COLUMNIST: BRUCE VAN VOORHIS
Rights and Wrongs
Bruce Van Voorhis is a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong whose work often focuses on the Philippines. In addition to working at the commission since 2000, he is also a co-convener of the Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines, a coalition formed in April 2005 to respond to the upsurge of extrajudicial killings in the country.
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June 05, 2008Hong Kong, China — A 75-year-old man fatally fell from a ladder while repairing a leaky roof in the Philippines on May 20 before an approaching typhoon. The way Congressman Crispin Beltran died speaks volumes about the way he lived, for how many 75-year-old congressmen would be repairing their own leaky roof?
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April 30, 2008Hong Kong, China — In most nations, the role of the armed forces is to defend the country while that of the police is to maintain law and order. In the Philippines, however, both military and police forces have turned against ordinary people, treating them as enemies of the state, as two incidents last month reveal.
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March 19, 2008Hong Kong, China — While the eyes of the Philippines are rightly focused on the corruption tainting the core of the country's political leadership and their family members, there is another insidious disease that is also quietly infecting the nation: the militarization of society.
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February 06, 2008Hong Kong, China — The number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the Philippines dramatically dropped in 2007 -- a welcome development. There have been convictions in only two cases out of hundreds of incidents, however. With so few arrested and convicted, violence may escalate again.
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December 26, 2007Hong Kong, China — A series of corruption scandals that have afflicted the Philippines, involving inappropriate government contracts, bribery of congressmen and officials, and the pardoning of convicted former President Joseph Estrada, show an absence of ethical leadership.
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November 14, 2007Hong Kong, China — Corruption is not a new phenomenon in the Philippines. Mention the name Marcos and associations with corruption, along with human rights abuses and impunity, will most likely spring to mind.
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October 24, 2007Hong Kong, China — In the midst of recent allegations of corruption involving the Philippine government's award to Chinese firm ZTE Corp. for nationwide broadband services for government agencies, bribes to congressmen to support a weak impeachment motion that will immunize
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August 08, 2007Hong Kong, China — The hundreds of extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the Philippines since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001 have been deservedly condemned by the international community and by the citizens of the country. Calls have been made
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July 11, 2007Hong Kong, China — Republic Act No. 9372 -- better known as the Human Security Act of 2007 or the Anti-terrorism Act -- takes effect on July 15 after being passed by the Philippine Congress in February and signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on March 6.
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May 30, 2007Hong Kong, China — Within a span of several days in the middle of May, two important elections involving the Philippines were held. During the first election on May 14, citizens throughout the country cast their ballot for 12 senators -- half of the Senate -- all 230 member
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April 18, 2007Hong Kong, China — How many extrajudicial killings are acceptable to the Philippine government? The question is important as the Philippine National Police's Task Force Usig, which was specifically entrusted by the Arroyo administration to investigate and prevent these kill