[asia-apec 170] east timor updates from the philippines

[daga]

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 22:40:32 +0800
From: Infolink <infolink at portalinc.com>
Subject: east timor updates from the philippines 

17 october 1996

dear friends,

we are sending you a copy of this article which came out today in the phil.
daily inquirer,the most widely-circulated national newspaper in the country.
the information about horta's visit was not supposed to come out in public
until the scheduled press conference tomorrow, 18 october but the reporter
could no longer wait until tomorrow.

anyhow, since it is already out in the open, we would have to map out our
strategies on how to maximize the situation for the cause of east timor. in
this endeavor, we will need your utmost cooperation, all of you in the
international solidarity community to:

        1. make sure that pressure to our government does not come ONLY from
soharto to ban horta; but, from all of us, to put a counter pressure,
stronger and more intense on the phil. government to allow horta to come in.

        a. pressure can come in the form of letters to president fidel v.
ramos, media releases, and other creative ways that you can think of;

        b. can be a soft approach (e.g. "returning the peace gesture of
suharto" when they mediated in the phil-mnlf peace talks; urging the phil.
government to be peace maker/mediator for the indonesian-east timor peace)
talks)

        c. or hard approach, hit the phil. government for its
subservient/weak  foreign policy, etc.

        the above are some of our suggestions IN THE EVENT that the phil.
government shows signs of, once again, succumbing to pressure from
indonesia. the difference in the situation now and two years ago during
apcet 1 is that the phil. government cannot afford to be confronted with any
controversies/ issues that will jeopardize its  desire to project a positive
image of the phil. government. at the same time, of course, the nobel peace
award, hot as potato, is something that can work to horta's and east timor's
advantage.

        but please note that this early, there have been signs of pressure
to downplay, curb, abort or ignore efforts to project the issue of east
timor. last saturday there was an article about 100 east timorese being
turned away at the airport citing apec security reasons. there are also
constant telephone calls to philseti/pcisp office from the malaysian embassy
based here, asking for information about apect2 --who are the participants,
the local (malaysian organizers, etc)  

===========================================
"nobel peace prize winner to visit rp"
(philippine daily inquirer, october 17, 1996, p.3)

"guess who's coming to town next month?

this year's nobel peace prize winner and exiled east timor human rights
activist jose ramos-horta has confirmed tuesday that he will be attending a
parallel forum to the asia-pacific economic cooepration leaders' summit in
november.

organizers of the manila people's forum on apec --an international gathering
of people's movements and ngos critical of the apec's liberalization agenda
--said yesterday horta had accepted the group's invitation as early as last
year.

horta will keynote the mpfa conference on november 19, according to omi
royandoyan, mpfa coordinator.

but the question of whether horta will actually be able to come to the
country is up in the air.

in 1994, the philippine government, giving in to pressure from the
indonesian government, barred east timor activists from entering the country
to attend a human rights conference here.

indonesia is sensitive about the human rights issue in east timor, a former
portuguese colony which it invaded in 1975. the indonesian government
recently complained about the nobel peace prize awarded to horta, who
continues to campaign for his country's independence overseas.

royandoyan, meanwhile, said apec members and governments should be rapped
for "failing to inform the people of the trade and investment commitments
they are making to the apec, all of which will have huge social, ecological
and political consequences."

the mpfa was reacting to an Inquirer report that quoted diplomatic sources
as saying that certain apec members like the us were irked by the leakage of
the individual action plans they submitted for the apec leaders' summit on
november 24-25.

the iaps were disclosed in a news conference held by the mpfa last month.
royandoyan said the reaction of the apec members were "typical of a forum
that has largely been untransparent and undemocratic in its processes."
he said the mpfa was particularly concerned about the philippines iap, which
it says "compromised the national interest and contravenes the 1987
constitution" in the "extremely liberal measures" it intends to undertake.
each of the 18-member economies of apec has submitted its iap, which
contains the actions they plan to undertake in meeting the goal to
liberalize trade in their respective countries."

===============================
"100 east timorese refused entry" apec security cited
by armand nocum, phil daily inquirer, 0ctober 12, 1996

the immigration bureau has turned away 100 east timorese on a mere suspicion
that they would stage rallies in manila next month to protest the indonesian
occupation of east timor during the visit of indonesian president suharto.
suharto, along with 17 other heads of state, is expected to attend the
asia-pacific economic cooperation (apec) meeting at the subic freeport in
zambales in november.
indonesia annexed east timor, a former portuguese colony, in 1975.
orlando dizon, intelligence division chief of the bureau of immigration and
deportation (bid), said the government has denied the 100 east timorese
entry on the ground that they could be human rights activists out to disrupt
the apec meeting.
"We would have granted them entry, but we were suspicious of their motives,"
dizon told bid reporters.
dizon said the non-admission of the east timorese was part of the security
measures aimed at preventing the entry of extremists and agitators who could
embarass the country during the apec meeting.
dizon said the east timorese arrived at the ninoy aquino international
airport (naia) tuesday at 4 pm on a phil. airlines (pal) flight. they were
en route to south korea purportedly to seek employment.
jaime mendoza, naia-bid travel control assistant chief, said the east
timorese had asked that they be allowed to stay in manila temporarily as
"transient passengers" while waiting for the connecting flight.
but the bid denied the request. instead, the bid "properly escorted and
confined" the east timorese and the philippine village hotel where they
stayed overnight, mendoza said.
the east timorese were scheduled yesterday afternoon to take pal flight 416
bound for seoul.
observers said the bid move could spark a new round of clashes between the
phil. human rights groups sympathetic to the cause of the east timorese and
the police (?)
they note that the east timorese were denied entry without "due process."
"they did not even check on their backgrounds to see if they are really
activists," a bid source told the inquirer.
the east timorese are demanding that indonesia leave their country.
in 1994, the philippine government tried to stop the holding of an
international conference on east timor in manila at the instance of the
indonesian government.
the phil. government failed to secure a court order to stop the conference
but was able to prevent a number of foreign delegates from attending the
conference."

        --we tried to verify this report from the airport offices but they
would not divulge any information to us so finally, we called up the
indonesian embassy only to be told that they did not receive any formal
communication from the phil. government about it and therefore they could
not comment on it.

PRESS RELEASE. 12 October 1996

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (pahra) is alarmed at the
report that 100 east timorese have been denied entry even as "transient
passengers" by the bureau of immigration and deportation (bid) "on the
ground that they could be human rights activists out to disrupt the apec
meeting." besides the fact that the right to due process was not given to
them, pahra perceives a not too unmistakable signal from the government that
the same could be done to other foreigners for the same reason.
it is ironic that the news regarding the denied entry came on the same day
as the granting of the joint award of the nobel peace prize to two east
timorese -bishop carlos belo and an independence activist jose ramos-horta.
of grave concern too for pahra is that the actuation of bid may be
indicative of an instilled paranoic alert and of corresponding actions
against anything government officials judge could "embarass" the country
during the apec meeting next month. but securing the 18 heads of economies
does not, at any time, warrant the suppression of human rights.

signed: max m. de mesa, deputy secretary general, pahra.

note: pahra is a member of the steering committee of the phil. solidarity
for east timor and indonesia.     

all for now. thank you.

in solidarity

ellene sana 
people's council for international solidarity and peace/ phil. solidarity
for east timor and indonesia (phil-seti)
e-mail: <infolink at portalinc.com>