Rights of Foreigners Granted
THANKS to the INQUIRER for publishing the letter of Arnold Van Vugt on May 15, 2002, protesting the directive of Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo that threatens with arrest and deportation any non-Filipino who joins a street rally.
The writer is one of the many hundreds of volunteers who have left their home countries to serve and sacrifice for the poor and oppressed people of the Philippines. Their goal is to help the people in their struggle to destroy the roots of poverty such as corruption, which is crippling the growth and development of this county.
Hundreds of these foreign volunteers are human rights defenders. They risked their lives with patriotic Filipinos to topple the Marcos dictatorship and rallied to the streets for a better Philippines during Edsa II, an event that incidentally put Domingo back in the job at the BID.
The universal human and civil rights of every person, whether foreigner or Filipino, are guaranteed under the Philippine Constitution and civil law and likewise under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Foreign volunteers and development workers are human rights defenders and their rights are protected under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders of Dec. 9, 1998. The Philippine government is a signatory to this international agreement.
I am astounded by the directive of the immigration commissioner. It must have come from the national security office because I know her to be very sensitive and respectful of human, civil and constitutional rights.
If Filipinos were denied their rights to march for justice in Hong Kong, London or Washington, for example, there would be justifiable outrage and cries of racial discrimination and violation of democratic values.
Van Vugt made a strong point when he noted how dollar-waving foreign sex tourists are welcomed, wooed and wedded to our poor and emaciated teenagers.
Are there corrupt practices in the BID itself? Note this. Two foreigners, connected to the sex industry, a Swiss and a German, against whom I brought formal complaints several years ago after long investigations of the evidence, were ordered to be charged by the BID deputy commissioner. The BID order against the Swiss is dated Aug. 6, 2000 and the order against the German is dated Feb. 16, 2001 .
The two are notorious and have several
cases in court against them. The evidence cited by the associate
commissioner links them to drug trafficking, perjury, obstruction of justice
and bribing BID officials. The two have been declared undocumented and
undesirable aliens by the BlD.
What happened to them? Nothing, absolutely nothing. They are still out there
weaving vicious webs of crime and corrupting officials. They have even been
rewarded with appointments as liaison officers with their respective foreign
communities.
Instead of using its powers against
innocent volunteers and human rights workers, the BID should use them in
upholding the law against sex exploiters and other foreign criminals who
operate with impunity.
FR. SHAY CULLEN,
PREDA Center for Children's Rights,
Upper Kalaklan,
Olongapo City
