Philippine UPR Watch says of PH human rights report to UN:

All rhetoric, no real gains

 

Posted May  36,  2012

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On May 29 this year, the Philippine government’s human rights record will come under scrutiny by member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council. While the Philippine government paints a picture of an improved human rights situation in the country, Philippine human rights groups are saying otherwise.

Philippine UPR  Watch press conference, May 18, 2012, Quezon City
 
   

 

UN Foreign Missions Receptive of Reports and Accounts of Human Rights Victims and Defenders

May 25, 2012 – Geneva - The delegation of the human rights civil society group Philippine UPR Watch has received a receptive audience among various foreign missions on their visit to the United Nations Human Rights Council 13th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) inSwitzerland.

The lobbying effort of the Philippine UPR Watch composed of 15 human rights and peace groups as well as church and mass organizations from the Philippines and abroad has been received positively by a diverse list of foreign dignitaries who have commonly expressed their keen interest to know more about the real state of human rights in the Philippines.

A significant number of foreign missions that have candidly discussed issues and questions with the various teams of the Philippine UPR Watch delegation have signified their concern about the compliance of the Philippine government with its commitment and pledges to the recommendations on the first cycle of UPR in 2008 as well as other undertakings it should fulfill. Seventy one countries have listed up to make statements, ask questions and make recommendations to the Philippine government on a wide array of outstanding human rights issues when the latter comes under scrutiny on Tuesday, May 29.

The foreign missions have assured the delegation that they will take into serious consideration all the concerns raised by the Philippine UPR Watch and counterpose these with the official national report of the Philippine government. The recurrent points that surfaced through the face-to-face interactions with the foreign missions include the continuing extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and torture, impunity, the rights of women and children, militarization of indigenous communities and other pressing issues.

In between bilateral meetings with the foreign missions, the delegation has also been meeting with various representatives of the UN special procedures, rapporteurs and treaty monitoring bodies as well as a diverse array of international NGOs.

The UPR is a process where all United Nations members are subjected to a review every four years of their compliance with international human rights instruments and their commitments and pledges.

 

Marie Hilao-Enriquez, co-head of the Philippine UPR Watch said that after four years since the UPR was instituted by the Human Rights Council in 2008, the Philippine government has largely failed to fulfill its promises in the 1st UPR cycle since various forms of human rights violations continue and impunity still remains, noting that practically no one has been held to account and that the Pnoy administration has remained passive if not indifferent to the demands for justice for the victims.

Today, May 25, the group will be conducting a forum at the Palais des Nations at the UN as a side event dubbed “Telling It As It Is”: Articulating the Philippine Human Rights Situation in the UPR Process, where human rights victims and defenders will speak about their experiences, analysis and recommendations.

The Philippine UPR Watch delegation in Geneva is made up of leaders and representatives of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Karapatan, Tanggol Bayi, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Promotion of Church People’s Response, Migrante International, Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Kalipunan ng mga Katutubo ng Pilipinas, Kawagib/Moro Christian People’s Alliance, Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Defend Job Philippines, and Hustisya. They are joined by representatives from the International Committee on the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines, Bayan-USA, Migrante-Switzerland, and ICCHRP-United Kingdom.

Reference:

Marie Hilao-Enriquez
Fr. Jonash Joyohoy
Co-Heads, Philippine UPR Watch
Contact Number: +41 76 792 4973; +63917 561 6800
Email: peoples.upr@gmail.com
 
   


 
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PRESS RELEASE
May 18, 2012

References:
Fr. Rex RB Reyes, Co-Head of Delegation and NCCP General Secretary (0926-7048249)
Marie Hilao Enriquez, Co-Head of Delegation and Karapatan Chairperson (0917-5616800)
Renato Reyes, Bayan Secretary General (0928-5082902)

Groups score PH rights report to UN: All rhetoric, no real gains

On May 29 this year, the Philippine government’s human rights record will come under scrutiny by member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council. While the Philippine government paints a picture of an improved human rights situation in the country, Philippine human rights groups are saying otherwise. And rights advocates are going to Geneva, Switzerland to present their case before the international community.

Philippine UPR Watch, a network of human rights, faith-based and people’s organizations engaging in the Universal Periodic Review process of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), today said that “despite government human rights rhetoric, extrajudicial killings continue unabated and abject poverty has been increasingly pronounced since the last review cycle of the Philippines in 2008.”

In a press conference prior to the departure of the Phil. UPR Watch delegation for the United Nations in Switzerland, Fr. Rex RB. Reyes, co-head of the delegation and general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), said that the alternative reports they submitted to the UNHRC outlined the continuing violations of the political, civil, and socio-economic rights and the non-compliance of the GPH to its rights treaty obligations.

“It has been four years since the first UPR on the Philippines and the human rights situation in the country manifests no real improvement. The climate and culture of impunity still reign. The whole world knows of the failure of the Aquino government to bring to justice human rights violators like Gen. Jovito Palparan and of the horrendous, less than 1% conviction rate of perpetrators of political killings on top of the snail-paced justice system. These are not things the Philipine government can be proud of before the international community,” Reyes commented.

Marie Enriquez, co-head of the delegation and Karapatan chairperson, chided the Armed Forces of the Philippines with its recent statements that its troops have not committed rights abuses in the past four months. “Such declarations are farthest from the truth as, on the ground, the horrid human rights situation remains, with such impunity, as there have been 76 extrajudicial killings and hundreds of rights violations perpetrated by the AFP, its paramilitary units and the Philippine National Police (PNP) under the Aquino presidency,” she stated.

According to Karapatan, among these 76 cases of EJKs are the killings of Aklan Municipal Councilor and Bayan Muna coordinator Fernando Baldomero; internationally renowned botanist Dr. Leonard Co; Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio; and of late, Higaonon leader Jimmy Liguyon. All of these cases remain pending either at the prosecutorial or court levels, while the state security forces and masterminds accountable for these crimes have yet to be put behind bars nor convicted.

KARAPATAN asserts “that the Aquino administration failed to render justice to victims and families of victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo government. In his more than one year in office, the government did not initiate filing of cases for human rights violations against known perpetrators, including former President Arroyo. It was the through the victims’ and their relatives’ credits that civil and criminal suits were filed against Arroyo and various military officers including the notorious General Jovito Palparan, Jr.”

Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes pointed out that these violations on civil and political rights have always been consequences of clear violations of the socio-economic and cultural rights of the people.

“The Philippine government will report on how good its dole-out projects are. However, the world has witnessed the violent demoltion of homes in Metro Manila, including one that resulted in the death of a 19-year old youth in Silverio Compound in Paranaque. The violations of the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples continue under large-scale foreign mining. It also doesn’t help that the President himself has opposed any significant legislated wage increase while promoting cheap labor through contractualization,” Reyes said.

“Economic rights form an integral part of human rights and the Philippines is a signatory to the Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The Philippine state will also have to be answerable to rising unemployment, poverty and hunger,” he added.

The network declared that "the Country Report is all so fine and nice on paper. There is this time not as much razzle dazzle and blaring trumpets that jump out of the paper to obscure the reality of a very bad human rights situation. In fact, the Report is as generally bland as it is largely meaningless to the victims." ###

 

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Human Rights Activists Go To UN to Dispute
Pnoy’s Human Rights Claims before International Community

Thursday, 24 May 2012, 07:30:05 CEST GENEVA - Philippine human rights activists have arrived in Geneva, Switzerland in time for the second cycle of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The Philippines is scheduled to be reviewed on May 29. The UPR will review the national report of the Philippine government and measure it against it pledges and commitments during the 1st cycle of the UPR and when it applied for membership in the UN Human Rights Council.

Fifteen civil society groups belonging to the Philippine UPR Watch are represented by leaders and members of mass organizations in the Philippines while Filipino expatriates came from the United Kingdom, United States and The Netherlands from the International Committee on the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP).

The Philippine UPR Watch continued to vigorously lobby with the 71 countries that have signed up to question the Philippine government with its compliance to implement the recommendations put forward by 14 countries during the first cycle of the UPR held in 2008. The group has also been raising the government’s other unfulfilled commitments and ignored recommendations particularly put forward by the former UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston.

The various Missions that the Philippine UPR Watch spoke with so far have expressed keen interest and serious concern on the continuous human rights violations committed by the state security forces and its paramilitary groups including extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, torture, intense militarization in the farmers’ and indigenous people communities to pave way for mining operations, migrant and children’s rights and the curtailment of other civil and political rights that are perpetrated alongside violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez, co-head of Philippine UPR Watch, said that under the administration of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, the human rights situation in the country has not essentially improved. The human rights violations committed by the previous government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have not been addressed and worse, it continue to occur under Aquino’s administration as institutionalized by the government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan.

Hilao-Enriquez assailed the Aquino government downplaying of the human rights cases and misleading claims of compliance to the recommendations of the countries since the UPR meeting in 2008.

She also scored Malacanang in its reported plan to create another task force purportedly to address the continuing violations, saying that the victims do not need another task force on top of the multiple others already existing. These task forces have not concretely resolved the abuses but turned out to be passive yet inaccurate collators of information, formal deodorizers and elegant smokescreens for the government’s utter failure to stem impunity after all these years, she added.

The Philippine UPR Watch delegation in Geneva is made up of Marie Hilao-Enriquez (Karapatan), Cristina Palabay (Tanggol Bayi ), Renato Reyes (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan), Atty. Edre Olalia (National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers), Nardy Sabino (Philippine Church People’s Response), Garry Martinez (Migrante), Beverly Longid (Corldillera Peoples’ Alliance), Argee Malayao (Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas), Bai Ali Indayla (Kawagib/Moro Christian People’s Alliance), Jaqueline Ruiz (Children’s Rehabiltation Center), Melona Daclan (Defend Job Philippines), and Ernan Baldomero (Hustisya).

They are joined by Dr. Angeline Gonzales (International Committee on the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines), Melissa Roxas (Bayan-USA), Maribel Mapanao (Migrante-Switzerland), and two Filipino migrant leaders from the United Kingdom.
 

Reference:
Marie Hilao-Enriquez
Co-Head, Philippine UPR Watch
Contact Number: +41 76 792 4973
Email: peoples.upr@gmail.com
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
           
     
     
     

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LINGERING QUESTIONS, TEPID RESPONSES
A Critique of the 2012 Philippine Report to the 2nd Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review

Philippine UPR Watch, 18 May 2012

The Country Report is all so fine and nice on paper. There is this time not as much razzle dazzle and blaring trumpets that jump out of the paper to obscure the reality of a very bad human rights situation.

In fact, the Report is as generally bland as it is largely meaningless to the victims.

In predictable fashion, the government declares that it “affirms its continuing commitment to comply with its obligations under relevant human rights treaties to which it is a State Party” and that it consistently undertakes the harmonization of its domestic laws with these treaties under the principle of progressive realization, and continually broadens its human rights perspective in the performance of its principal role as duty-bearer.”

How are the recent updates of policies, programs, projects, and related actions of the government along the “major strategic tracks of its human rights advocacy “concretized, measured, verified, implemented and assessed?

The Report boasts of the “track for mainstreaming human rights in government and Philippine society” and that it has a “Philippine Human Rights Plan” that covers the Philippine Government “courses of action in line with its commitments under international human rights treaties.”

It further declares that the government has also “mainstreamed human rights in the development of agency policies, plans, and programs through the Philippine Development Plan” that “invokes the human rights-based approach to development as one of its main guiding principles.”

Simply HOW?

In short, how does its formalistic shibboleths and trite pronouncements really translate on the ground else they remain again as abstractions and empty declarations that do not have any felt relevance to the victims, their families and the human rights defenders?

The Country Report falls apart when confronted with the following realities:


1. Violations of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights persist on a nationwide scale because the fundamental state policies that give rise to these violations remain. The Philippine State has failed in the prevention and eradication of these violations. The current government has in fact continued many of the practices that were criticized during the first UPR, including the counter-insurgency program under a new name as well the oppressive economic policies of the past government.
2. Despite all its claims of undertaking steps to achieve justice for the victims, the glaring fact is that of the hundreds of cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, less than 1% have resulted in the successful conviction of the perpetrators. The failure to bring to justice state security forces has contributed to a climate of impunity and has exposed the overall bankruptcy of the judicial system. The Philippine State has failed in the prosecution of the violators and in achieving justice for the victims.
3. The Philippine State cannot claim an improvement in the situation because of the alleged “mainstreaming of human rights” and the pledge of “inclusive growth”. The Country report does not present data to support this claim. The Country Report, while it gives a litany of laws, orders and other issuances, does not clearly and concretely present any of the positive effects of these policies. There is no quantitative assessment on how poverty, hunger and unemployment have been reduced, only a general assertion that the government is being “aggressive in upholding economic, social and cultural rights”. There is no audit of the human rights violations of the past and present administrations, only questionable figures from the PNP’s Task Force Usig, which lacks credibility even with the international community.

It’s essentially the same old story, the same old questions that thirst for immediate as well as strategic concrete, measurable responses on the ground and in the field.

The lingering, pestering, brewing questions in the prisons, in the streets, in the farms, in the factories, in the campuses, in churches, in the courts, in the press, continue.

The same questions linger…
The pledges and commitments it has made in 2008 remain largely unfulfilled, many of the recommendations continue to be ignored.
The violations of even the most basic civil and political rights continue as the climate of impunity persist.
The bad practices that engender the commission, repetition and recurrence of human rights violations are still in place.
The various maze of domestic legal remedies remain inadequate, ineffective and customarily prolonged for most.
And anti-people socio-economic policies and practices continue to be implemented and propagated.
Why do extrajudicial killings of farmers, indigenous peoples, activists and media persons continue with regularity?

Why is torture still a routinary or “standard operating practice” not only in cases of political dissenters or perceived enemies of the state but also ordinary common criminals?

Why have the perpetrators not been punished after all these years? And why, as before, they continue to be promoted instead and given a virtual blessing despite serious charges of human rights violations?

Why, after all these years and all these fancy trainings and programs and multiple task forces, as well as so-called human rights offices, practically no one has been credibly convicted yet for even the most high-profile and strong cases of human rights violations?

And why does the government remain passive and content in waiting for the victims themselves and their relatives or the human rights defenders to initiate and pursue the prosecution of the perpetrators?

Why do civilians, activists, social workers, dissenters, and even their counsels continue to be labeled and vilified?

Why does the government continue, as before, to deny the existence of political prisoners and even institutionalize this denial through some clever legal fiction?

Why do the structures and homes of the urban poor continue to be demolished without any security of shelter and livelihood, let alone without the community being hurt or even killed?

Why do migrants, many of them women, continue to spill out of the country and are treated like cattle?

Why do our workers continue to suffer exploitative working conditions and their grievances not heeded?

Why do our farmers continue to live in penury and unspeakable exploitation?

Why do the indigenous people continue to be hoodwinked to give way to large scale mining and logging projects that only bring them destruction, suffering and denial of their inherent rights?

Why do schoolbuildings of our children continue to be occupied by menacing and mean-looking fully armed security forces?

Why do paramilitary groups that are notorious for human rights atrocities still around after all these years?

Why do thousands of ordinary folk still continue to be forcibly evacuated, reconcentrated or hamletted?

And why, for heaven’s sake is General Palparan still out there?

And why is the President himself very quiet about all these but turns loquacious and lightens up with a sudden gift of gab when it comes to lesser, mundane issues?

These are the basic, simple questions that will inevitably seep out of the minute crevices and plethora of details in the Philippine Report amidst a continuing climate of impunity and social injustice.

Again, these are the questions that the Philippines as a State under Review must address with candor, sincerity and decisiveness.

The victims, the human rights defenders, the people cannot just accept tepid responses.

We do not need those fancy and sophisticated schemes, bureaucratic agencies and mechanisms and even grandiose structures and plans. We need clear, plain answers.

We want justice. And we want it NOW.
 
     
     
     
     
           
     
     
     

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Press Statement
May 19, 2012

Reference: Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, 0917-5003879
Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580

Belying AFP’s zero credibility on ‘zero rights violations’
Karapatan to submit complaints on forced evacuation and continued EJK to UNHRC

A few days before the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) undergoes the 2nd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Karapatan said that it will bring to the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council the recent cases of forced evacuation and the continuing cases of extrajudicial killings (EJK) in the Philippines, under the Noynoy Aquino government. The complaints will be submitted through the respective Special Rapporteurs on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.

According to Cristina Palabay, Karapatan spokesperson, “we would specifically bring up the recent cases of forcible evacuation, indiscriminate firing, threats and intimidation and other rights violations that happened in the course of intense military operations in Bukidnon province, CARAGA region, and other provinces in the Philippines. The military operations are believed to be the government’s practices of clearing up the areas for, and silencing the people’s opposition against, large-scale corporate mining operations and the construction of a mega-dam project for the consumption of foreign owned corporations.”

Karapatan documented some almost 4,000 individuals who left their homes from August 2010 to October 2011 due to coercion and harassment of security forces. During the first quarter of 2012, some 6,500 individuals forcibly evacuated from their communities and sought temporary shelter elsewhere due to bombings and indiscriminate firing by soldiers who likewise occupied their villages and camped in village halls, day care and health centers and schools.

The continuing extrajudicial killing will also be brought out as a major concern in the complaint. Among the cases that will be highlighted is the killing of indigenous chieftain, Jimmy Liguyon, who was killed on March 5. In its individual report submitted for the Universal Periodic Review of the GPH, the group stated that there are 60 victims of EJKs (from July 2010 to October 2011) while military operations in the rural areas have resulted to “the torture, illegal arrests and detention, harassment and intimidation, closing down of NGO-supported schools and literacy programs, indiscriminate firing resulting to injury and death and forced evacuation of individuals.” (For the full text of Karapatan’s Individual Submission for the UPR, please refer to this link: http://karapatan.org/Karapatan+Submission+UPR)

Palabay said that “the AFP has zero credibility especially in terms of human rights protection and realization. Its claim that its units have not been involved in any case of human rights violations is sheer lie that stems from Noynoy Aquino’s attempt to deodorize the brutality of its counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan and disassociate this from the bloody Oplan Bantay Laya of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The increasing number of cases and victims of rights violations committed with impunity are proofs that contradict the government’s claim.”

Palabay and Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao Enriquez are members of the Philippine UPR watch delegation, who are slated to monitor and conduct activities in time for the UPR of the Philippines on May 29 at the UNHRC in Geneva, Switzerland.
 

 At the UN HR Council, Geneva Switzerland
May 24, 2012
     
With Azerbaijan delegate

Wih Sweden;s delegate
           
     
  With delegates of Portugal and Sweden  
     

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Human Rights Activists Go To UN to Dispute Pnoy’s Human Rights Claims before International Community

Thursday, 24 May 2012, 07:30:05 CEST GENEVA - Philippine human rights activists have arrived in Geneva, Switzerland in time for the second cycle of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The Philippines is scheduled to be reviewed on May 29. The UPR will review the national report of the Philippine government and measure it against its pledges and commitments during the 1st cycle of the UPR and when it applied for membership in the UN Human Rights Council.

Fifteen civil society groups belonging to the Philippine UPR Watch are represented by leaders and members of mass organizations in the Philippines while Filipino expatriates came from the United Kingdom, United States and The Netherlands from the International Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP).

The Philippine UPR Watch continued to vigorously lobby with the 71 countries that have signed up to question the Philippine government with its compliance to implement the recommendations put forward by 14 countries during the first cycle of the UPR held in 2008. The group has also been raising the government’s other unfulfilled commitments and ignored recommendations particularly put forward by the former UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston.
The various Missions that the Philippine UPR Watch spoke with so far have expressed keen interest and serious concern on the continuous human rights violations committed by the state security forces and its paramilitary groups including extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, torture, intense militarization in the farmers’ and indigenous people communities to pave way for mining operations, migrant and children’s rights and the curtailment of other civil and political rights that are perpetrated alongside violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez, co-head of Philippine UPR Watch, said that under the administration of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, the human rights situation in the country has not essentially improved. The human rights violations committed by the previous government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have not been addressed and worse, it continue to occur under Aquino’s administration as institutionalized by the government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan.

Hilao-Enriquez assailed the Aquino government downplaying of the human rights cases and misleading claims of compliance to the recommendations of the countries since the UPR meeting in 2008.

She also scored Malacanang in its reported plan to create another task force purportedly to address the continuing violations, saying that the victims do not need another task force on top of the multiple others already existing. These task forces have not concretely resolved the abuses but turned out to be passive yet inaccurate collators of information, formal deodorizers and elegant smokescreens for the government’s utter failure to stem impunity after all these years, she added.

The Philippine UPR Watch delegation in Geneva is made up of Marie Hilao-Enriquez (Karapatan), Cristina Palabay (Tanggol Bayi), Renato Reyes (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan), Atty. Edre Olalia (National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers), Nardy Sabino (Promotion of Church People’s Response), Garry Martinez (Migrante), Beverly Longid (Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance), Argee Malayao (Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas), Bai Ali Indayla (Kawagib/Moro Christian People’s Alliance), Jaquiline Ruiz (Children’s Rehabilitation Center), Melona Daclan (Defend Job Philippines), Ernan Baldomero (Hustisya), and Rev. Fr. Jonash Joyohoy (Ramento Project for Rights Defenders).

They are joined by Dr. Angelica Gonzales (International Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines), Melissa Roxas (Bayan-USA), Maribel Mapanao (Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines-Switzerland), and two other delegates from the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines - UK.

Reference:
Marie Hilao-Enriquez
Co-Head, Philippine UPR Watch
Contact Number: +41 76 792 4973
Email: peoples.upr@gmail.com

 
With Norway's delegate


With Slovenia delefate
           
     
  With delegates from Chile  
     
           

 

May Boses Ka Pa Rin Kasama
lenkurt lopez

mayo 24, 2012

Hindi ko na itatanong
Kung ikaw ba'y lumaban
Sa mga hayok sa laman

Sa loob
Ng malaempiyernong kulungan.
Sapagkat ang nakakuyom mong palad
Ang nagsilbing kasagutan.

Nagkamali sila
Hindi nila napigil ang 'yong sigaw.
Sigaw--
Ng hindi pagkatakot
Kundi pakikipaglaban.

May boses ka pa rin kasama.

Kahit binuhusan nila ng moryatiko ang iyong lalamunan.
May boses ka pa rin,
Dahil hindi ka nila nagawang patayin,

Sa aming alaala.

----------------------------------------
Sa alaala ni Liliosa Hilao at sa mga kagaya niya

Siya ay 23 taong gulang nang damputin ng

Anti-Narcotics unit ng Philippine Constabulary.
Ikinulong,tinortyur at naging biktima ng gang rape.
Matapos ang dalawang araw, siya ay pinatay.
Binuhusan ng moryatiko ang kanyang lalamunan

at pinalabas ng PC na siya ay nagpakamatay.

 

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The case of Liliosa Hilao

 

Liliosa Hilao, a 21-year-old student scheduled to graduate cum laude from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila in May 1973, came home on the evenring of 4 April 1973 to find members of the Constabulary Anti-narcotic Unit (CANU) there. After abusive treatment and attempted rape, Liliosa was handcuffed at about 1 AM and brought to the CANU office at Camp Crame. On Saturday, 7 April, at 4:30 AM, her sister was summoned to the Camp Crame Station Hospital where she found Liliosa's mutilated body.

 

The reports are from the pamphlet, Political Detainees in the Philippines, pupblished in 1976 by the Association of Major Religious Superios in the Philippines

 

 

Download  "The Case of Liliosa Hilao and the Hilao family" in PDF format

 

Note: Liliosa is a sister of Marie Hilao-Enriquez, KARAPATAN Secretary General

 
     

 

      
     
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Human rights advocates stage picket rally in front of Camp Aguinaldo
May 25, 2012
           

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Press Statement
May 25, 2012

Reference: Marie Hilao Enrique, Chairperson, 0917-5616800
Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, 0917-5003879
Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580

Malacańang’s declaration of ‘significant decrease in EJKs’ will be put to test in the UNHRC-UPR—Karapatan

“It remains to be seen whether Malacanang’s spin that there is a ‘significant decrease in the cases of extrajudicial killings’ will work before the international community when the government delegation faces the 2nd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review on May 29,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan. Hilao-Enriquez heads the delegation of the Phillippine UPR Watch, which is currently in Geneva, Switzerland in time for the GPH’s 2nd UPR.

Hilao-Enriquez added that Malacanang’s statement is doubly offensive to the rights victims, both under the Aquino government and that of Arroyo’s. “It has essentially exonerated former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by saying that the decrease in the killings started in 2008, a period still covered by Arroyo’s bloody counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya. As per Karapatan’s documentation, there were 212 victims of extrajudicial killings. At the same time, it is shows utter disregard to the aspirations for justice of the families of the 76 victims killed under President Aquino.”

The first EJK victim under the present Aquino dispensation was Fernando Baldomero, who was killed five days after Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s presidential inauguration. Baldomero was an elected municipal councilor and coordinator of Bayan Muna in Aklan, Panay Island. Ernan Baldomero, son of Fernando Baldomero, is among the members of the Philippine UPR Watch delegation. Ernan is expected to raise the issue of his father’s killing and the continuing rights violations under the Aquino government.

Meanwhile, Karapatan spokesperson Cristina Palabay said that, “the UPR Watch delegation has met with and is continuing its meetings with country missions in Geneva to discuss with them the submissions of the various organizations that constitute the Phil. UPR Watch. Issues that are highlighted in these submissions are extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, forced evacuation and eviction and other rights violations that are mostly related to large-scale mining operations, landgrabbing and the current government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP).” The UPR Watch submitted to the UNHRC a parallel and alternative report on the human rights situation in the Philippines. The delegation is set to meet several other diplomatic missions in Geneva as they gear up for the review next week.

“The GPH claims on the supposed decrease of killings and human rights violations in the past four years are one of the biggest understatements by the Aquino administration. With 76 victims of EJKs under Noynoy and zero justice for victims of human rights violations, the GPH has zero credibility when it speaks of its compliance to its political and civil rights treaty obligations,” Palabay commented.

Palabay said that some of the mission representatives “were surprised when they learned that rights violations continue unabated in the country as the Aquino government spew their deceptive rhetorics on human rights” The UPR Watch delegation is “serious about getting our message across: that the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Aquino government in general, has zero credibility to claim that there are no rights violations in the country today,” added Palabay.

Karapatan today held a rally at the Department of National Defense (DND) to underscore the fact that there are more than 26,000 victims of forced evacuation in the countryside due to military operations that include bombings, indiscriminate firing, strafing and harassment of people in the communities. Earlier, Karapatan expressed its intent to submit complaints to the UN Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons, specifically the recent evacuation in Mindanao, in areas where there is large-scale mining operations. ###

 
     
           
     

 

NEWS RELEASE
17 May 2012

FOR REFERENCE: REP. LUZ ILAGAN 0920-9213221
Jang Monte (Public Information Officer) 0917-4049119

9 OF 13 ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS KILLED UNDER AQUINO WERE MINDANAOANS –ILAGAN

Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan expressed her alarm and condemnation at the spate of killings targeting environmental and anti-mining activists, mostly from Mindanao.

“Mindanao’s resources as well as those who work to preserve it are under attack and Mindanoans hold President Aquino and his Oplan Bayanihan responsible.”

The Gabriela solon notes that the increased military presence in mining and lumad communities and the deaths of activists coincide with the Aquino government’s pronouncements supporting large scale mining activity, the exemption of mining companies from log bans and the President’s outright consent to deploy military units and recruit militias for mining companies.

Last May 9, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Margarito Cabal, 47, a known leader of the Save Pulangi River, a group campaigning against the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Pulangi River. Meanwhile, Fred Trangia, an environmental activist and a member of the barangay council in Bgy. Mainit, Nabunturan Compostela Valley was shot dead by unidentified gunmen last May 6.

Other environmental activists recently gunned down by unidentified gunmen suspected to be members of paramilitary groups and state forces in Mindanao include anti-mining advocates Father Fausto Tentorio who was shot while inside the Church in Arakan town in North Cotabato last October 17, 2011 and Datu Jimmy Liguyon, Vice chair of the indigenous peoples’ group KASILO Lumad, belonging to the Matigsalog tribe and Barangay chair of Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon last March 5, 2012,

KARAPATAN-Southern Mindanao also reports that on May 7, 2012, at least 80 families from Sitio 33, Bgy New Visayas, Trento, Agusan del Sur as the 25th IBPA conducted heavy military operations and bombed the community. In the first quarter of this year alone, at least 125 families from various Mamanwa communities in the adjacent barangays of Ombong, Alegria in Surigao del Norte and Bangayan, Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte were forced to evacuate. Among the evacuees are 53 children all 6 years old and below and 52 women, nine of whom are pregnant. Families have been prevented from returning to their farms, losing crops, farm animals and their livelihood in the process.

“We call for an end to Oplan Bayanihan and strongly condemn the Aquino government’s bloody tact in its firm support of multinational mining interests,” concluded Ilagan. #
           

 

 

Anti-dam farmer-activist latest victim of Extra-Judicial Killing

in Bukidnon, Philippines

 

Margarito “Boy” Cabal, 47 years old was gunned down by unidentified men riding a red motorcycle 6:30 pm on May 9, 2012 in Kibawe town province of Bukidnon.

 

Boy Cabal is a resident of Brgy. Tumaras, Kibawe, Bukidnon, a predominantly agricultural area hosting thousands of rural poor who depend much on land for daily sustenance. He has been vocal against plans to establish a Hydroelectric Mega Dam Project - Pulangi V of the electric firm First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative (FIBECO) which if materialized would submerge 22 villages in Bukidnon and Cotabato inclusive of several sacred indigenous peoples’ sites and countless small farms directly displacing thousands of the rural population.

 

Being a member of the Save Pulangi Alliance, a coalition of peoples in Bukidnon and Cotabato resisting the dam project, he has actively helped raise awareness of the issue. They have gathered strong support for their cause especially among the residents in the target communities. Through his invaluable effort, the alliance has also persuaded several local government officials to withdraw their endorsement of the project. His actions has empowered residents and at the same time angered the few who are in cahoots with the big businesses.

 

In his death, the rural sectors of Bukidnon spearheaded by the Bukidnon Farmers’ Association (KASAMA-BUKIDNON) expressed condemnation of the incident. The group said that they shall remain unfazed by Cabal’s death and that they shall thwart all attempts to weaken their organization’s unity in the struggle for genuine land reform and against development aggression. 

 

And we collectively shout:

 

Justice for Boy Cabal, end human rights violations and impunity in Northern Mindanao!

 

No to Electric Mega Dam Project!

 

*Alerto Peasante (Peasant Alert) is published by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement) in Northern Mindanao.

 

For reference, please contact:

Gary Ben Villocino

Public Information Officer, KMP-NMR

E: kmp_nmr@yahoo.com

Mobile #: +63 946 717 9227

 

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KALIKASAN PEOPLE’S NETWORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
26 Matulungin St. Central Dist., Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1100
Tel./Fax; +63 (2) 924-8756; E-mail: kalikasan.pne@gmail.com
Website: www.kalikasan.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
17 May 2012


 

Activists protest killing of biodiversity conservationist, 14th environmentalist killed under PNoy

QUEZON CITY – Ecologists and activists today staged a condemnation rally at the Department of National Defense in response to the recent string of killings of environmental advocates. The latest case was of 60 year-old conservationist and community leader Frederick ‘Fred’ Trangia of Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province, who was shot down last May 6 by two unidentified gunmen.

“We vehemently condemn the killing of Fred Trangia, a staunch protector of the Mainit National Park’s biodiversity and natural resources from large-scale mining. Trangia is the 14th environmental activist noted to be killed under the Aquino administration, and 10th in the Mindanao region. The unabated killings and other human rights violations exacted on ecologists speaks of the Aquino government’s path pursuing dirty and destructive projects paved with the deaths of those in opposition,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.

Trangia was the chair of the Bgy.Council Committee for the Environment, and the vice chair of the Mainit National Park Conservation Society. Task Force-Justice for Environmental Defenders have recorded 54 cases of human rights violations (HRVs) towards ecologists since 2001, with recent victims including anti-mining activists Fr. Pops Tentorio, tribal leader Jimmy Liguyon, and the latest killing of anti-dam activist Margarito Cabal last May 9, 2012.

“Mainit National Park is home to various flora and fauna, notably including the Philippine civet, the endemic Philippine turtle dove and the endangered Green-winged ground dove. It is also home to the popular Mainit Hot Springs. Trangia sought to protect these natural wonders from the attempted expansion of the Mineral Processing Zone in Mainit,” said Bautista.

 

The barangay council enacted Resolution No. 12, Series of 2012, “A Resolution Vehemently Denying the Expansion of Mineral Processing Zone and Interposing Strong Objection of the New Application of Mr. Reynaldo Secuya’s Intent to Put Up a Gold Processing Plant and the Request of Mr. Venerando A. Baisac for the Establishment of a Mineral Processing Plant both in their Property Located at Purok 1, Mainit, Nabunturan, Comval Province” last April 16, its latest move to oppose mining operations in the protected area.

“Aquino’s counter-insurgency plan Oplan Bayanihan continues to systematically facilitate HRVs on environmental defenders. Mining investments continue to be protected by military and paramilitary forces, and cases of private security forces of mining operations harassing mining-affected communities have also been documented. We see no one else except the mining proponents to have motive to cause harm to Trangia,” added Bautista.

“We recently observed the 18th month of the killing of another conservationist, famed taxonomist Leonard Co and his companions Julius Borromeo and Sofronio, who were victims of counter-insurgency operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines during their conservation mission in Leyte. We call on all concerned citizens to add their voices to our resolute calls to bring justice to all environmental defenders, and to put a stop to the atrocious Oplan Bayanihan,” Bautista said.###

Reference: Clemente Bautista 09228449787


Leon Dulce
National Campaign Coordinator
Kalikasan-People's Network for the Environment
http://www.kalikasan.org
(+63 2) 917 562 6824
http://kathangkatotohanan.wordpress.com
     

x

 

Press Statement
May 17, 2012

Reference: Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, 0917-5003879
Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580

AFP’s claim on human rights violations a big fat LIE -Karapatan

"The extrajudicial killings of environmental activists Fred Trangria and Margarito Cabal prove that AFP's claim of zero human rights violations in the first four months of 2012 is one fat lie!" Cristina Palabay, Karapatan spokesperson said. Col. Domingo Tutaan of AFP's Human Rights Office announced that the AFP has zero human rights violation cases a few days after the killing of Cabal and Trangria.

On May 6, 2012 at 4 in the afternoon, Fred Trangria was gunned down by two unidentified motorcycle riding in tandem at Purok 2B Cabidianan, Nabunturan on his way home. Trangria, 60 years old is a Barangay Kagawad of Mainit Nabunturan, Compostela Valley and strongly opposed the Mineral Processing Zone.

Three days later, on May 9 2012 at 6:30 in the evening Margarito "Boy" J. Cabal was shot at his rented house in Purok 4-B Barangay Palma, Kibawe, Bukidnon by two unidentified riding in tandem armed men using a motorcycle without any plate number. Boy sustained three gunshot wounds in the chest and one in the upper left back of his chest which killed him instantly. According to the witness, the neighbours noticed the same motorcycle, a red STX, roaming in the vicinity several times for the past days and even in the afternoon of May 9.

Cabal, 47 years old, married with three children, is a government employee of the Local Government Unit in Kibawe, Bukidnon. He is known for his firm resistance to the establishment of Hydro-Electric Mega Dam project of First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative (FIBECO) that will affect 22 barangays of Bukidnon and North Cotabato. He was organizing the residents of the affected barangay to oppose the construction of the mega-dam. A month before the incident, Cabal was already being tailed by the Police Mobile vehicle, with the policemen directing their flashlights at Cabal's house.

"Karapatan condemns the killing of Margarito Cabal and Fred Trangria," Palabay says. "All they did was to defend their lands from destructive projects of the government and private companies. Just because the AFP's Human Rights Offices are not receiving complaints doesn't mean there are zero human rights violation cases. This is nothing but an attempt to cover up the AFP's continuing human rights violations under Oplan Bayanihan," Palabay said.

Palabay noted that the AFP’s statement came in two weeks before the Philippine government goes through the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review under the auspices of United Nations Human Rights Council. Palabay concluded that, “the AFP statement is simply a psy-war addressed to the international community and is meant to prop up its war monger image that could no longer be masked by their deceptive schemes.” ###

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x

 

CANADA-PHILIPPINES SOLIDARITY FOR  

HUMAN RIGHTS (CPSHR)    

1-5687 West Blvd Vancouver, BC Canada

Email:cps_hr@yahoo.ca

 

23 May 2012

 

His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacańang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
Philippines

 

Sent by Electronic Mail: corres@op.gov.ph

 

Dear President Benigno Simeon Aquino III:

 

The Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)  joins Filipino human rights defenders, indigenous rights leaders, environmental advocates, church clergy, people’s organizations, and international rights groups in strongly condemning the current military & foreign mining aggression against the people of Mindanao.

 

Reports coming from our network organizations in the Mindanao region are both distressing and horrific.

 

We note that Davao is now the most militarized region in the Philippines with 21 reported military battalions have been sowing terror in civilian communities under the framework of “OPLAN BAYANIHAN” purportedly a community development program by the Philippine military.  The implementation of the initiative is a gross violation of the Constitution of the Philippines & International Humanitarian Laws stating the boundaries between military and civilian rule. Oplan Bayanihan has morphed into a military siege with escalating human rights violations & curtailment of basic freedoms. We strongly denounce the de-facto military occupation & operations that the people of Mindanao are being subjected.

 

Civilians are forcibly being recruited and armed under the Barangay Defense System or Baganis (for the Lumads, or Indigenous Peoples) in the areas of Compostela Province, the Gulf towns of Davao Oriental, the upland villages of Davao del Sur and in the neighbouring regions of Agusan, Surigao, Bukidnon, and North Cotabato.

 

The aggression of large-scale foreign mining projects that has resulted in militarization has intensely escalated the conflict.  Soldiers are deployed in mine sites and in host communities for purposes of clearing operations and for protecting these "vital" installations in accordance to your administration’s expansion of the use of mining militias or Investment Defense Force.

 

Troubling reports include:

1.      

            Killings of Jimmy Liguyon, Margarito Cabal, Fred Trangia, Nestor Libaton, who are community leaders, advocates, & church people, directly implicating the Philippine army and its paramilitary troops with extra-judicial killings (EJK) committed in the past two months alone.

 

2.       The towns and areas of Banay-banay, Lupon, Mati, San Isidro, & New Bataan are cordoned off by an overwhelming number of more than 1,000 military troops in effect turning these towns into a military garrisons where military encampments are setup in town halls, clinics, gyms, chapels, and people’s homes. Through an alleged “census”, the military conducts interrogations of residents with their high-powered firearms and their intimidating numbers that have resulted in harassment, threats, incarceration, & murder.

3.      

           Seven aerial bombardments were executed on May 7 & 8 led by the military in the areas of Pasian, Monkayo, Compostela, & Trento resulting in the displacement of 137 families. A fact finding mission led by KARAPATAN, a Philippine rights group, verified alarming information about serious injuries & intense trauma experienced by children & women. The mission confirmed that these military manoeuvring-objectives are intended to bolster aggressive large-scale foreign mining explorations & operations.

4.       Foreign mining firms directly implicated in this outrageous situation are transnational mining companies from China, Australia, the United States, & Canada. Toronto Ventures Incorporated, Cadan Resources, & St. Augustine Gold & Copper all listed under the Toronto Stock Exchange have for years exploited this pro-investor, anti-people, anti-environment, & murderous mining climate of the Philippines.

5.       The continued vilification, character assassinations, use of trumped-up charges towards human rights workers, environmental defenders, teachers, clergy, & farmers, have caused numerous illegal arrests & detention.

 

We urgently call your administration to:

1.       Conduct an unconditional full military pullout from communities being used as encampments by the Philippine military and its paramilitary troops

2.       Rescind OPLAN BAYANIHAN that has paved the way for the dis-honouring of civilian authority over the territories of the people of Mindanao and to uphold the newly legislated anti-vilification law.

3.       Release from illegal detention of the teenager “Jessie” currently being held by the 4th ID in a military camp in Cagayan De Oro City. He is falsely accused as being a member of the New People’s Army after sustaining physical injuries as a result of one of the aerial bombardments supposedly to protect mining companies.

4.       Conduct an independent investigation on all atrocities implicating the Philippine army, mining militias, mining firms, & local/provincial/national politicians; punish the guilty with the full extent of the law to end the culture of impunity that has for decades tainted the image of the Philippines on the international stage.

5.       Honour the national moratorium against mining applications, discontinue the blatant reversals of local and provincial laws prohibiting mining within their jurisdictions, and disband all mining militias or IDF (Investment Defense Forces).

Sincerely yours,

 

Sgd. Orval K. Chapman
for Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)

 

Copy furnished:

 

Mr. Jose Arthur P. Ampeso, Consul General
700 West Pender, Suite 1405
Philippine Consulate, Vancouver BC

Hon. Leila M. De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice (DOJ)
Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila, 1000
Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph / doj.delima@gmail.com

 

Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense (DND)
Camp Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo
Quezon City 1110
Fax: +63 2 982 5640; Tel: +63 2 982 5638
Email webmaster@dnd.gov.ph

 

Chairperson Loretta Ann P. Rosales
Commission on Human Rights (CHR)
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman Quezon City
Tel: +63 2 928 5655, +63 2 926 6188; Fax: +63 2929 0102
Email: rosales.chr@gmail.com

 

General Eduardo SL Oban Jr.
Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
DND Building, Camp Gen Emilio Aguinaldo, 
Quezon City 1110
Tel: +63 2 911 6001 local 8414; Fax: +63 2 421 3531
Email: bacsecretariat@dnd.gov.ph

  

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)

http://www.canadaphilippinessolidarity.org/

 

Member: Stop the Killings Network (STKN-Canada) | International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS-Canada) |  International Migrants' Alliance (IMA) | Coalition for Migrant Workers Justice (C4MWJ | Mining Justice Alliance

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-- 

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media artist
RioMedia

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DONWLOAD:

LETTER TO AQUINO ON MINDANAO HRVs AND MINING AGRESSIOH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
           
           
           

 


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