B.C. nurses’ job action
highlights undert

—

— pages 4, 12

To many outside observers, it must
Seem as if the bad old days of Ferdinand
Marcos are over, and that the 7,000-island
archipelago called the Philippines is
Undergoing the flowering of a new demo-
Cracy.

Nothing could be further from the
truth, says Zenaida Uy, a member of the
Southeast Asian nation’s People’s Party, a
8rassroots organization otherwise known
as Partido ng Bayan.

“We now suffer worse human rights
abuses than under Marcos,” Uy testifies.

The earnest speaking sociology profes-
Sor who ran unsuccessfully for the Peo-
Ple’s Party in the general election May,
1987, has the proof. In talks to support
groups and interested parties during a visit
to Vancouver, she has told of the death
Squads and military campaigns against
Civilians she says have increased under the
Presidency of Corazon Aquino.

But most the most convincing — and
frightening — evidence are the 8X10

—_

Philippines: the abus

es continue

colour photographs Uy displays depicting
in cruel clarity the victims of the fascist
campaign to keep the Philippines in the
hands of a few landlords and U.S. multi-
nationals.

One depicts the corpse of a young man
whose face resembles chopped meat. In
another, the victim’s intestines have been
extracted, and he has been castrated.

Such atrocities are not remote occur-
rences for Uy, who contested a congres-
sional seat in her home territory, the island
of Cebu. During that campaign, seven of
her campaign workers were killed by
death squads. One was knifed to death
and decapitated in front of Uy’s campaign
office. The body of a campesino supporter
was found in a dry well in her back yard.

Grisly murders like these have been
well-documented in Latin American
countries such as El Salvador. But the
world rarely hears of the similar situation
in a country run by a government which
bills itself as democratic and is endorsed

Zenaida Uy of Bayan, the People’s Party, displays photos of victims of fascist death squads.

by U.S. administrations.

Uy has the grim statistics: since Aquino
came to power, eight human nghts lawy-
ers have been killed; 1,700 activists have
been arrested or detained; four out of 10
political prisoners suffer heavy torture.

Religious people are not spared. Priests
were assassinated in the province of Mis-
amis Oriental and on the island of Mindi-
nao during the last election. In April, two
more religious leaders were killed.

Killers took the life of the union leader
at the Atlas Mining plant. Bayan itself has
lost more than 60 leaders.

Nor are the atrocities limited to individ-
uals: Uy reports there have been 19 full-
scale massacres by ariny troops and death
squads since Aquino came to power.

Military bombings and the burning of
villages, most notably in the Mindinao city
Davao del Norte, have created thousands
of homeless evacuees.

see BAYAN page 3

has been simply following 1

Germany >
at NATO,
vets urge
Mulroney

Canada should back the Euro- —
peans’ disarmament position and
oppose U.S. proposals for new short- —
range nuclear missiles when the ~
NATO Council meets in Brussels —
May 29, Veterans Against Nuclear —
Arms (VANA) urged last week.

In news conferences across the —
country, the veterans’ group calledon _
the federal government to follow a
new co-operative approach to disar- _
mament and to press NATO “‘to lead —
in proposals for ending the arms _
race.”

the U.S. has wanted us to do,” Dr.
Tom Perry told a news conference in
Vancouver. “We should be taking a _
position in the interests of world —
security by agreeing to negotiate on _
short-range nuclear weapons.”
“We want Canada to speak for
winding down the arms race when the
NATO Council meets 10 days from
now,” said Col. (Ret.) Norm Hoye. _
Hoye said that Canadian represen-
tatives at the council meeting should
oppose U.S. President George Bush’s
proposals to add new short-range
nuclear missiles in Europe, especially
since the Soviet Union has begun cut-
ting down its own forces. The Soviet
Union announced plans earlier this
month for unilateral troop and wea-
pons reductions in Europe.
“We're glad that the majority of —
our European allies, led by West
Germany, want NATO to meet the
Soviets halfway on disarmament,” he
The NATO Council meeting
Brussels May 29 is scheduled to —