KMU urges EU: Stop funding the criminal

It is with great dismay that victims of trade union repression have learned of the decision of the European Union (EU) to give 3.9 million euros to the Arroyo regime, which is notorious for its gross human and labor rights violations. Coming in less than two weeks after the first International Labor Organization High-level Mission (ILO-HLM), which came close to indicting the present regime of trade union rights violations, such news appears as mockery of our struggle for justice and for an end to the persecution of critical voices in the country.

We strongly condemn this blind and foolish move by the EU to provide the number one criminal, Gloria Arroyo, with fresh funds to sustain her atrocity against activists and activist organizations. Rather than help curb extra-judicial killings, the fund will reload military and police guns with fresh ammunition. Rather than stop enforced disappearances, it will spawn more government-hired agents who will carry out the abductions of activists. It's like giving the Joker some bombs with the objective of saving Gotham City.

Previous investigations – the most famous of which is that of UN special rapporteur Philip Alston – have already proven the liability of the military for the extra-judicial killings in the country. Setting up and funding the so-called EU-Philippine Justice Support Program or EPJUST would just be pointless. At this point wherein evidence and public sentiment all point to Arroyo’s responsibility for gross human rights violations since 2001, what the present government needs is a host of political and economic sanctions – not funding.

If the EU really intends to use the fund to end attacks against activists, then it should not give it to the criminal. It must give it to the victims and their relatives and organizations – all of which who need financial support in pursuing court cases against the military and police forces. The funds should go to those deprived of justice, no to those with bloody hands. #