Senator Joker Arroyo hits NSC over HR bill

By Christina Mendez

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Manila-- Re-electionist Sen. Joker Arroyo has slammed the National Security Council and the military for their last-minute attempt to block the human rights compensation bill just as it was about to be ratified by the House of Representatives.

In a privilege speech Monday, Arroyo said the situation “demeans and mocks the legislative process” because it shows that the “military can throw a monkey wrench even at the tail-end of congressional work.”

He appealed to the House of Representatives to ratify the bicameral conference report to assuage critics – including the international community – about the country’s alarming human rights record.

The delay in the passage of the measure, he stressed, may only reinforce the global community’s belief that the Philippines “is a transgressor of human rights.”

“I was formally advised that the House may not ratify the bicameral report because of certain objections of the National Security Council (NSC),” Arroyo, a known human rights defender, said.

“If the House does not act on the only remaining phase before it becomes an approved bill, the Human Rights Compensation Bill is dead,” he warned.

The bill, “Human Rights Victims Compensation Act,” seeks to provide P10 billion to human rights victims from the Sept. 21, 1972 declaration of martial law to the Feb. 25, 1986 EDSA Revolution that toppled the Marcos regime. The measure is expected to benefit more than 10,000 victims of human rights violations perpetrated mainly by soldiers and policemen.

Arroyo said that during the committee on human rights hearings on the bill, no one from the NSC or the military commented or posed any objection to the measure. Arroyo chairs the Senate human rights committee.

He said defense and security officials did not show up when the measure was discussed in plenary sessions and in the bicameral conference.

“After the Senate ratified the bicam report that is now before the House, the National Security Council sends word that they are uncomfortable with the bill for security reasons, that most of the monies would go to communists and subversives,” the senator said.

“There were three stages where they had all the opportunities to present their misgivings,” Arroyo stressed.

He said the concerns of the NSC, headed by Norberto Gonzales, were “misplaced and incorrect” because the violations were committed between 1972 and 1986. “They were committed by the martial law military, not the army of today,” Arroyo pointed out.

“We won’t belabor the point. The point is that they should have raised those concerns at any level of the legislative process, not at the penultimate stage before it becomes a law,” Arroyo maintained.

“By the very nature of the award process, as provided for in the bill, payments cannot possibly be released before the latter part of next year,” Arroyo said.

“Pass the bill and the incoming 14th Congress would be open to modifying the bill that would address the military’s concern,” he appealed to House members.

The Senate passed the original rights compensation bill in the 12th Congress but the House failed to act on it. The bill was re-filed in the present Congress and was ratified by the Senate before the legislators went on a three-month recess prior to the May 14 elections. Again, the House failed to ratify the measure on Feb. 9, the last session day before the recess.

*********