Before human life and dignity is further cheapened by the smug impunity by which men in ski masks and motorcycles shoot and kill their selected targets at close range, it is time that the GRP and the NDFP go back to the letter and the spirit of the CARHRIHL, an instrument of peace which both parties signed in 1998 and committed themselves to fulfill.

It has been two years since the formal establishment of the CARHRIHL Joint Monitoring Committee. While unilaterally, the monitoring committees of both parties have been working hard in the areas of promotion and education, much remains to be seen in terms of concrete joint actions to ensure compliance with CARHRIHL.

Alarmed by the present situation of unpeace in our land, we hereby present the following concerns to the GRP and NDFP Panels as well as to the JMC:

We, the observers of the JMC, believe that our concerns reflect the aspirations of the Filipino people for a peaceful resolution of this conflict. While we are aware of the impediments to peace, we remain hopeful that both parties truly have the welfare of the people at heart. We still like to think that both parties will not continue to just look on as the cycle of violence plays daily before the eyes of the citizens.

We are also concerned that the alarming phenomenon of unresolved killings and abductions is putting the Philippine Government in the ranks of human rights violators, ironically, at this time when it has just been elected as a member of the recently-established United Nations Human Rights Council.