Arroyo
Regime Under
International Scrutiny
By Brian McAfee
25 February, 2007
Countercurrents.org
As
Hernani Pastolero was sipping his cup of coffee in front of his home
early last Monday morning he was shot twice in the head by an unidentified
gunman. Pastolero was the editor of the Lightning Courier, a weekly
newspaper in the southern Philippines. He was the 50th journalist killed
since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became president in 2001 and the first
in 2007. This number is part of the greater number of leftists that
have been murdered in the same time period, now numbering 834.
Most of these killings have
been linked to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or the National
Police with the Arroyo administration giving tacit approval, at the
very least. Throughout the time period of the killings she has sided
with the military every time concerns have been raised and her Justice
Secretary, Raul Gonzalez, has routinely blamed all the killings on the
New Peoples Army even though there has never been solid evidence linking
them to the killings.
Arroyo has continuously promoted
all in the military that have been accused of the killings and/or human
rights abuses. "No general under the Arroyo administration will
be held accountable for the killings," says Renato Rayes Jr.,Bayan
Secretary General. On the friday before the Pastolero killing the United
Nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings was wrapping up
a ten day visit to the Philippines to look at the killings. There was
an ever increasing International outcry and requests from numerous left
wing and human rights organizations to intervene as the Arroyo government
was inactive in attempting to stop the killings.
Even though many in the Philippines
see a direct link between Arroyo and the Military in the killings, with
Arroyo giving tacit approval, Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur
stated "I do not believe there is a policy at the top designed
to or which directs that these killings take place. I am clear on that."
Leaving Arroyo off the hook for responsibility for what went
on during her tenure as president. This may further open a Pandora's
Box that has unleashed terror across the archipelago.
The United States, which
for decades has trained the Philippine Military continues to do so through
the Joint Combined exchange Training program (JCET), which engages in
small unit training, rifle marksmanship, day and night navigation, small
unit killing, in short. Another U.S. training program that has been
training the AFP for years is the U.S. International Military Education
and Training program (IMET). IMET graduates populate the rank and file
of the Philippine Military and the U.S. actively promotes a close U.S.-Philippine
Military relationship. The telling silence of the U.S. and the Bush
administration over the ongoing killings and the lack of action or concern
on the part of the U.S. government is indicative of complicity. One
of the other highly questionable areas in the U.S.-Philippine relationship
is the pressuring the Philippine government by the U.S. to turnover
the rapist of a young philippine woman to the U.S. embassy. The convicted
rapist, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, was handed over to the
U.S. by, the ever prostrate and servile to the U.S. government, Raul
Gonzalez. The Arroyo administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
increasingly resemble the defunct right wing military dictatorships
of Latin America, with the same Washington backers. Hopefully, for the
sake of the Philippine people, this nightmare will end and a new "People
Power" will emerge.
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