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UN Special Rapporteur’s statement boosts call for AFP troops pull-out from communities — Karapatan

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UN Special Rapporteur’s statement boosts call for AFP troops pull-out from communities — Karapatan

Karapatan acknowledged the statement of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Dr. Chaloka Beyani on the impact of the military operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the rights of indigenous people in Mindanao, especially those in mining-affected areas in Tampakan, South Cotabato and those who forcibly evacuated to Davao City.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said “Beyani’s initial statement on the extent of possible rights violations by the military on people forced to flee from their homes due to AFP operations and the entry of transnational mining corporations boosts the people’s legitimate demand for the AFP to pull out of the communities.”

“I was alarmed that tribal leaders reported that their communities were consistently being manipulated and divided and that they had been harassed and received threats when they expressed their opposition. Indeed some leaders and members of the indigenous communities have been killed over the past years reportedly due to their anti-mining activities,” Beyani said in his exit statement.

Beyani conducted his official visit from July 21 to 31, 2015. He was able to meet with indigenous peoples in South Cotabato and forced evacuees sheltered at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Haran compound in Davao City.

More than 700 indigenous peoples from Talaingod and Kapalong, Davao del Norte and Bukidnon evacuated from their communities due to intensified AFP operations, with the military forcibly recruiting members of the indigenous communities into the paramilitary group Alamara. The military has also encamped in the communities and occupied the self-run schools of the Lumad.

“Displacement, whether due to conflict or development, not only destroys the homes and livelihoods of indigenous peoples, but has an incalculable impact on their cultures and ways of life that are part of the rich and diverse heritage of the Philippines that must be protected or otherwise lost, perhaps forever,” Beyani added.

Palabay said Karapatan will submit additional cases to the UN Special Rapporteur before he finalizes his report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2016 to emphasize the accountability of the Philippine government in the displacement in Mindanao and several areas in the country through its counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan and also the government’s connivance with mining corporations.

“The inadequacy and criminal accountability of the BS Aquino government’s response to the needs of the typhoon Haiyan-affected communities and its corporate-led and investment-driven rehabilitation plan which will benefit big foreign and local businesses should also be considered as key contexts in the Beyani report,” Palabay added.

Karapatan and its network of human rights activists and representatives of indigenous people’s communities in Talaingod, Davao del Norte met with Beyani during his official visit.

The exit statement of Dr. Beyani can be viewed through the following link: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16280&LangID=E#sthash.FVU8irKg.dpuf

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

http://www.karapatan.org/UN+Special+Rapporteur%E2%80%99s+statement+boosts+call+for+pull-out+of+AFP+troops+in+communities

———————————————————————
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
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.

Diversion tactics won’t stop the truth on Aquino’s human rights record from coming out

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Diversion tactics won’t stop the truth on Aquino’s human rights record from coming out

Just days after the verdict of the International Peoples’ Tribunal was announced, Aquino loyalists and cronies in the US commenced a press offensive to misinform the public, distort the truth, and discredit the over 30 witnesses from the Philippines who submitted testimonies before a distinguished panel of jurors including international human rights lawyers, academics, authors, faith leaders, and even a former South African ambassador.

What these detractors fail to realize is that diversion tactics won’t prevent the truth from coming out: that the Aquino government is guilty of gross human rights violations–violations of civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and the Filipino people’s right to self-determination and sovereignty.

Evidence submitted as well as the findings of the tribunal are accessible to the public online at www.internationalpeoplestribunal.org.

Among the charges were violations to economic rights, which includes the Aquino government’s failure to eliminate the Pork Barrel System as perpetuated by the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Testimonies submitted on the charge of violations to the Filipino people’s right to self-determination and sovereignty include that of Marjorie Cohn, a professor of law at the University of San Diego and expert on US foreign policy, particularly US drone operations; Bangsamoro leader Amirah Lidasan on US military command behind the fatal Mamasapano incident; and former Philippine Congresswoman Liza Maza on the unresolved murder of Jennifer Laude and the impact of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The findings of the tribunal will be shared widely with the United Nations, US legislators, and other international mechanisms of accountability. The conveners of the tribunal– the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and Ibon International– will compile the findings into a book that will be furthered disseminated and shared with the international community.

An endorser of the tribunal, BAYAN USA is also an overseas chapter of one of the complainants: BAYAN Philippines. It was acknowledged in the verdict that most of the targets of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and illegal detentions were people affiliated with BAYAN. The common tactic is red-tagging BAYAN members as communists as a justification for political repression.

BAYAN members and affiliates in the Philippines are known to consistently work for the interest of the most impoverished and most marginalized in the Philippines, a country where there is worsening abject poverty and hunger despite Aquino’s claims of being a rising tiger economy.

Perhaps the gap in understanding lies in the fact that those most supportive and defensive of Aquino in the US enjoy comfortable, upper-middle to high class lifestyles in comparison to the majority of whom are struggling hard to make ends meet so we can send money back to our families back home, despite the fact we live in a society that increasingly devalues, discriminates, and abuses low-income immigrant communities.

The International Peoples’ Tribunal was compelled by the experience of thousands of victims in the Philippines who exhausted but could not find justice in the Philippine court system. It was compelled by a culture of impunity recognized by international human rights watchdogs.

How are tactics to discredit the tribunal and its findings any different from endorsing impunity and human rights abuses in the Philippines? Is the Philippines truly democratic if redbaiting, silencing of dissent, and suppression of the facts are still being normalized by the government elite and its mega-rich cronies? Is the Philippines truly sovereign when both China and the US are occupying our land and sea, and when more and more US military troops are being stationed in the Philippines despite a vibrant people’s movement that resulted in the historic 1992 Philippine Senate decision to close the former permanent US military bases?

The truth will not be prevented from coming out. We will not stop seeking accountability and justice until both are attained.

We welcome a dialogue with Aquino supporters to discuss these matters in a diplomatic, factual, and above-board manner.

Reference:
Bernadette Ellorin
BAYAN USA
chair@bayanusa.org

 

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 20 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a center for educating, organizing, and mobilizing anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org.

BS Aquino’s SONA predictably skirts peace, human rights issues

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BS Aquino’s SONA predictably skirts peace, human rights issues

“While the state forces tried to protect their indefensible president at yesterday’s SONA, BS Aquino thanked his minions but obviously failed to recognize the fallen 44 SAF, his very own men, in the botched Mamasapano operation in January. It is predictably BS Aquino’s way of glossing over human rights and peace issues that beset his regime during the last five years,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

Karapatan lambasted the criminalization of the arrested peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines such as Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, Ruben Saluta, and political prisoner Emmanuel Bacarra. The three, with 15 other consultants were all arrested because of the government’s malicious maneuvers and sabotage of the peace talks with the NDFP. The GPH has repeatedly violated joint agreements with the NDFP such as the GPH-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Yet, the DND-DILG Order on Reward Number 14(A)-2012 issued on December 12, 2012 amended earlier DND-DILG Joint Order Number 14-2012 in “Pursuant to the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) dated 24 February 1995 and the current GPH list of JASIG-covered personalities, the following names are to be deleted from DND-DILG JOR Number 14-2012 in recognition of the pending peace negotiations and conditions upon the existence of said peace negotiations”. The amendment ordered the deletion of names of Wilma Austria Tiamzon, Rafael Baylosis, Vicente Ladlad, Reynaldo Bocala and Jose Maria Sison from the list of so-called 235 “communist personalities” who are targets of arrest or neutralization, with corresponding reward money.

“The BS Aquino regime has been double-dealing with the NDFP, dangling the peace talks while hunting down peace consultants and arresting them through trumped-up criminal charges using false witnesses and “planted” evidences like arms and explosives,” said Palabay.

BS Aquino’s insincerity in pursuing genuine and lasting peace showed when he tagged the peace consultants “kilabot” along with other criminal gangs and lumping them together with “The Butcher” Gen. Jovito Palparan, whose hands are blood-stained for all the human rights violations he and his AFP units have committed against the Filipino people.

“He even failed to mention that while Palparan is on staycation in his own headquarters at the Fort Bonifacio, some 537 political prisoners are languishing in jails for criminal crimes they did not commit, except standing up for the rights of the Filipino people,” added Palabay.

Palabay said, “For all his contempt for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, BS Aquino is simply enamored with the murderous skills of the Arroyo generals Año and Baladad whom he promoted to the high positions of the AFP, to complement his equally fascist new chief-of-staff Gen. Iriberri.”

“BS Aquino’s much touted ‘tuwid na daan’ has been tainted with blood since day one. There is no way the people should allow ‘tuwid na daan’ to continue. It must be repudiated. Tama na, tapusin na,” Palabay called on.

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

BS Aquino’s SONA predictably skirts peace, human rights issues

http://www.karapatan.org/BS+Aquino%E2%80%99s+SONA++predictably+skirts+peace%2C+human+rights+issues

———————————————————————
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

People’s SONA 2015: Filipino Americans in Los Angeles roast Aquino for presidential failures

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People’s SONA 2015: Filipino Americans in Los Angeles roast Aquino for presidential failures

Los Angeles, CA — Fifty Filipinos from across Southern California held a rally in front of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles to protest against President Benigno Aquino III’s final State of the Nation Address on July 27, 2015.

BAYAN USA, an alliance of progressive Filipino organizations, mobilized community members from Los Angeles, South Bay, Inland Empire, and San Diego to conduct a “roast” protest of Aquino for failing to address human rights violations, pork barrel corruption, labor export of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and the defense of Philippine sovereignty.  A lechon-themed effigy displaying Aquino’s face and star spangled top hat was the main attraction of the rally, which included speeches, artwork, theatre, song, and poetry.

Nikole Cababa of BAYAN USA Southern California explained, “The Filipino people are fed up with Aquino’s lies and self-serving politics. It’s important we host a real state of the nation address to reflect the harsh realities and aspirations of Filipinos and migrants around the world.”

Trafficking survivors of Migrante Los Angeles, a Filipino migrant organization organizing for their rights and welfare, also attended the rally. The group performed theatre skits to portray the situation of OFWs, highlighting the case of Mary Jane Veloso, a single mother of two and a human trafficking victim facing execution in Indonesia who has been incarcerated since Aquino took office in 2010.

Nap Pempeña of Anakbayan Los Angeles said, “In the five years of his regime, he has done nothing respectful. There is nothing respectful about the state of Mary Jane, the state of OFWs right now, along with 80 other OFWs on death row right now.”

Pempeña continued, “There’s nothing respectful about billions of dollars that are still in the coffers of politicians right now instead of being distributed to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.” Anakbayan Los Angeles helped recruit 30 Filipino American students to volunteer for the Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network’s ongoing typhoon relief and rehabilitation mission in the Philippines. Activists held placards criticizing government neglect in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda with $33 million worth of relief money left unused in the bank accounts of Philippine government agencies.

The activists welcomed Filipino leaders from Mindanao who recently testified at the International People’s Tribunal in Washington D.C., which ruled that Aquino and the U.S. government, represented by President Barack Obama, are guilty for conducting human rights violations and crimes against the Filipino people.

“He practically bragged about everything except the truth,” stated Amirah Lidasan, of Suara Bangsamoro or Voice of the Moro People. “He did not say anything about the Mamasapano incident, how the US government has masterminded, planned, and pushed the Philippine government to implement an experimental war on terror program called the Oplan Exodus.”

A guest speaker from the Mindanao-based typhoon relief organization BALSA-Lanao, Vennel Chenfoo said, “Sa huling SONA, dito natin maipapakita ang lakas ng mamamayang pilipino na kung tayo’y magkakaisa, makakamit natin ang tunay na hustisya at tunay na kalayaan para sa ating bayan.” (“In his final SONA, we can show the strength of the Filipino people, that if we are united, we can achieve genuine justice and liberation for our country”)

Reference:
Nikole Cababa
BAYAN USA Southern California Regional Coordinator
bayanusa.sc@gmail.com

Photos by Hiyas Saturay & Chando Kem

IPT 2015: Guilty!

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IPT 2015: Guilty!

On the occasion of President BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III’s last State of the Nation (SONA) address, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) will be highlighting the outcome of the The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Crimes of the US-Aquino Regime Against the Filipino People (IPT2015) to counter the false claims about economic and social progress that President Aquino is expected to deliver.

The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Crimes Against the Filipino People was convened by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, IBON International, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and the National Lawyers Guild. IPT2015 was held in Washington D.C. on July 16-18, 2015, and the Verdict was delivered to the Philippines Embassy, who refused to accept the document, as well as the White House on July 20, 2015, by rallies of participants in the IPT2015.

The distinguished international panel of Jurors that presided over the IPT2015 – Attorney Azadeh Shahshahani, Attorney Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, Prof Pao-yu Ching, Rev Michael Yoshii, Ms Mary Boyd, Rev Molefe Tsele, and Rev Malcolm Damon – ultimately found defendant Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and defendant Government of the United States of America, represented by President Barack Hussein Obama II:

  1. GUILTY of gross human rights violations involving the civil and political rights of the Filipino People, for committing extrajudicial killings, disappearances, massacres, torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions as well as other vicious, brutal and systematic abuses and attacks on the basic democratic rights of the people;
  2. GUILTY of gross and systematic violations of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights of the Filipino people through the imposition of neoliberal “free market” globalization to exploit the people; transgression of their economic sovereignty and plunder of their national patrimony and economy; and attacks on the people’s livelihoods  and the destruction of the environment; and
  3. GUILTY of gross and systematic violations of the rights of the people to national self-determination and liberation through the imposition of the US war of terror and US military intervention; as well as the perpetration of crimes against humanity and war crimes; misrepresentations of the people’s right to national liberation and self-determination as “terrorism” and the baseless “terrorist” listing of individuals, organizations and other entities by the US and other governments.

The verdict was reached after 32 witnesses, made up of survivors, family, friends, and experts, presented a compelling case of complicity, collusion, responsibility, and liability for gross, massive, and systematic human rights violations against the Defendants. The 17 witnesses in Washington D.C., 10 in Manila, 5 via video depositions, represented 34 cases. Documents on 29 additional cases were also submitted.

Although ultimately a political mechanism, the Tribunal was conducted consistent with established judicial procedure. The Defendants – President Benigno S. Aquino III, the Philippines Government and the Government of the United States of America, represented by President Barack Hussein Obama II of the United States Government, the IMF, World Bank, WTO, multinational corporations and foreign banks doing business in the Philippines – were duly notified of the indictment to provide a defense. This option was not taken up.

The Prosecution team was led by Ramsey Clark and supported by a team of lawyers from the Philippines National Union of People’s Lawyers, Belgium, the USA and Canada.

The Jurors agreed that the Prosecution satisfied the burden of proving that the Defendants, in concert with each other, willfully and feloniously committed gross and systematic violations of Filipino people’s basic human rights.

The Jurors found it undoubtedly proven that state security forces were involved in the spate of extrajudicial killings, massacres, and enforced disappearances in the Philippines. The pieces of evidence singly, and independently, confirm that these incidents are not isolated but state-sponsored, part of a policy deliberately adopted to silence the critics of the government.

Additionally, the Jurors found Defendant Aquino and the Philippine government disempower the people with faulty and failed economic policy. Opportunities in the Philippines are shrinking, the prices of goods are ballooning, social services are eluding the reach of the ordinary Filipino. The Philippines government unabashedly surrendered its national patrimony and sovereignty to corporate entities in important industries, particularly and most especially in mining. Agricultural and industrial development are marginalised.

Lastly, the Prosecutors convinced the International Peoples’ Tribunal of the interventionist policies in the Philippines and in Asia by the defendant United States government. Various military operations under Defendant President Aquino have resulted in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The nexus between the culpability of Defendant Aquino and the role and participation of Defendant United States government for gross and serious violations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and the right of the Filipino people to national self-determination and liberation is borne by the facts and the evidence fully established during the Tribunal.

The Verdict called on the Defendants to undertake, and the People to pursue proper remedial measures to prevent the commission or continuance of such illegal and criminal acts, to repair the damages done to the Filipino people and their environment, compensate the victims and their families for their atrocities, and to rehabilitate the communities, especially indigenous communities that have been destroyed by the criminal acts of the Defendants.

It encouraged us to seek redress, to pursue justice, and to construct a global order founded on full respect for the rights of all peoples, everywhere.

The IPT truly enlivened the movement for human rights in the Philippines and aided in a strong projection of this concern into the international community.

A complete version of this Verdict shall be made available on http://InternationalPeoplesTribunal.org

References:

Peter Murphy (Australia)
General Secretary, ICHRP Global Council
IPT 2015 Co-convenor.

Canon Barry Naylor (UK)
Chairperson, ICHRP Global Council
IPT 2015 Co-convenor

Katrina Abarcar (US)
ICHRP Global Council
IPT 2015 International Coordinating Secretariat (ICS)

Bern Jagunos (Canada)
Deputy Secretary, ICHRP Global Council
IPT 2015 ICS

Angie M. Gonzales (the Netherlands)
Coordinator, ICHRP
IPT 2015 ICS

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