Martial law dilutes the Philippines’s human rights and democratic gains

After the country’s democracy was restored 23 years ago, the days
where the police and military were ruling over the civilian authority
were deeply felt again, most notably by the citizens of Maguindanao, a
province in southern Philippines, after it was placed under martial
law by Proclamation No 1959 last Friday, December 4.

The scenario of arrests, detentions and searches made without court
orders–a common practice during the late president Ferdinand Marcos’s
martial rule–unfolded during the police and military operation
against those involved in the Maguindanao massacre. The fundamental
principles of legality and due process have been abandoned, with
security forces having unprecedented powers given by the head of state
under this martial law.

Twenty eight years after Marcos’ martial rule ended, the notion of a
military solution remains deeply embedded, not only amongst the
security forces, but also within the civilian government. Martial rule
and suspension of writ of habeas corpus, which allows warrantless
arrests, detention and conduct of searches, have been a convenient
solution for the police force’s incompetence in enforcing their
rudimentary duties.

By giving the police and military unprecedented powers, Philippine
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has effectively compromised the
fundamental rights of the people of Maguindanao, who have suffered
from a decades-old protracted war in Mindanao. The police have become
subservient to and have ceded police powers to the military. Under
martial rule, the soldiers have cemented their de facto superiority
over the police in conflict areas.

The Philippines has passed a number of landmark legislations in terms
of legal protection for human rights in 2009, for example, the
enactment of Anti-Torture Law in November 2009 and the Magna Carta for
Women, a legislation which protects and upholds women’s rights, in
August 2009. However, it also gained notoriety of being the place in
which the highest number of journalists were killed in a single
incident, according to Reporters Without Borders, following the
massacre of 30 journalists on November 23 in Maguindanao. The massacre
has put the number of journalists murdered since democracy was
restored in 1986 to 109.

Apart from the murder of journalists, the country has also had an
unprecedented record of targeted attacks on political and human rights
activists. A local human rights group, Karapatan, claimed to have
documented 77 victims of extra-judicial killings between January and
October 2009. The murder of two human rights defenders and lawyers,
Connie Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo in the Maguindanao massacre, have
added to the list of hundreds of human rights defenders murdered in
the country in recent time.

The number of cases of extra-judicial killings that have resulted in
prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators is nil. The widespread
impunity of security forces has its roots in systemic defects in the
country’s system of justice. Perpetrators and criminals are committing
crimes and getting away with these murders without fear of being
prosecuted.

To illustrate this, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day,
the AHRC published its 26-page annual report on the State of Human
Rights in the Philippines today. The report demonstrates that the
impunity of security forces and the lack of remedies for the worst
forms of human rights violations was a product of the defects within
the system of justice.

Please read the rest of the report by following this link:
http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2009/AHRC-SPR-007-2009-Philippines-HRReport2009.pdf