PNP harassment of human rights workers:illegally stopped and held bus carrying KARAPATAN Congress delegates for 30 minutes, August 16, 2012

PNP harassment of human rights workers:
illegally stopped and held for 30 minutes
bus carrying KARAPATAN Congress delegates

Tagaytay City

August 16, 2012

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After Karapatan's recently held 4th National Congress in Tagaytay City, 28 delegates, all human rights workers from different parts of the country, aboard a Victory Liner bus, were arbitrarily held for 30 minutes by members of the Philippine National Police Cavite in front of the PNP Academy in Silang at 2pm today. No reason was given for the said act. We overheard orders given by their superiors, through their radios saying "mga taga-Karapatan yan. Investigate them and take their pictures." This is sheer harassment! Update: the group conducted a short picket and left after the police refused to give a valid reason for their being held. -- Tinay Palabay, KARAPATAN Secretary General

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Photos courtesy of KARAPATAN


x Press Statement August 16, 2012 Reference: Cristina “Tinay” Palabay, Secretary General, 0917-5003879 Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580 Karapatan Congress delegates harassed Around 2PM this afternoon, human rights workers who attended the Karapatan 4th National Congress aboard a bus from Tagaytay City to Manila were arbitrarily stopped and held by the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Cavite along Tagaytay Road in Silang, in front of the PNP Academy. Cristina Palabay, Karapatan’s newly-elected Secretary General, said, “This is sheer harassment. The four-man team were not able to show us any written order nor give a reason, valid or not, why they stopped us. They insisted they only received orders to stop us but had to ask their headquarters for the reason why. They were even armed with M16 rifles.” While the police team was calling the headquarters through a handheld radio, Karapatan members said they heard a man’s voice at the other end saying ‘member ng Karapatan ang sakay d’yan!’ Bigyan ng feedback si ano,… CPDO at siya ang nagbigay ng instruction sa atin.”(Italicized text taken from video transcript.) Palabay added that, “at one point in the negotiation, we heard another order again through the radio that said ‘…boarded are Karapatan members… investigate them and take pictures or video references’.“ (Italicized text taken from video transcript.) The four policemen were with family names Sanchez, Alcaraz, Nolasco and Manalo. Karapatan is set to file charges against the Cavite PNP for the incident. The 28 Karapatan members were held for 30 minutes. Ten minutes earlier, Karapatan members observed a mobile car of the Quezon City Police Department at Rowena’s, a bakeshop in the area. ### --------------------------------------------------------------------- PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK publicinfo@karapatan.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights 2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101 Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146 Web: http://www.karapatan.org KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.









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