LFS calls for pull-out of military from schools on Int’l Human Rights Day; Aquino gov’t guilty of grave rights violations lfs.ph/2014/12/10/lfs-calls-for-pull-out-of-military-from-schools-on-intl-human-rights-day-aquino-govt-guilty-of-grave-rights-violations/ Commemorating the 2014 International Human Rights Day, the youth group League of Filipino Students (LFS) joined sectoral organizations and the contingent of the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao in a march to the Mendiola Peace Arch today. Participants staged an indignant program at Mendiola and burned an effigy of the “impunity king” Aquino. The group mounted calls for the Aquino administration’s ouster over its grave abuses against the Filipino people. “People from rural areas and urban centers are drawn together in a protest spurred by the grave human rights violations perpetrated by the Aquino administration. We are here to call for the regime’s removal and make it accountable for the appalling relief and rehabilitation for typhoon victims, military encampment in schools and communities, pork barrel corruption and all other atrocities it has relentlessly executed,” stated LFS National Spokesperson Charlotte Velasco. The youth group denounced the Aquino government’s implementation of the Department of Education Memo No. 221 which effectively allows presence of elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in schools. LFS demanded for the scrapping of the said memo and for the immediate pull-out and ban of military troops from school premises. “We strongly insist that military troops stay out from schools and nearby areas. Unwarranted incursion of the AFP instills a harsh and repressive environment, making students vulnerable to brutal military harassment. This shows that DepEd and the Aquino regime are in cahoots with the AFP in using the education system as an instrument to further advance its campaign of repression,” said Velasco. LFS also assailed the implementation of the lopsided Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which puts the entire country in danger under foreign military intervention. The group alluded to the murder case of Jennifer Laude with prime suspect US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton still under the protection of the United States. “The agreement is a sell-out of our national sovereignty, magnet for aggression, and token for impunity altogether. It grants immunity to interventionist US troops for any act of savagery they will strike against citizens,” said Velasco. The Aquino administration’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, was assailed for inciting several cases of human rights violations while operating under the guise of civilian missions. LFS cited the report of the Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights which revealed 226 cases of extra-judicial killings, 26 enforced disappearances, and 104 tortures under Aquino’s watch. “Ruthless human rights violations on civilians and political dissenters alike were continuously committed by the mercenary AFP and PNP in the wake of Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan. The reported cases of civil and political rights abuses serve as testaments of the regime’s unprecedented record of violence,” said Velasco. LFS also extended their solidarity to the mass protests against racial injustice in Ferguson and the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico. “The people of Ferguson and Mexico show that injustice and impunity have really become so deeply entrenched in all parts of the world, serving the system that benefits only those in power,” said Velasco. “Aquino’s trail of aggression prove his cold-blooded apathy towards the people’s rightful demands. His fascist administration urges the youth to join mass protests calling for his ouster and clamoring for a system overhaul,” she concluded.###
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 01:41:34 +0000
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