In another statement, Orly Marcellana, Bayan-Southern Tagalog chairperson, said, “The ASEAN will only be utilized by the US to further strengthen its domination over Southeast Asia. U.S. imperialism is facing an enormous political and economic crisis that is why it is expanding its control over trade in Asia in the guise of unification.”

ASEAN rights commission

Meanwhile, in an earlier statement, Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo asserted that the Philippine government has neither moral nor political ascendancy to campaign for human rights in the ASEAN.

“The Arroyo government’s dismal human rights record for the last six years of its rule makes the Philippines’ appeal to Myanmar hypocritical and ineffectual,” Araullo said. “The government’s current counter-insurgency programs, Oplan Bantay Laya I & II, have produced a lengthening list of unsolved extrajudicial killings and abductions of activists and ordinary citizens. This fact alone belies its claims of a vibrant democracy.”

“Myanmar is touted as the black sheep in the Asean family of democratic states,” Araullo added. “With political killings, abductions, torture and other human rights abuses continuing with impunity, the Arroyo government is a strong contender for Myanmar’s reputation.”
According to Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), there are 885 victims of extrajudicial killings and 183 victims of enforced disappearances from January 2001 to June 2007.

Araullo added that while the U.S., the European Union and other countries have joined together in imposing political and economic sanctions on Myanmar for its alleged repressive policies and acts, the Arroyo government must likewise be strongly put to task, at least in the form of a withdrawal of foreign military aid. (Bulatlat.com)

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