Philippines’s watchlist and its effect on international solidarity

Philippine Government’s Watchlist and Its Effect on International
Solidarity
Privilege Speech
Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Liza Largoza Maza
August 22, 2007

Madam Speaker, I rise on a matter of personal and collective
privilege.

This concerns the Bureau of Immigration hold departure order on
the Chairperson of GABRIELA Network U.S.A. and the Philippine
government’s watchlist where her name and that of the two others
appeared and its implication on the Gabriela Women’s Party which I
represent.

Madam Speaker, on August 3-5, 2007, the GABRIELA national
alliance held its 10th Women’s International Solidarity Affair in
the Philippines or WISAP. Three of the participants who attended
the international solidarity affair were Dr. Annalisa Enrile,
chairperson of the GABRIELA Network U.S.A., award-winning and
internationally acclaimed novelist and member of the GABNET U.S.A..
Ms.Ninotchka Rosca, and human rights advocate and also a member of
the GABNET U.S.A, Ms. Judith Mirkinson.

Dr. Annaliza Enrile, a U.S. citizen and a professor at the
College of Social Work of the University of Southern California,
came earlier than the scheduled WISAP. With her were her 25 social
work students who joined the field experience program of the
subject “Feminist Theory and Social Change” which Dr. Enrile was
coordinating as part of the social work curriculum of her
University. She was also accompanied by another professor who
helped her coordinate the program. Dr. Enrile, her professor
collegue and her students came here to learn from the situation of
the people especially the women. During their stay, they visited
Banawe, the University of the Philippines College of Social Work,
went to urban poor and rural communities, learned about human rights
in the country, listened to lectures on feminism, social work and
social change, visited the House of Representatives and attended
the WISAP as part of their exposure and learning experience.

Ms. Ninotchka Rosca, on the other hand, was here to attend the
GABRIELA WISAP, to launch her new book, and to visit her 96-year old
mother. While Ms. Judith Mirkinson who was also a delegate to the
WISAP was tasked by the National Lawyers League of the U.S. to
follow up on the work of the U.S. women lawyers who came to the
Philippines last year to look into the human rights situation of
women and the people.

Madam Speaker, On August 5, 2007, Dr. Enrile checked in for her
flight back to Los Angeles. After Dr. Enrile paid her terminal fee,
she proceeded to the immigration booth to have her passport exit-
stamped. She was told by the immigration officer that she could not
leave the country because she was on the watchlist and that she
should get a clearance from the Bureau of Immigration and
Deportation or BID. The Immigration Officer returned her passport
and her boarding pass with the words “offloaded” written on it.

The next day, Dr. Enrile, went to the BID, where she was told
to file an affidavit of denial because the name on the watchlist did
not have her middle name nor a birth date on it. Realizing that
this was something serious, she sought a lawyer to help her prepare
the affidavit. She tried to file the affidavit at the BID but then
she was told to get a clearance from the Department of Justice or
DOJ. Exhausted, she asked her lawyer friend to help her get the
clearance. At the DOJ, her lawyer was told to get a clearance for
Dr. Enrile from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency or
NICA. At the NICA, the lawyer was told to go back to the BID. When
they went back to the BID, the bureau told them to go to the DOJ.

From the very start that she was told she was on the watchlist
and not allowed to leave the country, no reason was given to her why
she was on the watchlist and why she needs clearance from these
agencies. Without any apparent reason given, but by virtue of a
watchlist, the BID did not allow her to leave. Instead she was
given the run around. Clueless, Dr. Enrile rushed from one agency
to another like a headless chicken just so she can clear her name
and leave the country. Dr. Enrile was prevented from going home to
her family and celebrating her wedding anniversary with her husband
and to her teaching job in the United States which commenced on
August 8, jeopardizing her chances of retaining her position in the
University. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states that everyone has the right to leave any country, including
his/her own and to return to his/her country. Clearly, this is a
blatant violation of Dr. Enrile’s right to travel.

Ms. Mirkinson and Ms. Rosca came to know that they were also on
the watchlist when Dr. Enrile and Ms. Mirkinson went to the U.S.
Embassy to seek their assistance, they being U.S. Citizens, and
learned from the Embassy that indeed they were on the watchlist
including Ms. Rosca.

Madam Speaker, since the approval and start of the
implementation of the Human Security Act, this is the first time
that we again heard of this watchlist.

There were reports, in fact Ms. Mirkinson asked the U.S.
Embassy about this, that during the U.S. Senate hearing on the human
rights situation in the Philippines, the issue of the watchlist was
raised and that Senator Barbara Boxer of the U.S. Congress Committee
on Foreign Relations was assured by the representative of the
Philippine government that the watchlist which the Arroyo government
made in line with the ASEAN summit in December 2006 and in January
2007 was no longer in effect. At this time the Human Security Act
was not yet signed into law. But with the hold departure order of
Dr. Enrile, the watchlist came into the fore once again.

Madam Speaker, what are the government’s bases for people to be
included in the watchlist? As far as we know, a person is put on
the watchlist or blacklist and barred from leaving the country or
entering a country if she or he has committed a crime or the person
was notorious for illegal activities. In the case of the three
GABNET USA women, there were no charges filed against them that
would warrant them to be in the watchlist. Madam Speaker, we can
only think of one thing why this happened to Dr. Enrile. We surmise
that this is the Human Security Act at work and the watchlist that
is now being used against the three women is the Human Security Act
watchlist.

This was in fact confirmed when I accompanied Dr. Enrile, Ms.
Rosca and Ms. Mirkinson last August 14 to the international airport
who were scheduled to depart in the evening for the U.S. Again they
were held for sometime at the immigration because the names of the
three women were still in the watchlist. I asked for the copy of
the order and the watchlist and saw that the three were in the
watchlist because they were suspected of having links with the
Talibans, an alleged terrorist organization. Mr. Speaker, this is
utterly preposterous. We condemn this government for arbitrarily
putting the names of the GABNET women in the watchlist on suspicion
that they may have links with the Talibans.

Madam Speaker, these three women are part of the GABRIELA
solidarity network for Filipino women’s concerns and they are human
rights advocates. They are respected in their own fields of work
and have conducted women to women solidarity activities against
trafficking in women and against all forms of violence on women and
human rights violations. On mere suspicion, they were put in the
watch list and damage has been done to their reputation as well as
to their work.

For what reasons then were they suspected of having links with
the Talibans? We construed that perhaps because the three were part
of the organizers of the All-women US Lawyer’s Human Rights Mission
in the Philippines last year during the height of the implementation
of the Presidential Proclamation 1017. But since when did looking
into the human rights situation of any country become a crime or a
terrorist activity? The United Nations in fact has set up mechanism
for monitoring and reporting of human rights violations. Why is it
then that investigating human rights situation in the Philippines,
if this was the case, became a basis for the watchlist. I ask now,
Madam Speaker, are the three GABNET USA women suspected of having
connections with the Talibans because of their work as women’s
rights defenders? And because they are suspected of having links
with the Talibans and they are our network, is the government
primarily the Human Security Act Anti-Terrorism Council now implying
that the Gabriela Women’s Party and GABRIELA national alliance have
links with the Taliban as well and therefore we are also in the
watchlist? Or is mere association with GABRIELA, a staunch critic
of the Arroyo administration now entitles one to be on the Anti-
Terrorism Council watchlist? This is unconscionable! Since when
did people to people or women to women solidarity against
trafficking in women, violence against women and human rights
violations become a terrorist act?

If this was Human Security Act at work, then this was a clear
demonstration of the horrendous powers of the Human Security Act
that the government could use and abuse against our people.

May I ask Madam Speaker, has the Philippine government issued
directives to all our Embassies abroad to bar people especially
women from entering the country and have internship with GABRIELA?
Are we now a proscribed organization that visitors of GABRIELA are
being prohibited from connecting with us. Or is the government
paving the way for our proscription under the Human Security Act?
We strongly condemn this political harassment. This is violative of
our rights to peacefully organize and develop solidarity with women
around the world.

Madam Speaker, the Human Security Act patterned after the U.S.
Patriot Act has emboldened the Anti-Terrorism Council to politically
harass critics, spread its repressive tentacles beyond borders and
undermine the universally held principle of international
solidarity.

Increasingly, Madam Speaker, the draconian nature of the Human
Security Act is unfolding before us and this has serious
implications on our overseas workers and foreigners who would like
to visit our country. It also has serious implications on the
overseas constituents of Gabriela Women’s Party. It will be noted,
Madam Speaker, that Gabriela Women’s Party topped the overseas
absentee voting this 2007 elections. This is sending a danger
signal to our overseas Filipinos that at any time they can be
suspects of having links with any terrorist organization and put in
the watchlist, or blacklist or put on hold departure order by just
being members of Gabriela Women’s Party or by being associated with
us, or even as their purpose is just to visit their families and
friends. Madam Speaker, human rights work and international
solidarity of peoples are imperiled by the Human Security Act. Most
important it undermines the human rights and put the lives of
innocent people especially women in danger.

Madam Speaker, as I speak before this body now, friends of the
GABRIELA network have been protesting in the United States. Some
have already contacted some of the members of the Senate as well as
the US State Department. International solidarity support for the
three women, Dr. Enrile, Ms. Rosca and Ms. Mirkinson are pouring in
as shown in the hundreds of faxes and emails that the U.S. embassy
has already received.

Madam Speaker, upon the GABRIELA Philippines insistence and the
steadfast resolve of the three women to push for their right to
travel and leave the country, the watchlist order was lifted on
August 14 on the same afternoon that the GABNET three was scheduled
to depart for the U.S. Apparently the Philippine government saw
that this issue will explode on its face and will put the Human
Security Act in a bad light even as the law itself foretells of
human rights violations under the guise of protecting national
security.

But even as the three GABNET women have already left the
country, I urge the House of Representatives to investigate the
existence of the Human Security Act watchlist and why GABRIELA
network members are included in this list and the arbitrariness of
including human rights defenders and international solidarity
workers in the watchlist. I urge this Congress to uphold
international solidarity and intervene in the removal of human
rights defenders and international solidarity workers in the
watchlist, blacklist and all listings that will violate their rights
to travel and those rights that will hinder their work as human
rights defenders and that will hinder the genuine spirit of
international solidarity. Finally, as we work on these proposals, I
urge this Congress to look again into the Human Security Act and
call for its immediate repeal if we are to uphold and protect human
rights and prevent a repeat of what happened to the GABNET three.

Thank you, Madam Speaker and distinguished colleagues. #