Three US-based women’s rights advocates and members of local women’s rights group GABRIELA were barred from leaving the Philippines. Their names were included in a certain Bureau of Immigration “watchlist.” GABRIELA claims that government is using the recently implemented Human Security Act to demonstrate the law’s powers that the government can abuse.

Dr. Annalisa Enrile, national chairperson of GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet) and a professor at the University of Southern California, at a press conference on August 11, 2007, told the media how she became a hostage in this country.

“After four weeks here, on August 5, 2007, I attempted to leave [the country] along with six of my students and three of my colleagues—none of whom had any problems leaving the country. [However] I was stopped by the Bureau of Immigration. I was told that my name appeared on a watchlist, although I was not given any information about what the watchlist contained, nor why my name appeared there,” Enrile said.

Along with Enrile, the names of two other GABNet members were in the same watchlist—human rights advocate Judith Mirkinson and award-winning Filipino novelist Ninotchka Rosca.

“We were never told why we were put on this list,” Mirkinson said, adding, “The only thing we can think of is they don’t want us to investigate what’s going on here. I think it tells us, ‘You should be very afraid, you shouldn’t speak out about what’s going on around the world.’ And that’s exactly the opposite of what we want to do as women activists. We are going to speak out. We are going to investigate what’s happening to women. And we will protest.

Rosca, on the other hand, speculated that her name was included in the watchlist because of her active participation in an international mission to look into the killings and disappearances of Filipino women.

“In this country, if you’re a writer, you get stepped on, you get killed, you disappear... Really, the first ones attacked are the writers, the journalists, because they [the government] want to keep things hidden and they want to keep people silent, obedient,” said Rosca.

Anti-Terror Law to be blamed

Enrile was reportedly told to secure clearances from the Department of Justice, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the President—all members of the government’s anti-terrorism council—before she would be allowed to take a flight back to the US.

“I feel that I am being held hostage... I cannot return to my work... [and] cannot return to my family because of the human rights work that I do,” said Enrile.

During the press conference, Congress Representative Liza Maza of the GABRIELA Women's Party said that “Their right to travel is being restricted within the frame of the Human Security Act (HSA). Under the HSA, mere suspicion is enough [for the authorities] to arrest you...This is a blatant violation of their human rights. The HSA has emboldened the members of the anti-terrorism council to spread their oppressive tentacles beyond the Philippine borders and undermine the universally accepted principle of international solidarity.”

Fight not over yet

On August 14, the three women were informed that their names were cleared from the watchlist and that they were now allowed to leave the country. On that same day, the three women went to the airport, accompanied by their lawyers, Representative Liza Maza, journalists, and about 30 supporters from GABRIELA who staged a protest action outside the departure hall.

As reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the media were only allowed to take a brief look at the lift order's first page and the Immigration officers denied their request for it to be photocopied, saying that it was confidential. The lift order supposedly removed about 500 other persons from the watchlist.

Liza Maza told the media that this is not only a policy question but a legal question as well. She said that GABRIELA will pursue this case and will hold the government accountable.

FYI: Human Security Act

The “Human Security Act of 2007,” passed by the Philippine Congress in February and signed by President Gloria Arroyo in March, took effect on July 15, 2007.

This Anti-Terror Law loosely defines terrorism as a criminal act that “causes widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace.”

While the government vows that this law would be used to counter terrorists and militants, protesters fear that it would be used to suppress dissent against the present administration.

For the full text of the Anti-Terror Law, go to <http://philippinecommentary.blogspot.com/2007/03/human-security-act-of-2007.html>.

Related article
"Philippines: Human rights activists protest Anti-Terror Law" in we! July 2007, No. 2 

Sources:
“Immigration holds 3 women for ‘links’ to Afghan’s Taliban” from Inquirer.net, posted on August 16, 2007, <http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=82891>.
“US-based Gabriela exec stopped from leaving; HSA cited” from Inquirer.net, posted on August 12, 2007, <http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=82026>.