By TESS BACALLA
JAKARTA.— Never mind if the whole world may still be reeling from the shock triggered by the Maguindanao massacre owing to its sheer barbarity and that this unprecedented mass slaughter of 32 journalists in November last year may have only served to secure further the country’s position as the world’s most dangerous place for journalists.
A“domestic legal issue” is what it is—one that international human rights bodies have no business meddling in. Or so the Philippine government thinks.
It is a “domestic” issue, Dr. Termsak Chalermpalanupap, director of Political and Security Cooperation at the Jakarta-based Association Southeast Asian (ASEAN) Secretariat, quoted the Philippine government as saying, referring to the subject of the Maguindanao families’ petition for AICHR’s intervention in their pending legal case.
The Philippine government does not believe it is within the jurisdiction or mandate of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR) to act on the petition submitted by the Maguindanao victims’ families on Feb. 4, calling on the regional human rights body to push for government assurance that justice will be given to the victims and to grant them compensation.
In their 23-page petition sent to the AICHR, the petitioners, who are represented by the advocacy group Center for International Law CenterLaw), conveyed their “preliminary request for an urgent declaration from the commission calling on the Philippine State to ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous human rights violation … are brought to justice and adequate reparations are made to the heirs of the victims under applicable rules of international law.”
AICHR itself appears to have tacitly acknowledged its own lack of power to act on human rights complaints from individual member states of the ASEAN when it forwarded the Philippine petition to the Secretariat as well as to the Philippine government.
AICHR, according to its Terms of Reference (TOR), is the “overarching human rights institution in ASEAN.” Yet it has drawn flak from civil society organizations for adopting the formula of “promotion [of human rights] first, protection later” in the words of one of the human rights advocates in the region.
The commission’s foremost mandate, based on the TOR, is “to develop strategies for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms to complement the building of the ASEAN community,” initially targeted to be achieved by 2015.
Lawyer Harry L. Roque, Jr., who represents the victims’ families and heads CenterLaw, said Termsak disclosed the government’s stance on the petition in a meeting with him and the victims’ families on the sidelines of an ongoing first official meeting of AICHR at its secretariat in Jakarta.
Indonesia’s AICHR representative Rafendi Dyamin, who spoke briefly with the press and the civil society groups that gathered on Monday outside the gate of the ASEAN Secretariat, confirmed the Philippine government’s response on learning about the petition.
Yet the response was only verbally conveyed, he said. “There is no response from the Philippine government in writing,” stressed Rafendi, one of two AICHR commissioners known for their solid human rights credentials. The other being Thailand’s representative Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree, a human rights scholar.
Roque and three of the Maguindanao victims’ kin arrived in Jakarta over the weekend to follow up their petition, there being no response until Monday from the commission almost two months since they filed their complaint with the AICHR.
He said the petition is distinct from the criminal suits pending before the Quezon City regional trial court and that the compensation sought is different from the civil damages that may be awarded to the victims’ families in the ongoing Maguindanao multiple murder case.
“The payment of reparation is a duty of a state for a breach of an international obligation, while civil indemnity as a result of the commission of the crime is a legal responsibility of the accused,” Roque explained in a statement.
During their meeting, Roque said he was informed by Dr. Termsakthat “the complaint was received and forwarded to the president of ASEAN [Vietnam]” as well as to the Philippine government “and that the Philippine government has already responded – and that the response was that it’s a purely domestic issue and that the ASEAN commission could not get involved in it.”
“As it is, we’re not having any discussion at all about any country [human rights] situation…on how we’re going to deal with it,” Rafendi conceded.
Based on the ASEAN charter and the Terms of Reference of the AICHR, the commission must be guided, among others, by the principle of “non-interference in the internal affairs of ASEAN Member States.”
“It cannot be a domestic issue,” Roque said,since the Philippine government has violated its obligations under international law to protect the fundamental rights of its citizens, including the right to life. Such rights are embodied in human treaties to which the government is a party.
In their petition, the victims’ families said the state also violated its “duty not to provide impunity, considering that its very own agents were behind the slaughter and it failed to prevent them from carrying it out.”
Since the government enjoys immunity from suit, according to Roque, it cannot be sued in Philippine courts without its consent. As such, only an international organization such as the AICHR can assume jurisdiction over the Philippines on matters involving violations of certain fundamental freedoms.
Termsak did not identify the Philippine official who issued the response on behalf of the Philippine government, but Roque said the former advised him to obtain a copy of the reply from Philippine representative to AICHR Rosario G. Manalo.
Roque vowed to obtain a copy of the reply from the Philippine government, assuming it is in writing, saying the petitioners are entitled to file a reply. “We will ask for a copy – and if they don’t’ give, we will sue them before the domestic courts.”
The University of Philippines’ law professor was joined in Jakarta by Glen Salaysay, son of Cotabato City journalist Napoleon Salaysay, Noemi Parcon, wife of Koronadal City journalist Joel Parcon, and Feulen Sumagang, cousin of UNTV reporter Julito Evardo.
Together they also joinedrepresentatives of civil society organizations from Indonesia, Thailand, and Burma in some of their collective activities that were intended to coincide with the first official meeting of AICHR. On Monday, March 29, Roque and his group took part in the press conference organized by the Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA) in this capital, where the victims’ families spoke briefly about their fight for justice.
SAPA is a coalition of national and regional non-government organizations in Asia.
At Monday’s rally in front of the ASEAN Secretariat,Parcon voiced her sentiment to Rafendi on the urgency of their petition. “We ask that our complaint be given immediate action because we have been waiting for so long,” she said as she lamented that the wheels of justice grinds slowly in the Philippines.
The ongoing three-day AICHR meeting ends today, March 30. In their meeting Monday, Indonesia’s Commissioner to the human rights organization, Rafendi Dyamin, said they were scheduled to adopt their rules of procedure (RoP), after which he said, “we will know further how we’re going to deal with civil society as well as well as other international organizations and other national organizations.”
SAPA has submitted its proposed RoP to the AICHR. It has also called for civilsociety participation in the crafting of the RoP.
According to Roque the Philippines was the first country to send a submission—or communication in legal parlance, he said—to the AICHR, a move that he believes “compelled the commission to meet immediately to draft operational rules. “Not only that but Indonesian civil society groups have also taken a cue from the Filipino initiative, expressing an intention to submit as well their own communication anytime soon to the commission,” he said in the same statement released to the press in Jakarta.
AICHR was established on Oct. 23, 2009 by ASEAN—a 10-member regional bloc that includes the Philippines—in line with Article 14 of the regional body’s charter.It was launched during the 15thASEAN summit in Hua-hin, Thailand.
Asked by VERA Files if he agreed with the Philippine government’s position that the issue around which the petition revolved was a “domestic” one, Rafendi said human rights (are) a universal issue.”
Notwithstanding the government’s claimthat the ASEAN body had no jurisdiction over the petition filed by the Maguindanao victims’ families, Roque said the fact that they filed an answer was already a recognition of the “jurisdiction of the commission.” He said this was consistent with “the general principle of law.”
“The eventual decision on whether or not it is a purely domestic issue or an international law issue should vest in the commission itself,” he said.