“The reports of both the PNP Board of Inquiry and the Senate on the Mamasapano carnage side-tracked the seven civilian casualties during the Mamasapano carnage and the hundreds of residents who were displaced during the operation. They, too, were victims of the US-Aquino’s botched Oplan Wolverine/Exodus. They, too, should figure in in BS Aquino’s accountability,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

From the initial 1,500 residents who fled their homes in the aftermath of the Mamasapano botched operation, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM-HEART) now counts at least 72,585 persons displaced from the 11 municipalities where Aquino’s follow-up operations, tagged as all-out war, is going on since February 25. Most of them left their homes and are now cramped in evacuation centers — sick, hungry, and traumatized.

The findings of the peace mission conducted by the People’s Council for National Unity, Reforms and Peace (PCNURP) said a 42 year old, 3-month pregnant mother with 10 children “expressed uncertainty of life if the war continues.” The woman said “one of her children collapsed in the middle of the volley of fires because of fear and could not talk anymore.”

Boyong Unggala, a 36-year-old farmer from Barangay Madia, was hit by a stray bullet on his forehead while sitting in the balcony. The military strafed the house where he was temporarily staying. Farhannah Abdulkahar, 25, and a resident of Brgy. Dapiawan, Datu Saudi, also evacuated when their houses was indiscriminately fired. Her left leg was hit by stray bullet.

“For almost two months now, the residents in Mamasapano and the neighboring communities are on the run to save their lives as the military bombarded their communities. But their condition in the evacuation centers is not much different,” said Palabay. She cited the peace mission’s report that even those who participated in the peace mission at Brgy. Dapiawan experienced the “gun fires and loud explosions from mortar shelling” on March 11.

“Another team assigned in Brgy. Madia was alarmed when during the psychosocial activity for children and adults and documentation, three 6×6 trucks loaded with elements of the 8th Mechanized Battalion and two military tanks arrived in an open space beside the barangay hall near the evacuation center and without any notice to the civilians and barangay officials present in the area, immediately mounted two 81mm mortars,” the peace mission report stated.

Palabay said, “Aquino’s all-out war should be immediately stopped. It is nothing but a diversionary and face-saving tactic and does not help in ferreting out the truth on the Mamasapano fiasco. It has only added up to Aquino’s dismal human rights record as numerous human rights violations were documented by the peace mission.”

Among those documented cases include forced evacuation and divestment of properties due to indiscriminate firing, shelling of mortar (81mm & 105mm howitzer) and aerial bombing by OV10 Bronco planes; destruction of properties; frustrated extra judicial killings; harassment and intimidation of civilians; military encampment in public and religious structures. The military operation has also disrupted the classes of pupils and students in the communities.

The peace mission was held on March 10-13 through the initiative of the Suara Bangsamoro and Kawagib Moro Human Rights Alliance with the findings of the People’s Council for National Unity, Reforms and Peace (PCNURP).

http://www.karapatan.org/BOI-Senate+report+on+Mamasapano+downplayed+civilian+casualties

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

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Floor 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.

The Commission on Appointments once again confirmed the promotion of Gen. Aurelio Baladad. Although we are not totally surprised, we are deeply disturbed since Gen. Baladad  figured prominently in the illegal arrest, detention and torture of the Morong 43 health workers in 2010.

Both the Commander-in-Chief and Chief Executive, who recommended the promotion, and the Commission of Appointments, which confirmed the appointment, simply ignored this well-known fact.  It is also distressing that Gen. Baladad was able to obtain a clearance from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) despite an outstanding complaint before it and the pendency of human rights related cases against him.

That military generals and officers who were involved in human rights violations are being promoted left and right and given responsible positions in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is reflective of the lack of sincerity and seriousness of the moribund Aquino administration to curb the continuing impunity in the country.

It is also a telltale sign confirming that human rights violations were, and are still, committed as a systematic scheme to get rid of those whom the government perceive to be “enemies of the state,” and those who effectively implement the scheme are continuously rewarded with promotions and juicy positions, and are being coddled even beyond retirement, like what they are extending to the greatest butcher of them all, Gen. Jovito Palparan.

In the meantime, victims and relatives, victims of human rights violations and human rights defenders are waiting in vain for justice to be meted out against the perpetrators.

Gen. Baladad was promoted twice since 2010. He was a colonel when he supervised the illegal arrest and search of the Morong 43, and now, he is a lieutenant general.

On the other hand, the cases filed by his victims, especially that of the Morong 43, are gathering dust in the court dockets. The civil case for damages has not even gone through pre-trial conference  three years after it was filed, and the criminal complaint for torture against him, former president Arroyo and top military and police officers has yet to be resolved by the Ombudsman despite having been submitted for resolution more than a year ago.

All these confirm once again that serious and unresolved questions on a public officer’s human rights record does not matter at all. Up to now, the likes of Gen. Baladad have yet to fully and satisfactorily explain their role and knowledge in these rights violations.

The shimmer on his stars blinded those who collectively put him up there. But not all stars are clean and bright. #r

Reference:
Ephraim B. Cortez
Asst. Secretary General  for Legal Services
0917546 5798

Atty. Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
+639175113373

—

National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)
3F Erythrina Building
Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax no.920-6660
Email addresses: nupl2007@gmail.com
and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com
Follow us on twitter @nuplphilippines
and facebook @https://www.facebook.com/nuplphilippines
Visit the NUPL website at http://www.nupl.net/

The combined factual findings and evaluation of the Board of Inquiry and the Senate thus far have as a whole validated where the buck really stops in the Mamasapano incident.

The incumbent President is legally vulnerable for violating the anti-graft and corrupt practices law for causing undue injury to anybody, including the government, and in giving somebody, worse a suspended public official, unwarranted preference through manifest partiality.

He is also liable for inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.

The incumbent President has also openly breached the code of ethical standards for public officials for his acts and omissions. He is also liable for obstruction of justice by misleading, confusing & unleashing a contrived wild goose chase and spinning a web of contradictory and inconsistent statements on his role, privity and participation in Oplan Exodus.

Additionally, the incumbent President has induced and even sanctioned usurpation of authority by a suspended official and committed contemptuous acts in disrespect even defiance of a lawful order of the courts.

He cannot hide under the hairsplitting spin of the academic nuance between a commander-in-chief and a chief executive. The Constitution, law & relevant domestic and international jurisprudence declare unequivocally that as both head of state and head of government, he is ultimately accountable. He is the Commander-in-Chief of “ALL the armed forces” of the State.

The strawman’s argument about the seemingly debatable application of command responsibility leading up to the desk of the incumbent President begs the question of universal accountability of public officers who have been bestowed the public trust.

At the end of the day, it is now indubitable that the incumbent President will be hard put to overcome the by and large clear, candid and credible findings  of fact that constitute open violations of laws, the Constitution and unrepentant betrayal of public trust.

Reference:
Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary General
+63917-5113373

—

National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)
3F Erythrina Building
Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax no.920-6660
Email addresses: nupl2007@gmail.com
and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com
Follow us on twitter @nuplphilippines
and facebook @https://www.facebook.com/nuplphilippines
Visit the NUPL website at http://www.nupl.net/

Among everybody else involved in the Mamasapano carnage, BS Aquino is most guilty of insubordination — insubordination of the people’s will and interest for truth and accountability.

Thus, it is totally absurd for Malacañang to threaten with sedition charges his “critics” — the people calling for BS Aquino’s immediate resignation. The people’s resounding call for BS Aquino to resign from office is his own doing. He brought it upon himself.

BS Aquino fanned the flames of people’s anger with his treachery that resulted in the death of 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF members and seven civilians.

For the nth time, Aquino proved to be a devious president by violating his own chain of command by giving his ‘kabarkada’, suspended PNP Director Alan Purisima, the authority to lead “Oplan Wolverine/Exodus”.  Since then, he has not stopped spewing lies.

Almost two months after the incident, close to a hundred thousand people fled their homes for safety as the BS Aquino regime, in a bid to divert public attention, launched the so-called all-out war against BIFF members — a clear case of tail wagging the dog.

BS Aquino stoked up the people’s indignation as he proved himself to be a servile bootlicker for allowing such operation in Philippine territory under the direct command of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency in the name of the US’s “war on terror”.  To exempt himself and his American bosses from accountability, BS Aquino is now trapped in his own web of lies. And no one believes him anymore.

BS Aquino provoked the people’s call for him to resign when the stench of corruption, through the PDAF and DAP, enveloped the country; when he easily surrendered Philippine sovereignty to the US government by signing the lopsided Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that allowed the US government-US troops that put the Philippines in direct geo-political control of the United States through military ‘cooperation’.

BS Aquino stirred the people’s desire for a change of government and the need for a people’s council that would pave the way for genuine reforms and peace in the country.

BS Aquino showed the people the need for nationalist and pro-people leaders. The people have nothing to do gain with leaders like BS Aquino who surrendered the country to the US through lopsided agreements that brought forth “Nicoles”, Jennifer Laudes, environmental destruction such as the Tubbataha reef, the 44 SAF men who were used as pawns—these are the casualties of ‘cooperation’ with the US government.

BS Aquino showed the people the need for leaders who genuinely respect human rights and international humanitarian laws. BS Aquino may parade himself as a victim of human rights yet, as of December 2014, he is answerable for the 226 victims of extrajudicial killings, 225 victims of frustrated killings, 26 enforced disappearances, almost 47,000 victims of forced evacuations in poor communities, 106 victims of torture, and 491 political prisoners.

The Filipino people need leaders who need not suppress the people’s voices because they and the people’s voices are one. The people need leaders who need not use repressive measures such as Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan, a US-patterned counter-insurgency program.

BS Aquino showed the people the need for leaders who know the meaning of real peace. The people don’t need warmongers or saboteurs of peace processes like BS Aquino who continuously derails the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and unfailingly violated signed agreements such as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

The illegal arrest and detention of 15 consultants of the NDFP for the peace process is an indication of BS Aquino’s insincerity in pursuing the path to peace.

BS Aquino’s disrespect to the established peace mechanisms with the MILF has led to the Mamasapano carnage. The deliberate non-coordination of the GPH with the MILF in its pursuit of US-identified enemy Marwan has instigated anti-Moro sentiments among the people, putting the lives of the Moro people on the line.

BS Aquino showed the people the need for leaders who have the heart for the poor, not a landlord President whose hands are blood-stained by the massacre of sugar workers in his family-owned Hacienda Luisita; not a criminally negligent president who cannot respond even to the basic needs of disaster victims such as the survivors of typhoons Pablo and Yolanda. The people needs a government that can provide the poor majority of the Filipino people jobs and decent wages,  accessible and affordable health, housing, education, and transportation facilities, among others.

BS Aquino moved the Filipino people to unite. He showed the Filipino people the reasons why he should resign, now!

http://www.karapatan.org/Our+country+is+in+dire+need+for+change.+Now.

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

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Floor 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.