Statement of Hustisya on the 1st year commemoration of Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan)

Hustisya (Victims United for Justice) is one in solidarity with the survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in demanding justice today, one year after the strongest typhoon hit the Eastern and some parts of Western Visayas o the Philippines.

We demand justice, as we stand firm that the Aquino government is guilty of criminal neglect. Pres. Noynoy Aquino bragged that the government is prepared for the coming disaster, but later justified its ineptness amid the overwhelming destruction wrought by the supertyphoon . The Aquino government declared a “state of national calamity” four days after, only when the people have been too desperate for food, water and shelter. More lives were lost and put in danger in the coming days, while government agencies were ready making different excuses why help did not reach the people on time.

We hold the Aquino government accountable for the massive loss of lives and the absence of much-needed relief and rehabilitation. The people looked for ways to survive while enduring the pain and sudden loss. Various cause-oriented individuals and groups, both locally and internationally have set foot in the areas affected, way earlier than the government, way much earlier than Pres. Aquino himself. The national government, that should have the means, the resources and machinery for disaster response, was quick to pass the blame.

If there was one disaster that the people suffered from in the event of supertyphoon Yolanda, it is the inutility, inaction and outright callousness of the Aquino government.

We are enraged that the approval of the rehabilitation plan for areas affected by supertyphoon was only signed shortly a week before the first year commemoration of the supertyphoon. Meanwhile, the Aquino government was quick to allow the entry of multinationals and local compradors and landlords in the affected areas in a matter of months after the supertyphoon. Big businesses have begun dividing the affected provinces among themselves, using “rehabilitation” as a way to pursue their interests of business and profit. Pres. Aquino not just showed his inutility and callousness to the needs of the victims – he showed whose interests he favors.

The survivors of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) continue to rise up. They continue to muster strength after the disaster, not just to rebuild their lives and livelihood, but to hold accountable a government that is not worth staying another day in power.

We enjoin everyone to echo the call for justice.

Justice for victims of typhoon Yolanda!
Justice for victims of criminal neglect!
Noynoy Aquino, waray pulos! Patalsikon!

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Hustisya National Office
2/F #1 Maaralin cor. Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City 1100 Philippines
Telephone: (02) 434-7486 | (02) 435-4146
Mobile: 0949-1772928
E-mail: hustisya.national@gmail.com

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MANILA – “Your Holiness, please intercede for us in seeking justice for our disappeared loved ones,” wrote families of desaparecidos to Pope Francis as they gathered at Plaza Miranda on All Souls Day.

As a renewal of vows to seek justice, they lighted candles and offered flowers to remember those who were forcibly abducted and disappeared by state security forces since martial law up to the present.

“It has been the practice of families and relatives of victims of enforced and involuntary disappearances to gather every November 2. Beyond remembering, we come together as a reminder that our loved ones have yet to be surfaced and the state’s policy of enforced disappearances be stopped,” said Desaparecidos secretary general Aya Santos.

It has become more significant as families of desaparecidos gathered to join the nation in awaiting the visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015.

Santos explained they have followed and listened to series of statements Pope Francis on justice and human rights. For the families, his visit is an opportune time to voice out the injustice and rights violations in the Philippines.

“Hope springs when on several occasions he made clear his firm stands to defend human rights and in seeking social justice. We turn to the Pope for support because under the current regime of Noynoy Aquino, human rights violations against the people intensify without let up. We stand as testimonies to the gross situation of human rights here,” Santos said.

Santos said there have been 21 victims of abduction under Pres. Aquino and has since added up to the number of desaparecidos since the Marcos dictatorship.

Despite the passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law, the crime of enforced disappearance continues as a state policy under Oplan Bayanihan, Aquino’s counter-insurgency program. Also, as a DAP recipient program, it uses public funds to abduct, torture and disappear persons. It also uses funds to coddle the likes of butcher Jovito Palparan who is a ‘free man’ at Fort Bonifacio.

“We pray that the good Pope will listen to our plea and stand one with us in calling to stop enforced disappearances in the Philippines. Dear Pope, please heed our call for justice. We cry out to surface all the disappeared, in the Philippines and other parts of the world, such as in Latin America and Argentina, the Pope’s homeland,” said Santos.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis is from Argentina, a nation that also suffered the worst kind of human rights violations under a dictatorial rule in the 1970s.

http://www.karapatan.org/Killing%2C+burning+of+school%2C+drive+Lumad+to+leave+homes

On October 27, six armed men set on fire a corn sheller and a school at Kabulohan, Barangay Buhisan, San Agustin, Surigao del Sur. The corn sheller was a donation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the community. The men also set on fire to a UNICEF tarpaulin with a sign, “All schools are peace zones. Don’t use it as command post, detachment and supply depots. RA 7610 Protection of the Rights of Children”.

The residents tried to put out the fire but the men indiscriminately fired their guns, causing the people to scramble for safety. One of the school’s teachers Josephine Trimidal, who is eight months pregnant, and her husband jumped from their house to avoid the bullets. The teachers living in the teachers’ cottage, Julieto and Melanie Trimidal and their one-year old son, also jumped from the cottage and ran towards the nearby river.

“The incident is among the many cases of atrocities in the course of the combat operations by the joint forces of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col. Jesus Durante, 36th  Infantry Battalion, 3rd  Special Forces Battalion, 401st  Brigade, elements of (paramilitary) CAFGU, and the paramilitary group of Calpit Egua, and Marcos Bocales, former leader of Task Force Gantangan, a remnant of Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

The series of events since first week of October led some 378 families or close to 1,800 individuals from 16 Lumad communities in Surigao del Sur to leave their homes and fields on October 27, and are now at the Diatagon Barangay Gym. At least 10 community schools and learning centers suspended classes affecting almost 900 pupils. The military also ransacked a community cooperative school.

There are already two victims of extrajudicial killings and two cases of enforced disappearances. Henry Sarsona Alameda, MAPASU council member and Aldren Dumaguit were killed on October 24, while Jojo Tejero and Elde Martinez are reported missing. They were last seen on October 23. Six other civilians were victims of frustrated killing.

The military operation is under the 4th Infantry Division now headed by Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya’s successor, Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao. Gen. Visaya is Gen. Palparan’s protégé, while Gen. Lactao promised to pursue what Visaya started with the 4th Infantry Division. Expectedly, “we see a rise in human rights violations and destruction of people-initiated projects such as the schools, cooperatives, and other community efforts to improve their lives,” Palabay added.

The 22 communities of MAPASU have been targets of massive military operations for years, and gross violations of human rights were committed in the course of such operations. In 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011, massive military operations forced the community members to evacuate.

In a command conference of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Oplan Bayanihan, AFP chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang announced the deployment of two more army brigades to Mindanao. Before this, there are already — at least — 55 combat battalions operating in areas considered as New People’s Army strongholds.

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

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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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.