Martial Law?

I got this blog from Ellen Tordisillas, it's an interesting read because in our current society, we have no room for this. Militarism should be stopped.

Raid!

by Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

I know some of you are expecting a column about yesterday’s Inquirer forum at UP with the presidential candidates. I have a lot to share about that event, but I have to postpone that article because I want to write about a very urgent issue, one which has implications for the elections.

I’m referring to the raid conducted last Saturday on a health workers’ training seminar organized by an NGO, the Council for Health and Development (CHD), resulting in the arrest of 42 of the workshop participants. That included two physicians, one nurse and one midwife. All the others were community health workers, most of whom were poor farmers or workers who have been trained as paramedics and health educators. The 42 were brought to Camp Panopio in Tanay, Rizal.

The media reports have mostly featured the military’s claims that the workshop participants were rebels and they were being trained to make bombs. There has been little from the detainees themselves because the mass media have been denied access to the prisoners.

My column today mainly uses information from Dr. Delen de la Paz, vice president of Health Action for Human Rights, and press statements from CHD.

The workshop was being held on private property, a farm/resort owned by Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a retired 71-year-old professor emeritus at the UP College of Medicine who often lets health NGOs use her place for such training activities.

Not since martial law have I heard of a military raid on this scale. Dr. Velmonte has been quoted as saying there were at least a hundred soldiers involved when they raided the farm at 6:30 a.m. Many remained in the perimeter of the farm even after the health workers had been hauled off. The military says they had a proper search warrant; CHD says they had none.

What makes the whole incident even more disturbing is that no one was allowed to visit the detainees over the weekend. A few relatives were given permission on Monday and they say that the detainees have been maltreated, with one claiming he was subjected to electric shock during interrogation. Human rights groups are helping relatives and have filed for a writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court, which means the military may have to produce the detainees soon.

Escalation?

Until that happens, friends and relatives, as well as many health NGOs, are understandably agitated. Are we seeing a replay of the Marcos dictatorship, where health workers serving the poor are suspected of being subversives? Or is this an escalation of Arroyo-style repression and the regime’s vow to crush the NPA before her term is up?

We tend to associate raids with the police swooping down on prostitution dens, or shabu manufacturers and distributors. But during the Marcos dictatorship, raids were also frequently directed against political dissidents. When martial law was first declared, the military conducted raids throughout the country, arresting people from all walks of life who had been vocal in criticizing Ferdinand Marcos.

The more prominent dissidents at least had some protection because of media coverage and access to lawyers. Soldiers were known to even apologize as they entered homes of such luminaries. Raids in urban poor communities and rural areas were much less civil, soldiers or police storming through the homes (or entire villages) and the military looking for evidence of “subversive” activity, which could be anything from books by Marx to acupuncture needles (because the NPA was known to use alternative forms of medicine). If the military could not find materials, they would often end up “planting” them.

Raids almost always resulted in arrests, and much anxiety on the part of families. After a few months of martial law, it was becoming clear that the military was using torture during interrogation, or worse. This was the time when “salvaging” came into use, a mutation in the meaning of the English word, from “saving” to “executing” or “killing.” Relatives considered themselves lucky if the bodies were found. Others were literally “disappeared,” never to be seen again.

The first few years of martial law were the worst, but with time, organized groups of lawyers, the religious, educators and even doctors began to fight back, pressuring the Marcos government to observe international agreements on human rights.

NGOs were particularly vulnerable to these raids and staff members were trained about their rights, and what moves to make after a raid or arrests. It was not easy defending human rights. I remember that initially to dare to even mention “human rights” was itself considered subversive. Eventually though, “human rights” would enter the language of mainstream Philippine society so that today even government officials use the term.

Elections

Raids on NGOs continued after the dictatorship fell but a democratic regime meant more safeguards. Under the Arroyo administration, the raids stepped up again, together with other human rights violations. These repressive acts became so widespread that the European Union sent in an investigating team who did confirm a pattern of political repression. A government investigation commission headed by Jose Melo (now Comelec chair) was less conclusive, but did acknowledge there were human rights abuses.

Delen de la Paz tells me that when she went around asking for help from government officials, the standard reply she got was: “But they were NPA.” Now even if these workers were NPA, which I doubt, the raids and arrests have to be governed by legal processes. Those who were arrested should have been given immediate access to relatives, as well as to legal and medical support.

In the years after the Marcos dictatorship, I have not heard of a raid on this scale, with so many arrests and with such brazen violation of the rights of detainees. This raid does not augur well for the election campaign. Many candidates will be outspoken in criticizing the government and incumbent government officials. If arbitrariness and impunity are allowed to rule, those in power can easily use the “NPA” tag on anyone who disagrees with them, and can have the military round them up in raids.

We have to pin our candidates down on their positions about human rights. So far, I have only read of statements from Bayan representatives, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and Sen. Pia Cayetano, all decrying the raid. Will our presidential candidates, all potential commanders in chief of the Armed Forces, be ready to walk their talk about defending human rights?