Please forward this wherever and whenever you can to strengthen the international protest and solidarity movement for human rights in the Philippines, which people needs for their life in standing up to fight for a liberated world!

On the last Monday-demonstration in Stuttgart, 15th of September 2014, we made a little party to the 10th anniversary of the fight against the unsocial law Hartz 4 and other issues.

On this anniversary we continued as well our vigil for James Balao. We counted- as it was decided in October 2008 in the partnership agreement between the Monday-Demonstration Movement Stuttgart and the family Balao and Cordillera People Alliance (CPA) the days of the disappearance of James Balao. James Balao was a founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and a fighter for freedom and against the plundering of nature by open-pit mining. It is now the 6th year of the disappearance of James Balao. This means 6 years of waiting, 6 years of tears and remembrances and 6 years of international protest, 6 years of demanding justice and for demanding to stop impunity. The killers and murders are still living among us and they think, that they could go on with their counter insurgency US made plan „ Oplan Bayanihan“.

After 6 years we still want to know, what happened to James and we demand that the responsible persons and authority will be jailed into prison like the former dictators in Argentina. More than 30 years the Mothers of the Placo de Mayo demand for the truth and for stopping impunity. They have been successful and we will be successful as well, there is no doubt!

On this Monday-demonstration we remembered as well that on the 14th of September 1973 the revolutionary singer and songwriter Victor Jara was murdered together with thousands of other freedom fighters in Chile by the US-leaded counterrevolution against Salvador Allende and the progressiv government. It was said, that in fighting for a bright future with bread and roses our killed brothers and sisters accompany us always. We are proud to held up the banner of humanity all around the world and we know, that we will hold and close the line, if one of us is murdered or enforced disappeared:

Touch one-touch all!
Long live international solidarity!

If the President Aquino III visits Germany and Europe in these days we protest against this visit. If he shakes hand with Chancellor Angela Merkel we know, that there is blood and repression in his hand! We accuse Chancellor Angela Merkel for peace- and human right washing with Aquino III while in the Philippines a lot of human right and trade union activists are jailed into prison, killed or enforced disappeared like James Balao. We know as well that they are talking about preparing next wars in the Chinese Sea together with the USA.

German Philippines Friends and the Monday-demonstration in Stuttgart demand

• Surface all the truth of James Balao
• Stop the killings
• Stop impunity
• Free all political prisoners

On behalf of the Monday-demonstration of the 15th of September 2014, Stuttgart, Germany

Statement on the visit of BS Aquino to Europe

WE view with utmost indignation the visit of Philippine president Benigno S. Aquino III to Europe from 14-20 September 2014. His visit on an expensive chartered flight is a waste of the people’s money better spent on the victims of typhoons, and on housing and employment for the country’s urban poor and millions of jobless Filipinos.

He and his coterie will be traveling around Europe principally seeking to repair what is, in fact, the irreparably damaged image of his regime’s supposed ‘righteous path’ that has been exposed to be rotten and crooked before the eyes of the Filipino people and the international community.  He will beg for increased political and material support from major European governments as his regime suffers political isolation in the Philippines and further sinks into the quagmire of corruption scandals involving the theft of public funds by his family and close allies not seen since the time of the Marcos dictatorship.

He is following the footsteps of the much-hated dictator Ferdinand Marcos by seeking an extension of his term despite being forbidden by the Philippine constitution, which he will try to dismantle by using the fiscal resources of the government that is under his absolute disposal.

As concerned citizens and residents of Europe, we demand answers on several urgent issues affecting the Filipino people:

• Where is the money raised in Europe for the rehabilitation of the victims of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)? Where is the rehabilitation, almost one year after the disaster?
• Where are the trillions of pesos of public funds used as “pork barrel” under such names as Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), etc.? Despite having usurped absolute control over public funds, how come essential social services remain starved of much-needed funds?
• Why all the posturing on defending Philippine sovereignty on the issue of China’s claims, while on the other hand, signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) allowing US troops to occupy every corner of the Philippines?
• Where is justice and human rights under Aquino’s regime? Gross and systematic violations of human rights persist despite having received large funds from the EU to enhance human rights in the Philippines! There is still no justice for two European citizens murdered under Aquino’s counterinsurgency scheme — missionaries Fr. Pops Tentorio of Italy and Willem Geertman of the Netherlands. He won’t rein in impunity, because he knows that his Oplan Bayanihan equals human rights violations.
• Why continue to hype about the country’s supposed economic progress, when it’s only Aquino’s clan and business allies that benefit, and that the majority of the people continue to suffer under very poor and inhuman conditions? Why hype about progress when the number of Filipino migrants in search of jobs continues to increase in Europe and the rest of the world?
• Why the continued intransigence in continuing peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) towards a just and lasting peace, which the European Parliament has endorsed?

We join in solidarity with the Filipino people in firmly opposing BS Aquino’s scheme to extend his term and become another Marcos. Aquino´s ambition to become another Marcos assassinates the democratic legacy not only of his parents, but all of those who fought and died fighting the Marcos dictatorship.

We join the people in calling for the prosecution of ALL involved in the pork barrel scam and all forms of corruption — from BS Aquino to his close political allies and family members. We call for an end to impunity and a stop to the political killings! We call on the solidarity of our European friends to join us in asking European governments: STOP political support and aid to the corrupt, oppressive, fascist, puppet and rotten Aquino regime!

Signatories:

• International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP)
• BAYAN Europe
• Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines – United Kingdom (CHRP-UK)
• Dutch-Filipino Solidarity Movement (NFS)
• Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
• ICHRP-Rome, Italy
• MIGRANTE Europe – (Migrante Austria, Migrante Denmark, Migrante Geneva, Migrante Milan, Migrante Netherlands, Umangat-Migrante Rome, Ugnayan ng mga Pilipino sa Belgium, Migrante-UK, Filipino Domestic Workers-London, Filipino Scholars in Berlin, Concerned Filipino-Germans in Berlin and Hamburg, Makabayang Samahan ng mga Pilipino-Netherlands)

References:
CANON BARRY NAYLOR
Chairperson, Global Council
International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP)
and Honorary Chairperson of the
Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines – United Kingdom (CHRP-UK)
Office: +44 (0) 116 261 5371
Email: inquire@humanrightsphilippines.net

REV. CESAR TAGUBA
MIGRANTE Europe
Email: office@migrante.eu

We enjoin the European community to join us in exacting accountability from the BS Aquino government; please feel free to forward and affix your signature/endorse this statement to your networks.

NEVER AGAIN TO ANOTHER MARCOS DICTATORSHIP!

http://www.karapatan.org/BS+Aquino%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98good+governance+is+good+economics%E2%80%99+is+anti-people%2C+anti-development

“BS Aquino arrives in Europe to brag about his imagined economic growth and good governance before the international community. Meanwhile, he left a country and a people indignant with the unabated poverty, graft and corruption and human rights violations that mark his regime,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan.

Palabay said BS Aquino has no “bragging rights”. The recent killing of Fidela Salvador, an engineer who dedicated her skills and knowledge to help uplift lives of the people in poverty-stricken communities, shows the anti-people and anti-development mind-set of the BS Aquino government.

“People who take into their hands the development of their communities because of government neglect and ineptness are punished by this regime. Community-initiated projects and people’s self-help activities are tagged as NPA projects and are targets of destruction; and the people behind these projects are harassed, abducted, killed,” said Palabay.

On Sept. 5, Salvador was killed during a Northern Luzon Command-led military operation in Lacub, Abra, manned by the 41st Infantry Battalion deployed in the area.  At the time, she was on a field visit to monitor various socio-economic projects implemented by the Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CORDIS) in Lacub, Abra.

With CORDIS, Salvador helped in the implementation of the Philippine Tropical Cyclone Emergency Response Project (PTCERP) and Philippine Tropical Cyclone Shelter and Livelihood Project, relief and livelihood projects for communities affected by super-typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

Similarly, Palabay cited the extrajudicial killing of activists Romeo Capalla on March 15 and his colleague Dionisio Garete on May 26. Both were involved in developing the sources of livelihood in poor peasant communities. Capalla was Executive Director of the Panay Fair Trade Center, which exports organic-certified muscovado sugar and banana chips. Garete’s organization, Kamada, is a major producer of muscovado sugar sold at the fair trade market through the PFTC. Both were victims of the paramilitary group RPA-ABB.  Early this month, The Prosecutor’s Office in Iloilo City dismissed the charges against the suspected gunman in the killing of Capalla.

She also mentioned the case of alternative schools initiated and built by indigenous peoples and peasant organizations with the support of the Church and non-government service institutions. The people built these schools and learning because the government failed to provide for their education.

“Yet, the government has tagged these schools as NPA schools to justify harassment of teachers and the other members of the community. Worse, the military use the schools as camps during their combat operations,” said Palabay.

As of end June 2014, Karapatan has documented more than 141,000 victims of the military’s use of schools, medical, religious and other public places for military purposes.

“For the poor majority of the Filipino people, BS Aquino’s ‘good governance is good economics’ is a fallacy.  A corrupt bureaucracy that siphons off money away from the people’s needs is not good governance. A government that destroys what the people built because it failed to provide for them is not good governance,” Palabay concluded.

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. 

http://www.karapatan.org/Karapatan+calls+on+European+community+to+join+call+for+military+pullout+in+Abra

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay today enjoined the European community to echo the call of military pullout in Abra, specifically in Lacub town, when BS Aquino arrives in Europe for his four-nation trip starting tomorrow, 13 September.

“He should be chased for his accountability in the series of human rights violations in the Philippines, and in the recent military operations in Abra which resulted to the killing of two civilians, Engineer Fidela Salvador and Lacub resident Noel Viste. BS Aquino has nothing to brag about the situation in the Philippines, neither on his human rights record, nor the economic condition of the majority of the Filipino people and his so-called good governance,” said Palabay.

Engr. Salvador was on a monitoring visit for various socio-economic projects implemented by Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDisRDS) when the killing happened. Noel Viste, a resident of Poblacion, Lacub, Abra was among the 24 civilians who were coerced and used by the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) as human shields in the conduct of their operation.

A fact-finding mission led by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), with several Cordillera-based organizations and Karapatan national office, documented a number of human rights violations in Lacub, Abra because of the military operations of the 41st IBPA, among them:

• The AFP used at least 24 civilians as human shields and guides during the operation. Aside from the killing of Viste, they also coerced Nicasio Asbucan to act as guide and later detained him for two days from September 5-7. Asbucan was surfaced and turned-over to Chief of Police of Lacub noon of September 7. He manifested symptoms of acute stress disorder (ASD). The military instructed him to point at Jay-ar Balaoag, Brgy. Capt. Of Lan-ag, Lacub as the NPA who fired at and killed Noel Viste.
• Indiscriminate firing. On Sept. 5, between 9:00-10:00 p.m. Army personnel from the 41st IBPA stationed at the So. Bantugo, Poblacion, Lacub indiscriminately fired their weapons in the direction of Talampac Proper and Pacoc, Talampac. An M203 shell landed in Bobon, near residences. The incident resulted in the evacuation of six families who temporarily stayed with their neighbors, suspension of classes in Bantugo Elementary and High School and Our Lady of Guadalupe High School on September 5 and 8. In addition, three farmers operating the irrigation were forced to sleep in the fields for fear of being strafed.

The military operations also resulted in armed clashes with the New People’s Army. Seven members of the NPA were reported killed while one was arrested and one declared missing.

“The military encamped in the community, near the Bantugo elementary and high schools. The presence of the military has limited the mobility of the residents, affecting the livelihood activities of the residents,” added Palabay.

“Military operations in communities all over the country should stop now. Through Oplan Bayanihan, BS Aquino is already accountable for 204 extrajudicial killings,18 of which are minors; 21 enforced disappearances; 99 cases of torture; 207 frustrated killings; and 39,800 victims of forced evacuations,” said Palabay citing ­­­­the latest Karapatan human rights monitor.

Karapatan’s research showed that for the 2015 budget, more than Php 200 billion are allocated for the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan.

“BS Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan, like the previous counterinsurgency programs, has created havoc in the lives of the people, but has never succeeded in suppressing dissent and the people’s desire to create a new and progressive society and a government that is responsive to their needs,” said Palabay.

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.