ACT trbiute to martyrs


March 15, 2007 NEWS RELEASE Reference: Antonio L. Tinio (0920-9220817) ACT Chairperson Teachers pay tribute to colleagues killed by military death squads The Alliance of Concerned Teachers held a program at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani this afternoon to commemorate the deaths of nine teachers who have been victimized by extrajudicial killings under the Arroyo government. Public school teachers and university professors held a program consisting of speeches, songs, and poetry. They offered flowers and candles in memory of the martyred teachers. ACT paid tribute to the following teachers killed by suspected military agents: ■ Rodriga Apolinar, 54, a teacher from Oriental Mindoro; Gabriela and Bayan Muna member, killed in May 2002; ■ Leima Fortu, 27, a public school teacher from Oriental Mindoro; acting secretary-general of Karapatan-Oriental Mindoro, killed in February 2004; ■ Vitoria Samonte, 51, college professor from Surigao del Sur; ACT national council member, killed in September 2005; ■ Joan Lingkuran, 20, a volunteer teacher from Bukidnon, killed in February 2006; ■ Napoleon Pornasdoro, 54, a public school teacher from Quezon; ACT national council member, killed in February 2006; ■ Gloria Casuga, 47, public school principal from Isabela, killed in June 2006; ■ Danilo Hagosojos, 61, retired teacher from Sorsogon; officer of SELDA, killed in July 2006; ■ Dr. Rodrigo Catayong, 55, professor, Eastern Samar State University; chairperson of Katungod-Eastern Samar, killed in November 2006; ■ Jose Maria Cui, professor, University of Eastern Philippines (Northern Samar), former secretary-general, Katungod-Northern Samar, killed in January 2007. “Today, we honor our fallen colleagues and demand justice. Credible independent bodies such as Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston have placed the blame on the extrajudicial killings squarely on the military. Now even the US Senate is investigating the killings. The government's own fact-finding Melo commission made similar conclusions, and even recommended the filing of charges against Gen. Palparan,” said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio. “But in spite of mounting international pressure, the killings continue. We condemn the Arroyo government's brazen stonewalling and inaction.” Tinio noted that instead of heeding calls to respect human rights, the Arroyo government is intensifying its controversial counter-insurgency campaign. “The military is now conducting counter-insurgency operations right in the heart of Metro Manila, in the urban poor communities and schools,” said Tinio. “The AFP's anti-communist lecture tour in the university belt is a direct assault on academic freedom. The military presence in campuses is intended to kill free and open debate in the name of a purported war against terrorism. We call on the academic community to stand up for our rights.” # ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED TEACHERS 2/F Teachers’ Center, Mines St. cor. Dipolog St., Bgy. VASRA, Q.C. Telefax 453-9116 Mobile 0920-9220817 Email act_philippines@ yahoo.com SEC Registration 0108727 TIN 236-090-727- 000 Download statement in Text format
	Teachers are a treasured group in our society, but agents of state terrorism - the death squads of the military - continue to bump them off their classroom chairs.

	Jose Maria Cui, professor, University of Eastern Philippines (Northern Samar), former secretary-general, Katungod-Northern Samar, killed in January 2007.	Leima Fortu, 27, a public school teacher from Oriental Mindoro; acting secretary-general of Karapatan-Oriental Mindoro, killed in February 2004	Danilo Hagosojos, 61, retired teacher from Sorsogon; officer of SELDA, killed in July 2006;

	Napoleon Pornasdoro, 54, a public school teacher from Quezon; ACT national council member, killed in February 2006	Vitoria Samonte, 51, college professor from Surigao del Sur; ACT national council member, killed in September 2005	Rodriga Apolinar, 54, a teacher from Oriental Mindoro; Gabriela and Bayan Muna member, killed in May 2002;

	Joan Lingkuran, 20, a volunteer teacher from Bukidnon, killed in February 2006;	Gloria Casuga, 47, public school principal from Isabela, killed in June 2006;	Dr. Rodrigo Catayong, 55, professor, Eastern Samar State University; chairperson of Katungod-Eastern Samar, killed in November 2006;

















	On the killing of Dr. Rodrigo Catayong in November 2006: Dr. Catayong, 55, was the provincial chair of Karapatan-EV, an officer of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and professor and secretary of the Board of Regents of Eastern Samar State University. "He was about to attend a mass last Sunday together with his wife when he was shot dead at 6:15am while getting off his motorcycle. He was shot eight times at close range. He sustained four gunshot wounds in his face two in the chest, one in the neck, and another one in his back. Catayong's wife was rushed to the hospital after she collapsed." Various statements on Catayong's murder: ► Condemnation letter on the brutal assassination of Dr. Rodrigo O. Catayong of KATUNGOD-ES from the Secretary-General ► UP-CONTEND: Rage Against this Madness! ► Statement of Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) ► INQUIRER: Human rights leader killed in Eastern Samar ► KARAPATAN condemns the killing of rights activist in Eastern Samar

BONUS TRACKS: The NCCP HR Report and KARAPATAN's latest profile of killings

\"LET THE STONES CRY OUT" Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action Released by National Council of Churches in the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines March 2007	Latest profile of extrajudical killings, as of end of Feb. 2007
Note: This report was distributed by the delegation from the Philippines which attended the international ecumenical conference on human rights in the Philippines in Washington DC in March. and the fifth annual Advocacy Days, an event sponsored by more than 50 churches that draws 1,000 people to Washington to lobby their senators and congressmen. They also later testified at the US Senate hearing. Executive Summary of the report: Inspired by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and owned by the ecumenical community, this report, “Let the Stones Cry Out”: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action”, is a concerted voice on the human rights crisis in the Philippines today. The report distills the collective cry for justice of thousands of Filipinos – including more than 800 victims of extra-judicial executions from the year 2001 to the present – who have suffered the brunt of violations of human rights under the Philippine government’s counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism strategies. The Philippine government has launched relentless military campaigns against the “enemies of the state” and in the name of the “rule of law” and “political stability.” But the results of this strategy have been mounting reports of dead bodies sprawled on highways and bushes, of female students abducted by armed men in the dead of night, never to be seen again, of the cries of anguish of mothers as their sons – felled by assassins’ bullets - die in their arms, of a well-loved Bishop bathed in his own blood after being stabbed several times, and of children terrorized and traumatized by soldiers who have taken over their villages. This report articulates the protests and indignations of human rights organizations, Church and faith institutions, civil libertarians, justice and peace advocates, parliamentarians, numerous fact-finding missions, multilateral organizations as well as a number of foreign governments and their agencies all over the world on the spate of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, threats and harassment, and other violations of human rights. Their collective call – “Stop the killings!” – is addressed to the government of President Gloria M. Arroyo given its inaction over the deteriorating human rights situation and despite persistent calls for investigation, prosecution and adjudication of the alleged perpetrators of these politically-motivated crimes. The NCCP together with the ecumenical community, through this report, try to confront the human rights crisis objectively and with determination, by assembling together leads, evidence, patterns of military movements, testimonies as well as documents and reports of fact-finding missions. This information reveals the breadth of the spectrum of victims, ranging from peasants, workers, community leaders, indigenous peoples and Muslims; to activists, students, Church and faith leaders, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists as well as Congressional party-list organizers and volunteers. The patterns show that the documented incidents of human rights violations happened nationwide with the biggest number of cases taking place in “priority areas” of the government’s counter-insurgency program, and that the manner by which the victims were executed or abducted was done professionally and systematically, establishing a connection between the national security strategy and the incidents of violations. National security documents as well as declarations by military generals and police investigators only buttress this finding. The report likewise mentions the poor record of the Philippine government in complying not only with the procedures required of a member of the UN but also of its failure to put its declared commitments to the UN Human Rights Council into reality. Part I of the report, “A Cry for Justice: The State of Human Rights in the Philippines Today”, introduces updated information regarding the various violations of human rights in the country followed by the consolidated expressions of outrage as well as the response taken by local and international organizations. Part II, “The Worst since the Marcos Dictatorship,” digs into the facts and figures of cases of violations of human rights and establishes the complicity of the Philippine government’s security forces in these cases. Part III, “Oplan Bantay Laya: A Tool for Political Persecution,” seeks to link the extra-judicial killings and other forms of human rights violations to the government’s national security doctrine and counter-insurgency strategy. The historical, social, economic and political context of the human rights situation is discussed in Part IV, entitled “The Political Crisis, Poverty and Armed Conflicts: The Social, Economic and Political Context of the Human Rights Situation.” This backdrop provides the context of the human rights crisis under the conditions of a sluggish economy and a political crisis accentuated by nationwide protests calling for the removal of President Arroyo on charges of electoral fraud, graft and corruption and human rights violations. This chapter also underscores the fact that the human rights crisis is a product of iniquitous social relations, poverty and injustice that have colonial beginnings and the resultant, longstanding armed conflicts and rebellions to which the state’s response has been the use of counter-insurgency strategy instead of the needed comprehensive social, economic and political reforms Sustaining the vicious cycle of human rights violations is a culture of impunity practiced by the government and its security forces that traces its roots to the Marcos dictatorship of the 1970s. This is dealt with in Part V, “The Culture of Impunity and the Collapse of the Country’s Legal and Judicial System.” Entrenching this culture is the ineffective criminal justice system. Finally, Part VI, “Conclusion: ‘Render Judgments of Truth that Make for Peace’”, lays down the basis for seeking international intervention as a means of addressing the human rights crisis in the Philippines, ending with a “Call to Action.” >>	Note from Karapatan Documentation Committee: Kalakip nito ang word file ng Profile of Extrajudicial Killings as of End February 2007 na inilabas ng Karapatan Documentation Committee. Ito ay pagkakahanay ng bilang ng LAHAT NG SIBILYANG PINASLANG mula 2001 hanggang Pebrero 2007. May breakdown ito per YEAR, REGION, GENDER, SECTOR at ORGANIZATION/ PARTY LIST. Araw-araw po ay tumatanggap kami ng napakaparaming request mula sa media, mga kaibigan sa loob at labas ng bansa, mga institusyon, mga kaanib na organisasyon at mga biktimang aming sineserbisyuhan. Mangyari lamang po na kung may mga rekwes kayo (lalo na kung data) ay bigyan kami ng sapat na panahon para ma-proseso ang inyong mga rekwes. Ibig din naming ipabatid na hindi po kami maaring magpapahiram ng mga enlarged photos ng mga victims. Ang photos ng victims na nakapost sa www.stopthekillings.org ay maaring idownload at kayo na lamang po ang mag-print at enlarge. Kinailangan namin ang pahintulot ng mga kaanak bago mailathala ang mga larawang ibinigay nila sa amin o di kaya ay sinekyur ng aming human rights workers sa regions. Kung may kailangang larawan na wala sa website ay pwede pong ipaalam sa amin at ihihingi namin ng permiso sa mga kaanak, kaya wag rin sanang short-notice. Para sa mga gustong makatanggap ng Urgent Action Alert (ito ang cinicirculate para sa mga bagong kaso, sa halip na fact sheet), mangyaring ibigay ang inyong mga email address sa amin sa pamamagitan ng karapatan.pid@ gmail.com. Ang official count of EJK as of today ay 838 victims mula January 2001. Download Profile of Extrajudicial Killings as of Feb. 2007 ====================================== News/statements on the latest killing - Siche Guindinao, killed March 10, 2007: ► Inquirer: Bayan Muna member is murder victim no. 838 ► AFP lying through its teeth, Siche Gandinao was in Order of Battle ► MA NOT AFP ASSET, daughter of slain militant refutes military ► Urgent action memo on the killing of Gandinao
	To manifest the arduous search for intervention and justice and to make the cry for justice louder, we are reaching out to the larger society of nations, multilateral organizations, and religious bodies worldwide. We are therefore presenting this report to various governments, the United Nations, Church and religious organizations, and justice and peace institutions in the international community. The victims’ kin – as well as human rights groups in the Philippines - are agonizing over their inability to cross the bridge toward justice when there is no bridge at all in the first place. Local remedies cannot be exhausted precisely because there are hardly any effective remedies that the victims and their families can turn to for justice – let alone for deterring the incidence of violations of human rights. This report, we humbly declare, is a mission of the NCCP and the rest of the ecumenical community to defend our flock and our people, and to fulfill our prophetic witness and religious duties. Our prophetic witness and religious duties summon us not only to seek succor for the victims but to climb the steps and begin the process of installing the building blocks, mechanisms and institutions of justice with the collaboration of Church and faith organizations and ecumenical bodies – of which we are a member – and the United Nations, of which the sovereign Filipino people, through their state, are a founding member. Together with the ecumenical community, the NCCP with its long record in the advocacy of peace and justice, is prepared to collaborate with the UN’s human rights mechanisms – as it will likewise with Church and faith organizations and international ecumenical bodies – to make sure that international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law prog4ress from rhetoric to reality in the Philippines by merging such landmark initiatives with the Filipino people’s collective journey toward justice and peace. Download complete 89-page report in PDF format

	Photo above shows members of the Philippine delegation that also testified at the US Senate hearing on killings in the Phillippines





Nine teachers, victims of state terrorism, were honored by public school teachers and university professors in a program of speeches, songs, and poetry at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Flowers and candles were offered in memory of the martyred teachers.	"Today, we honor our fallen colleagues and demand justice" - UP Prof. Antonio Tinio, Chair, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)