NEWS RELEASE

05 December 2009

Children’s Solidarity Action dedicated to victims of typhoons and orphans of political killings:

CHILDREN LIGHT LANTERNS FOR PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Children victims of typhoon Ondoy from urban poor communities around Quezon City and Marikina gathered at the Boy Scout Monument in Timog Avenue to highlight the plight of children in anticipation of the International Human Rights day on Dec. 10. “All of the children victims of Ondoy are completing a psycho-social intervention program designed by the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a member organization of the SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns, explained Sophia Garduce, SALINLAHI’s spokesperson.

The gathering is part of the annual Children’s Solidarity Action which has become integral to the weeklong celebration of International Human Rights Day spearheaded by SALINLAHI. “As part of their healing process, the children take on this venue to express their feelings regarding their experience during the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy, as well as their thoughts on the gruesome Maguindanao Massacre,” Garduce expressed. “At the same time, we also commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the UN Convention for the Right of the Child grieving at the losses of the Maguindanao orphans and their kin.”

The group noted that from 2001 to September 2009, seventy five (75) children have been killed. This figure comprises direct victims of massacres, summary execution, indiscriminate firing, bombings and assassinations. The group noticed that within the period of president Arroyo’s term and under the Oplan Bantay Laya I & II programs, children victims of displacement and other forms of human rights violations now number to well over 200,000. “This number of course is a conservative estimate as other cases are not reported,” quipped Garduce. “The way Ms. Arroyo cultured violence with utmost impunity leads us to conclude that hundreds, if not thousands of orphans are suffering the burden of injustice right now.”

Garduce blamed the Arroyo administration for abandoning the rights and welfare of Filipino children. “We hold the President accountable for the death and misery of children victims of State violence and also for the loss of lives and properties due to criminal negligence in the face of calamities. Moreover, her administration remains the number one violator of children’s rights. “We saw the government’s very slow response to the needs of the victims; we became enraged by its kids’ glove treatment of the suspects in the Ampatuan Massacre; and now we are livid as she even finds the gall to file her candidacy for a seat in Congress representing a district in Pampanga,” Garduce said.

In a related development, the group announced that the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) and the CRC plan to undertake a psycho-social debriefing program for the orphan children of the Ampatuan massacre victims. CRC is set to join the International Media Mission this weekend for an initial integration with the families of the slain journalists. “We are preparing for the psycho-social debriefing sessions that will probably commence within this month of December, to facilitate the healing and recovery process of each of the orphans,” Garduce said.

As a symbolic gesture, children offered candles for the orphaned children seeking justice for their parents’ death in the Ampatuan massacre and for all the children orphaned through the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances during the Arroyo administration’s term. They also lighted their lanterns in memory of the children who perished in floods at the height of typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng. ###