Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1991
PHILIPPINES
The Philippines has a republican form of government with a
democratically elected president and a bicameral legislature.
The nation continues to be troubled by a declining but still
potent Communist insurgency, active in many of the country's 73
provinces. The threat from rightwing military rebels has
subsided considerably, due in part to government success in
arresting a number of their leaders during the first half of
the year.
With the abolition of the 42,000-man Philippine Constabulary
(PC) in January and its absorption into the newly created
Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) number some 125,000 men. Under the law
establishing the PNP, the police in 1993 are scheduled to take
over responsibility for the counter insurgency effort from the
military. A civilian militia force, the Citizen Armed Forces
Geographic Units (CAFGUS), is paid and trained by the
military. Augmenting the CAFGUS and providing security and
intelligence in areas cleared of the insurgency are Civilian
Voluntary Organizations (CVO's). They are generally unarmed.
Elements of the security forces again committed human rights
abuses in the course of counter insurgency efforts.
A significant portion of the Philippine economy remains
agricultural, and most enterprises are family owned. Land
reform, a key element of the Government's economic strategy,
remains bogged down in the face of resistance from powerful
landholding interests. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo and the
subseqiient mud flows dealt another blow to the already weak
economy. Overall, gross domestic product declined by .
6
percent in the first half of 1991, largely from a drop in
industrial sector output and capital investment. The inflation
rate in November 1991 rose to 16 percent on an annualized basis.
Statistics on violations and abuses of human rights are
collected by the Philippine government and a number of
international and private human rights organizations. On the
government side, the constitutionally mandated Commission on
Human Rights (CHR) gathers information and investigates
allegations of violation and abuse. Among the private groups.
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) is the most
prominent.
Aggregate information from CHR, TFDP and other groups showed a
drop in reports of violations and abuses for 1991, continuing a
trend first seen in 1989. Many human rights violations were
committed in the context of the counter insurgency . Police
units also seriously abused human rights in the course of
ordinary law enforcement duties. Principal human rights abuses
by government forces included extrajudicial killings;
disappearances; arbitrary arrest; torture; and harassment of
suspected insurgents and their supporters. Such labels can be
attached very casually and have been used as a justification
for acting against critics of the government, labor union
activists, civil rights attorneys, and, sometimes, innocent
bystanders. Although the Government remains committed to the
respect of human rights, it has not been effective in curbing
and punishing abuses. In an effort to exert more control, it
adopted a number of new policies, including the extension of
the jurisdiction of civilian courts over military personnel.
It is too early to know how effective these policies will be.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed
wing, the New People's Army (NPA), were also responsible for
many abuses of human rights—although they also showed a
declining pattern, reflecting a general decrease in guerrilla
activity during the period. Government supporters make the
point that false claims by insurgents of official abuse
weakened the credibility of all reports of human rights abuses
and undermined administration efforts to enforce strict
standards of accountability among the military and police.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
CHR reported 138 incidents of murder during the January-June
period of 1991. It reported 386 in 1990 and 525 in 1989. TFDP
reported 49 people murdered and 36 people killed in massacres
through December 15, 1991. TFDP listed 223 killings for all of
1990 and 368 for 1989. The numbers given by CHR are larger
because it monitors violations by both the Government and
insurgent groups, including the CPP/NPA.
Many of the killings in which military and police involvement
is alleged occurred in the context of counter insurgency
operations. For example, 10 persons were killed in separate
incidents between November 29 and December 24 in the environs
of Clark Air Base, apparently sparked by the November 27 murder
of a Philippine army sergeant assigned to an intelligence unit
of the 24th Infantry Battalion. The National Democratic Front
(NDF), the political wing of the CPP, charged that the murders
were connected with military efforts to root out the CPP/NPA 's
political infrastructure in the area of Clark through a program
of assassination. A review of the evidence suggests that the
military may have been responsible for 3 of the 10 murders.
The 24th Infantry Battalion was subsequently transferred out of
the area. No charges were filed in connection with the
murders, and the military men involved were neither relieved
nor otherwise administratively punished. Philippine Department
of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors complain that witnesses to the
shootings have not come forward, preventing them from pursuing
the cases. Witnesses to human rights violations are frequently
unwilling to testify for fear of reprisals. Senior military
officers believe that the men of the 24th were responding
legitimately to a provocation from the NPA.
A more complex series of incidents running from September 1990
through February 1991, collectively referred to as the
Pangasinan massacres after the northern Luzon province in which
they occurred, claimed the lives of some 27 persons. The
incidents led to the organization of a DOJ fact-finding
mission. The alleged perpetrators of the killings include
elements of the military, police, CAFGUS, and armed civilian
vigilantes. Bishop Gabriel Garol of the Ecumenical Movement
for Justice and Peace (EMJP) decried "terror tactics through
the use of private armies" for the purpose of "silencing
people" viewed as potential opposition. However, a review of
the DOJ report and one issued by the local Pangasinan diocese
of Alaminos shows that the motivations and circumstances of the
killings range from an encounter between military and NPA
forces in Labrador municipality to a possible reprisal for
cattle rustling in Malimpin, to a personal vendetta in
Magatarem, to likely criminal activity in Peralta. The
Government failed to prosecute these cases vigorously,
particularly in those instances involving military, police, and
local government officials. Too often, instances of criminal
activity are excused by depicting the victims as deserving
their fate because of their alleged support for the
insurgency. Ironically, groups on the left give credence to
these views by linking most violations to the counter insurgency
effort. The result is a legal paralysis that undermines
respect for the law and encourages an environment in which
violations of basic human rights are tolerated.
The CAFGUS continvje to be implicated in a number of murders.
TFDP found CAFGUS involved in 41 out of 357 (H percent) of
reported incidents of abuses during the first half of the
year. Figures from CHR found involvement in 50 of 669
incidents. One flagrant example occurred on November 22, 1990,
when three members of Teatro Obrero, a theater group sponsored
by the National Federation of Sugar Workers, were killed in
Murcia, Negros Occidental, while allegedly attempting to escape
from the custody of a unit of CAFGUS attached to the 11th
Infantry Battalion. There is good reason to believe that the
three were executed, but local commanders have exonerated the
CAFGUS unit involved, presumably reasoning that the victims
were supporters if not members of the NPA.
Many murders were attributed to the NPA. High on the list were
former insurgents who had surrendered to the Government. On
January 4, 1991, rebel returnee Esteban Domingo was executed by
the NPA in full view of his family in Dumalneg, Ilocos Norte.
Targeting of management in labor disputes also occurred. On
February 18, 1991, Aurelio Reginaldo, the personnel manager at
a leading Mindanao banana plantation, was gunned down by the
rebels while out on a Sunday drive with his family. Innocent
bystanders were also murdered in the course of NPA ambushes and
robbery attempts. On June 7, 1991 10 persons, including 4
children, died when the guerrillas opened fire on a passenger
jeepney bus near New Corella, Davao del Norte.
Assassinations by NPA hit teams operating in metropolitan
Manila declined sharply in 1991. Only two were recorded for
the year, compared with over 60 in 1990. In response to the
murder of 10 Americans by such NPA hit teams, and with ongoing
threats to Philippine civilian and military officials as well
as to official and private U.S. citizens, the Philippine
Government intitiated a coordinated police effort to identify
and apprehend members of these organizations. The decline in
1991 was due less to NPA restraint than to effective police
work, which resulted in the arrest of several key leaders of
the Alex Boncayo Brigade and the capture of the alleged
director behind the NPA program of urban terrorism, Romulo
Kintanar. However, the military and police were accused of
human rights abuses in the course of this antiterrorism drive.
Specifically, nongovernmental organizations charged that
government security personnel were involved in the killings of
alleged NPA hit men Jose Lascano on January 3 and Fernando
Baldomar on August 8. In general, however, the operation
achieved great success within the limits of the law.
Violence related to Muslim groups was concentrated in the
handful of provinces in Mindanao where they hold a majority.
Typically, the violence was as much between rival Muslim groups
as it was against Christians. An example is a shooting
incident in Jolo, Sulu, on May 23, 1991, in which 6 persons
died and at least 21 were injured. The shooting originated in
a longstanding feud between the families of Vice Governor Kimar
Tulawie and Jolo Mayor Soud Tan.
Tensions between the Muslim and Christian communities also run
deep, as seen in the series of kidnapings in Cotabato City
discussed in Section l.b. Another example is an April 13
drive-by incident in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in which 3
people were killed and 17 wounded. Police believe that the
incident was triggered by a series of kidnaping-murders in
which three Muslims were killed, possibly by Christian CAFGUS
members.
Two journalists died violently in 1991. Nesino Toling, editor
and publisher of the Pangli Bay Monitor in Ozamis City,
Mindanao, was shot and killed April 14. Toling had been active
in exposing organized crime activities. Although his murder
generated high-level interest and two suspects were arrested,
the case remained unsolved at year's end. On May 5, Philippine
Punch editor Candido Baslisco was murdered in Cebu. Police
have made several arrests in connection with the case. His
killing is thought to have been connected to Basilisco's
championing of the workers' side in a local labor dispute.
Although several arrests were made, the case was still
unresolved at year's end.
b. Disappearance
CHR listed 14 cases of disappearance in the first half of
1991. It reported figures of 46 in 1990 and 64 in 1989.
During the period from January 1 through December 15, TFDP
reported a total of 37 disappearacnes . This was a sharp
decline from the 77 persons it listed as missing during all of
1990. In 28 of the 37 cases, persons were reported as having
disappeared after arrest and detention by the military.
Government counter insurgency efforts are centered on "Special
Operations Team" (SOT) operations aimed at uprooting the
CPP/NPA political infrastructure at the barangay level.
Central to the theory of the SOT process are "seminars" at
which a dialog is established between residents and government
and military representatives to uncover local grievances and
persuade the people of the Government's intent to remedy them.
However, practice often departed from theory in the field, and
many alleged instances of disappearance occurred in the context
of SOT operations. An example is a credible report of the
"disappearance" between February 8 and 13 of Manuel Capitulo, a
relative of alleged local NPA leader Alex Capitulo. One
objective account indicated that the approach taken in SOT
operations by the 24th Infantry Battalion outside Clark Air
Base in late 1990 depended more on intimidation than persuasion.
Aggressive interrogations frequently escalate into torture or
killing. This may have happened to Olimpio Poso, whose naked,
bound body was found on January 13 about 3 weeks after his
arrest by soldiers from the 19th Infantry Battalion in San
Isidro, northern Samar.
Despite the decline in recorded disappearances for 1991, the
number of cases outstanding from previous years remains large.
In organizing a special task force in January to follow up on
disappearance cases, the Government acknowledged that 560 cases
remain unsolved, 300 of which occurred since the bloodless
uprising which brought Mrs. Aquino to power in 1986. According
to one credible local human rights organization, of the more
than 50 persons alleged to have disappeared in 1990, 15 have
reappeared and 5 have been found dead. The whereabouts of the
others is unknown.
On June 18 a memorandum was signed between CHR, the military,
the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the
DOJ setting new guidelines for the release of detainees. Under
these guidelines, release from detention must be witnessed by
the family of the detainee, legal counsel, or CHR. The local
prosecutor or some person of standing in the local community
must also be present. If these procedures are not followed, it
is the Government that bears the burden of proof for
establishing the veil-being of the detainee, should he have
disappeared. The agreement is a step forward but does not deal
with the problem of "attempted escape" that has been used
sometimes by the military and police to cover up murder and
torture. On November 18, Elias Carullo was arrested by
elements of the 42nd Infantry Battalion in Mulaney, Quezon.
Carullo has subsequently made allegations of torture. The
military says that his bruises occurred during an escape
attempt on November 21.
The CPP/NPA is also implicated in many disappearances. It has
"arrested" and killed activists in the party and front
organizations on suspicion of being government agents. On
October 19, 1990 the NPA seized Arvey Duane Drown, an American
traveling in Northern Luzon. At year's end, the NPA had still
not released Drown from captivity. On September 1, government
troops unearthed the remains of 36 NPA members apparently
killed by other NPA members in Calatrava, Negros Occidental.
The bodies were reportedly those of victims of plan "Zombie,"
an NPA internal purge designed to rid guerrilla ranks of
alleged government informers.
During the 6-month period between September 1990 and March
1991, Cotabato City witnessed a series of 29 kidnapings
engineered by a renegade Muslim National Liberation Front
(MNLF) faction. The kidnaping on March 27 of a French priest
finally led the Government to dispatch a Marine battalion to
the city. The targets of the kidnapings were largely
Chinese-Filipino businessmen and the motive ransom, but
tensions in the city between the Christian majority and the
Muslim minority encouraged and prolonged the violence.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhxim.an, or Degrading
Treatment and Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture and makes evidence obtained
thereby inadmissible in court. Guidelines issued by CHR in
1988 direct all law enforcement agencies and military elements
to avoid unnecessary force during investigation, arrest,
detention, interrogation, and other activities. Despite these
prohibitions, torture does occur. CHR recorded 5 cases in the
first half of 1991 and 79 in 1990. TFDP reported 135 cases of
torture for the period January 1 through December 15, 1991. In
1990, it recorded 249 cases. The difference may be accounted
for by the fact that victims of torture fear reprisal from the
military or police if they approach CHR to seek redress.
Unlike TFDP, CHR only occasionally investigates a case if there
is no formal complaint from the victim.
Mistreatment most commonly takes place during counter insurgency
operations in the field by the military, police, and CAFGUS.
Beatings said to have occurred in the course of January 22-30
operations by the 21st Infantry Battalion in Conner,
Kalinga-Apayao, are a typical example. During tactical
interrogations, the soldiers allegedly boxed the ears of a
13-year-old boy, hit another person with the butt of an M-16
rifle, and tied the hands and feet of two young men and left
them out in the rain overnight. The boy was forced to point
out local NPA members at a checkpoint set up by the soldiers;
the person hit with the M-16 rifle was arrested on charges of
illegal possession of a weapon; and the young men were forced
to admit that they were members of the NPA and were later
released after agreeing to "surrender." Similar violations may
have occurred as well in July during operations conducted in
Zambales by the military and police in the wake of the Mount
Pinatubo eruption. The objective was probably to root out CPP
and NPA cadre forced out of the hills and into refugee camps in
search of food and shelter. TFDP asserts that as many as 13
persons were arrested and beaten in the municipalities of Santa
Cruz and Mansinloc.
Women have not escaped such violence. TFDP reports an incident
on June 6 in which a 6-month-pregnant woman in Bayombong, Nueva
Vizcaya was allegedly raped and her husband beaten by a CAFGUS
unit attached to the 17th Infantry Battalion while searching
their home in a remote barangay for weapons. CHR reported the
rape case of a young married woman in Tabuk, Kalinga-Apayo,
whose father was accused of being a supplier for the NPA. The
young woman filed charges in court against the rapists. She
and her sister were subsequently murdered by a second armed
trio whose camouflage-clad leader allegedly was identified as a
member of the Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA), a
locally based paramilitary group.
Ordinary citizens involved in common criminal cases are not
immune to the dangers of brutality at the hands of the police.
Rodolfo Herrera, Jr., claimed that he had been beaten by
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents after his arrest
for a September 7 shootout with police in which his father was
killed. Although the NBI disputes it, a CHR investigation
confirms Herrera 's account. Following an earlier series of
cases involving police brutality, CHR dispatched a letter to
PNP Director General General Cesar Nazareno on February 5
asserting that such incidents "demonstrate a breakdown of
discipline in the police forces."
Although physical punishment is prohibited by law in the
Philippine penal system, it occurs frequently in jails and
prisons. Most brutality in jails and prisons is committed by
other inmates rather than by prison guards. Recognizing this,
the DOJ agreed in September to requests that detainees held on
subversion charges at nationally administered Muntinlupa prison
be segregated from the criminal prison population.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution requires a judicial determination of probable
cause before issuance of an arrest warrant and prohibits
holding prisoners incommunicado or in secret places of
detention. Detainees have the right to a judicial review of
the legality of detention and, except for offenses punishable
by a life sentence, to bail. An executive order requires
authorities to file charges within 12 to 36 hours of arrest,
depending on the seriousness of the crime.
CHR listed 69 cases of illegal detention for the January-June
period of 1991, compared with 195 in all of 1990 and 212 in
1989. TFDP found that 1053 persons were arrested illegally
during the period January 1 through December 15, 1991. Some
884 were later released. This compares with 3,789 arrested in
1990, of which 357 were still in custody at the year's end.
Most of the TFDP cases involved demonstrators who were picked
up for illegal assembly and were released a few hours after
their arrest.
The Supreme Court of July 1990 decision permitting warrantless
arrests on the basis that subversion is a "continuing offense"
did not produce the flood of arrests feared by its critics.
Still, Philippine security forces did frequently violate
constitutional requirements when handling suspected Communist
insurgents. Suspects were sometimes held and interrogated
without legal proceedings for periods ranging from several days
to several months. When charges were filed, they often had a
weak evidentiary basis.
At the heart of the Government's legal problems in combating
the insurgency is its internal security law. Rebellion or
subversion is a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of 12
years, entitling those charged to bail. The relatively light
punishment for these crimes is an outgrowth of years of
oppression under Marcos when opponents of the regime were
arrested for subversion, held without bail, and sentenced to
long prison terms. Faced with this constraint, the Aquino
Government routinely has filed criminal charges of illegal
possession of firearms, murder, and kidnaping that allow denial
of bail, in order to prevent the release of captured insurgents
who could return to the underground. This practice sometimes
places government cases on shaky legal grounds and invites
abuses, at times actually undermining counter insurgency
efforts. For example. National NDF Chairman Saturnino Ocampo
and his wife, Carolina Malay, a prominent CPP leader, both
imprisoned for 2 years without bail, were acquitted of
kidnaping charges filed by the Government, although additional
charges remain pending. Ocampo remains in custody, while Malay
was released on bail to care for the couple's children.
Several hundred military officers and men are still detained
for their role in the August 1987 and December 1989 coup
attempts and in the October 1990 Mindanao mutiny. As military
personnel they are to be tried in courts-martial and are not
eligible for bail. New AFP Chief of Staff Lisandro Abadia has
since May 1991 pursued a policy of reconciliation with the
rebel military that has resulted in the release of many junior
officers and enlisted personnel to the custody of their
commanders, although they still must face the courts. The move
has sparked demands that similar consideration be given to
leftist detainees, such as former CPP Secretary Rafael Baylosis
who has remained in prison since his 1987 capture. So far, the
Government has refused to entertain this rec[uest. One
Communist leader was released from detention and another is
scheduled for release in 1992. Former NPA chief Juanito Rivera
was convicted on charges of subversion and rebellion in August
1991, and his sentence commuted to time served on humanitarian
grounds. Rivera stated that he will not return to the
underground movement. Former Party Chairman Rodolfo Salas
pleaded guilty to similar charges in May and took an oath of
allegiance to the Government. He is scheduled to be released
in the spring of 1992 after serving the minimum 6-year sentence.
The Government has rarely used internal or foreign exile for
political purposes. It ended the ban on the return of Mrs.
Imelda Marcos and her children on July 31. The Marcoses were
issued one-way travel documents to the Philippines. The
remains of the late President Marcos are still banned from the
country, because of the fear that their return might lead to
disorder. The revocation on national security grounds of the
passport of NPA founder Jose Maria Sison was still in effect at
year ' s end.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution calls for an independent judiciary and
provides that those accused of crimes shall be informed of
charges against them and have the right to counsel. Trials are
public. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to
confront witnesses against them, to present evidence, and to
appeal their convictions. The right of defendants to a lawyer
is generally respected. There were no convictions in a major
human rights case in 1991. The one significant decision was
the acquittal by a military court of the soldiers involved in
the August 1990 Sultan Kudarat cases, in which 19 members of a
family were massacred by a military patrol.
Moreover, a number of particularly egregious cases from past
years remain unresolved. Six policemen charged in the
assassination attempt on November 10, 1987 of Polytechnic
University of the Philippines President Nemesio Prudente are
out on bail as their case slowly moves through the legal
system. Arrests have yet to be made in the murder of Attorney
Emmanuel Mendoza on July 2, 1988, despite President Aquino's
express order to then NBI Director Antonio Carpio for speedy
progress.
The repeal of Presidential Directive 1850 in June 1991
transferred jurisdiction in all criminal cases involving
military and police defendants back to civilian courts. There
are exceptions when the charges are "service related,"
however. It remains to be seen, whether the civilian courts
can be more effective. Moreover, as the Mendoza case
demonstrates, in the absence of good police investigative work
justice cannot be pursued effectively. Acts of harassment,
however, impeded lawyers' defense efforts. On January 2, Free
Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) lawyer Nerio Zamora was
threatened by a local police official when he sought to meet
with a client held in the stockade. On May 24, two FLAG
lawyers were charged with subversion by another local
policeman, angered by their defense of a human rights worker
suspected of ties to the NPA.
Despite the introduction of the continuous trial system, most
trial courts remain backlogged, and only a few are in
compliance with the 90-day limit for hearing a case. There is
an urgent need for more judges and courtrooms.
TFDP reports 650 political prisoners are detained in the
Philippines. This count is derived from the number of persons
in prison charged with subversion and rebellion. These include
senior CPP/NPA members, but not military officers and enlisted
personnel involved in the 1987 and 1989 coup attempts, whose
cases are being tried in the military court system. CHR does
not keep statistics on political prisoners and points out that
many held on charges of subversion are also facing counts of
murder, kidnaping, or other serious crimes.
f.
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Under the Constitution, search warrants may be issued by a
judge on a finding of probable cause. Restrictions on search
and seizure are generally observed, although raids on private
homes without search warrants are occasionally reported.
Judges have thrown out evidence obtained illegally, even in
politically sensitive cases, such as that of former NDF
chairman Satur Ocampo—although he still remains incarcerated
on other charges. The Government does not interfere with the
free personal use of the mails or other public communications
systems, except upon issuance of a court order during the
course of an investigation.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in Internal Conflicts
The effect on local civilian populations of fighting between
the AFP and the NPA emerged prominently as a political issue in
1991 in step with the AFP's implementation of a constriction
strategy that led its units to penetrate the more remote areas
of the country, where the guerrillas previously had held free
rein. These incursions resulted in civilian casualties from
aerial bombardment and indirect artillery fire and in sickness
and death of the young and old from the destruction of housing
and granaries and the imposition of food and medicine blockades.
According to figures provided by the Ecumenical Commission for
Displaced Families and Communities (ECDFC) for the first half
of 1991, 10,400 families were displaced and some 22,000
families were affected by the fighting in 1990. The Department
of Social Welfare and Development listed 4,200 families or
22,000 people for assistance as internal refugees from fighting
in their localities during the first half of 1991; in 1990 the
DSWD assisted some 34,000 families.
The incident that brought the issue of evacuations forcefully
into the public consciousness in 1991 was the AFP's Marag
valley campaign, which occurred during October-November 1990.
The 10-mile-long valley is located in northern Luzon on the
border of Cagayan and Kalinga-Apayao provinces. It has long
been considered an NPA sanctuary, with no civilian government
presence since 1985.
The 2-month AFP campaign included incidents of bombing and
strafing runs on supposed NPA camps and granaries. Human
rights groups reaching the Marag valley in the wake of the
fighting charged that some 88 homes were burned and rice crops
destroyed as a result of the campaign. CHR investigations
produced somewhat lower figures, but a senior AFP official
acknowledged that the military's attention to the needs of the
civilian population in the area was " inadeqTiate. " An AFP
engineering battalion is now building a road into the valley
and civilian government agencies are carrying out relief work.
TFDP and the EMJP have charged that the suffering inflicted on
civilians in the Marag valley was replicated in 1991 in
military operations that took place in the "railroad towns" of
Camarines Sur, in the "chicks" area of Negros, and in the
border area of Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur in
northeastern Mindanao—all priority fronts for the AFP in
combating the insurgency. In response to criticisms of AFP
operational shortcomings, the administration, through the forum
of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC) (see
discussion of the PHRC in Section 4), issued new guidelines to
the military on the handling of civilian evacuations and
guaranteed access by medical teams to areas of conflict. Even
more significantly, new rules of engagement have been drawn up
forbidding unobserved indirect fire and requiring division
approval of lower units' requests for air support.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
There are virtually no legal restrictions on freedom of
expression or speech. Freedom of the press is generally
respected. There are some 30 privately owned daily newspapers
in Manila and many more in the provinces that cover the
political spectrum and pull no punches in criticizing the
Government. CPP publications are illegal but circulate
clandestinely, and Communist views are expressed in other
media. Journalists have been able without legal penalty to
meet and interview antigovernment rebels, including the
Communists and the rebellious rightwing military. Like the
press, radio and television stations report views across a wide
political spectrum. The Philippine courts have been consistent
in their protection of the media. In February a $714,000 libel
suit filed by senior military officers against the Philippine
Daily Inquirer for a series of articles it ran in early 1990 on
the origins of the rightwing military rebels was dismissed by
the court as without merit.
As the deaths of two journalists in 1991 evidence, however, the
press continues to face considerable hazards in carrying out
its responsibilities. The dangers are greatest for those
working outside the capital, where powerful vested interests
involved with gambling, illegal logging, or the drug trade may
use financial inducements or pressures as well as the threat of
violence to control the media. The memorandum of agreement
signed in September 1990 between the Department of National
Defense and the President of the National Press Club appears to
have resolved at least some of the problems encountered by
journalists in reporting on the insurgency. The National Press
Club is satisfied that the military observed the agreement in
1991, and TFDP reports no harassment of journalists during the
first half of the year. Reporters who accompanied the
nongovernmental organization (NGO) mercy missions to the Marag
Valley encountered no apparent problem in reporting on the
incident, and their stories played a big role in focusing
public attention on the tragedy. Publications from abroad,
except those considered pornographic, are not censored.
Foreign journalists are able freely to report and move about
the country even in areas of rebel influence. Major foreign
newspapers and television networks have bureaus or
representatives in Manila.
Academic freedom is respected in theory and practice. The
Government does not censor subject matter in classes,
university publications, or conferences.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assemibly and Association
Permits from local authorities are required for outdoor
demonstrations in public places and are routinely issued.
Nevertheless, rallies and marches are often held without
permits. Philippine law enforcers have been instructed to
follow a policy of "maximum tolerance," i.e., not dispersing
rallies held without permits as long as they do not disturb
public order. To prevent conflicts on college campuses,
government authorities and student leaders have agreed that
soldiers and police will not disperse rallies on campus, while
students agreed to conduct their mass actions peacefully and
not disrupt classes. There was no breach of this understanding
in 1991.
In comparison with the violence that accompanied the October
1990 general strike, antigovernment demonstrations were
generally orderly in 1991. Arrests were sometimes made but
those held were quickly released and not brought to trial.
Some controversy accompanied the large anti-U.S. base rally
held on September 10 when police held up demonstrators heading
for the rally site in front of the Philippine Senate because of
an ongoing progovernment rally led by President Aquino.
Private, professional, religious, social, charitable, and
political organizations are permitted to affiliate with
recognized international bodies in their fields. The CPP,
which advocates the violent overthrow of the Government, is
outlawed, but nonviolent Marxist parties exist.
c. Freedom of Religion
There is no state religion. Freedom of religion is fully
respected, and no official discrimination is practiced against
any religious group or its members. Although over 80 percent
of the population is Roman Catholic, the country's sizable
Muslim minority, the indigenous Iglesia Ni Kristo and Aglipayan
church, Protestant congregations, and other sects enjoy full
religious freedom. Foreign clergymen and missionaries of many
faiths practice their profession freely.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Filipinos enjoy unhampered freedom to change their place of
residence and employment within the Philippines. Movement
within the country is largely unimpeded, although both military
and rebel groups erected roadblocks in provincial areas where
they conducted operations during 1991. Reacting to the
practice by local law enforcement personnel of using
checkpoints to extort money from travelers. Secretary of
Interior and Local Government Luis Santos rescinded this
authority just days after the police came under the purview of
his expanded department.
Filipinos freely travel and work abroad. The right to emigrate
from and return to the Philippines is not restricted for
political reasons. In a few exceptional cases, such as that of
CPP founder Jose Maria Sison who now resides in the
Netherlands, the Government on national security grounds has
revoked the passports of Filipinos outside the country.
Although the Government does not accept refugees for internal
resettlement, it provided first asylum for 1,108 Indochinese
boat people in 1990 and 252 in 1991 and permitted the United
Nations to operate a major processing center for 16,000
refugees in Bataan province. Approximately 26,000 refugees
passed through these facilities in 1991.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Citizens have the right to change their government through
genuine periodic elections. The Constitution ratified in 1987
returned the Philippines to a presidential system of government
similar to that in existence from 1946 to 1972. It established
a bicameral legislature and an independent judiciary as checks
on executive power. Presidential authority to declare martial
law was curtailed. The Philippines has a multiparty political
system with free elections based on universal (18 years and
older) suffrage. Filipinos are free to organize political
parties as long as they do not seek to overthrow the Government
by force. Democratic opposition to the Government is widely
tolerated and there are no restrictions in law or practice on
participation by women and minorities in politics.
Under the new Constitution, congressional elections were held
in 1987, provincial and city elections in 1988, and "barangay"
(village or ward) elections in 1989. The 23-member Senate is
divided among four different parties and independents. In the
House of Representatives, the progovernment party enjoys a
solid majority. Most legislation is initiated by the members
of Congress themselves, and the debate is lively.
Government-sponsored legislation is often criticized, amended,
or defeated. The next presidential, congressional, provincial,
and city elections are scheduled for 1992, and the next
barangay elections for 1994.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The best known human rights NGO is Task Force Detainees of the
Philippines (TFDP), established in 1974. TFDP collects
information on alleged human rights violations and publishes
statistics on abuses attributed to government forces. Other
groups active in the human rights area include the Free Legal
Assistance Group (FLAG), the Philippine Alliance of Human
Rights Advocates (PAHRA), the Ecumenical Movement for Justice
and Peace (EMJP), and the Ecumenical Commission for Displaced
Families and Communities (ECDFC).
These groups operate without government restriction but are
often viewed with suspicion by the military and police. Local
officials have also been uncooperative in some instances. A
mission headed by the EMJP to the Marag valley in December 1990
was denied entrance to the area by the local military
commander. A later group in January 1991 did get through.
Even after the publication of guidelines forbidding harassment
of medical mercy missions, problems have occurred. In August
some members of a medical group were harassed and detained for
nearly 2 days and their supplies and equipment seized by the
Mayor of Pinukpuk, Kalinga-Apayao . Local field workers of
human rights groups have also faced harassment. In June
Cecilia Palino, a TFDP worker in Camarines Norte, was arrested
by the local PNP on charges of "teaching human rights to the
NPA." TFDP reports two other instances of harassment of
private human rights workers during the first half of 1991.
With 16 field offices and a staff of 679, the constitutionally
mandated CHR is charged with investigating all alleged
violations of human rights. It has come under criticism for
its failure in many instances to conduct field investigations,
the quasi-judicial character of its proceedings that pose risks
and special burdens for potential witnesses, its tendency to
become involved in issues unrelated to .fundamental human rights
concerns, and its inability to monitor the progress of cases
referred to the Department of Justice or the military courts.
More serious allegations include overly close ties with the
military and an antagonistic relationship with private human
rights groups.
However, because of its province-wide network and extensive
resources, the national CHR office generally is more efficient
in responding to human rights inquiries. CHR has also been
tenacious in following up on a few particularly egregious
instances of violation, most notably the June 1988 murder of
attorney Alfonso Surigao in Cebu.
Still, resource constraints and the uneven quality of personnel
below senior levels have been a problem, especially in the
field. Given CHR's sometimes strained relationships with
private human rights groups, the Presidential Human Rights
Committee (PHRC) has increasingly emerged as a forum for public
debate on human rights policy. Established by executive order
in late 1988, primarily to address the problem of
disappearances, the PHRC broke new ground this year when it
sent a team to investigate the situation in the Marag valley.
Out of this effort emerged the guidelines on evacuations and
the use of air support and indirect fire cited in Section l.g.
Membership in the PHRC includes the Justice Secretary as
Chairman, representatives from CHR, the Departments of National
Defense and Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President, the
Congress, and two private human rights group, the Philippine
Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and the Free Legal
Assistance Group (FLAG) . TFDP and other groups attend as
observers.
Representatives of international human rights groups are free
to travel in the Philippines and investigate alleged abuses.
Government officials discuss human rights problems with outside
governmental and nongovernmental organizations and the United
Nations and routinely agree to meet with those who visit.
Resident delegates of the International Committee of the Red
Cross monitor prison conditions and assist persons displaced by
the conflict.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
Women enjoy most of the legal rights men do, but Philippine law
and custom continues to discriminate against women in some
respects, including a limitation on their right to buy and sell
property. Laws against abuse of women are also inadequately
enforced. While criminal law prohibits violence against women,
both women and girls in the lower economic strata are
vulnerable to exploitation. Unethical operators may promise
legitimate employment in Manila or overseas, or arrange
marriages with foreign men. Some of these women end up working
as prostitutes or suffering abuse at the hands of their
employers or husbands. Late in the year, the death under
questionable circumstances of a Filipina entertainer working in
Japan initiated a furious public debate over the exploitation
of female contract workers serving overseas. Immigration
officials and the Administration moved quickly to limit exit
permits for Filipina women entertainers seeking employment in
Japan.
In December the Congress approved the "Women in Development
Act," a law setting aside development funds to promote women's
integration into the workplace. The Government designated
March 8, 1991, as the first National Women's Day, which was the
occasion for commemorative activities by the many women's
organizations active in the Philippines.
Muslim Filipinos, living principally in Mindanao, together with
non-Muslim and non-Christian groups located mostly in the
mountainous cordillera area of northern Luzon and in Mindanao,
constitute approximately 10 percent of the Filipino
population. These minorities hold public office at the local
and national levels and are employed in government positions.
However, some discrimination against Muslims and other
minorities persists. Philippine culture—with its emphasis on
tribal and regional loyalties—creates informal barriers
whereby access to jobs or resources is provided first to those
of one's own group. Another factor is that many Muslims prefer
to educate their children in Muslim schools, which has deprived
them of the skills required to advance in some occupations.
Muslims and other cultural minorities have not always been
accorded equal legal protection. Minority groups have
sometimes been deprived of their ancestral lands by logging and
mining operations and the arrival of farmers from other areas.
The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), inaugurated in
November 1990, is the latest attempt by the Government to deal
with the demand of Muslims for local autonomy in areas where
they hold a majority or are a substantial minority. However,
the newly constituted ARMM suffers from problems of identity
and finance. Limited to four provinces, it falls short of
representing the aspirations of all Muslims in the region.
Additionally, an inadequate tax base and a shortfall in the
promised subsidy from the national Government raise questions
as to its capacity to carry out a meaningful development
program.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The right of workers, including public employees, to form and
join trade unions is assured by the Constitution and
legislation and is freely practiced without formal government
interference throughout the country. Attempts by elements in
the Government and the military in the aftermath of the violent
October 1990 general strike to outlaw the leftist May First
Movement (Kilusang Mayo Uno—KMU) union federation were
strongly resisted by all unions, which saw in the move a threat
against the labor movement generally. KMU head Crispin
Beltran, who was arrested in the aftermath of the strike, was
quickly released, and charges against him were dropped.
Unions have and exercise freely the right to form federations
or join federations and confederations and to affiliate with
international trade union organizations. Subject to
restrictions in the Labor Code and emergency executive powers,
strikes in the private sector are legal, and take place
frequently. According to the Herrera Act, four conditions must
be met for a legal strike: notice must be given to the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); a 30-day cooling-off
period must be observed; all available means of conciliation
must be exhausted; and the issue has to be relevant to the
labor contract or the law. Nevertheless, the Committee of
Experts (COE) of the International Labor Organization (ILO)
declared in 1991 that some of the Philippine labor code
provisions are not in conformity with ILO Convention 87 on
freedom of association. In response to the COE ' s comments, the
Government has informed the ILO that tripartite consultations
are being undertaken with a view to revising the act.
The right to strike and the status of employees in statutory
government agencies, such as the Philippine National Railways
(PNR) and the port authority, have not been clarified. Strikes
by public sector employees occurred frequently during the
year. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the suspension of
and dismissal orders against some 2,000 striking public
schoolteachers, issued by the Secretary of Education, Culture,
and Sports in 1990. A complaint by the teachers was reviewed
in 1991 by the COE which found that the suspension and
dismissal orders are not in conformity with the principal of
freedom of association and urged the Government to review the
orders and reinstate the affected teachers without loss of
pay. Most of the teachers were reinstated or exonerated of the
charges against them. However, a small number of the remaining
teachers staged a- hunger strike to protest the Government's
enforcement of the law. The local ILO representative publicly
endorsed the administration's stance on this issue.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Labor's right to organize and bargain collectively is provided
for in law. Since 1986 the number of collective bargaining
agreements in force has increased from 3,112 to 4,982. In the
same period, the number of registered unions increased by more
than 10 percent.
It is an unfair labor practice to dismiss a union official or a
worker who is trying to organize a union. Nevertheless,
employers sometimes attempt to intimidate workers by threats of
firing or closure. Allegations of intimidation and
discrimination for union activity are actionable as unfair
labor practices before the National Labor Relations Commission
(NLRC).
There is a history of industrial relations violence in the
Philippines which has been exacerbated by the insurgency and
the counter insurgency . However, labor-related violence
declined significantly in 1991. Reports indicated that two
trade union officials and two representatives of management
were killed during 1991 in connection with labor disputes.
There was also no repetition of the 1990 Goldilocks bakeshop
incident, in which security guards opened fire on demonstrating
union members. One factor in the relative quiet on the labor
front was the negative reaction within union circles and the
general public to the bus burnings and killings that
accompanied the general strike in October 1990.
A second contributing element has been the better operation of
DOLE conciliatory mechanisms. Through the NLRC and the
National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), the DOLE has
in place a quasi-judicial system for hearing and adjudicating
workers' claims. The process has been slow, but no slower than
other parts of the courts and the bureaucracy. Through
September DOLE reported 147 work stoppages. There were 197 in
all of 1989 and 183 in 1990. Through September, 1991, 850,000
workdays were lost compared with 955,000 in 1989 and 1.3
million in 1990. Labor law and practice are uniform throughout
the country, including in the several export processing zones
(EPZ's). The rate of unionization and the number of collective
bargaining agreements concluded in the EPZ's is similar to that
in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Compulsory or Forced Labor
Compulsory labor is illegal, and there were no reports of
forced labor being practiced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The Constitution prohibits the employment of children below age
15, except under the responsibility of parents or guardians.
and then only if the work does not interfere with schooling.
It allows employment for those between the ages of 15 and 18
for such hours and periods of the day as are determined by the
Secretary of Labor, but forbids employment of persons under 18
years of age in hazardous or deleterious work.
The most serious violations of child labor laws occur in
piecework or contracting out of embroidery and other
garment-related production. Children have also been used in
dangerous and ecologically damaging forms of fishing that use
dynamite. Child prostitution is another serious issue. The
Government has attempted to investigate and reduce violations
of child labor laws outside of the agricultural sector, but the
DOLE has deployed too few inspectors and other resources to
reduce significantly the number of violations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Minimum Wage Act of 1989 is the authority for minimum wage
setting by regional wage boards. The rates were last set in
December 1990, with the highest rate in the metropolitan Manila
area and lower rates set by regional wage boards in rural
areas. DOLE surveys estimate that the national average of
firms in noncompliance with minimum wage laws is 27 percent.
In region 5, for example, noncompliance is 80 percent, while it
is 6 percent in region 3, and 20 percent in metropolitan
Manila. Additionally, substantial numbers of workers (mostly
domestics, laborers, janitors, messengers, drivers, and
clerk-typists) are not covered by them. The average wage of
workers in the large cities is close to the minimum wage, and
in the industrial sector the average is considerably above it.
In rural areas, wages often fall substantially below it. The
minimum wage works out to a monthly equivalent that is below
the poverty threshold figure established by the Government for
a family of six persons. Most families have more than one wage
earner, and the figure varies by region. Still, more than half
of the families now live below the poverty line, reversing the
progress seen in the first years of the Aquino administration.
The legal maximum workweek before overtime is 40 hours for most
industrial workers, most of whom average 48 hours per week.
The law mandates a full day of rest weekly. The enforcement of
workweek hours is managed through periodic DOLE labor standards
inspections. Employees with more than 1 year on the job are
entitled to 5 days of paid leave annually.
A comprehensive set of occupational safety and health standards
exists in law. However ,• little or no information is available
on industrial and occupational health hazards in the
Philippines. The last report on industrial accidents prepared
by the DOLE is dated 1987: it shows the number of persons
killed or injured but gives no breakdown as to cause of
accident or by industry sector.
Large, successful multinational firms apply U.S., European, or
Japanese standards of worker safety and health because of the
requirements of their home-based insurance carriers. Beyond
the poorly enforced Philippine safety and health laws, there is
no comparable standard for domestic firms.
Associated documents
