the indigenous communities inhabiting the areas near the mining sites.

While the Filipino people’s living condition did not only change, those who are asserting their rights are also continuously being violated. Anti- mining groups claimed that anyone who opposes mining companies is quite likely to end up missing or dead. It is seen as a pattern that whenever there is mining operation, there would be extensive military deployment and escalation of human rights violations in the mining affected areas. It is like silencing a dog by poking it with sharp end of the stick.

Human rights violations continue to happen with impunity under the Pnoy administration. While efforts to improve and professionalize the investigation and prosecutorial system are said to be underway, police investigations remain fraught with delays and impediments. Until now, no single perpetrator is yet to be held accountable for human rights violations, and the government has done little to discipline the erring members of its security forces.

The Oplan Bayanihan which adopted a paradigm shift by the military from the combat-focused approach it used in the past to a human security or “people-centered” approach aims at least in paper to give greater attention to the needs of the citizens and the effects of military operations in the communities instead of pursuing armed rebels. But the continuing military presence and abuses on the ground in many provinces make it quite difficult to ascertain when Oplan Bantay Laya ends and Oplan Bayanihan begins. One can only think that this new security plan is no different from the other, except perhaps for a different name.

I believe that the promised change of daang matuwid (straight path) of the Aquino administration can’t be achieved without the guarantee of respect to human rights and dignity and ending impunity.

It is about time for President Aquino to walk the talk.

The straight path where he envisions of leading the nation should be a road that guarantees human rights for all.

But if it is a path where there are people who are only extra-legally killed or forcibly disappeared, subjugated by repressive laws, mired by poverty and ignorance, it will surely lead the nation to nowhere but doom.

Related articles

• [Press Release] Labor and Human Rights NGO launches book on the Impact of extra-judicial killings on families of victims – CTUHR (hronlineph.wordpress.com)
• [Press Release] Church and workers unity a ‘positive step’ amidst grim labor conditions – CTUHR (hronlineph.wordpress.com)