On 24 February 2006, mass demonstrations commemorating the 20th anniversary of the end of the Ferdinand Marcos regime have been taking place. The head of the army’s elite Scout Rangers regiment, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, was stripped of his command and restricted to the Armed Forces General Head Quarters under the suspicion of involvement in coup attempt and has been accused of using those popular rallies to stage the plan. There after, the government revoked all permits for rallies and violently dispersed the commemorating demonstrations. Demonstrators have been arrested, including Prof. Randy David and Atty. Argee Guevarra, in violation of the right to freedom of assembly.
The President unilaterally declared the State of National Emergency in violation of the Constitution and of international human rights law, since the actual situation could in no way justify such a decision, whose consequences on the enjoyment of basic human rights are extremely worrying.
Under the 1987 Constitution, in case of invasion or rebellion, the President may place the country under martial law, on the condition that within 48 hours, he/she reports to the Congress (section 18, art. VII). None of those conditions have been met in this case. In addition, the Congress may grant exceptional powers to the President, for a limited period, in times of war or other national emergency (section 23, art. VI). However, President Arroyo did not involve the Congress in the adoption of Proclamation 1017. She rather invoked another Constitutional provision, which allows the President to take over private businesses in case of national emergency (section 17, art. XII), but in no way gives the power to the President to proclaim the state of emergency.
General Order No. 5, issued the same day by the President to implement Proclamation 1017, calls upon the armed forces and the police to prevent and suppress “acts of terrorism and lawless violence”. In practice, this General Order is resulting in arbitrary arrests and crackdown on peaceful dissent and rallies, in violation of freedom of expression and assembly.
A day after the proclamation of the state of emergency, a newspaper critical to the government, the Daily Tribune, has been raided and some written materials have been seized by the police. Other big media outfits have been guarded by police operatives. The government claims that by the virtue of the Proclamation, it will regulate publications. In addition, Mr. Crispin Beltran, a Anakpawis Party list Representative, has been arrested on the same day for his alleged role in the plot against President Arroyo. This arrest is arbitrary since there was no arrest warrant, and being a member of the Congress, his parliamentary immunity was not removed. Charges have been filed against Mr. Ka Dodong Nemenzo alias Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, the chairperson of the opposition group Laban ng Masa, a grouping of various civil society organizations, party-lists and peoples’ organizations. He has not been arrested up to now.
FIDH and PAHRA remind that under Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by the Philippines, in time of public emergency, States Parties can only take measures derogating from their obligations under the Covenant “to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation”. In addition, as stressed by the UN Human Rights Committee, “When proclaiming a state of emergency with consequences that could entail derogation from any provision of the Covenant, States must act within their constitutional and other provisions of law that govern such proclamation and the exercise of emergency powers (...) States parties may in no circumstances invoke article 4 [a state of emergency] of the Covenant as justification for (...) arbitrary deprivations of liberty or [deviation] from fundamental principles of fair trial” .
“This state of emergency is a pretext to crack down on political opposition and to silence critics against the policy of President Arroyo’s government. During the past months, peaceful protests against the government policy have been on the rise. Extrajudicial killings are common practice and the climate of impunity fuels widespread human rights abuses, both by the army and insurgent groups”, said Sidiki Kaba, President of FIDH.
“We call upon president Arroyo to withdraw Proclamation 1017, which closes peaceful avenues for changes and generates further instability, and to guarantee the respect for human rights enshrined both in the Constitution and in the international human rights treaties ratified by the Philippines”, concluded Renato Mabunga, Secretary General of PAHRA.