AN OPEN LETTER TO CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER( On the occasion of the State Visit to the Philippines 9 November 2012) - KARAPATAN Human Rights Update

The old Google Groups will be going away soon, but your browser is incompatible with the new version.

Home

AN OPEN LETTER TO CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER( On the occasion of the State Visit to the Philippines 9 November 2012)

Options

1 message - Collapse all

KARAPATAN Public Information

View profile

More options Nov 12 2012, 1:06 am

From: KARAPATAN Public Information

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:05:26 +0800

Local: Mon, Nov 12 2012 1:05 am

Subject: AN OPEN LETTER TO CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER( On the occasion of the State Visit to the Philippines 9 November 2012)

Print | Individual message | Report this message | Find messages by this author

*AN OPEN LETTER TO CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER*
*On the occasion of the State Visit to the Philippines*
*9 November 2012*

Dear Mr. Harper,

As Filipino Canadians with strong ties to our home country, we follow
closely and with much interest your visit to the Philippines. In your
visit, we hope that as the Prime Minister of Canada that you will represent
the Canada most Canadians want -- the Canada that believes in justice,
human rights, and peacekeeping.

You have declared that "Canada's relations with the Philippines continue to
grow and diversify, aided by an increasingly important Canada-Filipino
community.” The Filipino community in Canada is now the largest source
country for migrants to Canada; it is the fourth largest visible immigrant
community, and one of the top three sending countries of temporary foreign
workers to Canada. Filipinos made up the largest group of Temporary Foreign
Workers (2006 census) at 13.9 per cent nationally. As members and
representatives of community groups and alliances, we would like to see
relationships between Canada and the Philippines go beyond just the
economic interests to include issues of human rights, sustainability, good
governance and peace.

We believe that Canada’s relations with the Philippines in terms of trade,
investments and foreign aid should not ignore the terrible human rights
situation in the Philippines. The human rights violations against the
Filipino people are committed in a climate of impunity, with no perpetrator
brought to justice. The Philippine military officer turned politician
Jovito Palparan, known to the public as the “butcher of Samar” and other
places he was assigned for the trails of massacres and killings he left in
his wake, still remains at large and the Philippine government is either
helpless or complacent in hunting him down and arresting him.

From 2001, under the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to
September this year under the presidency of Noynoy Aquino, there were a
total of 1320 extrajudicial killings, 218 enforced disappearances,
thousands of people internally displaced from military operations in the
rural areas and 386 political prisoners in detention centres and jails
throughout the country. Canada is in a position to raise the human rights
situation with Philippine President Noynoy Aquino and to encourage the
Philippine president and government to resume the peace talks with the
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in a timely and
equitable manner, to push for the release of the detained consultants as a
sign of goodwill, and the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of human
rights abuses—especially those still at large.

Canada itself is not without guilt when it comes to the entry and
operations of Canadian mining companies in the Philippines. Canadian
mining companies continue to ravage the Philippines resulting in the theft
of lands and environmental destruction, especially on indigenous lands. In
mining areas, the number of human rights violations (note that there is no
acceptable number ever) continue to rise. This includes Filipino
anti-mining activists and the two foreign workers: Willem Geertman and Fr.
Faustino Tentorio. From March to October this year, a total of 28
indigenous persons, mostly anti-mining activists, were killed – four of
whom were women and four others children. As Prime Minister, you have the
power and the influence to make this right. Approximately 30% of the
country’s resources (66% of the Cordillera region) is signed over to mining
exploration or operations and these companies are listed in the Toronto
Stock Exchange. Late last year, President Aquino made it legal for mining
companies to hire private militias. This is a disgrace to Canada and to
the Canadian people who may not know what Canadian mining businesses are
doing in other countries.

Philippine ambassador to Canada Leslie Gatan said that your trip is “mainly
to talk about [how to] expand our economic co-operation,” adding that the
Philippines is eager to work with Canada on defence and agriculture, among
other areas of interest.

The Philippines remains a primarily agricultural, backward country and we
are concerned that any expansion of economic cooperation with Canada does
not perpetuate this situation that keeps the Philippines backward with no
genuine industrialization. In the area of defence, it is hard to work with
the Philippine armed forces when the culture of impunity is very strong
from the officials down to the rank and file. Was it not Canadian aid to
run human rights courses to the Philippine armed forces that was exposed by
Amnesty International to be not teaching the military to respect human
rights but the opposite as seen in this excerpt from the handbook: “It is
imperative that soldiers are conversant with the HR [human rights]
standards in order to survive the ordeals of investigation in cases when he
becomes involved in a HR violation.”

It will not surprise us to know that your trip will also see the increased
rise of temporary foreign workers to Canada. Most of the Filipinos come in
as low-skilled temporary foreign workers, vulnerable to abuse, labour
contract violations, illegal recruitment fees, harassment and deportation.
The case of the Filipino temporary foreign workers in the Denny’s
restaurants in Vancouver is a good example of how their rights as migrant
workers in Canada were violated and is now the landmark case of a $10
million class suit against Denny’s restaurants.

Here in Canada, as members and representatives of organizations committed
to the protection and promotion of workers’ rights and of human rights in
the Philippines, we bring these issues to your attention and action.

ANAKBAYAN CHAPTERS IN TORONTO AND MONTREAL
ASSOCIATION OF FILIPINO WOMEN WORKERS-TORONTO
BAYAN CANADA
BINNADANG-MIGRANTE (Cordillera People’s organization in Toronto)
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
FILIPINO MIGRANT WORKERS MOVEMENT
GABRIELA-ONTARIO
MIGRANTE-CANADA (IN NEW BRUNSWICK, QUEBEC, ONTARIO, MANITOBA AND BRITISH
COLUMBIA)
PHILIPPINE ADVOCACY FOR ARTS AND CULTURE
PHILIPPINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK-CANADA

[image: Free ALL Political Prisoners - Quezon City, Philippines]
*
*
*=======================*
*Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)*
http://www.canadaphilippinessolidarity.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Philippines-Solidarity-for-Human...<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Philippines-Solidarity-for-Human...>
/
*
*
*Member*: Stop the Killings Network (STKN-Canada)/ International League of
Peoples' Struggle (ILPS-Canada)/ International Women's Alliance
(IWA)/ Coalition for Migrant Workers Justice (C4MWJ)/ Mining Justice
Alliance (MJA)
*Associate Member: *International Migrants' Alliance (IMA)
*Proud Supporter* of Bayan-Canada and Migrante-Canada

*---------------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
[email address]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human
rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual
advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and
civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights
violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training
and campaign.
*