Human rights situation in the country is at the alarming stage.

In a report of human rights group Karapatan, 902 leftwing activists were victims of summary executions and 180 political activists were victims of enforced disappearances from 2001 up to present, of course under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

I remember the two UP students who were reportedly abducted by the military in Bulacan sometime in 2006. One of them is Karen Empeño, a sociology major and good friend of mine. After hearing the incident, I signed an online petition against political killings and persecution

I knew Karen very well, being my doormate in Kalayaan Residence Hall during our freshman in UP. She was an active and diligent student, ever willing to learn more the Philippine history and culture. We both joined the League of Filipino Students and both realized the causes of ills of Philippine society through educational discussions and basic masses integration. What could be wrong in living with the farmers and doing research with the plight of people in the countryside? If that would be the case, being a development worker and researcher is now a discouraging profession to pursue, especially if you’re working with peasant and farmers that you would be tagged as NPA member or NPA sympathizer.

Another similar incident happened that year was the killing of Cris Hugo, a 20-year old journalism student of Bicol University. Like Karen, Cris was a regional coordinator of LFS in Bicol and was at the forefront of fighting for students’ rights and welfare at BU. Only on his prime of youth, Cris was very young to die and his death was a direct attack to the youth sector being the first youth leader killed that time. More than being a brother in the fraternity, Cris was a brother of all – an active campaigner for greater student involvement in BU student council elections and forerunner of forming an inter-fraternity council in the campus for confraternity and peaceful co-existence of Greek-letter societies in BU. More than that is the fact that he was the Grand Chancellor of Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity, Gamma Omicron chapter when he mortally shot to death.

Karapatan report may not be that exaggerated as claimed by government authorities who had represented the country in the recently concluded meeting of United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. Its report only reveals a clandestine state of grave abuses and blatant violations in the forms of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and political persecutions in the Philippines. This situation needs to be addressed by the next chief of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). By the way, one of the nominees for CHR Chair is former solicitor general and justice secretary Silvestre Bello III, a brother in the fraternity.

Last Saturday, victims of human rights violations gathered at Quezon Memorial Circle calling for justice from the Arroyo government. These people have suffered enough from various threats to their life and liberty. They have represented not only themselves but also thousands of victims who are now below the ground, resting but not in peace, including Karen and Cris and the rest of the unsung heroes of the poor and marginalized sectors.

I can’t help but wonder why in the present times, cases of human rights keep on rising in a seemingly perfect way of execution. These trying times are more than the reflection of martial law years. This really is a dangerous time. How many Karen or Cris would disappear or be shot to death because of their principles and beliefs? How many journalists, student activists, development workers, church and community leaders, and progressive individuals would be the next victim?

The government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should always be reminded that every state has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights.