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Cordillera Human Rights
Alliance
#10 Rimando Road, Baguio City 2600
Email: chra@cpaphils.org
Telefax: 074-445 2586
Family and Organizations Seek Information about James Balao Enforced
Disappearance in Lower Tomay
The deceptive actions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines have forced
the Balao Family, the CPA and the CHRA to defend the character of James
Balao as they continue their search.
On Tuesday, October 6, a thirteen-vehicle caravan traveled from Baguio
City to Lower Tomay, La Trinidad after witnesses came forward over the
weekend with information about the abduction. Up until now all that had
been known was that James had been abducted somewhere between Quezon Hill,
Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet, enroute to his family residence. The
witnesses confirmed that James was forced into a vehicle by 5 military
looking men dressed in civilians at approximately 8am, while walking in
front of the St. Therese Church and School in Lower Tomay. The witnesses
also said that the onlookers were told that these men were police officers
and that this procedure was normal because James was a drug pusher. This
lie had kept the witnesses from coming forward sooner. It is feared that
other witnesses with vital information that could help force the surfacing
of James may not be coming forward for the same reason.
The caravan, made up of members of the Balao family, the CPA, CHRA and
other progressive sectors, went to the area to inform the people about the
reality of James disappearance and call other possible witnesses to come
forward. The caravan arrived in front of the St. Therese church at
approximately 8am, the same time as the enforced disappearance on
September 17. A program was held in front of the church and information
materials were handed out along the busy
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stretch of highway, indicating
the real nature of James' work and his history as an activist. “It is
important that other people who may have witnessed the abduction of James
know that he was a respected member of the community and was not a drug
pusher, that he was never involved in any criminal behavior,” said Jude
Baggo, the Secretary General of the CHRA and a speaker at the program.“The
actions of the officers who forced James into their vehicle were illegal,
and their deception about James's person where disgraceful and an affront
to his family and the Oclupan clan. “
The Sunday before the caravan,
Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Diocese of Baguio-Benguet held a mass at the
St. Therese Church and School for the occasion of the St. Therese fiesta.
In his sermon, Bishop Cenzon, supporting the Balao family, condemned the
campaign of state terrorism that led to the enforced disappearance of
James and called on other witnesses to the abduction to come forward. “All
of the information we can gather is important in our search for James,”
said Baggo. “This is especially since the Armed Forces of the Philippines
and the Philippine National Police are working so hard to hide information
and misdirect our search; going so far as to lie to witnesses about the
abduction and then to lie to the Balao family about their involvement in
the enforced disappearance of James,” he continued.
The CPA and CHRA has also received commitments of the Barangay Council,
the Parish Priest of St. Therese and the teachers at the school to
disseminate the real information about James' person and the abduction and
to encourage witnesses to come forward. #
For Reference:
Jude Baggo
Secretary General
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
tel: 445-2586
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UPDATE REPORT ON JAMES BALAO
October 13, 2008
Dear Friends:
Mr. Art Balao, the father of James has written a letter of thanks. I quote
in part: “I wish to express my deep appreciation and thanks to all who in
one way or the other contributed to find James. In behalf of my family, I
thank you all so much. My family miss him and am sure his many friends,
relatives and the many people he has touched, loved and helped miss him
too.”
Today is the 26th day of the enforced disappearance of James. However, let
us not lose strength in our continuing efforts to surface James. Let us
not lose courage as we demand and bring to justice the Intelligence
Security Unit (ISU)-Military Intelligence Group (MIG) and the Philippine
National Police (PNP) and other State units that conspired to this
dastardly act.
This is the second update letter on our continuing efforts for the
immediate and unconditional surfacing of James. We issued the first update
letter last October 3.
While we have yet to find out the exact location and condition of James,
through the help of friends and concerned individuals, sometime October 3,
we were able to know of the place and account of his disappearance, as
follows:
On the morning of 17 September, at around 8:00 in Lower Tomay, La
Trinidad, five (5) unidentified elements of the military excluding the
driver, riding on a white vehicle that looks like a Mitsubishi Adventure
or Revo swooped on him and forcibly took him.
One immediately cuffed his hands as he cried, “Saludsuden yo man dagitoy
nu ania ti basol ko? (Please ask them what wrong have I done?) Another, to
prevent him from saying more, locked the jaws of James with his arms while
two others violently pointed their guns at his sides, to prevent him from
resisting, then they hurriedly shoved him into the car. The remaining one
waved his automatic rifle at the shocked onlookers as he warned them not
to interfere. He shouted “Pulis kami! Huwag kayong maki-alam! Drug pusher
eto!” (We are the police! Do not interfere! He is a drug pusher!) Then he
rode the vehicle and within hearing stated: “Diretso sa Camp Dangwa”
(Proceed to Camp Dangwa.)
Aside from these five men, at least three (3) served as lookouts.
The accounts of many witnesses and sources have also validated our record
that James has indeed been under surveillance.
On the same date, acting on information that the military units of Ilocos
Sur specifically the 50th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army (IBPA) may
have James in custody, the family, friends, the CPA and the CHRA
(Cordillera Human Rights Alliance), immediately traveled to Ilocos Sur. We
did not take the information lightly because we know that the same IBPA
was involved in the extra-judicial killings of activists Romy Sanchez in 9
March, Pepe Manegdeg in 29 November and Albert Terradano in 30 November,
all in 2005. In the case of Pepe Manegdeg, eyewitnesses specifically
pointed as the killer Sgt. Joel Castro of the 50th IBPA.
Through the intercession of Governor Deogracias Victor B. Savellano, the
family and the CPA had a dialogue with the 50th IBPA. Unfortunately, the
military representatives Lt. Ruben Tambio and Sgt. Marcelo Garcia did not
make any categorical denial as to their involvement in the disappearance
of James or a clear commitment of their assistance to surface James. On
negotiation, they allowed a very limited ocular visit of the 50th IBPA
headquarters in San Juan, Ilocos Sur, to 4 members of the family and 2
representatives of the CPA, and disallowing taking of photographs.
On initiative of the PRO-CAR, the family, the CPA and the CHRA held a
dialogue with the police regional directorate, on October 6, after a short
program in Lower Tomay, where James was forcibly taken, appealing to the
residents therein for further assistance and cooperation. Present during
the said dialogue were the Regional Director, Gen. Eugene Martin, the
Benguet Provincial Director, Col. Danilo Pelisco, the La Trinidad and
Baguio City Police Directors, Cols. Mario Mayam-es and Jesus Franco,
respectively, and other police officers. During the dialogue, as a sign of
our good faith and willingness to cooperate with the police, we narrated
to them the information as to account of the incident and what we
gathered, of which the police had no knowledge. We also informed them that
there are witnesses. The place of incident is just a few meters away from
Camp Dangwa, the regional headquarters of the PNP in the Cordillera.
In the said dialogue, the PNP directorate agreed to double their
investigation efforts, provide custody and security for the possible
witnesses, greater police visibility in the place of incident to prevent
possible attacks and harassment from the perpetrators, and transparency
with the family and with the CPA.
The following day, we revisited the MIG office in Camp Allen, Baguio City.
This we formally coordinated with the Police Regional Office-Cordillera
Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) and the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO).
Unexplainably, the MIG disallowed our entry to the said Camp but on
negotiation allowed entry to the City Police Director, Col. Jesus Franco.
The MIG coldly ignored our pleas to allow just the father of James, who
was already in the premises as early as 6:30 in the morning, to accompany
the Police City Director to enter the MIG compound. In fact, the MIG
permitted Col. Franco to enter ONLY when Mr. Balao agreed to the demand of
the MIG to move away from where he was waiting simply because he can see
the vehicles entering and leaving the MIG compound.
Thereafter, LTJG Thomas Yu-ing, the head of the 11th Community Relations
Unit (CRU) of the AFP whose office is just beside the MIG, invited Mr. Art
Balao for a discussion. In the said meeting, he offered his assistance in
investigating the case of James. Such deception and trickery! As he issued
on the same day a very poorly written and grammatically erroneous press
release that trivialized James' abduction and enforced disappearance by
saying that the CPA is merely playing this up simply for "propaganda to
attract media attention and collateral attack upon the government…" and
even disrespectfully and loosely comment "Who is James Balao anyway?" Our
concern is the life of James, that he be surfaced alive and THAT is NOT
propaganda.
The regional office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in response to
an earlier letter from the Balao family and succeeding requests for their
immediate action on the disappearance of James, on the same day, proceeded
with a team of investigators to the MIG office for inspection. However,
the MIG elements treated them with grave hostility; shouting at them and
even cocking their guns at the investigators. In paranoia and sign of
guilt, the MIG hiding behind the gates, only showed their faces but
disguised themselves in baseball caps, dark and wide-rimmed sunglasses,
and handkerchief covering their mouth. The CHR investigating team also
failed to enter the MIG compound.
On 9 October 2008, the family (his father Art Balao, younger sisters
Nonette Balao and Jonilyn Balao-Strugar, and brother Winston Balao,) and I
as Chairperson of the CPA filed a Writ of Amparo with the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Benguet. The petitioners pray that the Court “(a) issue a
Writ of Amparo ordering the respondents to disclose where James Balao is
detained or confined, (b) to release James Balao considering his unlawful
detention and (c) to cease and desist from further inflicting harm upon
his person.”
The petition also prays for an inspection order “to permit the entry of
authorized persons for the purpose of inspecting, measuring, surveying and
photographing the property or any relevant object or operation thereon” of
police and military facilities not limited to the Camps Aguinaldo and
Crame in Quezon City, Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, the 50th IBPA in San
Juan, Ilocos Sur, MIG in Camp Allen, Baguio City, and ISU in Navy Base,
Baguio City. The respondents are Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as President of
the Republic of the Philippines (RP) and the Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Eduardo Ermita as the Executive
Secretary of the RP, Gilberto Teodoro as the Secretary of the Department
of National Defense, Ronaldo Puno as the Secretary of the Department of
the Interior and Local Government, Norberto Gonzales as the National
Security Adviser, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano as Chief of Staff of the AFP,
Gen. Jesus Versoza as the PNP Chief, Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu as Chief
of the PA, Maj. Gen. Isagani Cachuela as the Commanding General of the AFP
Northern Luzon Command, the Commanding Officer of the AFP ISU and PCS
Eugene Martin as the Regional Director of PRO-CAR.
On raffle, the RTC 63 under Judge Benigno Galacgac shall hear the Writ.
The sheriff has already served a copy of the Writ and Notice of Hearing
with the respondents, except the ISU as the personnel therein refused to
receive the document. The said Court has set the first hearing on the
16th.
Widespread support continues to pour in.
On 6 October, responding to the plea of the Balao family who addressed
their session, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Benguet (Provincial Board)
approved unanimously a resolution CONDEMNING THE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF
JAMES BALAO, FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE CPA, AND CALLING FOR THE IMMEDIATE
SURFACING AND RELEASE OF MR. JAMES BALAO BY HIS CAPTORS. The said
resolution further states that “enforced disappearances is contrary to the
customs and traditions of the Benguet indigenous peoples that advocate
peace.” The Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) of La Trinidad also
issued a similar resolution after. Earlier, Benguet Governor Nestor
Fongwan wrote the Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through Secretary Gilbert
Teodoro for her “intercession in locating the whereabouts of Mr. James
Balao.”
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) national office on October 10 issued
resolution A2008-035 approved en banc “STRONGLY CONDEMNING THE ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCE OF JAMES BALAO, CONTINUING THE INVESTIGATION THROUGH THE CAR
REGIONAL OFFICE, AND REQUESTING THE AFP AND PNP FOR ASSISTANCE.” On the
same day, the Governor Maximo Dalog of Mountain Province issued a
statement AGAINST ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES. The statement reads in part “As
father of the province and as Regional Chairman of the League of
Provinces, I denounce the unexplained disappearance of James Balao who is
one of us. The act does not only deprive him of his rights but also
subjects his family to untold mental and psychological torture. xxx Those
responsible, regardless of their position or standing in society, should
be held accountable, and made to pay for their acts. Denying or delaying
justice would prompt aggrieved parties to take the law into their hands.
Worse, the impunity by which the crimes have been committed may
institutionalize or promote the commission of the same.”
We have yet to hear from the offices of the National Commission on
Indigenous People’s (NCIP) and other concerned government agencies to
which we appealed for support and intercession.
Recently, the University of the Philippines Baguio, from where James
graduated in college on 1983, published its Statement of Concern in the
Baguio Midland Courier; and letters of concern from Filipino Scholars in
the United States and Filipinos in Stuttgart, Germany. International
support continues with barrage of letters and online petition addressed to
the respondents as widespread public condemnation reverberates locally.
Amidst all these, we respond appropriately to continues military
propaganda that we are simply on a demolition job against the military
specifically the army. Recently, on the disdain statement of the Community
Relations Unit of the AFP that James Balao does not merit their attention
– a remark that smacks of the army insensitivity and lack of value for the
safety and life of James.
Kindly visit our website: www.cpaphils.org for the full text of the above
stated resolutions, CPA and CHRA statements, letters of support and/or
concern, and a photo documentation of all our efforts. This is the second
update letter, we have posted the first in our web site. Again, our
heartfelt thank you for your actions and responses.
While we cooperate with the police and certain military officials on the
matter of investigation and security assistance – we do not have second
thoughts as to demanding the full accountability of the military and the
police on the enforced disappearance of James. We shall not also hesitate
to break lines of full cooperation with the police when proven of their
insincerity and involvement in the same, and when such police and military
efforts shall point to a conscious conspiracy and whitewash of the
accountability of police and military elements.
Let us not lose strength and courage in our campaign to Surface James
Balao and Stop Enforced Disappearances. Instead, let our rage and tears
further our resolve to continue working for the immediate and
unconditional surfacing of James from his captors.
Respectfully,
BEVERLY L. LONGID Chairperson Cordillera Peoples Alliance
Download report in pdf format
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STATEMENT OF CONCERN FROM
FRIENDS IN STUTTGART, GERMANY
Protest resolution of the demonstration from Monday the 06.10.2008 in
Stuttgart - The proposal was adopted unanimously on the "Schlossplatz"
To the president of the The Republic of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, to cognition to the public press / media and pacific organisations
and trade unions, to the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of
Germany, to Amnesty International and for other spreading:
Since 17. September 2008 Mr. Jame Balao, an activist of the Cordillera
Peoples Alliance/CPA, an organisation in the north of the Philippines
which struggles for the protection of the natural environment and the
people, basically against the international mining companies and their
highly toxic gold mining, has disappeared without a trace - His life is in
the highest danger.
If the governments of the world are at a loss then they reach to the most
crude means towards the protest of the population and their fight for a
relieved and free future appropriate for person. This is in Bolivia and in
Germany also the case as well as on the Phlippine. Since accession to
power of Mrs. Arroyo are, according to our information more than 800
people are murdered cowardly and dastardly on the streets by gang of
muderers mostly operating on motorcycles, approx. 300 people have
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disappeared since that
time without a trace, like James Balao. His family and his friends are
deeply concerned about his fate, we, in Germany and in Stuttgart as well.
Mrs. President, we would like
to say you with all clearness: who attacks one of us, that attacks us all
- One for all and all for one! This is our slogan!
Stop this national-hostile
politics now. We do not allow you to handle thus with the Philippine
people and supposed or actual members of the opposition. This is the
politics of the American CIA which takes up arbitrarily people and let
them disappear in illegal prisons. Once Mr. Marcos and his wife meant,
that they are able to kick the current and future interests of the
Pilippine people with feet - you know what happened with them! We in
Germany know -based on our experiences with the fascism NS- what this
terror means against people. Once we swore: not to stop until the causes
for such politics are eliminated, worldwide!
Immediate international clarification of the disappearance of James Balao!
Stop this national-hostile politics now!
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LETTER OF CONCERN FROM
FILIPINO SCHOLARS IN THE U.S.:
ON THE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF JAMES BALAO (CORDILLERA PEOPLES’
ALLIANCE)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
We are alarmed and disturbed with the enforced disappearance of Cordillera
Peoples Alliance (CPA) member James M. Balao since September 17, 2008. His
family has no information of his whereabouts up to this moment. We
urgently call for the immediate and unconditional surfacing of James, in
the spirit of upholding our basic human rights, very basic of which is the
right to life and security which must not be denied to anyone.
His enforced disappearance is being attributed to his work with the legal
people’s movement advocating indigenous peoples rights, human rights and
social justice. Balao has reported that he was being surveilled since June
and this heightened until his disappearance last week. The CPA and the
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) point to military intelligence
agents as the perpetrators of this violation.
Since the Arroyo government implemented its Operation Plan Bantay Laya in
2001, members and leaders of legal and legitimate people’s organizations
such as the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) have been targeted for
neutralization by agents of the state and are unjustly labeled as
communist fronts and terrorist organizations. Innocent lives have already
been claimed as a result of this State policy of political and
extrajudicial killings, and Balao is the second case of enforced
disappearance to a CPA member or officer, since Ama Daniel Ngayaan was
abducted in 1987.
We ask the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines
to fully assist the family, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and the
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance in the search for James Balao.
The State policy Oplan Bantay Laya which has labelled legal progressive
organizations such as the Cordillera Peoples Alliance as “sectoral fronts”
of the Communist Party of the Philippines, National Democratic Front of
the Philippines and the New Peoples Army should be immediately terminated.
We call on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to sincerely implement the
recommendations of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston - “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”.
We call on the Philippine Government to observe the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian
Law (CARHRIHL) and other international human rights laws and declarations
such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
The search for James Balao gets more and more urgent by the minute. He
must be immediately and unconditionally surfaced.
Sincerely,
RICK BONUS, Ph.D Associate professor American Ethnic Studies University of
Washington
SARITA SEE, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
CYNTHIA TOLENTINO, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of English
University of Oregon
RICHARD T. CHU, Ph.D. Five College Assistant Professor History Department
University of Massachusetts
SHARON DELMENDO, Ph.D. Professor of English St. John Fisher College
Rochester, NY
MARIA HWANG Doctoral student Department of American Civilization Brown
University, RI
LUIS H. FRANCIA Faculty Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program New York
University
BENITO VERGARA JR., Ph.D. Anthropologist
DYLAN RODRIGUEZ, Ph.D. Associate professor Ethnic Studies University of
California, Riverside
JOI BARRIOS, Ph.D. Writer Lecturer for the Department of South and
Southeast Asian Studies University of California Berkeley
PETER CHUA, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology San Jose State
University
FRANCISCO BENITEZ, Ph.D. Assistant professor of Comparative Literature
University of Washington
LUCY BURNS, Ph.D. Assistant professor, Asian American Studies University
of California Los Angeles
ANTONIO TIONGSON JR., Ph.D. Assistant professor American Cultural Studies
Colorado College
And
NERISSA S. BALCE, Ph.D. Assistant professor Department of Asian and Asian
American Studies State University of New York at Stony Brook
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statement in pdf format
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