Due to a leaked military documentation which was deemed confidential, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, a FORUM-ASIA member, issued a statement on 19 June 2009 denouncing its authors. The document lists a civil society organisation as an enemy.
Due to a leaked military
documentation which was deemed confidential, Philippine Alliance of Human
Rights Advocates, a FORUM-ASIA member, issued a statement on 19 June 2009
denouncing its authors. The document lists a civil society organisation as an
enemy.

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates
(PAHRA) denounces the authors of the leaked PowerPoint presentation of
a document classified as 'secret' entitled "3rd Quarter OB [Order of
Battle] Validation result' purportedly prepared by the JCICC 'Agula'
under the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence of
the 10th Infantry Division. The OB is in the least a despicable joke
that should merit a far heavier punishment than the prohibited 'bomb
joke' at airport terminals. It inevitably creates fear and anxiety in
the listed people and their families. At worst, it is an insidious
document that exposes the hard-heartedness of the military and the
obstinacy of Ms. Gloria Arroyo, as both Chief Executive and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in
completely disregarding a pertinent recommendation of the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Prof. Philip Alston, that:

The
Government should immediately direct all military officers to cease
making public statements linking political or other civil society
groups to those engaged in armed insurgencies. If such
characterizations are ever to be made it must be by civilian
authorities, on the basis of transparent criteria, and in conformity
with the human rights provisions of the Constitution and relevant
treaties.

PAHRA also expresses extreme alarm at the inclusion of
the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) which obviously
insinuates the targeting of all those who particularly work in TFDP as
well as all who generally are active in the promotion and defense of
human rights.

TFDP is a member of PAHRA. The Association of
the Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) set up TFDP in
the early years of martial law in1974. It has since documented
thousands of cases, and served victims and their families of human
rights violations. TFDP was placed in an earlier O.B. produced by the
military entitled "Knowing the Enemy".

PAHRA denounces the
authors of O.B. lists3 as conspirators against the right to life of
human rights defenders because the former have set the targets and
adjusted the sights of guns for the killing. A significant number of
those in previous lists have been shot implicating military and police
officials and other personnel. PAHRA thus fears particularly for the
safety of Ms. Rita Melencio of TFDP who has been subtly described as
"Marietta Mulato y Maring" and wrongly placed in the O.B. of the 10th
Infantry Division. Mulato is Rita's maiden name. She is a native of
Toril in Davao City. In more than ten years with TFDP, Rita has figured
prominently in seeking justice in several high-profile cases, such as
the killing of the Japalali couple by the military in 2006-07 and the
torture of the Davao bombing suspects in 2003-04. Even before the
expose of the 10th ID OB list, Rita had noted definite signs of
surveillance.

The Chief Executive, who is also the
Commander-in-Chief of the AFP, should order all military officers to
withdraw and to cease making Order of Battle lists that includes Human
Rights Defenders or any linkage of cause-oriented groups, organizations
and institutions to any of the armed insurgencies. "If such
characterizations are ever to be made", Alston has earlier recommended
that, "it must be by civilian authorities, on the basis of transparent
criteria, and in conformity with the human rights provisions of the
Constitution and relevant treaties".

PAHRA calls on all people
of goodwill to repudiate the military's OB lists as acts violative of
the Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) right to life. The people should
demand the immediate action of government on the Alston recommendation.
Such OB lists put the military and all government entities who assist
in the elimination of human rights defenders not only as complicit to
grave human rights violations but also set themselves against the just
demands of persons and peoples which HRDs advocate. Such entities can
become an object of the people's odium. People should turn government
and military institutions, instead of being obstacles to the
implementation of the State's obligations to human rights, to become
sources of service and protection for all.

Assert our common humanity! Fight for our human rights!