As we transition to a world with crucial liberties that bind mankind, the more visible it is to perceive the externalities arising from injustice. Howbeit, the truth remains barred by deafening lies, the same justice delayed is justice denied, political manipulations, and vicious sly foxes persist like dynamics in a system, embedded and penetrating. Today marks our foray into a just and humane society, where the imposition of rights and freedom must be upheld among humans, and assurance of truth and justice are derived.
On October 3 this year, a prominent radio commentator, Percival Mabasa, was shot dead in a Manila suburb as he drove to his studio. This most recent assassination of a journalist is just one file in a cabinet of unresolved cases attributed to truth vanguards whose unflinching critical motions became their cause of death. On the other hand, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported a decrease in the number of journalist killings from 62 in 2020 to 55 in 2021, the lowest since 2008. There might be a significant decline in casualties, yet, looking at the span of coverage, it was at the height of the pandemic, when lockdowns and regulations were strictly implemented. To take that into account, 78% or 91 of the 117 death cases happened during times when journalists were not in their actual working spaces, and "most were killed in the privacy of their own homes or while traveling," stated the UNESCO-Director General. It is not what statistics showed, it is the underlying evil that perpetrated the cause of journalism. Remember that it is sinful to kill a mockingbird if it does nothing but sing; as for journalists criticizing and exposing the iniquitous, but he who writes and speaks the truth about injustice, political intrigues, and misconduct, he is marching towards his doom.
Meanwhile, the same justice we continue to advocate for is also the detriment that has prevented us from defining the foundations of our judiciary system, which has long been ebbing due to the pulling of social inequality, the power of leverage of the rich, and, more so, the manipulative political figures around whom the justice system revolves. The case of former senator De Lima, indeed, was a manifestation of this recession in the judicial process of the government. Last month, former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos expressed his apology to the erstwhile lawmaker when they met accidentally after the resumption of the hearing on the remaining drug-related charges filed against De Lima at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.
Accordingly, just in May of this year, Ragos recanted his accusation that he, with the aid of Jovencio Ablen Jr., transferred millions of pesos from the illicit drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison to De Lima's house in Paranaque City in 2012 (GMA News). In his recantation, he stated that he was forced to testify against De Lima and Ronnie Dayan due to the fear and threats of being detained for the crime he never committed. By magnifying the Philippine legal framework, we can see how the siphoning of these political parasites prolonged themselves in debilitating the system that we fail to protect. If this transgression had occurred in a higher phasing, then, what more do the people under are continuing to face in the midst of their battle for justice and freedom?
Further, human rights and economics have never been close companions. Rarely have human rights advocates engaged with financial systems. In turn, economists have rarely appraised human right law principles. Nevertheless, economic thinkers such as Jean Sismondi and Friedrich List postulated that gauging the progress of a nation is not greatly dependent on its capacity to magnetize wealth and accumulate materials but on the development of its productive forces, its human capital. However, the economic status quo seems to propel the motion in favor of the capitalistic momentum. The amendments to the Foreign Investment Act (FIA) sought to rake in capital inflows to the Philippines, allowing economic growth to wheel in support of leveraging back the country's pandemic-affected sectors. Under the modified FIA, foreign nationals who have businesses classified as small to medium enterprises can now have the 100% ownership capacity to operate, moreover, the company can hire no fewer than 15 Filipino employees, a substantive reduction from its previous requirement of 50. This initiative envisaged the monetarily stable future of the nation in terms of its fiscal undertakings that will augment the cycle of the Philippine economic system. Yet, tradeoffs always occur when one resorts to prioritize the other.
As we move toward what we envision as being good for Filipinos, we lose sight of what is really good for them. The opening of our economic gateways does not only mean attracting more investment to succor our trades and businesses, but also inviting guileful investors that may suck up our resources, which would eventually exhaust our local businesses and also negate the predicament faced by the domestic labor market. In the words of Darrick Hamilton, Professor and Director of The New School’s Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, he firmly argued that the manner in which we define economic value and our traditional metrics have failed to reflect what is, in the first place, our most valuable asset in the world, which is the people. Creating inclusive economies will help flourish the virtues of mankind, break down barriers of social polarization, and most of all, reinforce the economic rights of the unmarginalized. Thus, economic policies framed with the vision for human rights will serve as guardrails that will shelter the utmost interest of humanity.
On the contrary, in the recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held in Geneva, Switzerland, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla imparted that the Philippines had accepted 200 recommendations made by member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). These recommendations "fall within the scope of and bolster the Philippine Government’s ongoing human rights policies, programs, and initiatives," as stated by Remulla. This is a major turn for the new administration's efforts to uphold the crippling human rights situation in the Philippines. While the UNHRC has acknowledged the Philippines' progress on human rights issues, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has maintained its demand that the government should provide accountability for all instances of human rights breaches. In addition, Remulla also ascertained that, despite the country's appalling image towards human rights in the international setting, there is "no state policy" that oppresses human rights defenders. This may be true for some, but let us not forget the bloodshed that tainted the Philippines’ red. With this course of action, may the Philippines continue to embark in bracing the inherent dignity and the equal and indivisible rights of every Filipino.
As we commemorate the monumental establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), it is to be emphasized that human rights bequeath its very core to the hands of every human. The best way of protecting and exercising our rights is not limited to knowing what our rights are but also sharing these rights with others. By then, we can advance our causes by championing the essence of our individuality and communality. We should always remember that our rights are universal and inalienable, and that denying people their rights is to challenge their very humanity.
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