Purported police photos of former Filipino leader and now Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo, who is facing plunder charges and electoral sabotage.
“We demand the immediate prosecution of Mrs. Arroyo and hold her accountable for the human rights violations committed during her term. We demand that President Benigno Aquino III facilitate the prompt and expeditious handling of these cases. His failure to do so will make him an accessory to the impunity and violence perpetrated by the Arroyo regime,” said Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmi De Jesus in a joint statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Ilagan, a native of Mindanao , said two years after the so-called “Maguindanao massacre” where 58 people, including 32 journalists and media workers, were brutally killed, only two of the 196 suspects have been arraigned.
“We decry the lack of accountability. We decry the injustice. In a criminal offense as gruesome and as condemnable as the Ampatuan Massacre, the failure of government institutions to expedite justice allows impunity to continue. It is not surprising that the killing of journalists and activists persist under the Aquino administration,” Ilagan said.
De Jesus said the violence and persecution that women endured under the Arroyo regime cannot be underscored enough. “Let us not forget Eden Marcellana, Benjaline Hernandez, Liliosa Posa, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno. Let us not forget the thousands of human rights workers, indigenous people, women, children, students, and journalists, who were victims of her extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances,” she said.
Citing data from the human rights group called “Karapatan,” De Jesus said that under Arroyo’s rule there were 1,208 cases of extra-judicial killings, and 206 cases of enforced disappearances on top of the 1,099 cases of torture.
“Gabriela Women’s Party calls on President Aquino to remain firm and not be swayed by any legal processes that the Arroyo camp will press. Instead, he should now file the plunder cases and human rights violations cases against Gloria Arroyo. He should ensure that Arroyo be jailed, stay in jail and be punished for all the sins she committed against the Filipino people,” she said.
The lawmakers were also joined by Angie Ipong, 67, who was illegally arrested, manhandled and tortured in March 8, 2005; Mercy Castro, of the “Morong 43.” who was denied health services despite her difficult pregnancy in jail and families of Ampatuan Massacre victims.
Ipong and Castro decried the special treatment being given the former President. “The callousness with which we were treated is a far cry from the treatment that Arroyo is getting. We were denied medical services and we were subjected to torture and humiliation,” Ipong said.
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