Vancouver, BC: -- What does Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini,Tandang Sora and Fidel Agcaoili have in common with Angie Ipong and Dr. Merry Mia Clamor?

They’re all political prisoners at different periods in Philippine history.  Rizal and Tandang Sora were arrested and imprisoned  by the Spanish colonial government, Mabini by the American colonial government, Agcaoili  by  the Marcos dictatorship and Angie Ipong and Dr. Clamor by the Macapagal-Arroyo government.



They have all been criminalized and vilified as filibusteros, subversives, ladron (bandits), terrorists and called the enemy for being nationalists, anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists.



Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor, a young medical doctor with the Philippine Council on Health and Development, was arrested and detained with 42 other health workers in 2010, subjected to physical and psychological torture. She was released by the military 10 months later and all trumped up charges, which included bomb making, were dropped.  Dr. Clamor and several other health workers recently filed the first criminal lawsuit against former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several military and police officials and charged them with torture and other human rights violations the health workers suffered during their arrest and detention.

Angelina Bisuña Ipong is in her sixties, a former school teacher and peasant organizer and now the Secretary General of SELDA, the Philippine organization of former political prisoners. Ipong was arrested in 2005, tortured, sexually assaulted and denied her legal and civil rights. She was released six years later in 2011 and the charges of rebellion, murder and arson, among others, against her were dismissed for lack of evidence.  In prison, Ipong planted an organic vegetable garden, taught basic literacy to the other prisoners and wrote the book “Garden Behind Bars.”



Dr. Clamor and Ms. Ipong were with the Canadian Human Rights Defenders’ Tour which was part of the international effort to prepare for the 2012 United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session when the Philippine human rights record will be reviewed by UN member states, including Canada. Victoria and Vancouver were the last leg of their Canada-wide tour after that of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Winnipeg where they met with Members of Parliament and political parties as well as with the youth and students, church communities and leaders, migrant and Philippine indigenous communities. The Western part of the tour from April 14-16 was organized by the local groups Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, the Alliance for People’s Health, Migrante BC and the League of International Peoples’ Struggles-Canada.



In Victoria, the two human rights defenders spoke at the Philippine Bayanihan Community Centre. In Vancouver, they were met by MLA Mable Elmore at the Community Office. At the public events at the SFU Harbour Centre and at the Strathcona Community Centre, they brought to the attention of Canadians and the Filipinos the continuing human rights violations in the Philippines, the anti-mining movement against foreign corporations and the imperative to resume the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front.  



Ms. Ipong said that they sought to highlight  major concerns: “We ask the Canadian government to call on the Philippine government to declare a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty to political prisoners, to reform the Philippine judicial and criminal justice system, and to encourage the Philippine government to resume the stalled peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.”

Irwin Cotler, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mount Royal (Liberal), Justice and Human Rights Critic and Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, welcomed the idea of a Parliamentary delegation and said “we need to see the human rights situation on the ground… and these are things we need to witness up close, to put questions to the Filipino authorities and hopefully come up with a report that speaks to the specific issue of what Canada can do.” 

Wayne Marston, MP for Hamilton East Stony Creek, NDP Human Rights Critic and Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights declared after meeting with the Filipino human rights delegation that “very clearly, there is a state over there of impunity where you’re having extrajudicial killings, you’re having people detained for no good reason and people who are trying to do the right things are the ones who seem to be the ones being abused by this particular government.”



Dr. Clamor and Ms. Ipong left behind a picture of the Filipino people fighting for their rights and their national sovereignty in the face of repression and the culture of impunity. They also underscored the importance of international solidarity from ordinary people, grassroots organizations, faith-based groups and unions.



A specific campaign to adopt political prisoners is underway and those wanting more information or wanting to get involved, can email the CPSHR account: cps_hr@yahoo.ca.

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine