“Akin to former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s acclamation of “The Butcher” Gen. Jovito Palparan during her State of the Nation Address in 2006, BS Aquino’s promotion of Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri as AFP Chief of Staff and assigning either Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya or Eduardo Año as Phil. Army chief are blatant affirmation of the regime’s policy of war against the discontented Filipino people. These three generals are the present-day Palparans and they have blood on their hands,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general.

On Friday, Aquino appointed Iriberri as the new AFP Chief of Staff, vacating the position of the Army chief. Over the weekend, sources from Malacañang revealed that Visaya and Año are among those interviewed by BS Aquino to replace Iriberri as chief of the Philippine Army.

Año was exonerated from the charges filed by Edita Burgos on the disappearance of her son Jonas, which Karapatan believed is “a form of whitewash” on the case. Since 2014 to present, with Año as commander of the 10th Infantry Division in Mindanao, Karapatan has documented several Palparan-style human rights abuses, which includes extrajudicial killing, disappearances, illegal arrests, torture, hamletting, and forcible evacuation of civilians.

Similarly, Visaya’s assumption as 4th Infantry Division commander in Mindanao also resulted in the same pattern of human rights violations. According to Karapatan, Visaya is responsible for the 2004 bloody massacre of 12 farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita; the abduction and torture of farmers Manuel Meriño, Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo, and UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño; and the “urban militarization” of communities in the National Capital Region in 2006 to 2007, immediately before the national elections.

Iriberri, as Army chief, led the whole Phil. Army in “perpetrating rights abuses and violations of the international humanitarian law across the country, especially in Mindanao.” Also, as chief of the 503rd Infantry Battalion assigned in Abra, communities were bombed. In one of the bombings, two girls were almost hit in the villages of Umnap, Buanao, and Lat-ey in the municipality of Malibcong in 2013.

“As Army Chief, he even praised his men who “won” battles against members of the New People’s Army despite violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Such is the case of the firefight in Lacub, Abra, in September 2014 where the eight NPA fighters killed bore torture marks and civilians were killed. Gen. Iriberri even awarded the soldiers with medals of valor,” Palabay said.

Under the BS Aquino administration, there are 262 documented victims of extrajudicial killings and 293 victims of frustrated killings; and more than 60,000 persons displaced and dislocated due to military combat operations in the countryside (data as of June 30, 2015). Karapatan attributes this to the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, commanded by the three generals who are its “rabid implementers.”

“With these murderers and torturers at the helm of the Philippine military, especially on BS Aquino’s last year in office, his regime will leave a bloodied legacy—using a Palparan-like solution violence against the civilian population tagged as “enemies of the State.” With this, and his haciendero arrogance, Aquino will go down in history as one of the most-hated regimes in the country,” Palabay concluded.

http://www.karapatan.org/Aquino+promotes+present-day+Palparans+before+last+SONA

Contact Person:
Cristina Palabay
Secretary General
+639173162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+639189790580

“Under BS Aquino, perpetrators of the Hacienda Luisita massacre were never prosecuted. They are promoted instead.”

The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), a national federation of agricultural workers, slammed outgoing AFP Chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang for recommending another “massacre general” to replace him at the helm of the country’s military establishment after his retirement on Friday.

“Gen. Catapang was appointed by Aquino precisely for his loyalty to the hacienderos of Tarlac – for his active involvement in the 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre,” said Ranmil Echanis, UMA deputy secretary general.

Catapang reportedly named five generals as “worthy replacements” including Gen. Ricardo Visaya, who is widely-criticized as a human rights violator,right-hand man and protégé of “butcher” Jovito Palparan.

Visaya was the commander of the 69th Infantry Battalion, the army unit directly implicated in the massacre of striking Hacienda Luisita farmworkers in 2004. Visaya, who is currently the chief of the AFP Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM), is also implicated in harassment and extra-judicial killings of indigenous peoples, peasants, agricultural workers and union leaders during his stint in Mindanao.

UMA also said that Gen. Catapang, who would retire on July 10, lied in his counter-affidavit dated January 27, 2009 when he stated that no AFP personnel fired a single shot during the Luisita massacre.

This was belied by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) report dated February 8, 2005 which cited two witnesses namely then-Department of Labor and Employment(DOLE) Sheriff Francisco Reyes and an ambulance driver, Arturo Dayrit who were quoted as saying that they saw soldiers firing their guns.

These findings were substantiated by the report made by the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)and Health Action for Human Rights (HAHR) which was submitted to the to the Senate Committee on Labor on January 12, 2005.

The report concluded that “the health team finds adequate substantial evidence to state that the strikers of Hacienda Luisita were shot not ‘as a defensive stance’ or because the PNP and AFP ‘were provoked’ but rather as a direct armed offensive assault on the picket line. This assertion is supported by: a) the number and types of injuries and deaths, b) the character of the injuries and physical findings, and c) the volume and length of gunfire sustained against the strikers.”

The NBI report affirmed that the protesters’ sworn statements were more credible than those of the government personnel. The report states, among others, that “even the independent witnesses who submitted sworn statements corroborated the claims of the protesters that the government side fired their weapons directly to the position of the protesters.”

President Aquino, then-congressman and administrator of the estate, is one of the respondents in the massacre case.

“Under Aquino, court proceedings for the Luisita massacre case were ‘murdered’ twice – only a few months after Aquino held office in December 2010, when police and military respondents were allowed to go scot-free by the Ombudsman; and in October 2014, a month before the 10th anniversary of the massacre, when the Ombudsman junked the survivors’ appeal to reopen the case,” said Echanis.

UMA and its affiliate AMBALA, the local farmworkers alliance in Hacienda Luisita, are studying the possibility of filing new charges against Aquino, outgoing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Gen. Catapang, and others involved in the Hacienda Luisita massacre.

Meanwhile, Aquino’s role in recent human rights violations in Hacienda Luisita is among the grounds for charges to be heard in the International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT) to be convened by human rights advocates and lawyers in Washington, DC from July 16-19.

REFERENCE:
Gi Estrada
UMA media officer
0916.611.4181

Agricultural workers under the national federation Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) urged lawmakers to look into a P3.9 billion public-private partnership (PPP) project involving disputed property within the controversial Hacienda Luisita estate.

The proposed Tarlac Solar Power Project entered into by the Department of Energy (DoE) with the PetroGreen Energy Corporation(PGEC) last March was earlier reported to be located in a 50-hectare area “near Hacienda Luisita.”

However, documents obtained by farmworkers reveal that the solar plant is planned to be constructed in a disputed agricultural area located in barangays Balete and Lourdes (Texas) in Hacienda Luisita, according to Ranmil Echanis, UMA deputy secretary general.

The area is part of the 500-hectare property under the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) approved for land-use conversion by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in August 1996.

Part of this property was ceded to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) a few days after the Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004. Some 200 hectares remain with the Luisita Realty Corporation (LRC), another Aquino-Cojuangco firm. While the area remains agricultural and undeveloped until now, the property is generally referred to by the media as part of the Luisita Industrial Park (LIP).

In 2012, the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita or AMBALA, UMA’s local affiliate in Tarlac, filed a petition to revoke DAR’s conversion order. Armed security guards and goons hired by RCBC and the Aquino-Cojuangcos figured in violent attacks against Luisita farmers tilling portions of the disputed property.

AMBALA’s petition reads: “HLI and its successors-in-interest violated the terms and conditions of the order for conversion order and the rules and regulations on conversion. The land remained agricultural in use and therefore should be placed under the coverage of the agrarian reform program.

“HLI and its successors-in-interest clearly failed to comply with their obligations mandated under the conversion order. Specifically, HLI did not pursue the proposed development plan that was contained in the application for conversion and instead disposed of the 500 hectares to other Cojuangco-owned companies and to RCBC. It also failed to implement the development plan within 5 years from 14 August 1996, the time when the Order of Conversion was granted by the DAR.”

Echanis added: “While the Supreme Court’s (SC) HLI decision excluded this 500-hectare property from land distribution, Luisita farmers believe that their petition for revocation of DAR’s conversion order remains valid and relevant as the property is still fit for agricultural use. This area should have been covered by land reform even before the SC released its final decision.” AMBALA’s petition is still pending.

PetroGreen or PGEC is under the majority ownership of the Yuchengco Group of Companies which also owns RCBC. The Yuchengcos are known business partners of the Aquino-Cojuangcos in the Luisita Industrial Park, Co. (LIPCO).

“In one state of the nation address (SONA), Aquino even questioned the feasibility of solar power projects. Paano raw kung makulimlim? Now, is he allowing this PetroGreen project to make way for the landgrabbing efforts of his family and their business partners?” asked Echanis.

Hundreds of residents in Barangay Balete are among disgruntled farmworker-beneficiaries dislocated by the Aquino-Cojuangcos’ aggressive landgrabbing complemented by the DAR’s bogus land distribution scheme. Land allocated to most Balete residents are located some 20 kilometers away in Concepcion town, making it impractical for farmers to till the farmlots.

The residential areas as well as the agricultural lots tilled by Balete and Lourdes farmers since 2005 are near the SCTEX access road where another Aquino-Cojuangco firm, Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) suddenly claimed ownership over another 258 hectares of agricultural land. TADECO ordered the eviction of hundreds of farmers and bulldozing of ready-to-harvest crops in a series of violent incidents coinciding with the DAR’s land distribution activities starting 2013.

“Aquino will most likely boast of government’s so-called land reform accomplishments in his last SONA on July 27. Once sessions resume, we dare lawmakers to immediately look into this anomalous deal entered into by the Aquino government to justify corruption, violence and landgrabbing with such noble causes as protection of the environment and renewable energy,” said Echanis.

UMA will present a comprehensive report on the state of agrarian reform in Hacienda Luisita in a media conference on July 20, 4pm at the UP Diliman College of Mass Communication, a week before Aquino’s last SONA.

REFERENCE:
Gi Estrada
UMA media officer
0916.611.4181

WASHINGTON DC — As ongoing US-China military tensions over the South China Sea escalate, international human rights advocates are gathering in Washington DC to examine violations to Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity as a result of escalating US military presence. An International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT) on the Philippines, scheduled for July 16-18 at the Catholic University of America, will tackle the human rights situation in the Philippines as well as the impact of US military presence which is increasing by way of the newly-signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Amongst the witnesses traveling from the Philippines to testify in the public opinion court are Philippine Congress Representative Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna Party List and Suara Bangsamoro spokesperson Amirah Lidasan.

“China’s moves in the South China Sea is being condemned around the world, that’s why it’s correct we Filipinos go to the international community and ask for support rather than play into the trap of the US. The US has no concern for the Filipino people. It will not wage war with China to defend the Philippines. It only wants to freely navigate the seas for its own economic and military interests,” stated Colmenares last June 12 at a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

Colmenares will serve as an expert witness on the impact of the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement and the EDCA, both of which have ensured a permanent rotational presence of US military in the country.

“Since 2002, we have been reporting on the US-directed anti-terrorism operations in Mindanao, and the secret participation of US troops, but no one believed us. The legislators refused to listen to us. The President refused to listen to us. But now, with the bloodbath at Mamasapano, US-trained Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police themselves are speaking out about how the whole operation was under the command of the US military with US military troops on the ground,” stated Lidasan at a rally in front of the US Embassy last February in Manila.

Lidasan, a native Moro, will testify on secret US drone operations and military presence in Muslim Mindanao, most recently seen in the US-directed anti-terrorist operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January that not only broke rank inside Philippine state forces, but resulted in the death of over 70, including 44 Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police.

Cases filed in the IPT include the murder of Filipina transwoman Jennifer Laude allegedly by a US Marine last October and the destruction of the Tubbataha Reef, one of the most biodiverse marine life sanctuaries and a UNESCO world heritage site, by a US naval minesweeper in the Sulu Sea.

“It’s time for US taxpayers to understand the role of their government in the human rights crisis in the Philippines, including the impact of US militarism on the Filipino people and their environment,” states Katrina Abarcar of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), one of the conveners of the IPT. Other conveners include the National Lawyers Guild, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and Ibon International.

A 2007 US Senate hearing on killings in the Philippines led to restrictions placed on a portion of the annual US military aid package to the Philippine government, based on the Philippine military’s culpability in gross human rights abuses.

Reference:
Jackelyn Mariano
(+1) 347.244.8953
ipt2015media@gmail.com

Neri Colmenares and Amirah Lidasan are available for media interviews
Call (+1) 347.244.8953