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Karapatan expresses outrage over arrest of NGO worker in Aquino government hitlist

ICHRP Secretariat
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Karapatan expresses outrage over arrest of NGO worker in Aquino government hitlist

http://www.karapatan.org/Karapatan+express+outrage+over+arrest+of+NGO+worker+in+Aquino+gov%E2%80%99t+hitlist

The attacks on development workers and activists, through what rights groups call a hitlist of the Aquino regime, continue when Dominiciano Muya, staff/agriculturist of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Northern Mindanao (RMP-NMR), was arrested on October 16 in Tagum City.

“Muya is the latest victim of the Department of National Defense-Department of Interior and Local Government (DND-DILG) hit list, with Php 4.8 million reward on his head. The list contains names of persons who are arbitrarily charged with fabricated criminal charges, violating their right to due process and with the military profiting from the monetary rewards for their arrest. This has to stop,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan.

On October 1, Lourdes Quioc and Reynaldo Ingal were arrested using a warrant of arrest for “Eugenia Magpantay” and “Agaton Topacio”. “Magpantay” and “Topacio” are also in the wanted list with Php5.6 million and Php 5 million each on their heads.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) alleged that Muya was a former staff of the CPP/NPA Northern Mindanao region, former Secretary of Guerrilla Front 18, Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee.

Karapatan said Muya, a staff for the RMP’s Sustainable Agriculture Program, is also a consultant of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Learning Center (STTILC), a community-based school for Lumad children, which the RMP had established. The institution is one of the groups in Mindanao that establish schools especially for the Lumad. According to the RMP, Muya is an agriculturist with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture major in Soil Science at the University of Southern Mindanao.

On October 16, Muya was on his way back home in Brgy. Mankilam, Tagum City after canvassing materials for the construction of an STTILC school, when soldiers from the 10th Infantry Division (ID) with long firearms, who were 30 meters away from his house, asked if he was Dominiciano Muya. The soldiers removed Muya’s helmet, pulled him out from his motorcycle and brought him to a vehicle where he was blindfolded. The soldiers took his cellular phones and the P40,000 for the materials for the school construction.

During the course of the soldiers’ interrogation, Muya realized he was under surveillance for quite some time. In the vehicle, which Muya noticed was only going in circles, the soldiers asked what he was doing in a festival in Talaingod, why he was in Arakan, and other details of his activities on the rehabilitation efforts for typhoon Pablo survivors.

“The authorities know for a fact that Muya is really helping Lumad communities to raise themselves from disasters and helping children in their education. RMP’s efforts are among the people’s response to the BS Aquino government’s continuing neglect of indigenous peoples in Mindanao. It is bad enough to be neglected by your own government, but it is worse to be sanctioned by your own government for trying to fill in for its failures,” stated Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan.

Capt. Sonza of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) showed Muya a copy of warrant of arrest for charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder. Also at the Davao City CIDG, a soldier of the 10th Infantry Division who introduced himself as the Civil Relations Officer wanted to get more information from Muya on the STTILC. Later, he was brought to the Malaybalay City Regional Trial Court, and then to the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology (BJMP).

In 2012, many schoolhouses were destroyed by typhoon Pablo. The residents are now reconstructing the buildings and their homes with the help of several people’s organizations, including RMP-NMR.

Karapatan said that schools, however, are being subjected to attacks by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, using them as detachment or places of encampment and in red tagging people-initiated schools in Lumad communities as “NPA schools.” The group has documented 143,569 victims of the military’s use of schools, medical, religious and other public places for military purposes.

“With the RMP, we demand for the immediate release of Muya and let him continue his work for the Lumad children and their families. Those doing good for the poor are imprisoned and tagged as members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA),” said Palabay.

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

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
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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. 

Families of war crimes victims in Lacub, Abra file complaint vs GRP

ICHRP Secretariat
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Families of war crimes victims in Lacub, Abra file complaint vs GRP

http://www.karapatan.org/Families+of+victims+of+war+crimes+in+Lacub%2C+Abra+files+complaint+at+the+JMC+vs+GPH

“We call on the BS Aquino government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to immediately convene the GPH-NDFP Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) and immediately investigate the war crimes committed by the 41st Infantry Battalion during its military operation last Sept. 4 to 6,” Karapatan secretary general, Cristina Palabay said.

Karapatan, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance joined families of victims of war crimes in Lacub, Abra in filing complaints today at the GPH section of the JMC in Quezon City. The JMC was created in 2004 by both panels to monitor and investigate violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). CARHRIHL was signed by the GPH and NDFP in 1998.

“War is already bloody and costly as it is. That is why international humanitarian law exists—to make armed conflicts respectful to both civilians and fighters. Yet, the Armed Forces of the Philippines keeps on violating human rights and international humanitarian law,” Palabay said while citing the results of the autopsy conducted on the remains of the killed members of the New People’s Army during the Sept. 4-6 military operations in Lacub.

“Recca Monte’s skull was like a crushed eggshell; her leg bones were also crushed but sustained no gunshot wound” Palabay said. Monte, 33, an NPA fighter was one the seven NPA’s who was killed during the military operation in Lacub, Abra. “Arnold Jaramillo’s body, suffered multiple gunshot wounds with one shot in close range,” Palabay said.

“Even civilians were not spared with the soldiers’ violence,” Palabay said. Engr. Fidela Salvador of Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDis-RDs)  who happens to be in Lacub doing evaluation of projects was killed during the military operations.  Noel Viste, a resident of Lacub was also killed during the operations after being part of the group of civilians that was used as human shields by the soldiers.

“This is the kind of military the Philippine Government has—savages,” Palabay said. “With the worsening economic and political situation in the country, the same root causes of the armed conflict, the civil war in the Philippines will intensify. Thus, we fear more human rights violations and war crimes perpetrated by Philippine Army will also intensify,” Palabay said. “We call for both parties, the GPH and the NDFP to sit down at the negotiating table and substantially address the root causes of the civil war,” Palabay said.

“Who wouldn’t want the war to end and spare the lives of many? But if the root causes of this war continues, the poverty, puppetry, the repression, the violence and savagery, Filipinos will always find all the ways to fight back,” Palabay ended.

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 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. 

Families demand justice for victims of human rights, IHL violations in Lacub, Abra

ICHRP Secretariat
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Families demand justice for victims of human rights, IHL violations in Lacub, Abra

QUEZON CITY – Families of victims of human rights violations in Lacub, Abra trooped to Manila to air their grievances against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).  They were accompanied by several sectoral organizations who supported their cause.

In a picket protest outside the Department of National Defense at Camp Aguinaldo this morning, they condemned the extrajudicial killing of two civilians and the brutal killing, torture, mutilation, and desecration of the remains of members of the New People’s Army.

“The violations committed in the AFP’s military operations on September 4 to 6 in Lacub, Abra are grave war crimes against the people, and the 41st Infantry Battalion should be held accountable for this,” said Hustisya secretary general Cristina Guevarra.

Justice for Salvador, Viste

Hustisya and the victims’ families demanded justice for the killing of Engr. Fidela Salvador and Noel Viste. Salvador was a development worker of the Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDis-RDS) while Noel Viste was a local resident of Lacub, Abra. Viste was one among the 24 civilians who volunteered to retrieve the bodies of slain NPA members. He, together with other volunteers, were accosted by the military while withdrawing from the area and used as human shields.

Meanwhile, Salvador at that time was attending to matters of the Cordis-RDS checking on the progress of their work in the area. In a statement of the Salvador family, they said the AFP “weaved lies about who she was, how she was killed and accused that she was an armed NPA rebel” in order to cover-up the murder of Engr. Fidela Salvador.

The AFP’s Northern Luzon Command, in justifying the brazen murder even posted on their social media page claiming that Engr. Salvador was an armed rebel and was killed in a legitimate encounter on the night of September 5, 2014.

The Salvador family’s statement further said, “It is our strong belief that Engr. Delle Salvador was taken alive – mistreated before death as evidenced by the autopsy findings, and unjustly accused as an NPA to cover-up the extrajudicial killing.”

“Salvador and Viste are victims of extrajudicial killings. The awards and promotions tendered by the AFP hierarchy to the soldiers criminally involved in the brutal killings are false and heavily drenched in blood,” added Guevarra.

AFP, violator of IHL

Families of members of the slain NPA members also decried possible violations to the international humanitarian law (IHL) because of the state of their remains which bore signs of torture, mutilation, and desecration.

 

The family of Recca Noelle Monte, one of the members of the NPA killed in the alleged encounter, demanded justice. They believed she was captured alive and was summarily executed by her captors. She was later found dead, her body bore evidences of desecration.
According to the statement of the family of Monte, the autopsy revealed that Recca had not sustained any gunshot wound. Not a single bullet passed through her body. Her skull resembled that of a crushed egg and her brains were missing. Her legs bore multiple fractures, the bone practically shattered. Her lungs were severely contused. Massive hematoma covered her torso. Blunt massive traumatic injuries were identified to be the cause of her death.

“War, violent and harsh as it already is should not be so cruel and inhumane that the helpless, lifeless body of one’s enemy should be desecrated. We are appalled that our family bears as direct witness to this brutality of the AFP,” the Monte family statement read.

Guevarra said rights and IHL violations in Abra paint the gruesome picture how Oplan Bayanihan is being implemented in communities.

“Oplan Bayanihan is directed against the people. It is peddling lies by saying it is promoting peace when in fact it is killing and maiming civilians and unarmed individuals. It is a dirty counter-insurgency war that is targetting hapless civilians. It should be stopped immediately,” Guevarra said.

Hustisya and the victims’ families are calling for the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“The peace talks should resume now and these cases of rights violations should be put to the table. Agreements on the respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian should be recognized and implemented,” said Guevarra.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) is the first of the four substantive agenda signed by the GPH and the NDFP in 1998, recognizing the basic rights of the people and even those involved in armed conflict.

Reference:
Cristina Guevarra
Hustisya secretary general
+63949-1772928

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

Aquino-AFP guilty of war crimes vs. Filipino people

ICHRP Secretariat
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Aquino-AFP guilty of war crimes vs. Filipino people

“While making sure that the likes of Gen. Jovito Palparan and US marine Joseph Scott Pemberton are safe and free inside military camps, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) carries on its attacks against the Filipino people like bloodthirsty savages,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan in a picket held today at the gates of Camp Aquinaldo.

Human rights groups and people’s organizations joined families of the victims of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in a protest picket to underscore the war crimes committed by the government and the AFP against the people of Lacub, including the gruesome killing of seven members of the New People’s Army killed in a military operation in September.
“In each case of human rights violations, it becomes clear on whose side this government is in,” Palabay said. “While the BS Aquino government defends the anti-Filipino Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), it violates the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in the implementation of the US-patterned Oplan Bayanihan,” she added.
“The pro-US imperialist and anti-people stance of the BS Aquino government is clearly manifested in this case. The Aquino regime stands by the VFA despite clear violations of the country’s sovereignty and independence while repudiating the validity and importance of the CARHRIHL that would be a step towards achieving genuine and lasting peace for the Filipino people,” she said.
Palabay explained that the war crimes committed against the people of Lacub and in the torture, killing, and mutilation of the remains of the seven members of the NPA violate the CARHRIHL, an agreement signed between the GPH and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 1998.
The National Solidarity Mission conducted in September 28-October 1 cited as initial findings the following war crimes committed by the AFP:
  • The use of civilians to render the AFP operating troops immune from military attack;
  • Intentionally embedding a military detachment near a clinic, an elementary and high school and inside a residential area in sitio Bantugo;
  • Intentionally directing attacks against civilians of Talampac on September 5 by shooting their guns towards the residential areas.
  • Extrajudicial killing of Engr. Fidela Salvador, personnel of Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDis-RDS) who was in Lacub for project evaluation. Salvador died of severe loss of blood secondary to gunshot wounds with a strong indication that she was also tortured.
  • Crimes committed against NPA combatants such as the willful killing of Recca Noelle Monte whose autopsy report indicates no gunshot wound and instead died of blunt traumatic injuries, massive head, face and chest, and the mutilation/desecration of bodies of dead NPA members.
The CARHRIHL is the first of the four substantive agenda laid out at the start of the peace negotiation between the GPH and NDFP in 1992. A monitoring mechanism, the GPH-NDFP Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) was in place since 2004 to ensure that both parties comply with the agreement. “But since 2011, the GPH refuses to convene it because there was no formal talks, which is also the GPH’s own doing,” said Palabay.
The victims’ families are set to file complaints at the GPH section of the JMC on October 24.

Solidarity with Hacienda Luisita community: preliminary statement and findings

ICHRP Secretariat
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Solidarity with Hacienda Luisita community: preliminary statement and findings

http://apwld.org/solidarity-with-hacienda-luisita-preliminary-statement-and-findings/

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) joined a solidarity mission to the Hacienda Luisita from 16-18 October. The delegates of APWLD were able to speak to women and men farmers, community organisers and City Councillor, Emily Ladera from the Barangays of Mapalacsiao, Cutcut and Balete.

The long history of the struggle for land reform and justice for the Hacienda Luisita workers has been documented by several fact finding missions and human rights groups. APWLD delegates went to Hacienda Luisita to express solidarity with the workers and to document the specific impact on women. Through discussions with farmers and a review of background documents it is clear that women farmers are experiencing violations of their human rights. APWLD will be drafting a mission report and seeking responses from key government agencies before completing the findings.

Women experience human rights violations in ways that are often compounded by their gender:

Right to housing, food, livelihood

Despite repeated court decisions and repeated statements and commitments that the Hacienda Luisita lands would be redistributed to the farmers, farmers have been denied their rights to land reform. Several methods appear to have been employed to evade redistribution and instead favour the Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), Central Azucarera de Tarlac and other businesses that have been formed to retain the stockholdings and land ownership of the Cojuangco-Aquino landlords.

Workers of the Hacienda Luisita sugar plantation became farmers after the 2004 strikes and massacre. Despite farming the lands for the past 10 years, they have now been forcibly evicted and face impoverished futures for them and their children. Forced evictions have included the use of violence and destruction of homes as well as crops. No alternative housing or compensation appears to have been provided to those displaced.

Forced evictions have denied people of their only means of survival as subsistence farmers. Women farmers reported having to reduce the number of and size of meals provided per day, particularly to women and children. Several children were no longer able to attend school.

While some farmers were entered into a lottery for distribution of land, it appears that not all land was included with significant areas being retained by the land owners for sale for other purposes.

The lottery method produced unsustainable results with farmers allocated very small parcels of land (.6 hectare) in entirely different locations. The right for women to be separate land title owners is an important right protected in Filipino law but in this case the right appears to have a perverse, discriminatory effect.Women were often allocated land several kilometers away from their husbands or other family members. Travel to the parcel of land, it was reported, would amount to 300 pesos per day making the trip too costly to justify and amounts to more than the average daily income of farmers. Women would have to spend 3 hours a day travelling to tend to the small plot which would prevent them from doing the work they do in the home and from looking after their children and expose them to security risks. The right of women to hold land title should be protected but it must not be used to divide families and expose women to higher risks.

Decent Work

With no land and no means of survival women reported that the only options for them for a very small income wer to become domestic workers or take in laundry or do other menial work. No options for decent work were provided to women in the community. Younger women might attempt to become migrant domestic workers but that would require the families to go into further debt and expose the women to further rights violations abroad.

Freedom of Association

Farmers unions and other people’s associations have been targeted with repeated efforts to limit the opportunities for these unions to organize. The meeting space of the famers union AMBALA, appears to have been destroyed, much of their equipment confiscated and crops destroyed without warrant or purpose. No charges have been laid or proper investigation carried out into these offences.

Freedom to protest has been repeatedly denied through the use of violence and threats from security, police and military.

Women reported taking leading roles in actions to protect property and the lives of their families in the belief that they may be in a position to protect men. Women have been placed at additional risk, arrested and experienced physical and psychological violence as a result.

Rule of Law and Access to Justice

Farmers and their supporters have alleged that the company Security forces and police have committed assaults against farmers. Law enforcement agencies appear to be acting on behalf of the company rather than citizens. TADECO security guards to arrest and charge A child appears to have been illegally detained by TADECO security guards and had property stolen (a phone memory card which included video footage of destructive actions taken by the company). Yet the child was later arrested by police.

Several women reported assaults by security and police. The police have not taken any action to provide protection to the farmers nor to investigate allegations of assaults, willful destruction of property or thefts against farmers.
Women reported that they have lost all confidence in the Philippines National Police and instead feel traumatized whenever they see police. They said they are unable to bring any other matters to the police which may include domestic violence, theft, child abuse or other matters. Access to justice for women appears to be entirely prevented for women at the local level.

Charges have been laid against several workers including women. These charges appear to be of a vexatious manner and designed to prevent workers from exercising their rights to protest as well as seek a remedy. City Councilor Emily Ladera was also charged when she attempted to observe the actions of security guards and requested the police act to keep the peace and protect citizens.

Militarisation

The presence of military, armed private security and police stops were evident during our trip. Militarisation has been demonstrated to increase cultures of violence which have a particularly deleterious impact on women. Rates of violence against women are generally highest in militarized zones and impacts on the right to peace and life.

Recommendations

The failure to deliver promised Agrarian reform in Hacienda Luisita has led to several human rights violations. The systemic failures of the current system of land redistribution have failed to deliver land justice throughout the Philippines resulting in one of the highest wealth inequality rankings in Asia. The legislation, the executive processes and the judicial processes all need urgent review. Women experience additional, compounding violations. Consequently our preliminary recommendations include:

  • Initiate and conduct a senate and congressional inquiry into land distribution and the history of human rights violations in the Hacienda Luisita. The inquiry should include an investigation into the impunity with which extra judicial killings have been allowed to occur in the past 10 years,
  • Order TADECO to remove the fence surrounding the contested area and allow farmers to access the lands until the land dispute has been resolved,
  • Review and amend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program to ensure land reform benefits subsistence farmers,
  • The Department of Justice should investigate the actions of the police force, the military and TADECO in
    • Forcibly evicting families and destroying property without appropriate legal orders
    • Collusion between a private company and state agencies (police, military and Barangay officials) in the exercise of state authority including the use of violence, arrest and criminal law,
    • The disappearance of complaints filed with local police and agencies by local people,
    • The discriminatory impact of the failure to provide access to justice, particularly the inability of women to access local law enforcement and legal remedies.
  • Protect freedom of assembly and association rights and the rights of Human Rights Defenders, including women human rights defenders and take action against individuals, agencies, corporations that impinge on these rights.
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Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

(Agricultural Workers Union)
Philippines
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