Egg

So two lines appeared and immediately there was mayhem.

Well, at least as much mayhem as two people can make.

We call him/her “Egg” now, our three week-old, uh, egg. We talk to Egg every chance we get and whisper that he/she should stay put and wait for nine months before coming out. Of course by then Egg won’t be an egg anymore but a baby, and we will do everything within our extraordinary yet limited powers to make sure that he/she is healthy, smart and compassionate. He/she will be a reading and math baby; and he/she will be the combination of his/her parents’ best aspects and hopefully without their worst.

Right now both Egg’s parents are desperate to keep him/her intact, to make sure that Egg gets all the vitamins and protein he/she needs to form limbs and organs and skin and a wholly healthy and functional immune , digestive and respiratory systems.

We’ve waited for Egg for so long and we don’t want to lose him/her. We want to be able to see and hug and kiss and play with Egg and take Egg to the ballet or to doughnut store and hear Egg squeal with delight at her/his first taste of chocolate.

For most people I suppose pregnancy is not such a big deal -nothing to fret or worry about, but I’m a born worrier, and fretting is something I do quite expertly. I’ve stopped drinking cola, have started eating vegetables, and I take vitamins and folate capsules religiously. I drink at least two glasses of milk everyday, and I sleep whenever my body tells me to. I’ve been getting advice left and right, and it’s all good, but when I think about it it’s all pretty funny because Egg is still just an Egg, but friends are already telling me where I should enroll him/her for kindergarten to make sure that he/she gets a good headstart towards a brilliant college education.

Right now I only think of one thing for Egg: that he/she be completely healthy, whole and normal. Whatever greatness or talent or even giftedness she/might might possess is still a long way off – she/he has to be breathe first, and I do so want her/him to breathe!

Elias whom I’ve known for 15 years only last week told me that children born at this day and age are so unfortunate because they’re inheriting a world that’s so bereft of justice, where to eat at McDonald’s is considered a treat.

Most days I can’t help but agree. I think about how children die from the simplest diseases, or from starvation and malnutrition, and how among all of the worlds’ victims, children comprise the greatest number because they are so helpless and powerless, unable to speak for themselves, defend their rights, demand what they need.

This an article I wrote for a publication, and reading the materials was painful:

In late 2006, the representatives of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, the GRP Panel, the GRP Monitoring Committee, the Philippine National Police/Task Force Usig; the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) formed a technical working group (TWG) “to clean up the different lists of incidents/cases of alleged political killings submitted by different groups for possible similarities, discrepancies, double count or inaccuracies.”

The TWG came out with a report  “to assist the Government in reading the “temperature” and address the situation on the ground, and provide inputs for an intelligible response to the local and international public regarding allegations against the State.”  The compilation of the report entailed  analyzing and deconstructing the complaints human rights organizations filed with the Joint Monitoring Committee against the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), as well as the comprehensive list of the said HR groups of extrajudicial killings and abductions they charge to GRP Forces.

Included in the TWG’s report on the extrajudicial killings are 10 cases of  political killings involving 12 children and minors as victims,  all of  which  have been filed against the GRP: the Blanco children John Kevin (3), Dexter Blanco (1 and ½), and the then unborn baby (eight months), killed July 21, 2005; Mary Jane Jimelo (9), killed May 8, 2001; Nina Angela Apolinar (9), killed May 20, 2002; Bernie Ani (15), Mylene (11), and Raymond (4) Golloso, killed July 23, 2003; Joey Santos (15), killed January 29, 2004; Aldassir Padiwan (10), killed January 2, 2005; Dante Salgado (17), killed January 31, 2006; Amante Abelon Jr. (5), killed March 20, 2006; and Wilmer Masimid (3), killed April 25, 2003.

The TWG made the recommendation that the deaths of the children should be investigated so it can be determined   “if the children died in crossfire during military/police operations, massacres, direct assaults/killings, or were child combatants who participated in an encounter.” The fact that the TWG even dared to imply that the children were possible combatants and hence legitimate targets of GRP forces exposes an inherently malicious political agenda: that of deflecting blame that is rightfully directed against the GRP.

 The TWG, however, fails to accomplish this. Closer scrutiny of the cases reveal common circumstances that all contribute to establish the accountability of the GRP’s armed forces and to reveal a comprehensive campaign directed against political activists, sympathizers, and members and officials  of progressive party-list groups. The TWG also failed in its attempt to justify the killings as the result of military encounters; or to clear the military from accountability.

 The process the TWG utilized to select the 10 specific cases of political killings  of children and minors is not immediately apparent, but it appears that the cases were chosen randomly. At closer analysis of the report, however, it becomes obvious that the TWG had no intention of shedding light into the cases but instead do the opposite: obfuscate the truth and lay the grounds for conclusions that are unfounded, unjustified, and malicious.

 Concretely, the TWG made the barest and most inaccurate mention of the circumstances that led to the death of the children. It based its observations and conclusions on the complaints against the GRP, but deliberately or not, the TWG  reported certain inaccuracies on the hand (such as mistakes in the ages of the children victims), and neglecting to report that besides the children who were killed, the cases also involved other children and minors who survived (such as the cases involving Bernie; the Golloso children; Aldassir and Dante).  

 For instance, the TWG states that the three-year old Amante Jr. ‘died with his family when some armed men fired at them in Castillejos, Zambales.’  The fact that Amante Jr was shot once in the head and died helpless in the embrace of his mother who was also shot once in the head was not mentioned. The alleged intelligence agents shot and killed Amante Jr. when they failed their main objective to kill the father – they vented their frustration on the little boy. 

 The eight-year old Nina, according to the TWG, ‘died with her family in a mass killing.’ The TWG did not use the more apt term ‘massacre’ nor did it describe the brutality of the attack that killed Nina and her family wherein the perpetrators fired at least 53 M-16 bullets (based on the shells found surrounding the house).

 Neither did the TWG include the detail that 10-year old Aldassir was shot in the torso, and when he died while in the custody of his and his parents’ killers, the soldiers threw his  body out of the moving truck like a bag of garbage. Aldassir’s younger brother, eight-year old Almujayyal  whom the soldiers also took with them even heard one of the soldiers declare his brother dead (“Nagdaran pa in truck kiyaruk siya sin sundalu daing ha truck, miyatay na kunu”).

 While the TWG reported that nine-year old Mary Jane was raped and killed, it did not mention that the little girl was found stuffed in a sack and that her small body bore marks of strangulation and possible drowning.

 In the meantime, the TWG did not give the least consideration for the testimonies of witnesses in the killings. It disregarded the written and signed accounts of the witnesses including the parents of the children killed wherein they directly attributed the deaths to the military, citing specific names and battalion units.

 In the case of the Golloso children, the leadership of the barangay where the fatal shooting took place submitted an affidavit belying the assertion of the 2nd IBPA and CAFGU unit under the command of Col. Romeo Cabatic that the children were killed in an encounter between the soldiers and some other armed group.  Eleven barangay officials and 42 residents signed the affidavit.

 As for the 15-year old Aeta boy Joey, he was charged of being a member of ‘a rebel group’ and killed by the 69th IBPA led by Col. Herbert Yambing. This information the TWG included but not the fact that Joey’s own employer  submitted a signed affidavit stating that the boy tended carabaos and sold tomatoes for him and that on the day Joey was killed, he had asked permission to go and play basketball with other Aeta children in a nearby community.

 The  TWG also did not cite the fact that the families of the victims and the human rights groups who helped them file complaints went not only to the JMC but also to  the Commission on Human Rights and the courts. 

 It’s also noticeable how the TWG attempted to clear the AFP from criminal liability for the killings by insinuating in certain cases that the children were either combatants or were in the custody or company of  rebel groups to justify their killing.

 The 17-year old Dante was resting with other bamboo cutters inside a house when they were startled awake at 4:00 am by a loud burst of gunfire. Soon after at 7:00 am, Dante and his cousin Alan, 18, left to buy food for their breakfast. Then there was another round of gunfire which sent the workers running for cover. At 12:00 noon, four soldiers came and ordered those in the house to come out. The soldiers asked if any of their companions was missing and when they answered in the affirmative, they produced Allan. The soldiers left taking the boy with them. The next day both Allan and Dante were found by their relatives in a funeral parlor. Witnesses say the two boys were last seen alive while under the custody of elements of the 71st IBPA, but that the soldiers charged the two boys of being with the rebels.

 The three-year old Wilmer was playing inside the house of his paternal grandmother when the soldiers came and shot him. They also shot his father William who was resting in an upstairs room. William was accused of being a member of the NPA

 In summary, there are more important points that expose the 10 cases of political killings of minors and children  as directly perpetrated by the military or paramilitary such as the CAFGU, or,  at least, as a consequence of the GRP’s military campaign against political activists.

 First, the children in the 10 cases of political killings of children and minors were killed either in their own homes, their area of employment, or in the presence or company of their own parents.

 Second, they were killed while in the middle of activities that could hardly be categorized as actively hostile or military in character, for instance, Aldassir was sleeping, and so were Bernie and Nina; Joey was heading off to play basketball, Dante was buying food; Amante Jr was riding a motorcycle sandwiched between his mother and father, and the Blanco children were preparing to leave with their parents to go to the clinic because their mother was scheduled to give birth.

 Third, all the witnesses and direct eye-witnesses point to the military, paramilitary or intelligence agents as perpetrators who carried out the killings with complete impunity.

 Fourth, the victims either had parents who were activists (Nina’s  father and mother were affiliated with Bayan Muna and Gabriela respectively; Amante’s father Amante Sr. was with Anakpawis and vice-president of the Alyansa ng Magsasaka sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL); in the military’s Order of Battle (Wilmer’s father William was in the OB; Bernie’s father Ernesto was a barangay chairman who was accused of being an NPA sympathizer); or the victims themselves were ordinary civilians accused of being NPA members (Joey and Dante).

 Fifth, the killings were conducted in varying hours of the day, regardless of whether there were witnesses or that the killings were conducted in public. All this denotes impunity.

 All in all, the brutal execution of these children are all-too consistent with the GRP’s counterinsurgency programs including  Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch), which the TWG report makes no mention of.  The GRP and its agencies deliberately hype the distorted concept of “child soldiers” and accuse the children it victimized and whose lives it destroyed of being armed and therefore legitimate combatants as a malicious means to  divert the attention from the true violators of children’s and human rights: the GRP and its armed forces. This twisted accusation that there are “child soldiers” in the Philippines all the more exposes children violence renders them vulnerable to the most vicious of human rights violations.

 The cases of extrajudicial killings of children filed against the GRP and included in the TWG report make up only a part of the hundreds of cases of children victims of human rights violations since Pres. Arroyo came into power in 2001. There are 54 cases (49 of which are well-documented) of children killed by the military during operations. Up to now, no justice has been given to these children and their families.

 Since Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power, there has been a steep rise in the number of cases of children victimized by the GRP’s military operations. The GRP asserts that it upholds human rights, but the facts speak for themselves and sharply contradict this lie. 

 These recorded violations are proof that children are not spared by the all-out war the GRP wages against the Filipino people. The children of political activists and human rights workers fallen victim to extrajudicial killings are orphaned, their young lives marred and damaged by the experience of losing their parents to state violence. As for the child victims of extrajudicial killings themselves, their brutal killing at the hands of the military prove the extent of the AFP’s impunity is—not even the most innocent are spared.

 Upholding children’s rights necessitates much broader participation that goes beyond monitoring and reporting of human rights abuses. There must be a determined effort to prosecute offenders. This is precisely what the GRP has been deliberately hindering despite the establishment of supposed instrumentalities such as task forces and commissions to address the matter.  Any purported “mitigating circumstances” through which the GRP seeks to justify infringements of children’s rights in times of armed conflict must be seen for what they are: reprehensible and intolerable.

The GRP is signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and insists that it upholds laws and policies which promote the best interests of Filipino children. The long list of murdered and massacred children proves just how much the GRP gives importance to children’s rights: when not killing the parent, it kills the children. The Arroyo regime continues to absolve itself of blame for the lengthy series of human rights violations while heaping praise on the very same military officials who are being accused as perpetrators.

 In relation to this, it bears mentioning that the UNICEF in 2005 appealed to the United Nations Security Council to do more to protect the rights of children affected by armed conflict This following UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s submission of a report to the Security Council calling for targeted measures against those who violate children’s rights. The UNICEF said that the UN Security Council should make a ruling that  that peace deals and amnesties should not extend, in any circumstances, to those who commit “egregious crimes” against children. The GRP’s bloody record of extrajudicial killings of children is more than enough reason, as the 2nd Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) Second Session on the Philippines declared, to denounce the inclusion of the Republic of the Philippines in the UN  Human Rights Council as ‘unacceptable.’

 At the immediate, the NDFP demands that decisive steps must be initiated to bring the perpetrators of the EJKs of children and minors to justice. The GRP’s armed forces must be made to cease and desist from further committing atrocities against children, respect their rights as well as the fundamental human rights of all Filipinos. The NDFP holds the GRP accountable for the destruction of these children’s lives, and the overall worsening of human rights in the country.

 Finally, another issue that should be immediately addressed is the need for the rights of children to be discussed in the joint meetings between the two monitoring committees of the JMC. The first step towards these genuine, thorough, and objective investigations into the cases of  political killings of children and minors – as well the cases of harassment and general victimization of children by military and paramilitary elements — should be immediately initiated and pursued until they are justly resolved and the perpetrators are punished.

Based on principles of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights,  “children in armed conflict” does not only refer to children who are made combatants or who have taken part in hostilities as soldiers, but also those who are caught in the middle of wars. There are many, many more children who have fallen victim to emotional/psychological stress from the trauma and effects of the GRP’s total war on families and communities.There is no questioning the duty of every enlightened government to protect and provide for the needs of its citizens, including their children.  The performance of this duty is rightly regarded as one of the most important of governmental functions, but there is much to be desired in how the GRP performs this function. All these issues serve as more compelling reasons for the GRP-MC and the NDFP-MC to convene and embark on joint investigations.

 The TWG has made similar recommendation in its report. The NDFP challenges the GRP to act on this same recommendation and approve the immediate conduct of investigations to be jointly led by the monitoring committees of the JMC. #