From the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines: [IN SEARCH OF PEACE: SCMP-UPDs Statement on the 8th Year Commemoration of Karen and Shes Disappearance What is peace if life is not grounded on justice? Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan have been missing for eight years now. Half of that saw Maricon Montajes, the youngest political prisoner to date, with Romiel Canete and Ronilo Baes (known as the Taysan 3) in jail. These UP students, for both cases, were integrated in a peasant community when the military arrested them and were falsely accused as armed rebels in the countryside. We seek their whereabouts and freedom as we demand justice for all victims of human rights violations. In all these shouts, we hope to echo the calls of every Filipino for a better life, because these lives were being spent serving the far-flung and long forgotten communities where they were caught. Definitely, this state has failed to deliver its mandate of addressing the needs of its people. President Benigno Noynoy Aquino and his predecessors have adhered to neoliberal policies of the US that keep our semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. These agreements have only worsened our already dire living conditions, most glaring effect of which is the rising prices of all basic goods and social services due to state abandonment and privatization. The government chose to keep its hands off control, while the daily wages of majority of the Filipino citizens are at their all time low. No wonder hunger and homelessness are a common sight today, because they are not even provided access to necessities such as education and health care that are supposed to be their stepping stones to a better life. These everyday struggles against poverty are further worsened by the governments coping attempts through reforms such as the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, extension of CARPER, K+12, and even the Socialized Tuition System (STS) first implemented in UP, which in reality only bring greater riches to the already rich and powerful. The currents events display how these ruling classes dominate: the issue of corruption through pork barrel has become a festive arena of personalities gearing up for the 2016 national elections. They have sold our sovereignty to the US through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), legitimizing the presence of US troops in their strategic forward military base as US pivots its economic and military focus to the Asia Pacific. In all of these we expect greater violations of human rights. The circumstances give grounds for the ordinary Filipino to fight for their lives, armed or not. Yet instead of addressing the root causes of all poverty and oppression, this state has chosen to shut all those who go against the existing peace and order, automatically tagging them as enemies of state. This is now systematically being done through Oplan Bayanihan, the US-Aquino regimes counter-insurgency program. The arrest of Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria, along with 12 other NDFP consultants, prove the lacking sincerity of bringing peace in its truest essence. The peace talks could have been a venue to address all problems that plague Philippine society, concerns we all equally raise. But then again, we end up with more Karen, She and Maricon because this state, represented today by the US-Aquino regime, ignores to realize primarily their personal and political interests. We measure peace through justice, and we measure justice through human rights. Human rights are assessed through the quality of life that we live. When the lives we live suffer from this harsh reality, we have no other recourse but to continue the fight for genuine justice and lasting peace, for our human rights. This include making the US-Aquino accountable for all wrong that it has done.] SURFACE KAREN, SHE AND ALL DESAPARACIDOS! FREE MARICON AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! RESUME PEACE TALKS NOW! JUNK OPLAN BAYANIHAN! FIGHT FOR OUR HUMAN RIGHTS! HOLD THE US-AQUINO REGIME ACCOUNTABLE! JUSTICE AND PEACE NOW!
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 08:40:43 +0000
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