President Bongbong Marcos signed Executive Order No. 81 s. 2024 removing the vice-president and former presidents from the National Security Council (NSC). What can the people expect from this change in the composition of the NSC?
The key track record of the NSC from 2016 at the onset of former President Rodrigo Duterte (officially tagged by the Congress Quad committee as guilty of “Crimes vs Humanity”, along with Senators Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa, some generals, Rodrigo’s son Rep. Polong Duterte, VP Sara Duterte’s husband Mans Carpio, and several others) is an unprecedented horror-filled yearly dose of human rights violations, as documented by various human rights watchdogs, foremost of which is KARAPATAN.
With the former president’s hard-core policy (dating back when he was Davao City mayor) of “Kill Kill Kill,” KARAPATAN, along with other fearless media outlets, reported: “60 extrajudicial killings in2023 compared to 41 in 2022…four victims of enforced disappearances in 2022…11 in 2023…66 percent rise in the number of victims of indiscriminate firing from 12,263 in 2022 to 20,391 in 2023….”
This is “the militarist approach to the insurgency that remains government policy, and which excludes any effort to address the systemic roots of the armed conflict.” “KARAPATAN has documented as many as 1,609,496 victims who have been threatened, harassed and intimidated under the Marcos Jr. regime, mainly through red- and terrorist-tagging.”
Records of extrajudicial killings abound: “on June 16, 2023…in a fake encounter (with the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army) in Masbate, peasant Rey Belan…was shot dead…while a friend, Senen Dollente was wounded.” “On August 19, 2023, soldiers of the 96th IBPA and elements of the Masbate PNP killed women farmers Jelyn Guis Dejomo, 56; Sheryl Salazar Dejomo, 29; Divina Ajitan, 60, all residents of Barangay Jagnaan, San Jacinto, Ticao island, Masbate…The AFP falsely claimed…(they) were members of the NPA killed during an encounter.”
“NDFP negotiating panel members Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon with 8 companions were tortured, murdered and “loaded on a motorboat filled with explosives…tugged from Catbalogan midway towards Taranganan Island before it was detonated….”
Noteworthy too under the regime of the former president, and until today with the Bongbong Marcos—Sara Duterte administration, Filipino fishermen and maritime scientists have been unable to carry on their livelihoods and scientific researches, respectively. China’s coast guard vessels have encroached on the country’s sovereignty, using water cannons and laser beams on the country’s vessels. But, so far, no strong response from the government has been filed with the appropriate UN body to resolve the problem.
Like other well-meaning democratic groups, the multi-sectoral Council of Leaders for Peace Initiatives called for the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDFP) to jointly address the underlying causes of the armed conflict, to arrive at a final peace settlement through negotiations.
Can’t PBBM, with his newly-organized NSC pursue this path of peace initiative? Will the Filipino people now feel safer now with a humane and just National Security Council? Or is this a hopeless wish for now?
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