Don’t tie aid to human rights record, Philippines tells US

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario. AP

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has called on the United States to scratch out improved human rights record as a condition for increased military aid to the Philippines.

In a lecture at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Wednesday, Del Rosario complained that some funding had been withheld by the US Congress since 2008 over human rights concerns, which he claimed the Aquino administration had taken steps to address.

Rights groups say extrajudicial killings have decreased, but there has been no progress on the  prosecutions of suspects.

In a high-level security meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Del Rosario pushed for an increased foreign military financing (FMF) allocation to beef up Philippine defenses amid an increasingly tense territorial dispute with China.

“We fully recognize the constraints posed by recent congressional limits placed on defense spending. However, we note with concern that in terms of the proportionate share of the FMF pie for East Asia and the Pacific, the allocation for the Philippines is shrinking,” he said in remarks before the respected think tank released by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila on Thursday.

Supplementary financing

He stressed that while the Aquino administration had made major investments in the upgrade of Philippine defense equipment, supplementary financing from the United States remained a very important component of the initiative.

Del Rosario contrasted the US State Department’s 2006 FMF request for the Philippines, which accounted for over 70 percent of the total for East Asia, that had fallen to 35 percent for fiscal year 2012.

“We hope this is not indicative of the priority placed on the Philippines as a regional partner, as even nontreaty allies appear to be getting a bigger share of the FMF allocation,” he said.

“The US needs a stronger ally in the region who will be able to take on a bigger share of guaranteeing the stability of the region. It is therefore in the strategic interest of the US to invest in the development of the Philippines defense and military capability,” he said.

Del Rosario said the Philippines had effectively taken steps to improve the human rights situation in the country, pointing out a significant decline in extrajudicial killings.

“There is a strong policy environment that institutionalizes respect for and sensitivity to human rights; warrants of arrest have been issued against high-profile suspects, including  General Jovito Palparan and Governor Joel Reyes; and at least 198 suspects have been charged in the Ampatuan case,” he said.

Breaking impunity culture

He said President Benigno Aquino III had “taken bold and resolute action to break the culture of impunity and to institutionalize greater sensitivity and full respect for human rights.”

Del Rosario also pointed to the Philippine ratification, two weeks ago, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which obligates the government to conduct independent and unannounced visits to places where people are deprived of their liberty.

“This ratification comes a few months after the country’s accession to the Rome Statute, where parties are obliged to bring to justice those responsible for crimes under international law,” he said.