Angeles City – The people have at least a thing to fall back on, this was how Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Satur Ocampo categorized the Supreme Court's summit on civil rights and on the issue of extrajudicial killings from July 15-16 at the Manila Hotel.

Rep. Ocampo said: “It is a very praiseworthy move that the Honorable Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno addresses the weight of his office along the genuine concern of the people.”

But he countered the people must actively and militantly pursue their rights, and struggle against the unjust and anti-poor policies of the Arroyo government.

Involve stake-holders

Supreme Court's Associate Justice Eduard Antonio Nachura, on an earlier interview with the Gitnang Luson News Service said that the summit's intent is to involve all stake holders to include the left, the church and the media to be participated by the three branches of the government.

He also said the military institution need not be directly involved as it can be represented by the executive branch from which it gets its mandate.

Important

Rep. Ocampo said, “This very important initiative is founded on the 1987 constitution’s provision on the rules of court that the Supreme Court can promptly act for the people whenever it sees the executive branch fail to promptly dispense its duties.”

“The civil rights summit could not have been scheduled at a better time with the Mrs. Arroyo government's continuously worsening attacks against civil rights, plus the impending darkness of outright authoritarian and dictatorial rule with the Republic Act 9372 or Human Security Act about to be implemented," said Sister Cecil Ruiz of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.

“We wish to give our support to the Supreme Court's initiatives to defend civil rights in the country," she added

Review or scrap

Meanwhile, Rep. Ocampo said that the Arroyo government has been trying to block and preempt the Supreme Court’s move by announcing it will conduct a prompt review of the HSA, and that it already had in mind some necessary amendments to it.

But Sister Ruiz said they see no reason to trust the announcement of reviewing the HSA and counter-insurgency policy. She insisted it's not a review that's needed, but a complete scrapping of this policy of extermination of activist civilians.

“Mrs. Arroyo keeps evading and avoiding the first critical step in addressing the whole issue, which is for the president to lay down an unequivocal order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their mercenary troops to stop implementing her anti-people counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya and to dismantle all active death squads,” she closed.