Not home for Christmas

(The Philippine Star) Updated December 24, 2010

In this democratic republic, hundreds of people won’t be home for Christmas, their whereabouts unknown. For those classified by human rights advocates as victims of enforced disappearances, relatives and friends have a common suspicion about the perpetrators: members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Belying those suspicions, or at least determining the truth about what happened to the country’s “desaparecidos,” now rests on the shoulders of Benigno S. Aquino III. Because of the name he carries, the expectations are high that under his watch, the truth about what happened to many, if not all, of the “disappeared” will finally be known.

President Aquino can make that commitment as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance took effect starting yesterday. He can also commit to work for the country’s ratification of the convention. Asia’s bastion of democracy has not ratified the convention, which recognizes the right of families of the disappeared to truth and reparation. The convention also binds countries to pass legislation that will prohibit and criminalize enforced disappearance. Widespread and systematic disappearances can be raised to the United Nations General Assembly.

The convention was adopted on Dec. 20, 2006, with 57 countries signing immediately when it was opened for signature on Feb 6, 2007. So far, 22 countries have ratified the convention: Albania, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Germany, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, Spain and Uruguay.

Pressure from the AFP, which has long denied perpetrating enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, was the likely reason for the Philippine government’s reluctance to ratify the convention. But that was during an administration whose legitimacy was in doubt and needed military support for survival.

President Aquino, on the other hand, won by a landslide and has a clear mandate. Despite early missteps and no respite from criticism, he still enjoys immense popularity that is always a boon for a commander-in-chief in this country. He can afford to commit his government, with the military behind him, to putting an end to enforced disappearances.