Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is resorting to the tools of dictatorship in order to suppress the people’s continuing efforts to hold her accountable for electoral fraud, corruption, and the cover-up of the truth. With the issuance of Proclamation 1017, declaring a state of national emergency, Mrs. Arroyo has unleashed an assault on civil liberties not seen since the Martial Law years.

Basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and the right to personal freedom were violated when the government imposed a general ban on rallies, raided the office of the opposition newspaper The Daily Tribune, and conducted warrantless arrests of prominent critics of the Arroyo administration, such as the University of the Philippines professor Randy David and Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran.  

Even after the lifting of the state of emergency, the repression continues. In an apparent crackdown on dissenters, Rep. Beltran remains in detention, charged with rebellion together with five other progressive party-list representatives, all of whom face arrest. A number of other well-known activist leaders, such as Nathaniel Santiago and Rafael Baylosis, have likewise been charged and threatened with warrantless arrests, based on the testimony of dubious witnesses.  

The government has threatened the filing of inciting to sedition charges against numerous media organizations, such as ABS-CBN, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. 

Peaceful assemblies continue to be suppressed by the police, often with the use of force. The leaders of such gatherings are subjected to warrantless arrests and illegal detention.  

Meanwhile, outside of Metro Manila and the other major urban centers, the killing of activists critical of the Arroyo government continues unabated. On February 27, at the height of the so-called state of emergency, public school teacher and activist Napoleon Pornasdoro was gunned down by motorcycle-riding assailants in Lucena City. On March 10, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Malolos chairperson Santi Teodoro was killed. On March 17, Hacienda Luisita union leader Tirso Cruz was shot dead in his own home. On March 20, the 20-year old League of Filipino Students leader Chris Hugo was murdered in Legaspi City. Hugo is the 30th activist killed since the beginning of the year.

Napoleon Pornasdoro is not the only educator and anti-Arroyo activist to have been killed. In September 2005, Vitoria Samonte, a professor at the Don Andres Soriano College in Bislig City, was stabbed dead by an unknown assailant. In May 2004, Leima Fortu, a human rights activist and public school teacher at the Suqui Elementary School in Calapan, was brutally murdered.

We are teachers, academics, and educators who have come together to form Educators for Civil Liberties. 
As citizens, we vow to defend our hard-won rights; condemn the Arroyo administration for trampling on these liberties; and demand justice for all victims of its repression. As educators, we reaffirm our commitment to academic freedom and recognize that it can only flourish in a society that respects civil liberties and human rights.

We demand the following:

• stop warrantless arrests and illegal detentions;

• junk the calibrated preemptive response policy against peaceful assemblies;

• stop the harassment of journalists and media organizations;

• the immediate release of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran;

• stop the persecution of personalities critical of the government, such as the “Batasan 5” and other progressive activists;

• stop politically-motivated killings;

• justice for teachers Napoleon Pornasdoro, Vitoria Samonte, Leima Fortu and all other victims of political killings.
   

Quezon City

March 21, 2006

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