Five Years of Lies, Arrogance and Injustice: Aquino Must Resign

Joint Statement of Karapatan-Bikol and National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers – Bicol

February 25, 2015
Reference: Vince Casilihan

Five Years of Lies, Arrogance and Injustice: Aquino Must Resign

Five years in office yet he has done nothing but lies and sweet talks. He has not shown the people anything except his arrogance. One more year remaining in this term yet the Aquino administration is good to go for failure of leadership. He has failed to bring peace, justice, and genuine development in this country. Instead, he started war and brought more brutal killings, poverty, and chaos.

The supposedly sweetheart “Oplan Exodus” deal between the US and the Aquino administration which resulted to deaths of SAF forces, Moro fighters, and a number of civilians, a.k.a. the Mamasapano encounter, is the last straw which cuts the thinning thread of patience and tolerance that the Filipinos and even the Bicolanos have with this present administration.

The circumstances surrounding the Mamasapano incident and Aquino’s disdain shows the now seemingly invisible hand of the administration in violation of human rights, peace agreements and International Humanitarian Law. It also reflects the string-puppet character of the present administration before the US while aggravating the people’s fury with the current poverty situation resulting from anti-people and neo-liberal economic policies like PPPs, pork barrel issues and other forms of corruption, and patronage politics, among others. It cannot be denied that there can be no peace, no justice, and no true development for the Filipinos and the Bicolanos under the Aquino administration.

The US-Aquino administration, instead of bringing peace in Mindanao and in other parts of the country, breached national sovereignty with the intervention of the US in an internal armed conflict and entering a Moro territory without proper coordination, thus jeopardizing the on-going peace negotiations with the MILF. The presence of drones and of US forces from the inception stage up to the retrieval operations already constitute violation of the sovereignty and independence of the country. This government followed the orders of the US in going against Marwan as part of the US-led war on terror policy and, worse, made the policy a part of its own thru the Oplan Bayanihan. Even the state’s own forces were placed in danger and became sacrificial lambs in heeding the orders of Uncle Sam.

The Mamasapano incident is not an isolated case of unjustified US intervention; violation of human rights, peace agreements and International Humanitarian Law; and of Aquino arrogance when confronted with controversial and people’s issues.

In the Bicol Region, the arrest of two (2) JASIG-holder consultants in the peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDFP who are supposedly protected with the safety and immunity guarantee shows that Aquino is not serious in any peace agreement. Not with the Moros. Not with the NDFP. Thus, Aquino does not want peace. He does not want to end armed conflict. With Aquino, there will be no peace in the Philippines.

The Aquino government have not been and is not set to honor any peace agreement and was in fact making an all-out war. The state forces, under the behest of its Commander-in-Chief Aquino, are the violators of International Humanitarian Law and CARHRIHL resulting to the death of two children and the father of the Mancera family in Labo, Camarines Norte; death of farmer civilian Garduque and arrest and detention of his wife Cynthia of Matnog, Sorsogon following an armed encounter in May 2014; killing of persons under hors de combat in an encounter on July 4, 2013 in Juban, Sorsogon also known as Juban 8, the manner of killing of whom were similar to the fate of the SAF 44; and the abduction and killing of Rodel Estrellado of Malilipot, Albay under the guise of an armed encounter in Bato, Camarines Sur. There is manifest injustice to these growing number of victims and families.

It is worth noting that the killings in Bicol started giving birth almost nine months after the conception of Aquino into office in June 2010. Rodel Estrellado was killed on February 25, 2011 and the Manceras on February 25, 2012, both ironically, during the celebration of EDSA People Power Revolution. This was followed by 56 more in the region. The numbers are increasing and, to date, not one of the victims of extrajudicial killings before and even during the Aquino administration obtained justice. Not one was even filed before any courts of law. Worse, most investigations were poorly conducted if not whitewashed. Justice remains elusive for the victims and their families.

The appeal “Walang pagbabago sa ilalim ni Aquino!” made during the Independence Day Celebration was the reason why Ateneo student Em Mijares is facing charges in the exercise of his freedom of expression on June 12, 2014 in Naga City. Instead of listening to the cry of this young man, Aquino placed him behind bars and filed charges against him. He is deaf when the Filipinos cry because of injustice. Clearly, the evident disdain of Aquino and his insensitivity to the feelings of the families of SAF is not new. He ignored the death of transgender Laude and reasoned out not having personally known the person to condole with the grieving family. In the recent case, Aquino’s acts towards the widows of the SAF44 depict that he is merely showing up to just indeed put up a show and does not really care for the victims of human rights violations; not for non-state forces, not for the state forces. Not only justice is elusive because the government allows it to be, even mercy and compassion are missing.

Amid the violation of civil and political rights, the Bicolanos are losing control over basic utilities with the impending privatization of electric cooperatives which started with the illegal management takeover of Albay Electric Cooperative by SMC through APEC in 2013. Since its takeover under the policy of Public-Private Sector-Partnership (PPP) of the government, Albayanos have been suffering from poor services, intermittent power supply, erroneous billings and unexplained fees. Health facilities and services remain scarce and poor, respectively. Many children cannot go to school because of lack of school facilities and teachers in far-flung communities and poor educational support in some nearby areas while youths cannot afford higher education because of from soaring tuition and other school fees.

Most Bicolanos wallow in poverty due to joblessness. Many farming families lost their lands because of incessant mining activities and land conversion. Communities in Rapurapu and other areas in the Bicol region are exposed to a bigger disaster from mining in the island municipality under the destructive Mining Act of 1995. Displacement of houses and livelihood likewise continue because of urban development and other activities. Farmers either do not have lands or do not receive farm support in their small farms under the CARPER Program. Worse, poverty exists and worsens despite huge pork barrel funds of 16 district representatives and 3 Ako Bicol representatives amounting to more or less 1.3 billion pesos per year which could have been translated to basic services. The spending of the released pork remains unexplained to date as with the PDAF and DAP expenditures at the national level. Victims of typhoons and other calamities die of hunger while the government boasts of their accomplishments in responding to typhoons and other disasters. The Filipino people are in deep poverty and the Aquino government have not been taking it seriously; there is no development in the Philippines. There is no plan for development for the poor Filipinos’ lives in the Philippines.

With this, we demand the following:
- Conduct of an independent and thorough investigation on the Mamasapano incident and hold those responsible liable;
- Prosecution of human rights violators;
- Pursuit of peace negotiations by addressing the root causes of armed conflict;
- Abolition of the pork barrel system and hold accountable those responsible for PDAF and DAP scams; and
- Introduction of economic policies that will favor the poor like genuine agrarian reform, nationalist industrialization and improvement of basic social services.

Aquino’s evident arrogance and insensitivity are drips of lemon to the wound of poverty and injustice. Sweet talking and false promises will not do this government any good. Someone must be made accountable for these violations and injustices and, for it to happen, Aquino must step down. We cannot wait for 2016 for Aquino to end his term. And so we say, Aquino must resign NOW!