Alison Atkinson-Phillips
Advent is a time of preparing for Christmas. For most Australians that means shopping, parties and too much chocolate. For Philippines-based Transit Lounge contributor Sophie Bodegan, “This Advent season reminds of how similar the first Advent was - a time of repression and fear, a time of dislocation and poverty, a time of struggle and flickering hope.”
When you’re lucky enough to live in a peaceful, democratic country like Australia, reading about human rights abuses in other countries can seem a little remote. But for Sophie, the problems facing her homeland are way too close for complacency.
In what is now known as the 'Maguindanao Massacre,' on Nov 23, 2009 at least 57 people were killed as they travelled to the provincial capital to file election papers. The victims, members of the Mangudadatu family, lawyers and journalists, were intercepted by about 100 gunmen who are believed to have been part of the Ampatuan clan.
One of the 57 people killed in the massacre was Connie Jayme Brizuela, a human rights lawyer who had been Sophie’s classmate from fourth grade through high school.
“Any murder is brutal; any massacre, more so. This one was exceptionally bad, not only was it brutal, it was premeditated,” said Sophie in a recent email. “Can you imagine that they had dug that huge hole already?
“All these people wanted was to file a certificate of candidacy, a right guaranteed by the Philippine constitution.
“The journalists, all they wanted to wanted was to go about their jobs knowing of the press was a sacred trust. Apart from the politician's convoy there were other victims who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The last heard from from Genalyn Manggudadatu, who led the convoy, was a report by mobile phone that they were stopped at a checkpoint by their political rivals. Connie was found to have sustained 17 gunshot wounds, some of them near her genitals. She was also hacked in the face.
“I have seen photographs of the bodies,” said Sophie. “What happened there was carnage --unspeakable, heinous, horrific.”
Connie was a member of the board of governors for InPeace Mindano. In a statement issued 24 November on behalf of that organisation, Bishop Felixberto Calang called for the Arroyo government to, “muster all its resources and political will to bring the suspected Ampatuan warlord clan to face the law.”
However, Bishop Felixberto said, “The unchecked rule of political warlords like the Ampatuans, army and police units like those controlled by President Arroyo’s mistahs, and warmongers in government like General Hermogenes Esperon and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, make up a culture of tolerance for killings and contempt for the rule of law. Thus, this culture of impunity traces itself right back at the doorstep of Malacañang.
“Connie had been at the forefront of the campaign against impunity. We are outraged that it has caught up with her through this tragic and gruesome death. We will miss her. She was a gentle but firm and determined human rights advocate. In her diminutive frame loomed large a feisty peoples’ lawyer and human rights defender undeterred by the rich and the powerful in Mindanao.”
At a time of such shock and sorrow, Sophie says she does hold onto a flickering hope that things might change. She reports a growing sense of outrage against not only the local perpetrators of violence, but particularly against President Arroyo and a political system that could allow such a thing to happen.
“Please pray for us today and everyday for the next days, especially on 10 December, Human Rights Day,” asks Sophie. “Please raise your voices with ours to stop impunity and to demand justice for the victims of the massacre and for the Moros, Christians and lumads in Mindanao. Pray for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo so that she is shaken out of her neglect and complicity.
- What can you do to make sure human rights are respected here and around the world?
- Pray for the people of the Philippines
- Write to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and ask the Australian Government to do all they can to stand up for human rights in the Philippines
- Give to UnitingWorld's 'People for Peace' appeal
http://www.thetransitlounge.com.au/international/495-gettingthemessage.html
http://www.thetransitlounge.com.au/international/453-nonation.html
http://www.thetransitlounge.com.au/international/303-phillipinesreport.html
http://kalinaw.com.ph/pages/News/maguindanao/RAGE_AGAINST_IMPUNITY!.html
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