The Statement below was sent by Madett V. Gardiola, a Volunteer Consultant of COM working with COM - Mindanao
NOVEMBER 25, INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (IDEVAW)
November 25 is the day women around the world commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (IDEVAW). The IDEVAW commemoration originates from the defiance of the very well known three Mirabal sisters who fought the dictatorship regime of General Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.
Forty-nine (49) years ago today, assassins associated with Trujillo clubbed the sisters Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa to death. The murder of three defenseless women was the last straw for the Dominican people, igniting general public outrage.† This was the beginning of the end of the Trujillo regime. In 1961, Trujillo was assassinated.
On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 as the annual date for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in commemoration of the sisters.
TODAY, November 25, 2009 in Davao, in Mindanao, in the Philippines, and in all parts of the globe, women gather collectively shouting “I VOW TO FIGHT VAW (Violence Against Women).
We express our extreme disgust and anger over various forms of violence against women at home, workplaces, and communities at this stage of society’s development where foreign monopoly capitalists’ interests reign at the expense of human rights and welfare.
We are appalled and angered by the recent grisly massacre of 46 people in Maguindanao, 21 of which were women. We condemn in strongest terms, the brutality and the inaction to this date, of the local chief executives known to be close allies of the woman President. The state support for warlordism is has made warlordism and impunity flourish in that area, heightening people’s fears and insecurities.
We demand justice for women who were individually and collectively violated physically and systematically by this government. We demand justice for the killing of the two lawyers Atty. Connie Brizuela and Atty. Cynthia Oquendo and other women and men in the Maguindanao massacre. We demand justice for Laya and other victims of extrajudicial killings. We demand justice for Melissa Roxas who was abducted and tortured. We demand justice for the victims of murder and victims/survivors of rape, incest, and sexual harassment. We demand justice for hundreds and thousands of women being displaced as result of development aggression.
We hold our government accountable for the violence against women and for its failure to protect countless of Filipino women. We challenge government to live up to its international commitments and to implement the very policies that it enacted to protect, promote and fulfill women’s rights.
Today we vow to fight all the structures and social context that disenfranchise and disempower women, condemning them to death, poverty, prostitution, diseases, hunger, displacement and gender discrimination.
Today our collective voices declare: “I VOW TO FIGHT VAW”
Gabriela Network of Professionals
Gabriela Women's Party
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CBCS Statement on the Massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao
November 25, 2009
The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), a network of Moro-led civil society organizations, joins all peace-loving people in condemning the gruesome massacre of more than 50 people including women, human rights advocates and journalists in the municipality of Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
We call for judicious, swift and impartial investigations that will lead to the arrest and punishment of the perpetrators.
We appeal to all the citizens, especially to the media, to be vigilant even as we await a speedy dispensation of justice for the victims of the massacre.
We urge for sobriety to prevent further tensions in Maguindanao that could lead to armed confrontations even as we extend our condolences to the bereaved families of all the victims.
We register these calls even as we express our anxiety that the situation does not warrant President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's declaration of state of emergency as appropriate response to the problem due to the following reasons, among others, to wit:
- The two parties have articulated support for the rule of law;
- The declaration could be used as a pretext for the postponement of the upcoming elections in the three areas covered by the declared state of emergency; namely: Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Cotabato City; and,
- It could result to more human rights violations.
Let the rule of law take its course so that justice will reign in the end.
The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS)
KFI Compound, Doña Pilar Street, Poblacion IV
9600 Cotabato City, Philippines
Telefax No.: +63 (064) 421-5420
Mobile No.: 0917-726-7576, 0928-253-0181
E-mail: cbcs_04@yahoo. com, secretariat@ cbcsi.org
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"Even warlordism is but a symptom of the larger climate of impunity that threatens Filipinos, their media, and their democracy in general. For that toxic environment, the government must be held accountable."
BEYOND MAGUINDANAO AND ELECTIONS: PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT MUST OWN UP TO CLIMATE OF IMPUNITY
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance condemns in the strongest possible terms the abduction and massacre of at least 36 Filipinos in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao. Reports coming out of the Philippines say at least 12 journalists were among the abductees possibly slayed.
It is widely believed that the horrific episode was brought about by a bitter feud among entrenched political clans in Maguindanao. Media and authorities have been quick to tag the massacre as election-related, certainly among the worst that has been seen in the Philippines in decades.
SEAPA calls on the Philippine government to do all that it must to halt the violence and bring the murderers to justice.
As swiftly as they must act, however, the Philippine leaders must also, once and for all, demonstrate its accountability for the larger toxic climate that suffocates Filipinos and Philippine democracy. The government must own up to what it has allowed to fester: an environment of impunity that had already taken hundreds of lives, including that of hundreds of journalists, long before the recent Maguindanao tragedy took place.
Even the warlordism that must be fought and condemned in Maguindanao is but a symptom of what truly has Filipinos and their democracy beleaguered.
The perpetrators behind the most heinous acts in Maguindanao must be brought to justice. Immediately. Failure to act, we are afraid, would not only be an indictment of Philippine leadership. It will be nothing new.
“The Philippines had one of the highest rates of journalist killings in the world even prior to this heinous episode of barbarism,” SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay said. “Even the scale of one day’s carnage cannot mask the years of government inaction, denial, and ineptitude that have allowed violence to go unpunished. That climate of impunity that has been allowed to fester is what has made all Filipinos -- not just activists, politicians, or mediamen -- vulnerable to powers and interests intolerant of dissent or even just independent voices."
The clear role that warlordism plays in this, one of the bloodiest episodes in recent Philippine history, should not absolve the government of its accountability for the larger environment it has tolerated, patronized and therefore nurtured.
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ABOUT SEAPA
SEAPA is a coalition of journalist and press freedom advocacy groups from around Southeast Asia. Its founding members are the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (Philippines) , the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information, ISAI (Indonesia), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), and the Thai Journalists Association. Founded in 1998, SEAPA is the only regional organization with the specific mandate of promoting and protecting press freedom in Southeast Asia.
