International Environmental Groups echo calls for RP government to stop HRVs and summary executions

June 15, 2006

International Environmental Groups echo calls for RP government to stop HRVs and summary executions


"We, from the international community of non-government organizations are very concerned with the alarming rise of human rights violations and the spate of killings of political activists, media people, and, lately, of environmental workers in the Philippines," says Aviva Imhof, Campaign Director of International Rivers Network (IRN), in a press conference along with representatives from international environmental organization from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. IRN is a US-based international non-government organization (NGO) that opposes destructive dam projects in the world.

"Of the almost 700 activist-victims of political killings since President Arroyo came to power in 2001, _15 are known environmental activists. They have actively campaigned against environmentally destructive projects such as large-scale mining, commercial logging and mega dam projects," reports Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of environmental activist group Kalikasan-PNE (People's Network for the Environment)

The most recent environmental activist killed is Marcus Bangit of Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA), who at the time of his death was campaigning against the entry of large-scale mining project in Kalinga province, and Jose Doton, a peasant leader who opposed to the San Roque Multipurpose Dam Project (SRMDP) and the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project in the boundary of Pangasinan-Benguet. The two were assassinated by unidentified armed men last June 8 and May 16, 2006, respectively.

"As a representative of IRN which actively supports the campaign of people's organizations for the protection of rivers in the Philippines and the rights
of riverine communities, we share the grief of losing fellow environmental workers, some of whom I have personally met in the past. We extend our solidarity in the quest for justice of those they have left behind. We are asking President Arroyo and the Philippine government to decisively act on the issue of human rights violations and extend support to the victims' families. We regret that the human rights situation has deteriorated badly in this country which threatens its international image as a champion of people power and democracy," Ms. Imhof adds.

Ms. Hozue Hatae a campaigner of Friends of the Earth – Japan (FoE-Japan) which is currently monitoring the environmental compliance and social acceptability of Japanese funded projects in the Philippines said that the human rights situation in the Philippines is very volatile and serious. "In spite of the promises of the Philippine government to solve the human rights violations and the formation of many task forces to investigate these, killings continue unabated. We fear that these human rights violations could undermine the affected communities to freely express their position which is a necessay for the social acceptability of any Japanese-funded project."

"In projects funded by the Japanese government and financial institutions, our organization has continuously paid attention on HRVs at the local level. We have documented, that the local communities point to the military, police, and private security forces tasked or employed to secure these projects, as the perpetrators of harassments and other form of human rights violations. The people who opposed these projects are often vilified as leftists and communist terrorists by the authorities. One particular case is Mr. Jose Doton, whose local organization has closely worked with Japanese NGOs on the issue of San Roque Multipurpose Dam project. Before he was assassinated, his organization TIMMAWA was identified by the authorities as front of communist terrorists in the area," Ms Hatae recounts.

"The death of Mr. Doton, gave a great shock to the Japanese public and made them aware of the spate of killings happening now in the country. We are now raising the issue of human rights to the responsible Japanese government agencies and institutions as basis for reviewing their support and funding to identified mega dam, energy and mining projects."

The FoE-Japan documented several HRV incidences, based on testimonies of local communities, in Bohol Irrigation Project Phase II (Bohol), Northern Negros Geo-thermal Power Plant Project (Negros Occidental), San Roque Multi-purpose Dam Project (Pangasinan), Mindanao Coal-fired Power Plant Project (Misamis Oriental), and Coral Bay Nickel Process Plant Project (Palawan).

"There is an increasing trend of killings of environmental activists. Based on our documentation, most of the killings of environmental workers (11 of the 15 victims) are related to mining issues or occurred in areas where there is strong opposition to the priority mining projects of the government. These are in Mindoro Oriental, Palawan, Samar Provinces, Cordillera Region and Sultan Kudarat. We suspect that these killings, harassments or human rights violations are part of the Arroyo government policy to silence opposition to its implementation of the 'Mining Revitalization Program' or its so-called 'developmental projects" such as mega dams and coal power plants," Mr. Bautista explains.

"The Arroyo administration deserves the strongest condemnation possible from all sectors of our society. We will expose and oppose her anti-environment and fascist policy here and abroad. We will continue to campaign for international support to denounce here as the most fascist and worst human rights violator president of the Philippines" stated by Santos Mero of Cordillera People's Alliance.

Representatives from Korean-Asian NGO Center and Yon Ghe Community University of Taiwan also expressed their condemnation on the human rights violations and killings of activists in the Philippines.###