[asia-apec 198] MPFA News Release

[alarm]

NEWS RELEASE (10/26/96)
For further information, please contact
CES OCHOA or MENCHIE FLORES
Telephones 929-6211; 922-9621 loc. 314/339

MPFA urges government to rescind ban 
on 100 HR, peace advocates
Says policy is "misguided, irrational and paranoid"

Organizers of the Manila People's Forum on APEC (MPFA) today urged the 
Ramos government to rescind its ban on 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner 
Jose Ramos Horta and some 100 other peace and human rights luminaries 
"before it makes a complete diplomatic embarassment out of itself and 
before it earns a reputation equal to the most repressive governments in 
the Asia Pacific region."

MPFA Coordinator Omi Royandoyan said the government blacklist--which 
includes such distinguished peace advocates as Nobel laureate Bishop 
Desmond  Tutu and Japanese Bishop Aloisius Soma--is "indicative of the 
irrational, misguided, and downright deluded diplomatic policy of the 
Philippine government in relation to the APEC summit and to 
international gatherings parallel to it."

"It boggles our imagination how such renowned and internationally 
recognized peace advocates as Nobel laureates Jose Ramos Horta and 
Bishop Tutu could seriously be considered as ‘troublemakers.' What is 
even more disturbing is that a country known in the Asia-Pacific region 
as one of the few bastions of democratic rights could bar these and over 
a hundred other people from coming to the Philippines to discuss matters 
of regional significance--the fate of millions of people who will be 
affected by the far-reaching liberalization policies that the APEC 
advocates," Royandoyan said.

The coordinator of the international gathering parallel to the APEC 
Summit this November said the Ramos government's "paranoid stance" 
toward foreign peace and people's rights advocates is "costing the 
Philippines its well-earned record of upholding democratic rights and 
processes. Already, the Philippine government is being compared with the 
Burmese SLORC regime--one of the most repressive in the region--which 
denied former President Aquino's bid to meet with another Nobel 
laureate, Aung Suu Kyi." 

Moreover, the blacklist issue has gained international attention, with 
several human rights groups joining in the clamor to let Horta and other 
banned personalities into the Philippines. "Groups from the United 
States led by Essential Information will stage a protest in front of the 
Philippine embassy in Washington DC this coming Tuesday, October 29, 
against the Philippine ban on the East Timor resistance leader. Other 
international groups that have asked President Ramos to rescind the ban 
are Forum Asia, an umbrella organization of human rights advocates 
across the region, and Human Rights Watch, a Washington DC-based human 
rights monitoring group.

Royandoyan said that with the blacklist, "the Philippine government is 
effectively denying people across the Asia Pacific region its right to 
freely discuss the social, political and ecological costs of APEC and 
its agenda for full and fast economic liberalization. In fact, its 
actions seem to affirm that there is no space for transparency, 
accountability and democratic participation within APEC. It is also 
confirming the fear of many people's movements that human rights, 
ecological rights and the people's right to determine their own future 
will be denied or traded away in the APEC economies' single-minded 
pursuit of profit, markets and investments." 

He added that the MPFA "does not seek to embarass any of the APEC 
members, but merely wishes to remind heads of state of their 
responsibility and accountability to the people that economic growth 
should primarily benefit." He added that the MPFA wished to engage in a 
constructive international dialogue, "so that the issues such as labor 
rights, farmers' rights, women's rights, and people's rights to 
sustainable, self-determined and equitable development are no longer 
simply ignored by such fora as the APEC."  

"We, the MPFA POs and NGOs in the Philippines, have always attempted to 
engage the Philippine government in a dialogue," Royandoyan asserted. 
"We have long presented to them our agenda and specific proposals for 
action. But government has simply ignored these recommendations, again 
underscoring the unilateral, undemocratic and arbitrary character of 
government commitments and policies related to APEC."