SC grants farmer-brothers amparo writ

MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court granted two brothers their petition for a writ of amparo, upholding the Court of Appeals’ ruling that military involvement in their abduction had been established.

In a 49-page decision, the high court said the possibility that Reynaldo and Raymond Manalo might be "executed stared them in the eye while they were in detention.”

The Manalos, who are farmers, said they were abducted by soldiers on February 14, 2006 on suspicion of being communist rebels and held until they managed to escape their military captors on August 12, 2007.

“With their escape, this continuing threat to their life is apparent, moreso now that they have surfaced and implicated specific officers in the military not only in their own abduction and torture, but also in those of other persons known to have disappeared such as Sherlyn Cadapan, Karen Empeño and Manuel Merino, among others," the high court said.

Cadapan and Empeño are students form the University of the Philippines who were said to have been abducted in Bulacan, with Merino, a farmer, by soldiers.

The Manalos have testified to witnessing the torture of the three in a military camp where they were detained together.

The high court also said the military failed to conduct an extensive investigation into the allegations of soldiers’ participation in the Manalos’ abduction.

"Apart from failure of military elements to provide protection to respondents by themselves perpetrating the abduction, detention and torture, they also miserably failed in conducting an effective investigation of respondents' abduction."

"The one day investigation by the military was very limited, superficial, and one-sided," it added.

In granting the writ of amparo to the Manalos, the appeals court directed the the military leadership to produce "all medical reports, records and charts, reports of any treatment given or recommended and medicines prescribed" to the Manalos .

It also ordered the secretary of national defense and the Armed Forces chief of staff to confirm in writing the places of assignment of Master Sergeants Hilario, alias Rollie Castillo, and Donald Caigas within five days from notice.

The two were among the six master sergeants who, along with members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), allegedly abducted and interrogated the brothers.

First posted 18:27:42 (Mla time) October 07, 2008
Tetch Torres INQUIRER.net

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Groups seek CBCP help over rebellion raps vs activists

Militant groups appealed on Monday to the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to look into the case of the 27 activists who have been "falsely" implicated in the Globe cellular site bombing in Batangas last month.

Also, leaders of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) asked the CBCP to join them in denouncing the government’s “well-planned" violation of human rights.

“We ask the good Archbishop of Jaro (CBCP Prsident Angel Lagdameo) and other prelates to add their voice against this well-planned attack of the government against the cause of human rights and civil liberties done in the name of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival and the military’s anti-insurgency campaign," KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos and Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in joint statement.

The group said, implicating activists was proof that the government would not stop until all activists are wiped out from the political scene, adding that members of the New People’s Army (NPA) have owned up to the crime.

“After killing 901 activists and abducting 200 of their colleagues beginning 2001, the Macapagal-Arroyo government made another spin off on its campaign to silence critics by deluding them with scores of politically motivated charges to effectively keep them away from exposing and opposing Arroyo’s crimes against the people," the statement added.

KMP and Pamalakaya clarified that the 27 activists, who were charged with arson, crimes involving destruction and conspiracy to commit rebellion, were ordinary activists and leaders of mass organizations.

They added that the records of these leaders in upholding human rights and civil liberties were well known to the public.

The groups said the government, through the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group, has been spearheading the mass production of criminal charges against leaders of cause-oriented groups in the name of the government’s counter-insurgency program under Oplan Bantay Laya II.

“We know the CBCP is fully aware of this issue, but just the same, we appeal for the prelates’ divine intervention. The Roman Catholic Church’s pastoral statement regarding this latest attack on people’s rights and freedom is legally, morally and politically necessary," the statement added.

Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV 10/07/2008 | 02:58 AM

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CA stops murder trial of tortured pastor

The Court of Appeals (CA) has stopped the murder trial of a pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and ordered the dismissal of the case against him after he was abducted, detained and tortured by his police captors.

Noting the judiciary’s “renewed vigilance” in the face of an upsurge in human rights violations, the CA ordered Bacoor Regional Trial Court Judge Matias Garcia to dismiss the charge against pastor Berlin Guerrero for the 1990 murder of Noli Yatco.

It criticized Carmona Municipal Circuit Trial Court Judge Myrna Lim-Verano, who handled the preliminary investigation, for not giving Guerrero the chance to defend himself and allowing the case to proceed despite weak evidence.

The appellate court also pointed out that Guerrero had been living normally and publicly as pastor when the charge was revived after 15 years and the pastor was abducted by police, tortured, interrogated and accused of being a communist.

Initial inquiries into the gun-slaying of Yatco was conducted in 1991 and 1992, but no action was taken on Guerrerro.

“The court cannot condone such injustice and travesty of the rights of an ordinary citizen charged with a serious crime during and after preliminary investigation when the information based on an invalid proceeding had been filed in court,” the appellate court said.

“The patent disregard of the laws and rules in the conduct of preliminary investigation by the investigating judge clearly constitutes grave abuse of discretion that warrants the exercise of this Court’s corrective power,” it said in a Sept. 23 ruling.

The CA decision, penned by Justice Martin Villarama Jr. and concurred in by Justices Noel Tijam and Arturo Tayag of the Third Division, came after it ordered Guerrero’s provisional release to former Sen. Jovito Salonga and his lawyer Emilio Capulong earlier this month.

Guerrero had been in detention for more than a year following his May 2007 arrest. He subsequently accused his police captors of torturing him as they interrogated him and forced him to give information on labor and peasant groups.

Guerrero had asked the Supreme Court for help after Garcia refused to junk the case, which was elevated to the Court of Appeals.

The appellate court said Verano violated the 1985 Rules of Procedure when she failed to subpoena Guerrero so that he could study the case and refute the allegations against him.

Such action, it said, betrayed Verano’s “disregard of the accused’s basic right to due process, which is particularly appalling considering her awareness of the weak evidentiary basis for probable cause against accused Berlin Guerrero.”

What was “worse” was that Verano had accepted the witness’ sworn statement as sufficient to proceed with the case against Guerrero, even though she said the witness should be brought before her, it added.

The appellate court also cited the Supreme Court decision that earlier dismissed the government’s rebellion cases against militant lawmakers because political considerations had tainted the Department of Justice’s preliminary investigation of the complaints.

It said the ruling stressed that procedures for preliminary investigations should be followed scrupulously to protect the people’s rights.

The court further said that though generally, criminal proceedings could not be stopped, exceptions were allowed when the proceedings turned into a case of prosecution.

“The foregoing applies with equal significance to the present case at a time when the judiciary leadership was impelled into action by taking more concrete measures in response to the recent emergence of human rights violations committed in the course of anti-insurgency operations by the military and often involving or carried out with the cooperation of police authorities,” it said.

By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:33:00 09/29/2008

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Another activist missing

Another activist has been reported missing by his family.   James Balao, a member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), was reported missing since Sept. 17.  In a statement, the CPA said the family was expecting Balao’s arrival that day but he never came.

“The family was informed that he had left his residence in Fairview, Baguio City at around 7:00 a.m on the said date. Since then, he, unusually, has not been in contact with his friends or members of his family; nor can they contact him,” CPA said.

Balao, 47, is of medium-built, 5’7” to 5’9” tall. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, brown pants, visor, black hiking boots and eyeglasses. He was carrying a yellow and blue backpack and red traveling bag.

“He was going to spend the following days at the family residence in La Trinidad,” his younger sister told CPA officers.

CPA Chairperson Beverly Longid said Balao’s absence is ‘very alarming.’ Longid said Balao had reported regular surveillance to his family that started on the week of June and has increasingly heightened until his disappearance. “He has even observed white and blue vans that regularly tail him from his residence to his daily chores,” she added.

Vio Hidalgo of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) said there have been no reported arrests named Balao since Sept. 17.

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) said this is the first case of enforced disappearance in the Cordillera under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

Family members and friends called on the authorities, particularly the Philippine National Police, (PNP) the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the public to assist them in their search for Balao.

The CPA and the Balao family may be reached through 09175069404; the offices of the CPA (442-2115); or the CHRA (445-2586 and 09189199007) for any information about the missing activist. 

 (Northern Dispatch/Posted by Bulatlat)_____________________________________________________________________________________

Number of Political Prisoners Swells Under Arroyo Gov’t

Even without martial law, the Macapagal-Arroyo government has arrested and detained hundreds of activists. Worse, most political prisoners have been slapped with trumped-up criminal charges.

Human rights group Karapatan’s (Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights) records show that there are 218 political prisoners in the country as of this month. Of this, 191 were arrested during the Macapagal-Arroyo government.

Not included in the figure are seven political prisoners who have been recently freed – Pastor Berlin Guerrero, Tagaytay 5 and Antonio Cano.

The Tagaytay 5 were Axel Pinpin, Ariel Custodio, Aristedes Sarmiento, Enrico Ybañez, and Michael Masayes.

Cano, meanwhile, was released after serving a five-year sentence for violation of the gun ban.

Enraged

Donato Continente, spokesperson of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Para sa Amnestiya (SELDA) said that while they are happy about the release of seven political prisoners, they are also enraged.

All of them, Continente said, were made to suffer for crimes they did not commit.

He said Guerrero should have been released a long time ago for there was no concrete evidence linking him to the murder charge. The Tagaytay 5, he said, was made to languish for two years and four months for a charge without any basis.

The gun found in Cano’s possession was “planted.”

Farmers, NDF consultants

Continente noted that majority of political detainees are ordinary farmers.

He said that most of them were picked up by soldiers and presented as members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Five of the political detainees are consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). They are Elizabeth Principe, Eduardo Serrano, Randall Echanis, Angie Ipong and Randy Felix Malayao.

The arrest and detention of NDFP consultants violate the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which was signed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP on February 24, 1995. In sum, the JASIG guarantees the security and immunity from arrest of all those listed as involved in the peace negotiations.

Criminalization of political offense

Continente also revealed that most political prisoners are charged with common crimes, in violation of the

Amado V. Hernandez doctrine. The Hernandez doctrine became part of Philippine jurisprudence when, in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in the case People of the Philippines vs. Hernandez that a person who commits a political offense could be charged with rebellion but not with common crimes such as murder, arson, robbery, etc. It ruled that the act of rebellion would already include and absorb these crimes.

Only three where charged with rebellion, two of whom are women. Lucy Canda and Juvelyn Tawaay were convicted of rebellion after three months of court hearings.

He said that the practice of the government of filing criminal charges such as murder, kidnapping, robbery, arson, etc. against persons suspected of committing acts of rebellion are meant to destroy the credibility of and demonize political prisoners.

Continente added that with this way, too, the Arroyo government thinks it could hide the actual number of political detainees from the international community.

He cited as examples the five NDF consultants who have all been charged with a string of common crimes including murder. “Malinaw na political detainees sila.” (It is clear that they are political detainees.)

A protester holds a unique placard in front of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) headquarters in Quezon City.

Continente said that progressive party-list representatives have been charged anew with multiple counts of murder. Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, Gabriela Women’s Party List Representative Liza Maza and Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano are facing criminal charges months after the Supreme Court dismissed the rebellion charges against them.

Prison conditions

Continente was himself a former political prisoner. He was imprisoned for 16 years and eight months. He knows well the situation of political prisoners.

Political prisoners are detained in overcrowded prison cells. The National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa has a 4,700-capacity but regularly houses 12,000 prisoners, including political prisoners.

At the Manila City Jail, a cell is good for 75 people but there are 250 detainees in one cell. Randall Echanis, deputy secretary general for external affairs of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) is detained there.

Continente said political prisoners are mixed with suspects of common crimes. He said this practice aims to inflict psychological torture on the victims. While inside prison, Continente said, the biggest enemy is one’s self. “You would ask why you have been charged with such crimes but you’ll get over it,” said Continente.

At the Bohol Provincial Jail, Continente said the police fired at the detention cells of political prisoners sometime in January this year. The eleven political prisoners were protesting the replacement of the jail warden when the incident happened. Luckily, nobody got hurt.

Continente said that Ipong was sexually molested at the age of 65. He said another prisoner in Bicol is suffering from mental disorder due to physical and psychological torture.

Lawyers

Continente said the lack of pro-bono lawyers for political prisoners has been a problem. There are three political prisoners who still don’t have lawyers.

He said that some lawyers are not keen on handling cases of common crimes. If the charge was rebellion, Continente said, more lawyers volunteer to handle the case.

Moreover, Continente said that human rights lawyers have also been targets of the military.
He cited the killing of Gil Gojol, a human rights lawyer in Bicol.

Worse

Continente said today’s situation is worse than martial law. “Sa maikling panahon, ipinakita ni GMA ang pangil niya at naghasik ng todo-todong terorismo.” (In a short period of time, GMA showed her fangs and sowed all out terror.)

He denounced the creation of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG). National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez are part of the IALAG.

“Sila ang nagtatakda kung sino ang kaaway ng gobyerno. Sila rin ang nasa likod ng extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.” (They are the ones who decide who is to be treated as enemy of the state. They are also the ones behind the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances).

He said that fascist measures being implemented by the Arroyo government intensify as the Filipino people rise up against it.

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat  PUBLISHED ON September 20, 2008 AT 6:50 PM  

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7 PUP studes file complaints vs military before CHR

Seven students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) on Tuesday trooped to the Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City and filed complaints against the alleged militarization of their campuses.

The students who filed their grievances before the CHR were from the PUP campuses in Sta. Mesa, Manila and Lopez, Quezon province. They were accompanied by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines CEGP, together with the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) and Student Christian Movement (SCM).

The complainants, in separate cases, complained of harassment by the military, the existence of military and intelligence forces inside their respective campuses, the setting up of military camps in nearby areas, and the baseless red-baiting of student leaders as alleged “New People's Army (NPA) infiltrators.”

CEGP national president Vijae Alquisola said these harassments “are clearly attempts to silence students and meant to send a chilling message to youth and student leaders.”

"These have got to stop. Not only are the students' schooling and futures affected but, more importantly, their rights to freedom of expression and to organize among themselves infringed. These are clear violations of students' rights,” Alquisola said in a statement.

To recall, five military intelligence officers were apprehended by PUP students last August 29 for allegedly spying on students.

GMANews.TV 09/16/2008 | 11:21 PM 

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Activists mark Martial Law anniversary in Mendiola

Activists spanning several generations converged at the foot of the Don Chino Roces (Mendiol) Bridge on Saturday to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The groups demanded justice for the victims of the Marcos dictatorship and as well as the human rights victims under the Arroyo administration.

In particular, the protesters called for the release of 218 political prisoners, 198 of whom were arrested under the Arroyo regime according to human rights group SELDA.

“The Arroyo regime has gained the sole distinction of being the regime closest to the Marcos dictatorship in terms of its human rights record, corruption and foreign policy. The Arroyo regime is the best argument that we should never allow a return to a fascist dictatorship, no matter what the pretext is," said Bayan secretary-general Renato M. Reyes Jr said in a statement.

“Despite its claims of an improving human rights climate in the country, hundreds of victims are still being denied justice. Scores of activists are incarcerated in jails all over the country, a grim reminder that the vestiges of Martial Rule are still here," Reyes said.

The militant group cited the case of detained peasant leader Randall Echanis who was also jailed during Martial Law and is now facing murder charges under the Arroyo regime. Echanis has been in detention since January.

“It is a basic feature of a fascist dictatorship that all those who disagree with it are treated as enemies and criminals. This explains the huge rise in the number of political detainees under Mrs. Arroyo's watch," Reyes said.

Bayan and human rights groups Karapatan, SELDA and Hustisya converged on Mendiola Bridge for a wreath-laying activity and a short program. The veterans of Martial Law marched from Lepanto Recto while the younger generation of activists marched from the Bustillos Church.

“The fear of a return to Martial Rule by any name is not unfounded. We see the desperation of the regime to stay in power at all costs. We see the unrestrained role of the military in government. We see the continued backing of the United States for an unpopular regime," Reyes said.

“The only thing that stands in their way is the people. Our people have learned enough from Marcos and they will never allow such a monstrosity to return. Our people will resist," Reyes added.

GMANews.TV

09/20/2008 | 12:57 PM

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Terrorizing Communities: The Oplan Bantay Laya II in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental

As the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) noted a decline in the incidence of extrajudicial killings in the country, another face of the government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya II emerges. In Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, terror has gripped the hearts and minds of the people.

Since the latter part of 2007, the Central Command (CenCom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had declared Negros as its priority area in its counter-insurgency campaign. The CenCom specifically identified Central Negros, which includes Guihulngan, La Libertad, Vallehermoso and Canlaon in Negros Oriental and Magallon, Isabela, La Castallena, Himamaylan and Binalbagan in Negros Occidental.

Documentation by Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)-Negros shows varying degrees of human rights violations.

Detachments in populated areas

In Barangay (village) Linantuyan, Negros Oriental, more than 160 soldiers are encamped inside the barangay hall and the public market. They belong to the 11th Infantry Battalion (IBPA) and 32nd Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) under the command of 1Lt. Joseph Buencamino.

Thirty more soldiers under the command of Sgt. Jerome Espino are encamped inside the barangay hall of Brgy. Banwague.

In Brgy. Magsaysay, a squad of soldiers belonging to 79th Battalion Philippine Army and 1st Scout Ranger Battalion also occupied the barangay hall. In Brgy. Tinayunan Hill, a platoon-size military unit stayed inside the compound of an elementary school.

The occupation of barangay halls was documented by Karapatan-Negros in July this year.

On Aug. 7, a platoon-size segment of the 11th Infantry Battalion entered the St. Francis College in Guihulngan. When asked by school authorities, the soldiers said they were looking for water and a place to take their lunch.

A teacher in one of the elementary schools in Guihulngan revealed that the soldiers go in and out of their school without permission. Their pupils, the source said, are afraid of the military’s presence.

Cedula, ID system

Since March, the soldiers have ordered all residents of Brgy. Linantuyan aged 15 and above to acquire a cedula (community tax certificate).

The soldiers imposed a virtual identification (ID) system; cedulas served as the resident’s tag number.

After acquiring cedulas, residents are forced to report to the Army barracks for picture-taking, census and interrogation. The interrogations would last for one to four hours. Others are threatened and intimidated.

Interrogation, red baiting

In Brgy. Linantuyan, Karapatan revealed that residents are presumed as supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA).

A resident of Sitio (sub-village) Pinasagan was interrogated sometime in April. He was accused of carrying an M-14 rifle sometime in May 2004. One of the soldiers, who the victim identified as Silpao, cocked his .45 caliber pistol while conducting the interrogation.

Another farmer, 53, of the same sitio was accused of collecting food and P5.00 each from his neighbors for the NPA.

A 29-year old farmer was accused of being an NPA hitman.

A 47-year-old woman, resident of Sitio Alamag, said she was interrogated for two hours inside the barangay hall. A soldier, identified only as Silpao, told her that if she refuses to admit they support the NPA, it would be better for the Army to bomb her village.

There are more than 50 farmers who have been subjected to one to two hours of interrogation since the first week of April.

On May 14, the soldiers fetched eight farmers from their houses. The farmers were brought to the “Bravo” Company headquarters in Brgy. McKinley. They were made to sign a complaint of grave coercion against Lourdes Baloy, a member of the local peasant organization Kaugmaon.

Fake rebel returnees

A former barangay kagawad (village councilor) was accused of being a leader of the militia unit of the NPA. A news report said he surrendered to the Philippine Army. He denied the report.

On May 16, the Philippine Army called on all barangay officials to an assembly at the Hilaitan National High School –Trinidad Annex. The soldiers conducted lectures. They also said that all participants were ‘rebel returnees.’

The soldiers also ordered the barangay council to hold assemblies. In these meetings, the soldiers conducted lectures on anti-communist doctrines, and at times, threatened certain individuals.

In the same barangay, the soldiers coerced the barangay council to “pass” a resolution banning Karapatan and “supporting” the establishment of an Army detachment in the barangay hall.

Barangay Defense System

The soldiers also set up the Barangay Defense System (BDS), which they tout as their counter political infrastructure and as proof that they have “mass support”.

The soldiers used some members of the barangay council to list down the members of the BDS. Under this system, every able-bodied person is forced to perform the duty of “guarding” their detachment. Men are assigned in the evening and the women during the day.

Mock rallies

Karapatan-Negros said that the soldiers also staged fake rallies against Karapatan and Kaugmaon.

On June 9, some 50 members of the BDS and soldiers in full battle gear picketed the house of Kaugmaon’s Baloy.

On June 14, the military brought their assets and informers from the towns of Isabela and Magallon and staged a rally in the poblacion of Guihulngan. The “protesters” were accompanied by two trucks of fully armed soldiers. They burned the effigies of Fred Cana, secretary-general of Karapatan-Negros and Erwin Sabijon, chair of Kaugmaon.

While the Arroyo government claims that the human rights situation has improved, the people of Guihulngan, a city 30 kilometers from Dumaguete, continue to live in fear as soldiers who are supposedly conducting operations against the NPA subject them to constant threats and harassments. Bulatlat

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Volume VIII, No. 31, September 7-13, 2008

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Farmer files complaint vs Palparan, Esperon

MANILA, Philippines -- A farmer abducted by the military two years ago filed criminal, administrative and civil complaint against retired Major General Jovito Palparan and Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process retired General Hermogenes Esperon and several others before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Raymond Manalo cited several violations of the provisions of the Revised Penal Code, including kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

Also cited in the complaint are Major General Juanito Gomez, Technical Master Sergeant Rizal Hilario alias Rolly Castillo, Donald "Allan" Caigas from the 24th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, a certain Michael Dela Cruz, Randy and Rudy Mendoza, Pablo Cunanan, Junior Linggasa, Marti Adriano, a certain captain Parungao, Amang Ramirez and a certain alias PJ and Kayat.

He also asked the Ombudsman that the respondents be administratively held liable for gross misconduct.

A separate civil case was also filed this Friday with the Quezon City regional trial court where Manalo sought moral, physical, and exemplary damages amounting to more than P650,000.

Raymond Manalo accused Esperon, Palparan, and 20 other military officials for allegedly abducting and torturing him and his brother, Reynaldo, for more than a year in February 2006.

During torture, the supposed soldiers asked Raymond if he was a member of the New People’s Army; where his comrades were, how many soldiers he had killed and how (many) NPA members he had helped.

They said that Palparan even told them to ask their parents not to attend the hearing on the Petition for Habeas Corpus, rallies and not to seek help from human rights organizations like Karapatan and the “Human Right.”

Raymond said he was brought to Palparan’s house so that he could talk to his parents. Another captive, identified only as Hilario, also told his parents that if they disobeyed, they would not see their children again.

On Aug. 13, 2007, the brothers escaped from detention and were granted protection under the writ of amparo last Oct. 24, 2007.

“The Manalo brothers and all other victims of human rights violations deserve all possible support for combating impunity. Karapatan and relatives of victims of human rights violations strongly support the courageous effort of Raymond Manalo to file charges against the human rights violators,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan secretary general, a human rights organization.

First posted 17:04:58 (Mla time) September 12, 2008
Tetch Torres Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

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Army rockets kill 3 children, 3 others in south

MANILA - At least six civilians, including a pregnant woman and three children, were killed on Monday when Philippine army planes strafed and bombed Muslim rebel positions in the south a week after a peace deal collapsed, officials said.

Army helicopters and planes attacked rebel positions near a marshland after renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had fired at helicopters searching for rebels on the southern island of Mindanao, army officials said.

Musib Uy Tan, a local official, told reporters the civilians had been on their way to a temporary shelter area when their boat was hit by rockets fired from helicopter gunships.
  
"The boat was a total wreck," Tan said, adding that the bodies of a 53-year old farmer and his family, including a pregnant 17-year old girl, had been pulled from the water.

Colonel Marlou Salazar, an army brigade commander, said he was unaware of civilian casualties but reported that seven MILF rebels had been killed in the air strikes.

But army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Julieto Ando said collateral damage in armed encounters was possible. 

"We're investigating that incident now," Ando told reporters.
  
Earlier on Monday, a crude bomb went off in a public market in Mindanao's Isulan town while another was defused near a hospital in nearby Tacurong City. Both are Catholic-dominated areas and thus potential MILF targets. 
       
Identical bombs

"Our investigators believed it was supposed to go off at the same time as the second bomb because the two explosive devices were almost identical," Major Armand Rico, another military spokesman, told reporters. "They were made from 81mm mortar rounds and remotely detonated by a cellphone."

Military chief General Alexander Yano warned of more bombings in Catholic-dominated areas in Mindanao even as fighting subsided since Ramadan started last week. He said the rebels had broken into smaller groups to avoid head-on confrontations.

More than 200 people, including 21 soldiers, were killed in August in fighting between troops and renegade members of the MILF blamed for attacking Christian-majority southern towns after the peace deal fell apart.

The government has been in on-off talks with the MILF since 1997 to end a rebellion that has killed 120,000 people and stunted growth in a region said to be sitting on huge deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas.

About half a million people have been displaced by fighting since Aug. 18 as troops bombed and shelled rebel positions.

On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) asked for more donations so it could continue providing food to around 70,000 people at refugee camps on Mindanao, adding that there could be more uncertainty after the end of Ramadan.

by MANNY MOGATO, Reuters | 09/08/2008 6:24 PM as of 09/08/2008 6:56 PM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/09/08/08/army-rockets-kill-3-children-3-others-south

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SC studying expansion of ‘writ of amparo’--Chief Justice

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The Supreme Court is studying the expansion of the powers of the writ of amparo to cover not only extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances but also to protect the economic, social, and cultural rights of the poor, Chief Justice Reynato Puno said Thursday.

Puno disclosed this in his speech at the “Kabuhayan, Karapatan, Katarungan,” a forum on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Violations and Remedies at the College of Law of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Puno said that in Latin American countries, the writ of amparo also covered other rights in order to protect the poor.

“We are also studying the possibility of widening the coverage of the writ of amparo by providing protection to economic, social, and cultural rights, including protection against demolitions and bringing the judiciary closer to the poor,” Puno said in Filipino.

He also cited the report released Wednesday by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which stated that the number of extrajudicial killings has “significantly dropped” by as much as 70 percent compared to that of 2005.

“Marahil ay dapat talagang pag-aralan na palawigin pa ang proteksyon ng writ of amparo [Perhaps there is really a need to study the expansion of the coverage of protection provided by the writ of amparo],” Puno said.

The writ of amparo, which took effect on Oct. 24, 2007 is the judicial remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual. Under Administrative Matter No. 07-9-12-SC, the writ of amparo covers existing extra-legal killings and enforced disappearances or threats thereof.

Puno said, the high tribunal was exerting all efforts to make justice more accessible to the people.

"We will see how we can extend further the Philippine Writ of Amparo," Puno said.

Aside from expanding the writ of amparo, Puno said the high court was also studying all the recommendations that were given to them in a forum last July 9 on Increasing Access to Justice.

These include exemption to pay bailbonds on special cases involving the marginalized sector like the indigenous people, reducing payment of docket fees for poor litigants, reducing copy of pleadings required by the courts, prohibiting the sale of transcript of stenographic notes, creating legal clinics to familiarize the marginalized sectors on the judiciary.

He added that the Supreme Court's Technical Working Group has also finished its outline on the Rule of Procedure for Small Claims Cases where there would be special courts to hear cases involving amounts less than P100,000 without any more need for any legal representation and would involve a faster process.

During the forum, militant groups from the children, labor, agricultural, and environmental sectors presented their problems and recommendations to Puno, underscoring the need for accessible justice to the poor.

Lawyer Jules Matibag from the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) said there was a need to protect the poor from SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These SLAPP cases, he said, were particularly targeted towards the poor and marginalized sectors in society, prohibiting them from practicing their basic constitutional rights.

“Ang mga SLAPP cases na ito ay may layuning manakot, manggipit, at magpahirap sa publiko tulad na lang nga mga [These SLAPP cases are meant to sow fear, pressure, and make it difficult for the public like the] multimillion libel cases, slander...that people feel it difficult to pursue justice,” Matibag said.

He added that the usual victims of SLAPP cases were students, media, residents, and indigenous groups.

Matibag proposed “SLAPP back” cases where the subject of the complaint could file countersuits that would seek appropriate actions on damages caused by the SLAPP complaint.

Puno also assured militant groups in the forum that he would give attention to their problems and recommendations, “to respond to the SLAPP cases that are being used to confuse and stop the upholding of economic, social, and cultural rights under the Constitution. Part of this will also be the SLAPP back action for damages against those filing senseless SLAPP cases. We will also study processes that are being implemented in Canada, US, and Europe where SLAPP cases and SLAPP back actions originated.”

“I will give attention to your proposals. Everything that you’ve said were true… especially about the elite-dominated constitutional government system. Only those who are blind and deaf cannot see the truth and that truth has been taught long ago,” Puno said in Filipino.

First posted 14:19:29 (Mla time) August 28, 2008
Abigail Kwok Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net ________________________________________________________________________ 

Families of disappeared protest at Plaza Miranda

MANILA, Philippines -- Families of victims of alleged "enforced disappearances" held a protest at the historic Plaza Miranda outside the Quiapo Church on Saturday calling for justice for their loved ones.

The rally is in line with the celebration of the International Day of the Disappeared which was declared in Costa Rica on August 30, 1981, Desaparecidos said.

Various artists performed songs and read poems during the program which was attended by some 100 members of various militant groups like AnakBayan, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, National Federation of Peasant Women Philippines, and AnakPawis.

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teddy Casino also issued his support for the cause of Desaparecidos.

"Ang bawat iyak, hinagpis at ngitngit ng pamilya ng mga nawawala ay galit, hinagpis at ngitngit ng sambayanang Pilipino dahil sa isang sibilisadong lipunan, hindi puwedeng payagan ang isang karumaldumal na krimen gaya ng sapilitang pagkawala (Every cry, sob, and anger of the family of the missing is the cry, sob, and anger of the Filipino people, because in a civilized society, this crime is not allowed)," Casino said in his speech during the program.

The protesters demanded for the resurfacing of their loved ones and for the punishment for "state perpetrators of enforced disappearance."

The group slammed the government's Oplan Bantay Laya projects which they blame for the disappearance of their relatives.

"Even as we remember and give tribute to our missing loved ones, we also demand that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's regime be punished for its implementation of enforced disappearance," said Mary Guy Portajada, spokesperson of Desaparesidos.

Almost 2,000 disappeared have been recorded beginning the term of former President Ferdinand Marcos until the present regime, Desaparesidos said.

Since the beginning of President Gloria Arroyos's term in 2001, some 193 victims have been reported missing or were victims of extrajudicial killings, the group added.

"Enforced disappearance is the worst kind of repression. It must be stopped, and heads of State which implement this must be punished," Portajada said.

The group added that disappearance "violates the right to life, liberty and dignity, and the right to trial and due process, the right against torture and illegal detention, the rights of persons in detention, and even the right against the desecration of one's body."

The relatives of the desaparecidos said they no longer expect to receive justice from the courts since the Court of Appeals and lower courts have continuously denied their petitions for writs of habeas corpus and amparo.

Nevertheless, the group appealed for the ratification of the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance and the passing of a pending bill which criminalizes enforced disappearance.

"The proposed bill has been gathering dust in Congress and in spite of the continued cases of disappearance, no one has been punished," Portajada said.

House Bill 2236 or the "Anti-enforced disappearance Act" is a popular bill and has been signed by 132 congressmen but objections were raised by the Technical Working Group tasked to polish the bill, Casino said.

The party-list congressman said the representatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are opposed to the bill.

"Ang mismong mga tao, mga opisyal na may tungkulin na pigilan ang sapilitang pagkawala ang siya mismong mga gumagawa ng krimen. Mismong mga pulis at mga militar ang siya mismong dumudukot sa mga aktibista, organisador at mga pinaghihinalaang kalaban ng pamahalaan (The same people who are responsible for stopping the crime are the same people who are committing it. The police and the military are themselves abducting activists, organizers, and anti-government oppositionists," Casino said.

Progressive party-list members in the Congress will lobby for the passing of the HB 2236 by the end of this year, he said.

Meanwhile, after the program in Plaza Miranda the protesters marched to Mendiola Bridge bearing lit lanterns which symbolized the lighting of the way for justice for the victims of enforced disappearances during the Arroyo administration.

First posted 22:01:45 (Mla time) August 30, 2008
Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net ________________________________________________________________________ 

2 ‘Tagaytay 5’ members fear revival of anti-subversion law

MANILA, Philippines—The series of legal setbacks of the government against the critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may lead to the revival of the anti-subversion law to silence militant organizations, members of the so-called “Tagaytay 5” warned Friday.

A day after they were released from detention, Aristedes Sarmiento, Riel Custodio and Axel Pinpin took turns in lambasting the police and other government agencies responsible for their two-year imprisonment.

“The Merlins at the DOJ (Department of Justice), in collusion with the hoodlums in uniform, tried vainly to legitimize classic illegal acts ... by charging us with a nonbailable rebellion charge,” Sarmiento read from a prepared statement during a news conference in Quezon City on Friday noon.

Two other members of the group, Michael Mesayes and Enrico Ybañez, who immediately went home to their respective families in Tagaytay, were not present at the news briefing.

Collectively known as “Tagaytay 5,” Sarmiento, Custodio, Pinpin, Mesayes and Ybañez were seized by plainclothes policemen and agents of Naval Intelligence and Security Force in Tagaytay City on April 28, 2006.

After being held incommunicado for three days, the five were presented to the media as members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) who were supposedly tasked to sow terror on the celebration of May 1 rally in Manila.

On Thursday, the group was ordered released by a Tagaytay court after ruling that the five were detained for a “nonexistent crime.”

Speaking for the group, Sarmiento said while they were happy with their release, they fear that their legal victory might force the government to resurrect the anti-subversion law which was extensively used by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to legitimize the arrest of government critics and activists in the 1970s.

He likened the government’s actions to link cause-oriented groups to the communist movement as similar to the anti-communist tactic of the US government to pin down legitimate people’s organizations during the Cold War.

“Given the successive legal defeats of the government’s legal Merlins in political cases such as rebellion, it is not far-fetched that the [Arroyo] regime will ultimately revive anti-subversion law or an Internal Security Act in order to crackdown on legitimate dissent and criticisms,” Sarmiento said.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, one of the counsels of the group, urged the Arroyo administration to stop the “indiscriminate filing” of criminal cases against leaders and members of militant groups.

Diokno, son of the late nationalist and Senator Jose “Pepe” Diokno, also called on the Philippine National Police and the DOJ to reprimand their personnel behind the unlawful detention of his clients.

“We don’t have to file a case because the CHR (Commission on Human Rights) ruled there were human rights violations in this case. The records are already available. It’s up to them to hold their personnel responsible,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Diokno said they are now preparing administrative, criminal and civil cases against members of the NISF and Calabarzon police who arrested his clients.

First posted 17:29:19 (Mla time) August 29, 2008
Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

UCCP Bishop Council appeals release of UCCP pastor

MANILA, August 22, 2008—Members of the United Churches of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) Council of Bishops marched to the Court of Appeals last August 20 to appeal the immediate release of Pastor Berlin Guerrero, the UCCP pastor who was “abducted” by the elements of Philippine National Police (PNP) and now charged with murder.

Dubbed as the “Pilgrimage Walk for Justice and Freedom of Pastor Berlin Guerrero,” bishops who joined the said march and prayer vigil were Bishop Eliezer M. Pascua, UCCP’s secretary-general; Bishop Dulce Pia Rose; Bishops Emeritus Anacleto Serafica, Isaias Bingtan, Bishop Osias Jaim, Erme R. Camba, Elmer M. Bolocon, Gabriel Garol and Rizalino Taganas; Bishop Marino I. Inong; Bishop Ebenezer C. Camino; and Bishop Jessie Suarez, as well as other members and pastors of the UCCP.

“We believe that God is just and that our lives are in God's hands; so we are praying for the freedom of Pastor [Berlin] Guerrero. However, we are also very concerned that with the recent corruption allegations in the Court of Appeals, Pastor Berlin may not get a fair hearing on his pending case. We are here to remind justices and citizens alike that we remain vigilant in Pastor Berlin's case and that all are accountable to God for our conduct," says Pascua in a statement sent to CBCP News.

Guerrero, who has been detained for more than a year because of the murder case filed against him, was said to be abducted on May 27, 2007—a Sunday—after leading a worship service in his church in Malaban, Biñan, Laguna.

According to Guerrero’s own account, he was blindfolded, handcuffed and then beaten after he was brought to a so-called safe house where he had been tortured for days, forcing him to admit that he is a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chapter in Cavite, which he denied.

After the torture, Guerrero was brought to the PNP Camp Pantaleon Garcia in Imus, Cavite and only when his lawyer arrived was a faxed copy of a warrant of arrest shown.

It was later ascertained from the PNP that elements of the Naval Intelligence Security Forces handed the preacher to them at the camp.

Guerrero, who remains under detention, is currently in the Cavite Provincial Jail awaiting a decision on the quashing (throwing-out) of the trumped-up murder charge against him.

Arriving at the Court of Appeals, the bishops gave a letter of appeal to the CA magistrates asking for a speedy trial for Guerrero’s case.

However, after Justice Matias M. Garcia II of the Bacoor, Cavite Regional Trial Court denied a Motion to Quash the murder charge, the UCCP, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Ecumenical Bishops Forum, Union Theological Seminary, the Kilosbayan Foundation and Bantay Katarungan Foundation now took the case to the Supreme Court.

Due to the lack of probable cause in the murder case and the human rights that have been violated, we joined together to bring the matter directly to the Supreme Court for the sake of Pastor Berlin Guerrero. Senator Jovito R. Salonga joined as lead counsel. We all feel that this case is a worthy struggle; the human and civil rights of all Filipino people are at stake,” asserts Bishop Pascua.

The case was before the Supreme Court for ten months, after which they remanded it to the Court of Appeals on the basis that facts must be adduced and that the Supreme Court is not a " Trier of facts." It is currently under Justice Romeo Barza, 12th Division.

“We are dismayed that the process is taking so long. Every day that Pastor Berlin is detained is another day that justice is denied to him. We understand in new ways what languishing in jail is—one of our vibrant church workers is doing his best to minister to other prisoners in the jail, but he could be more productive if he were given his due freedom. His family and church members are unduly suffering his absence as well. Justice delayed is justice denied,” comments Bishop Dulce Pia Rose.

“And now we have to worry about the corruption scandal allegations facing the Court of Appeals and the potential distraction or implications this may have on Pastor Berlin's case. It is very hard to attain justice, but we will do our utmost to keep the attention of the court on his case. Our prayer for Pastor Berlin's freedom must be matched by our best actions to appeal for justice," said Bishop Jessie Suarez.

If the Court of Appeals will decide to dismiss the Information for murder against Pastor Berlin Guerrero, he can be immediately released. This is the hope and prayer of the Council of Bishops of the UCCP. However, if the Court of Appeals does not decide in favor of Pastor Berlin he will stand trial on the trumped-up murder charge, Suarez explained.

“It will be very disturbing seeing a pastor, who has committed his life to God in the service of God's people, standing trial for murder. But, it's really not so different than the story of Jesus and His disciples in the Bible. We hope and pray the case of murder will be quashed and that justice will prevail,” Pascua said.

Noel Sales Barcelona

www.cbcpnews.com

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IFI Priest Receives Death Threat

A priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) received a death threat from suspected state agents.

Reverend Father Romeo Tagud of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) received an envelope containing an M16 bullet around 6:30 a.m after his first mass last August 3, 2008.

Tagud is the secretary-general of Promotion of Church Peoples’ Response (PCPR) in Negros.

In a statement, the PCPR said, “We strongly condemn this desperate and evil act as this is clearly a handiwork of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Oplan Bantay Laya 2 that uses unjust, brutal, destructive and anti-people instruments to sow fascism and terror against legitimate, legal, progressive and democratic personalities and consistent anti-Arroyo oppositionists like Fr. Romeo Tagud.

Oplan Bantay Laya 2 is the counter-insurgency program of the Arroyo government.

Tagud recently joined the eight-member delegation of Filipino-Americans from the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, USA who visited Guihulngan, Negros Oriental last June 30 to July 2.

The PCPR said, “It is in this pastoral visit that Fr. Romeo Tagud bonded himself with the delegation’s expressed serious concern on the continuing deterioration in the observance of human rights in Negros, the existence of pervasive climate of fear and the lack of care and respect by government and the military towards the Filipino people who live in extreme poverty.”

The PCPR deemed that the harassment against the priest is a ‘wicked, immoral and unjust act aimed to silence him in pursuing his sincere advocacy for the defense of human rights.’

The PCPR added, “As a church worker, Fr. Romeo Tagud adheres to the Christian tenet of ‘Love the least of thy brethren’ and uphold the democratic rights of the poor and the oppressed to assert and exercise their basic right to life.”

Under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government, 27 church workers have already been killed, according to the PCPR. These include the former IFI Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento and IFI priest Fr. William Tadena.

The PCPR called on all peace-loving church workers, priests, religious sisters, brothers, formandi, pastors, deacons, deaconesses, bishops, lay workers and to all the Filipino people to help defend and advocate human rights.

“…the Christian Church urged us to courageously defend and vindicate the rights of the poor and the oppressed, even when doing so will mean alienation or persecution from the rich and powerful,” said PCPR. Bulatlat

BY BULATLAT
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Volume VIII, Number 28, August 20-26, 2008

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Bayan Muna Member Slain in Compostela

Bayan Muna (People First) organizer Wawie Dutarot was shot to death, around 1:00 p.m. yesterday by two armed men on board a motorcycle in Monkayo, Compostella Valley.

Dutarot is the 132nd Bayan Muna member killed under the Arroyo government.

In a statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo condemned the killing and called on the Arroyo government to abandon its Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL or Operation Freedom Watch) counter-insurgency program which has resulted in the killings and abductions of scores of activists. 

"We directly hold the Macapagal-Arroyo government responsible for this latest atrocity   attributed to troops and militias under her control as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," Ocampo said.

He said that Arroyo has not adhered to the recommendations of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston who visited the country in February 2007.

In his final report, Alston said, “As Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the President must take concrete steps to put an end to those aspects of counterinsurgency operations which have led to the targeting and execution of many individuals working with civil society organizations.”

Ocampo said, "The AFP's continued implementation of OBL bodes ill for activists and poses more grave abuses of human rights," he said.    

The human rights group Karapatan has documented 910 victims of extrajudicial killings, 193 victims of enforced disappearances, and 331 cases of frustrated killings since Arroyo's presidency in 2001.

BY BULATLAT
Posted 6:43 p.m., Aug. 16, 2008

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Delegation decries human rights violations

Killings and abductions in the Philippines "continue without let-up," according to a United Methodist delegation from the U.S. that recently visited the country.

The visit was the second time a delegation from The United Methodist Church's California-Nevada Annual (regional) Conference has traveled to the Philippines to hear about human rights violations, which have been ongoing since 2001. The conference's first visit in February 2007 led to a meeting with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in which the group advocated for a U.S. inquiry into the issue.

Eighteen delegates, including seven young adults, traveled to three regions of the country June 24-July 7. The California-Nevada Conference has sent more than $12,000 to the Philippines to support families of victims of human rights violations.

Karapatan, a human rights group in the Philippines that tracks the violations, reports that from Jan. 21, 2001, to March 31, 2008, 903 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings. The government of President Gloria Arroyo has been criticized for its inaction and for possible ties to groups carrying out the extrajudicial killings. In that same time period, 193 people have "disappeared. "

"We heard from victims and survivors, human rights advocates, and a variety of persons from these militarized communities, " said the Rev. Michael Yoshii, co-chairperson of the delegation and pastor of Buena Vista (Calif.) United Methodist Church. "The testimonies of the people, and what we witnessed helped us in drawing this conclusion: The impunity of human rights violations under the present administration continues without let-up."

The National Council on Churches in the Philippines hosted the group and took the delegation to Guihulnga, Negros Oriental; Pananuman, Abra; and Nueva Ecija. The group also met with victims and survivors at the NCCP office in Manila.

'I am them too!'

Laddie Perez-Galang, a member of South Hayward (Calif.) United Methodist Church, led the group that went to Nueva Ecija.

The group met with two brothers in Pantabanga whose parents, United Methodist lay leaders, were tortured and forced to commit suicide.

"They were given two choices: their lives or the lives of their children," she said. "They already lost one of their older sons in a massacre that happened earlier. We were informed that there were other forced suicides in that area."

Perez-Galang lived in the Philippines until 1974 and was 13 when she left with her parents. She was also part of the first delegation that visited in 2007.

"I thought I was prepared and ready to actually see with my own eyes what I was reading and hearing about what is going on in the Philippines, " she said. "When we talked with the survivors and families of the victims, I felt their pain, their sorrows, their anger. I am them too!"

Victims speak out

Edith Burgos told the group her son, Jonas, was abducted and has been missing for more than a year. Jonas was an organizer among the poor farmers and fishers. The Rev. Melchor Abesamis, a student at Union Theological Seminary, was abducted, tortured and imprisoned for a litany of offenses. He was released and shared his story with the delegation for the first time in public.

Some of the delegation members visited a village recently occupied by AFP forces.

"At the village we were shown the empty bomb casings left behind after a monthlong intensive bombing raid," Yoshii said. "While there were no physical casualties as a result of the military activities, the daily bombing left the villagers in trauma, shock and disbelief that their homes could be taken over by their own military forces."

The group also visited a United Church of Christ pastor, the Rev. Berlin Guerrero, in the Cavite prison where he has been under arrest on charges of murder since May 27, 2007. He was abducted in front of his wife and three children and has been subjected to torture. Guerrero has maintained his innocence and said he has been a target of the state.

Guerrero has begun a prison ministry providing worship services and Bible studies, and he has organized a choir, Yoshii said. Mylene Guerrero, his wife, has been trying to get a visa to go to the United States for a speaking tour with Bishop Eliezar Pascua, but so far she has been unsuccessful.

"We told her that in spite of not making the trip to the U.S., her husband's case was becoming well known just through her attempt to visit," Yoshii said.

Perez-Galang said the group was told many fact-finding teams had come to the country but nothing had changed.

"They asked, 'What's the difference between them and us?'" she said. "We told them we made a commitment and a promise to the survivors, families of victims, human rights advocates and workers that we will tell their stories to our church members, our congressional leaders and representatives and everybody."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

A UMNS Report 
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
July 25, 2008

http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2433457&ct=5722745

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State of Philippine media like state of nation--journalists

MANILA, Philippines -- “The state of the media is the state of the nation,” an official of a media group said Wednesday.

When asked to assess the situation of the country's journalists, Joe Pavia, executive director of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), gave this reply, two days after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave her own assessment on the country's situation last Monday.

Other journalists agreed.

During a forum titled PRESSing times organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), various media professionals and leaders said Philippines media was not faring very well.

Isagani Yambot, publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net), pointed out some of the problems plaguing media today.

First, Yambot said, was the problem of harassments and killings of journalists. Based on PDI research, Yambot said that in 2007, the Philippines ranked only second as the most dangerous place for journalists, with 13 incidents of journalist killings. Iraq ranked first with 24 cases of journalist killings.

What was disturbing, Yambot said, was that those arrested or killed were just gunmen and not the masterminds behind the killings.

“They were not even the masterminds but only the assassins or the gunmen. This shows the culture of impunity or disregard for the killings of journalists has emboldened the killers,” Yambot said in Filipino.

Yambot also cited the journalist's lack of access to information, saying the country is “partly free” when it comes to media freedom.

Another main problem journalists here were experiencing was economical, such as low salary rates, increasing prices of oil, newsprint, and even the falling peso-dollar exchange rate. These problems affect the income of journalists and media organizations alike, Yambot said.

“The continuous rise in the price of newsprint, along with the rise in the price of oil and lower exchange rate of the peso to the dollar … That’s why there are papers that have raised their cover price,” Yambot said.

Finally, Yambot said, journalists often have difficulty in grammar.

“May mga nag-iisip sa Tagalog at nagsusulat sa Ingles [There are those who think in Tagalog and write in English],” he said.

Pavia said these problems were not only felt locally but also globally as well.

“These are global trends in the problem of media,” he said.

That is why journalists have to constantly review their craft and develop their skills, Pavia said.

Complicating things is the introduction of online media, which Yambot said, has posed a challenge to journalists to practice “convergence.”

“Hindi pwedeng humiwalay ang lumang media at bagong media [Old media cannot separate from new media],” he said.

Meanwhile, Joe Torres, chairman of the NUJP, said online journalism has tranformed “jologs” journalism to multimedia journalism, making it a challenge for journalists to transform their content and to learn technology.

“Habang lumalago ngayon ang technology, nandyan ang challenge [While technology is growing, there is the challenge] to be fair, accurate, and balanced, as journalists,” Torres added.

First posted 14:31:21 (Mla time) July 30, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

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More journalists ask SC to stop gov’t ‘prior restraint’

MANILA, Philippines -- More journalists have asked the Supreme Court to prevent the executive department from imposing prior restraint on the media during national emergencies.

Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot, editor-in-chief, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, reporter Volt Contreras, and columnist Solita "Winnie" Monsod, were among the journalists who filed a motion to intervene asking that they be included as petitioners in a pending case before the high court in connection with the mass arrest of journalists who covered the occupation of the Manila Peninsula Hotel by renegade soldiers last year.

The original petitioners in the pending case, among them a number of the arrested journalists, said government officials have continued to issue threats against them, citing the statement of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez that in similar situations, media practitioners would be held criminally liable if they to "disobey lawful orders from duly authorized government officials."

Those who filed the motion to intervene also asked the high court to order government to stop branding journalists as protectors or co-conspirators of rebels.

The other petitioners are Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) president Ramon Tuazon, AIJC senior adviser Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, AIJC editor Nimfa D. Camua and BizNews Asia president Tony Lopez and more than 16 Baguio City-based journalists.

Aside from Gonzalez, the respondents in the case are Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines' chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Avelino Razon Jr., National Capitol Region Police Office Director Geary Barias, and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Chief Superintendent Asher Dolina.

First posted 17:36:45 (Mla time) May 07, 2008
Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kidnapped Albay militant released prior to ‘amparo’

LEGAZPI CITY – Surviving what could have been another extrajudicial slaying, former Bayan Muna Albay coordinator Noel Samar, 33, who was abducted by suspected soldiers Tuesday, was dropped off on a highway in Guinobatan, Albay Wednesday by his abductors, who even gave him P100 “so he can take a ride home.”

Vic Mirafuentes, spokesperson of human rights group Karapatan in Albay, said Thursday that Samar was released in Barangay Banao blindfolded, with no traces of physical torture but in a state of shock.

After his release, Samar refused to be interviewed for security reasons, Mirafuentes added.

The victim’s wife, Rogelyn Samar, 30, had earlier tagged the military as responsible for the abduction, quoting eyewitnesses in the neighborhood, prior to her husband’s release.

Rogelyn told the Inquirer earlier that the family would file a writ of amparo if her husband was not surfaced in two days.

Mirafuentes said the presence of witnesses, the support of militant groups for the victim’s family, and media coverage could have been important factors in Samar’s release.

Samar was an active leader of the League of Filipino Students and became a Bayan Muna coordinator for Albay in 2001.

He was abducted by eight to nine armed men while tending his retail store in Barangay Layon, Ligao City.

Rogelyn said that, according to witnesses, two men with closely cropped hair were seen buying soft drinks from her husband.

She said the same men grabbed Samar and hit him in the head with a .45 cal. pistol.

She added that when her husband lost consciousness, he was handcuffed and carried to an L-300 white Mitsubishi van that fled while being followed by two motorcycles.

First posted 05:04:22 (Mla time) April 18, 2008
Ephraim Aguilar
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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Families of desaparecidos pin hopes of justice on UN

'Token moves' of gov't part of 'cover-up'-- Burgos

MANILA, Philippines -- Acknowledging that the chances of recovering their missing kin are getting "slimmer and slimmer," the families of victims of enforced disappearances have pinned their hopes for justice on the United Nations (UN).

At a forum in Quezon City, Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, said "token moves" by the government -- such as the creation of Task Force Usig, the special police unit tasked to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, and investigations by the Commission on Human Rights -- are all part of a "cover-up" by the Arroyo government.

Although she agreed with the observation of the European Union that the incidence of human rights violations in the country has gone down, Burgos said credit for this should not go to the government but to the efforts of non-government organizations and human rights advocates.

"In short, the token moves of the government have not really helped. In fact, they are part of a cover-up, and I say this because it's true to the case of Jonas and I think it's also true to the case of the others here," she said.

Burgos lamented that, almost a year after her son's disappearance, their family is still searching for Jonas, haunted by the thought of his being tortured, hungry, and cold.

The young Burgos went missing April 28 last year after he was abducted from a Quezon City mall by what his family and human rights groups believe were military agents.

"It will be one year in April 28, I have not found my Jonas. We've exhausted all the means available to us in this democratic country. And so what is left to us? To look for relief from outside the Philippines. And that's not only true to Jonas but also true to the other victims," said Burgos, who elevated her son's case before the UN.

"Now why do we go to the UN? Because we hope that eventually, we would find justice. We know that after sometime, our chances of recovering our loved ones alive gets slimmer and slimmer," she said.

Burgos also hoped the UN would be able to help the victims' families pressure the government into not only returning their loved ones but also get those responsible for their abductions, torture and captivity, "to pay for what they have done, to right the wrong that they have done."

"That's why we keep on talking. To give them [perpetrators] a chance to follow their conscience and come clean, return our loved ones back to us, or we will not go away. We will say we will be a sore in your sight," she added.

Burgos said they can only find their loved ones once the truth comes out.

"Yes. We demand the truth. We want truth to come out. That's the only way we can find our loved ones," she said.

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:53:00 04/03/2008

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Remove RP from UN rights body--activists

MANILA, Philippines -- Human rights advocates are pushing for the removal of the Philippines from membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNCHR) and the imposition of sanctions for what they called unabated extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under the Aroryo administration.

Bayan Muna (People First) party list Representative Teodoro Casiño and the Reverend Rex Reyes, general-secretary of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP), made the call Tuesday ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country's human rights record by the UNHCR on April 18.

The Philippines is among the first batch of 16 UN members up for review in accordance with a resolution issued by the UNCHR.

The resolution provides for "a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each state of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all states."

The so-called Troika of Rapporteurs will facilitate the review of the human rights situation in the Philippines based on three documents that would be required of each state: a nation report or national information prepared by the state under review; a compilation done by the Office of the Higher Commission on Human Rights (OCHR); and a summary prepared by the OCHR of reliable information submitted by other stakeholders, including non-government organizations and national human rights institutions.

After the review, the Troika will then submit a report to the Human Rights Council plenary.

Casiño called the UPR a "logical next step to muster broader international support after the government's failure to stop the killings in many parts of the country."

In early 2008 alone, the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Right) recorded 14 extrajudicial killings and two enforced disappearances.

"We need to engage in the UPR process in order to tell the world the truth about the human rights situation under the Arroyo regime and to make the Arroyo regime accountable to its international human rights obligations," Casiño said at a forum in Quezon City.

"In this way, we hope to sustain and even increase local and, especially, international pressure on the Philippine government to put a stop to the human rights atrocities and the impunity by which these are committed," he said.

The leftist solon expressed hopes that, after reviewing the country's human rights record, the UNCHR would reprimand and, if possible, sanction the Philippines for the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

"It would be a start, for example, if the Philippine membership in the UNCHR would be revoked," he said.

The UNCHR, Casiño said, must also ask the Philippines to immediately

implement the recommendations of UN special rapporteur Philip Alston on the killings and disappearances.

Speaking at the same forum as Casiño, Reyes also said the country no longer deserves to sit in the UNCHR because of its human rights record.

"The Philippine government does not deserve to sit in the UNHRC," he said.

Referring to an earlier finding by the Permanent People's Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines, Reyes said it is unacceptable for the Philippines to be a member of the UNHRC "because it undermines the credibility of the UN in this field; is an intolerable offense to the victims; and is a denial of the many well-documented denunciations of the dramatic violations of human rights in the Philippines."

"It is a source of inordinate embarrassment that the Philippine government is churning all these lies and hypocrisy masquerading through an idyllic, rosy image of the country's rights record before the international community of nations," Reyes pointed out.

Former vice president Teofosito Guingona, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiquez, Bishop Julio Labayen, and families of human rights victims were also present at the forum.

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:15:00 04/03/2008

Abducted Couple Transferred to Leyte

A couple abducted by soldiers and alleged as communist leaders in Leyte province have been transferred to the Leyte Provincial Jail after being surfaced around 3 p.m., March 24 in the PNP's Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba City, Laguna.  read more

After four days of disappearance, Jaime Doria Soldedad, 58, and Clarita Luego-Soledad, 50, were surfaced to their family around 3 p.m. yesterday, March 24. The couple, who were alleged by the Army as leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Leyte province, were abducted by government intelligence agents on March 20 in Bacoor, Cavite.

They were transferred to the Leyte Provincial Jail in Palo town today, March 25.

Upon their transfer, Luego-Soledad was subsequently released as the police found out she had no case in the province.

However, Jaime Soledad remains in jail as he is being implicated in the multiple murder case filed against CPP and New People's Army (NPA) leaders for the alleged purge of hundreds of civilians believed to be military intelligence agents who penetrated the ranks of the CPP-NPA in the 1980s. In August 2006, Army Chief Hermogenes Esperon presented to the media an alleged mass grave in the town of Inopacan, Leyte.

He is facing multiple murder charges in relation to the Inopacan "mass grave."

The couple was presented to the media on March 22. Newspaper reports said the couple was in the custody of Region IV police intelligence Chief Supt. Ricardo Ilagan Padilla in Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba City, Laguna. However, when the family and some members of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples' Rights) searched for the couple on March 23, police officials denied they had the couple in their custody.

Survivor

Luego-Soledad's cousin, Vilma Madrazo, reported the incident to Karapatan on March 22. Madrazo said she was abducted together with the couple but was immediately released when their abductors realized that her name was not in the list of those charged in connection to the Inopacan case.

In an interview, Madrazo said she was about to meet the couple in front of the 7-11 convenience store along Daang Hari in Molino 3 subdivision, Bacoor, Cavite at 4:30 p.m. on March 20, when around 10 unidentified men accosted them and hurled them separately inside a silver Adventure-type van, a white car, and another brown vehicle.

Madrazo said she was released somewhere in Alabang, Muntinlupa City after a ride lasting several hours.

Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) leader Randall Echanis have been arrested in separate occasions for the same case. Ocampo was released after the Supreme Court granted him bail while Echanis is still detained in the provincial jail in Palo, Leyte. Bulatlat

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 8, March 16-29, 2008

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Methodist pastor nabbed in Mindoro

CAMP VICENTE LIM, LAGUNA – A former militant leader who is now a pastor of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in Mamburao town in Occidental Mindoro was arrested Sunday night on murder charges, police said.

Charged with four counts of murder and theft, Rev. Melchor Abesamis is now detained at the provincial jail in San Jose town, Chief Supt. Luisito Palmera, Mimaropa police director, told the Inquirer.

Palmera said Abesamis was the secretary general of the united front bureau in Southern Tagalog of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ regional party committee. “He is a big fish,” he said.

Abesamis was implicated in the ambuscade allegedly staged by New People’s Army rebels on May 10, 2007, in Sitio Zigsag, Barangay Batasan, San Jose, which claimed the lives of four policemen.

“We are alarmed with incidents like (these in which) officials of human rights groups are either arrested or killed. Pastor Melchor is still fortunate because he was arrested and was not abandoned by his parishioners,” said Candace Ruedas, UMC district superintendent, in an e-mail to the Inquirer.

Cuario said what happened to Abesamis was similar to other cases of abduction and detention of church people who had worked with militant groups. “The government is again creating trumped-up charges against present and former militant leaders to cause fear among people and prevent them from joining progressive organizations,” she said.

Dorris Cuario, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan in Southern Tagalog, said, quoting Abesamis’ wife, that the arresting officers were in plain clothes and did not present a warrant.

Palmera said, however, that police had a warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Jose Jacinto Jr. in Occidental Mindoro.

There were 23 other names on the warrant, the Inquirer learned.

Abesamis had headed Karapatan in Occidental Mindoro before he became a pastor.

By Niña Catherine Calleja, Madonna Virola
Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 03:25:00 03/18/2008

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House panel OKs resolution on comfort women

MANILA, Philippines -- A resolution has been passed by a committee at the House of Representatives urging the Philippine government to ask Japan to formally acknowledge, “apologize and accept” its responsibility over the sexual slavery of young women, also known as “comfort women,” during World War II.

The committee on foreign affairs, chaired by Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, unanimously passed on Tuesday House Resolution 124 filed by Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan; Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño; Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran; and Parañaque Representative Eduardo Zialcita, an administration ally.

The approval came despite the warning issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs against the compensation provision in the measure.

Marcial Louis Alferez, acting director of DFA’s Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the specific call for compensation and claims contained in the resolution was a “reversal of the long-standing Philippine position on war claims and the prevailing understanding between the governments of the Philippines and of Japan.”

“All claims related to the war are understood to have been covered by the bilateral reparations agreement of 1996 and the San Francisco treaty of 1951. Other Asian countries have also received reparations after the war and they have made no claims afterwards,” Alferez said during the hearing.

“In all high level meetings between Japan and several other countries, no government has sought claims on behalf of comfort women,” he pointed out.

Alferez clarified that the department would not be an obstacle for claims made on individual or private capacity as well as to the chamber’s move to articulate its support for the comfort women.

“We are prepared, nonetheless, to explore ways to best assist in this endeavor of the House and of the lolas [grandmothers],” the official said.

Representatives of the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Welfare and Development also expressed support for the immediate approval of the measure.

Harry Roque, legal counsel for the group “Malaya, Lola [Free, Grandmother],” insisted, however, that the compensation call in the resolution was not a violation of the San Francisco peace pact, citing an “obligation entered into by Japan itself, which conditioned its surrender to its continuing compliance with modern human rights law.”

“Already, the resolution that we are discussing today specified at least breaches two human rights norms committed by Japan as a result of the comfort women situation and that’s a breach of an international law against trafficking of women and secondly, a breach of an obligation against slavery,” Roque explained.

Upon Maza’s motion, the committee proceeded with the approval of the resolution.

Cuenco said his committee would immediately make a report on the resolution so that the House could approve it at the plenary before Congress goes on recess on Wednesday.

First posted 13:41:32 (Mla time) March 11, 2008
Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net

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Jonas Burgos ma appeals to US-based Pinoys

The mother of abducted activist Jonas Burgos is now appealing to Filipinos in the United States in the hope of finding her son, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau reported Thursday.

Mrs. Edith Burgos, the widow of press freedom icon Joe Burgos, first met with the Filipino community in New York before heading to Washington D.C. this weekend for a speaking engagement arranged by the Ecumenical Advocacy Network, correspondent Len Thornhill said.

“I will speak there on human rights especially on the disappearance of my son and in behalf of the disappeared in the Philippines,” Mrs. Burgos said before her audience in New York.  

Mrs. Burgos said she hopes to meet US politicians. She believes that political pressure from the US government may help bring her son back home.  

She is also calling on her fellow Filipinos for help.

"I know that all of you here are educated, please help us. You're could provide a big help, not in the form of money but appeals to your congressmen to stop from sending aid to the Philippines that is used by the government to kill Filipinos and oppress us," she said.

The mother of the missing activist said she believe that the military was behind the abduction of her son who worked as a farmers’ organizer.

Witnesses said armed men forcibly took the activist while eating alone in a restaurant in Quezon City on April 28, 2007.  

“At the end of the day, I think that Jonas was able to do the mission he was asked to do by being lost, by being disappeared because now he is the face of the disappeared in the Philippines,” she said.

Army report on Jonas
Before leaving for the US, abs-cbnNEWS.com was able to interview Mrs. Burgos who submitted to the Court of Appeals a confidential Army report that indicates the military’s involvement in the abduction of her son.

The 11-page report made by 1Lt. Jaime M. Mendaros Jr., acting battalion intelligence officer. His signature, however, was not affixed to the document.

The 56th IB has been linked to Burgos's disappearance because the license plate of the vehicle used in the abduction on April 28, 2007 was traced to an impounded Asian utility vehicle at the Army camp in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Mrs. Burgos did not name the source of the report. She said that the report, like all the other information the family has received, including the vehicle's license plate and the identities of those involved, were all given to them voluntarily.

"Nakakatuwa kasi ang mga major information na natatanggap namin ay nai-volunteer sa amin, hindi namin hinanap," Mrs. Burgos told abs-cbnNEWS.com in the telephone interview. With a report from Maria Aleta Nieva

ABS-CBN  News as of of 3/6/2008 5:30 PM
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Labor groups stage anti-Arroyo march in Makati

MANILA, Philippines -- Various labor groups converged at the Ninoy Aquino Monument in Paseo de Roxas, Makati City 12 noon Wednesday to call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and to denounce unfair labor practices in different companies.

Labor leaders estimated that about 200 members from the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Nestle Philippines, and Yarn Venture Resources, Inc. from Cabuyao town in Laguna participated in the protest action that they said would go all the way to Mendiola in Manila.

Yarn Venture is a textile company owned by Donald Dee, who is also president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Nestle workers who have been laid off complained that they have not received their retirement pay or their separation pay.

Meanwhile, workers from Yarn Venture expressed disgust over their termination that followed the sudden closure of the company in Laguna, without any separation pay.

Makati Police said the protesters had no permit to rally but nonetheless allowed them to stay until after lunch.

First posted 13:07:13 (Mla time) March 05, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

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