PAHRA believes that human rights violations can only be eradicated if the people are aware of these rights and have a respect for them. It is therefore essential that the government institute programs that promote human rights culture.

We therefore urge the government to:

a. Strengthen the implementation of the Constitutional provisions (Art. 14, Sec. 3, #1 & 2) on the incorporation of human rights teachings in school.

b. Fully implement and make mandatory human rights education for government, police and military personnel.

c. Prioritize bills that penalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity such as the Anti-Discrimination bill.

d. Adopt the Philippine Declaration on Human and Peoples Rights and the Human and Peoples’ Rights Declaration of the Philippines as part of these human rights education.

e. Push for the establishment of an ASEAN Regional Human Rights Mechanism.

f. Support, adopt, sign and or ratify the following international treaties and declarations:
  i. International Criminal Court
 ii. Optional Protocol on ICESCR.
iii. Second Optional Protocol on ICCPR
iv. UN Convention on the Protection of All Persons from enforced and

1. Monitoring
2. Prevention (Info-dissemination towards prevention)
3. Welfare/service coordination
4. Return, resettlement
5. Grievance and complaint

iii. Conduct and sustain relief, medical and appropriate rehabilitation assistance to and programs for internally displaced persons and communities.
iv. Immediately facilitate the safe return of evacuees to their homes. v. Indemnify victims of human rights violations perpetrated by military personnel.

c. On Para-military Forces
     i. Call for the disbandment of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units

         (CAFGU) and all paramilitary forces.
     ii. Repeal Executive Order 264.

A climate of impunity shielding those accused of human rights violations denies justice to the victims and, by undermining the rule of law, fails to deter future perpetrators. The cycle of violence and injustice in society is thus continued. We call on the government to put a stop to impunity by prosecuting human rights violators.

a. Declare as priority bill the granting of indemnification to victims of Martial law.

b. Establish a “truth commission” composed of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to locate the victims of enforced and involuntary disappearances.

c. Prioritize legislations that would criminalize torture and enforced or involuntary disappearances.

d. Investigate and prosecute military and police officers and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for human rights violations.

e. Reform the justice system taking into priority the elimination of the practice of torture.

f. Investigate and prosecute perpetrators of extra judicial killings.
 

For decades now, weeding out the bureaucracy of corrupt and unscrupulous officials has continuously become an empty slogan. Plunderers and human rights violators in the government go unpunished and even promoted to higher positions. For the new administration to stand on a moral high ground, we urge the Arroyo government to:

a. Prosecute all public officials who have committed plunder and other crimes against the people and refuse pressures to grant them exile, pardon or immunity.

b. Pursue the recovery of all ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses; prosecute and pursue to the conclusion pending cases against them and their cronies (Lucio Tan, Eduardo Cojuangco and others) for economic plunder and other crimes against the people.

c. Promulgate executive order instituting effective mechanisms for transparency on all government transactions. It is the right of people to know what the government is doing.

PAHRA reiterates its position that the death penalty is a violation of the right to life, including that of not being subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. We believe that death penalty is not a deterrent to criminality. The high incidence of rape and other heinous crimes continues despite the execution of death convicts.

We recommend that the President:

a. Declare an immediate moratorium on executions pending a prioritized Congressional review of the Death Penalty Law, with a view to its repeal and the abolition of the death penalty.

b. Strictly enforce the law prohibiting the sentencing of child offenders to death. Take immediate steps to commute any death sentences passed on youth offenders upon proof of minority.

c. Uphold restorative justice and restore life imprisonment for capital offense.

There are still some 225 political prisoners languishing in various detentions in the country. In our 2003 records, thirty-three (33) of them have been convicted while one hundred ninety two (192) still await prosecution and trial. Recently two of them were convicted of death penalty for murder cases.

Most of them were arrested and detained because they were suspected members of underground rebel groups or their sympathizers, or because they fought for their rights and opposed government projects or policies.

Since the time of President Corazon Aquino, the Government has always averred that there are no political detainees in the Philippines. The reason for this was that political offenders are charged with common crimes such as murder, kidnapping, arson, illegal possession of firearms, and even illegal possession of drugs. This is despite the fact that those arrested belong to political groups opposed to the Government or people who were fighting for their rights.

WE THEREFORE URGE THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION TO STOP SUCH PRACTICES AND RECOGNIZE LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCES OF THE PEOPLE.

Having opposed a corrupt and inefficient administration that has caused gross HR violations, we urge the President to:

a. Immediately order the release of political prisoners who are seriously ill, elderly, women, long-held and those who have been previously recommended for release by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and those who have applied for amnesty.

b. Give justice to the political prisoners by issuing an executive order effecting a general and unconditional release of all political prisoners in the context or outside of the peace process

c. Uphold the amended guidelines for the Presidential Committee on the Grant of Bail, Release or Pardon of persons detained or convicted of crime against national security and public order (PCBREP) dated December 2, 1998.

d. Amend Administrative Order No. 1 of the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) for the implementation of amnesty to:

     i. Uphold the Herrera Memorandum on the issue of admission of guilt; and,

    ii. Accept pertinent documents aside from court records as proof of political

        motivation of cases.

e. Stop the practice of criminalizing of political offense; and, recognize legitimate grievances of the people.

Poverty remains as one of the worst HR violations perpetrated against our people. More than half of the Filipino people are struggling to keep themselves barely above the poverty level. Previous administrations promised to address this problem, but the government’s pro-globalization policies did not ensure adequate safety nets for the people. Worse, bad governance and massive graft and corruption brought further misery to our people.

We therefore urge the President to:

a. Institute the Rights-Based Approach in the formulation and drafting of plans.

b. Protect the people from the onslaught of globalization by rejecting the anti-people impositions of IMF-World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

c. Repeal automatic appropriation law on debt service and re-channel funds to social services and people’s sustainable development.

d. Right to Land, Food and Water

    i. Ensure full implementation of land reform (CARL) and provide full financial

       requirement for its implementation; block any measure that disrupts the intent

       of the law.
        ii. Ensure food security and safety; put a stop to conversion of agricultural lands to

       industrial estates, and cease all reversal of Certificates of Land Ownership

        Awards (CLOA) and Emancipation Patents (EPs).
       iii. Formulate and operational guidelines on Food and Water based on the UN

        General Comments nos. 12 and 15 in which the Philippines is a signatory.
        iv. Extend quantitative restrictions on rice and agriculture while providing support

        to farmers.
         v. Prioritize the passage of the bill on “Land-use Act”.

e. On Housing
          i. Declare moratorium on urban poor demolition and develop socialized housing

        that is affordable to the poorer sector of our society.

f. On Education
         i. Ensure the protection and promotion of the people’s right to quality education   

      that is accessible, affordable, adequate and relevant as mandated by the

        Constitution (Art. 14).
         ii. Increase the budget for education.

g. On IPs
          i. Call for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995 and the enactment of a new mining 

       code that would ensure the conservation, development and exploration of

      Philippine natural resources based on the principles of sustainable development  

      and respect for ancestral domain.
        ii. Call for an amendment to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).
        iii. Fully implement the total log ban and check practices that are ecologically

        harmful.

 h. On Health
           i. Provide safety-nets on the mass exodus of health professionals: 1. Revive and

         institutionalize a two-year “doctors to the barrio” program as part of the

         requirements for medical practice with decent compensation.
2. Obligate CHeD to monitor all health schools for quality instructions and strict compliance on the requirement for higher education. Incorporate the right to health in all health and medical curricula.
        ii. Prioritize enactment of a law on Patient’s Rights; recognize and provide access

       to traditional, indigenous, complementary and alternative health care.
       iii. Regulate prices of medicine.
       iv. Ensure accessibility to health services by stopping privatization and

       commercialization of medical services.

   v. Reactivate Health Board at the Local Government unit and Increase budget for

       health services.
i. On Labor
        i. Call for the repeal all laws and executive orders that violate workers’ rights

      including the Executive Order 180 (E.O.180), which limits public sector unionism.

      Develop a public sector code which will guarantee rights of workers in the

      government sector to unionize.
       ii. Generate local employment. Ban and criminalize Labor-Only Contracting and

       other labor flexibility measures that infringe on workers’ right to security of

       tenure, benefits and trade union rights.
     iii. Institute a decent living wage
     iv. Uphold the reproductive rights of women workers
  j. On Migrant Workers
     i. Call for the repeal of the provisions on deregulation (section 29 and 30) of

    Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
    ii. Increase the minimum age for overseas performing artists (OPAs) from 18 to 23.
    iii. Strictly regulate placement fees and create penalties that are more stringent for

    unscrupulous recruiters.
    iv. Scrap the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Omnibus Policies.
     v. Forge bilateral agreements (BLAs) with labor receiving countries. Foremost in the

    agenda must be the setting of minimum labor standards as well as orientation of

    employers. It must also address discriminatory and unfair policies.
    vi. Ratify and implement the International conventions on migrant workers.
   vii. Provide a more efficient and gender sensitive welfare services for OFWs before

    their departure, on site and reintegration program after their arrival.

We urge the new administration to:

a. Declare March 8 as a legal Non-Working Holiday for women.

b. Call for the passage of legislations that protect the rights and improve the situation of home-based workers who are mostly women.

c. Enact an enabling law for the implementation of the local Government Code provision on sectoral representation including women in the local legislative councils.

d. Amend the Labor Code to make it gender-responsive to the rights and welfare of both men and women in the public and private sector by adopting a trade union policy on a minimum of 3 percent quota of women’s representation in all labor unions at all levels.

e. Call on the NCRFW to activate monitoring of GAD Mainstreaming in Local Government Units (LGUs) and other structures of the government bureaucracy, to conduct action policy research on women and governance, and to update and strengthen its database on women.

f. Promote truly empowering micro finance programs which make breakthrough credit accessible to all kinds of poor women. Enable them to upgrade their livelihood potentials in combination with skills training, cooperatives development, and other capacity-building schemes.

g. Implement education, prevention and therapeutic services that are accessible to women who are at risk for or are living with reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and/or AIDS. Such services must uphold the dignity and human rights of women including post-abortive care. Integrate these services into primary health care services to avoid women’s stigmatization and discrimination.

h. Abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in conjunction with the Mutual Defense Treaty for its great repercussions on prostitution, AIDS, etc.

i. Respect and promote reproductive rights of women.

Children have specific needs that have been historically neglected or overlooked by societies. Such neglect is both a cause and a result of specific forms of discrimination that children suffer. It is the obligation of the government “to ensure the fullest achievement of their rights to life, health care, education, nutrition, a basic standard of living and to special measures for their protection when they are threatened by violence, abuse and exploitation”.¹

a. Ensure that all children have access to all basic services. This includes birth registration, health services and education.

b. Establish indicators for the evaluation of all child labor related programs and projects.

c. Implement Republic Act 9231 providing for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor and affording stronger protection for the working child.

d. Establish the extent of child pornography in the Philippines. This shall include the documentation of Filipino Children exploited in pornography, the proliferation of child pornographic materials, investigating the use of the Internet and other implements of information technology in the production and distribution of child pornography and the identification and prosecution of persons engaged in the production and distribution of child pornography.

e. Call for the amendment of Article 5 Section 9 of the Republic Act 7610 on Obscene Publications and Indecent Shows to include a definitive classification of child pornography.

f. Ensure that all child sex offenders are prosecuted and punished.

g. Implement the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

h. Amend the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) to raise the minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities to 18 years.

i. Call for the inclusion of Executive Order #56 or the Comprehensive Program Framework for Children in Armed Conflict to the Republic Act 7610.

j. Institute reforms in the Philippine Justice System leading towards the establishment of a Juvenile Justice System.

k. Enact national and local legal frameworks addressing the issue of children in conflict with the law.

l. Ensure that child detainees are, in accordance with international standards, at all times detained separately from adult detainees and preferably in separate facilities.

m. Institute a system for monitoring the situation of juvenile offenders in jails.

n. Conduct an evaluation of all Juvenile Detention Centers.

o. Come up with an appropriate program on recovery, healing and reintegration of juvenile offenders, abused children and children in armed conflict.

p. Strengthen the Council for the Welfare of Children.

q. Establish mechanisms to ensure that children are able to participate at all levels.