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DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS, END THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY, OUST THEIMPUNITY PRESIDENT

Statement of Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy, UP Diliman on the 64 th Anniversary of UN Declaration of International Human Rights Day

10 December 2014

As the whole world commemorates the 64 th Anniversary of the declaration of Human Rights Day byUN General Assembly, we, members of CONTEND-UP Diliman join the Filipino people in defendinghuman rights against the reign of the culture of impunity in our society. When the state acts as theaggressor and perpetrator of human rights violations, we have the duty to stand together as a people todefend our rights.

The Amnesty Internationals (AI) latest report, Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines amplydocuments the culture of impunity that allows torture in the Philippines. But this culture of impunity doesnot only hold sway among the police. The state itself commits violence against its own people, especiallythose who stand against its aggressive development policies. According to Karapatan Alliance for the

Advancement of Peoples Rights from July 2010 to June 2014, there are 117 peasants killed for assertingtheir land rights against the big-time land grabbers, businesses and plantations; and 49 indigenous peoplesbecame victims of extrajudicial killing for defending their ancestral lands against foreign large-scale minincorporations and other development projects. For the same period, Karapatan recorded 204 victims ofextrajudicial killing and 207 victims of frustrated killing.

The massive assault of the state against our own people, especially the indigenous peoples, irecently demonstrated by the forced evacuations of the Lumads of the communities in Lianga, San Agustinand Tago, Surigao del Sur, involving 378 families with 1,783 individuals. Since 2011 AFP troops have beeoccupying schools, health centers, and chapels in rural communities and terrorizing the villagers as they

pursue peace and development programs under Oplan Bayanihan,

the Aquino governments counter -insurgency plan patterned after US imperialist military strategies. In the highlands of Davao del Norte Talaingod, the terroristic counter-insurgency of the military among the Manobo tribes forced 13 indigenousstudents from Talaingod to seek help in Manila through Manilakbayan.

Our state does not only assault the indigenous peoples, but they even indiscriminately violate therights of female political detainees.

Andrea Rosal was arrested in March 2014 when she was seven months pregnant. Unlike the political VIP criminals, she was put in a cramped jail based on trumped up criminal charges and false testimony of ahired witness used by state security forces to justify false arrests.

Last June 20, Maria Miradel Torres, 26, and four months pregnant, a member of a local chapter ofGabriela, was arrested without a warrant. She was arrested based on the same dubious tactics.

These are clear examples of the human rights atrocities of the US-Aquino Regime. And thegovernment is spending people s money to fund its war against its own people. In 2014 alone, thegovernment gave away at least PhP 51.2 million of peoples money to so -called informers that led to thearrest of perceived enemies of the state falsely charged with criminal offenses and are now languishing injail.

And instead of addressing the problems of state terrorism, Pres. Aquino simply blames the victims,especially the journalists who were killed in the line of duty. Under the US-Aquino Regime retired Maj. Gen

Jovito Palparan Jr., the butcher of activists, was allowed to be transferred from Bulacan Provincial Jail tothe Philippine Army Custodial Center in Fort Bonifacio. Human rights violators and corrupt bureaucratcapitalists and their minions receive special treatment while political detainees languish in ordinary jails.

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In the face of this terrifying culture of impunity, we as teachers and educators cannot shirk awayfrom our social reasonability to raise our voices in protest! Human rights discourse and discussion are partof civic education. When military forces occupy the school facilities for counter-insurgency programs, wemust join those communities, who are adversely affected, to defend their right to war-free schools.Education cannot take place in an undeclared state of war that terrorizes the students, teachers, andcommunities. Education cannot be sacrificed in the name of flushing out and isolating the so-called enemiesof the state.

Hence we join our patriotic fellow Filipinos, human rights activists, victims of state violence indemanding for the end of the culture of impunity. As teachers we stand against all forms of violence thatcurtail human rights especially among the educational sector. We have to struggle to save our schoolsfrom militarization. We have the duty to teach human rights in the face of this culture of impunity. We must

get out of our classrooms and schools and join our communities in creating a human rights-friendlyenvironment. We cannot allow our children and students to witness the rampant violations of human rightscommitted against indigenous peoples, peasants, and religious groups. Silence in the face of this culture ofimpunity only encourages moral apathy and callousness among our students. Education is for freedom! Andthere can never be freedom if people are terrorized by the state and its proxy para-military groups who are

waging war against the people. We join our people in demanding:

Stop the culture of impunity!Down with state fascism!Stop Oplan Bayanihan!

Justice to all human rights victims!Free all political detainees! Free Andrea Rosal and Ma. Miradel Torres!Down with US imperialism, the godfather of state fascism worldwide!Uphold and defend human rights!Oust BS Aquino, the Impunity King!