The Human Rights Lawyers Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand strongly condemns the murder of Attorney Rodolfo R. Felicio. We extend our deepest sympathies to Attorney Felicio’s family, friends and colleagues at the NUPL.

The NUPL has an impressive record of standing up for the marginalised of Philippine society and supporting human rights around the World. The murders of five NUPL members over the past decade are an injustice that should concern lawyers around the World. We call for an end to violence and intimidation against lawyers and other human rights defenders in the Philippines for simply doing their job.

The murder of Attorney Felicio must be fully investigated and the perpetrators held accountable.

Yours Sincerely,

Andrew Britton and David Tong
Co-Chairs
Human Rights Lawyers Association Aoteoroa New Zealand

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Attorney Rodolfo R. Felicio, a member of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, was gunned down while working on a land dispute in Rizal, east of Manila. Two caretakers of the disputed land were also injured in the attack.

Attorney Felicio was involved in important legal work, such as launching a private prosecution against those allegedly responsible for the infamous 1986 kidnap, torture and murder of Filipino trade union leader Rolando Olalia and his driver Leonor Alay-ay. He also was a member of the Quick Response team, staffed by members of the NUPL and human rights organisation Karapatan, to immediately respond to cases of human rights abuses, such as extrajudicial killings of political activists committed by the security forces and paramilitary groups. He provided legal advice to clients in a number of land disputes.

Read also: Rights Lawyers Mourn Killing of Colleague

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) mourns the passing of one of its members, Atty. Rodolfo R. Felicio, as it is outraged by how he was mercilessly felled by bullets of lawless elements last Sunday, August 24, 2014 at Floodway, Taytay, Rizal while reportedly amongst his clients.

As of this writing, the authorities have yet to ascertain the name/s of the suspect/s but are considering his active involvement in a land dispute case as a possible motive for the killing. This early, nonetheless, it is clear that he was killed while in the course of performance of his duties as a lawyer.

Maria Cristina Yambot-Tanseco
NUPL- Rizal Chapter Secretary General
+639178470301

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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/

http://www.karapatan.org/Generals+Visaya+and+A%C3%B1o+sowing+Palparan-style+terror+in+Mindanao

“Gen. Palparan may be in jail, but his trained dogs, Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visaya and Gen. Eduardo Año are sowing terror in Mindanao,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan said as human rights violations continue to rise in Mindanao.

Gen. Visaya is acting commander of the 4th Infantry Division Philippine Army (IDPA) covering seven provinces of Northern Mindanao, including Bukidnon where a Lumad was recently killed. Gen. Año is recently appointed as commander of 10th IDPA in Davao provinces where soldiers are conducting “hamletting” in Brgy. Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte.

“Hamletting” is the practice of placing a community in direct and strict military control. This includes, among others, imposition of curfew hours, listing of names per household, controlling the mobility of people in and out of the ‘hamlet’.

“While the butcher Palparan is in jail, his terror continues. This means that the prosecution of one general is not enough to change the human rights situation in the country. The government should stop implementation of its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, and all butcher generals should be held accountable for their crimes against the Filipino people,” Palabay said.

Año and the Agila Division

Gen. Año, when appointed to head the 10th IDPA promised to have a ‘decisive win’ against the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao ‘through preponderance use of force’. “But, like Palparan, Año turns his gun against civilians,” said Palabay.

On July 18, soldiers began to encamp in a school and a church in Sitio Kapatagan, Brgy. Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte. Elements of the 60th IB ransacked the house of Purok leader Mario Liban and took his stock of rice. The incident came after the New People’s Army released its prisoner of war Col. Rogelio Rosales in Kapalong, Davao del Norte.

July 20, additional 40 soldiers of the 60th IB arrived in Sitio Mangkay in Kapalong. Helicopters landing on the fields to deliver supplies for the soldiers ruined the crops of the farmers. The soldiers harassed the tribal chief Datu Herminio Suminggil by forcing him to tell where the NPA fighters are.

“The soldiers imposed curfew hours, allowing residents to get out of the community from 7a.m. to 11am only. This restrained the farmers to tend their fields thus, disrupting their livelihood.” Palabay added.

The 60th IB arrested the couple Jerry and Tata Antonio in Sitio Mangkay and forced them to admit they were involved in the NPA’s capture of Col. Rogelio Rosales.

In the afternoon of July 29, soldiers of the 60th IB ordered the residents of Sitio Kapatagan to line up and threatened to strafe them as retaliation to the NPA. It was learned that a contingent of the 60th IB was ambushed by the NPA in the morning of the same day.

On July 30, soldiers used the children of the villages of Mangkay and Kapatagan as guides in their operation. Because of fear, the children agreed go with the soldiers.

“The extrajudicial killings, hamletting, harassment, forced surrender, encampment of schools and places of worship, destruction of property, threats, and the use of children as shields are all part of Oplan Bayanihan. Gen. Palparan used this same formula under Oplan Bantay Laya, which Gen. Año continued in Central Luzon resulting to the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, among other cases of rights abuses. Terrorizing civilians is the same strategy that the AFP has been using,” Palabay said in condemnation.

It was learned that Sagitarrius Mines Inc., (SMI)-XStrata has applied for mining exploration in Kapalong. “Other than the insurgency, it seems that the military is sweeping away opposition for SMI- XStrata’s entry in the town. The 60th IB now acts as private guards for the SMI-XStrata. This is the same company that paid the 27th IB and paramilitary groups in the massacre of the Capion family in Tampakan, South Cotabato,” Palabay said.

Extrajudicial killing in Bukidnon

Another Palparan protégé Brigadier Gen. Ricardo Visaya was appointed “acting commander” of the 4th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army based in Cagayan de Oro City in 2013 and is now attempting to sow the same terror in Northern Mindanao.

Visaya was the commanding general of the 69th IB-PA implicated in the Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004. He was also responsible for the abduction and torture of farmers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo on February 14, 2006. Elements of the 69th IB-PA, then headed by Visaya, were involved.

Marcel Singaman Lambon, 28 years old, was gunned down on August 14, 2014 in front of a sari-sari store in Barangay Kalabugao, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon.

As a habal-habal driver, his uncle Rodelio Turay hired him to bring the corn to the milling station.

There they saw Dodoy Genton, a member of Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary and Maru Sanugan, a known military asset. Genton and Sanugan deceived Lambon and Turay to go to a nearby sari-sari store where Lambon was shot twice. Lambon died on the spot.

Lambon was a council member of the PIGYAYUNGAAN (a Lumad organization representing the Higaonon tribe of Kalabugao, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon). Lambon led his organization in the campaign against environmental destruction and the expansion of an oil palm plantation in the Municipality of Impasug-ong. ###

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 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. 

One human rights violator is in jail because of the persistence and courage of victims’ families, eyewitnesses and human rights workers to work for justice.  Ret. Major Gen. Jovito Palparan is now jailed in Bulacan after having been presented in court last August 18.  He was arrested last August 12 for the abduction and torture of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Palparan was the main actor in Oplan Bantay Laya I and II underwhich more than a thousand extrajudicial killings, and hundreds of enforced disappearances were perpetrated.  Palparan was unleashed, lauded and hailed by then Commander in Chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  He was made a role model for the implementation of the government’s counter-insurgency program and policy that resulted to the most brazen human rights violations perpetrated with impunity with 5 extrajudicial killings of activists in a week during its height.  Oplan Bantay Laya was the State policy that legitimized the enforced disappearance of James Balao.  It was the State policy that legitimized the extrajudicial killings of 9 farmer-hunters in the Cordillera from 2003-2010 and the extrajudicial killings of activists Romy Sanchez, Jose ‘Pepe’ Manegdeg III, Albert Terredano, Jose Doton, Rafael Markus Bangit and Alyce Claver.

Palparan’s being in jail is among the strongest testaments to State fascism.  The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the State are violators of human rights and they have to be held accountable.

What must be exacted?

Justice.

It has to be exacted to hold Palparan and Arroyo accountable for their violations.  It has to be exacted hold the other Palparans in the AFP accountable.  It has to be exacted to stop the fascist State policies and the State that creates violators like Palparan.

Palparan is not the only butcher in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.  Impunity has not been shattered with his arrest.

The continuing violations committed by State security forces patterned after Palparan’s style and in implementation of State security policy remains.  We speak of the continuing extrajudicial killings in the country since 2010.  We speak of the massacre of Ama Licuben, Eddie and Fermin Ligiw in Abra by the 41st Infantry Battalion (IB).  We speak of the extrajudicial killing of human rights worker William Bugatti.  We speak of the terror brought about by State security forces who trample on people’s rights and do so with the premise that they will not be held accountable for it.

Villages in the Cordillera are currently subjected to militarization as troops under the 5th Infantry Division (ID) of the AFP implement Operation Plan Bayanihan.  They wage war against the people, especially those resisting imperialist plunder and those asserting people’s rights and self-determination.  Soldiers encamp in villages occupying schools, barangay halls and homes, inflict harm on women and children and desecrate indigenous socio-political structures and practices.  Community people become targets of military operations or targets of reprisals of State security forces especially in the aftermath of their armed engagements with the New People’s Army (NPA).   These are also in reminder of what Palparan did during the implementation of Oplan Lambat Bitag in the Cordillera in the late 1980s and early 90s and what he has yet to be accountable for.

It took years before the arrest of Palparan was made putting in question the sincerity of the Aquino administration to facilitate the delivery of justice.  The arrest was done at this time when the Aquino administration is at its desperate throes of propping up its rule. The arrest was done while the Aquino administration implements Oplan Bayanihan which is no different from Oplan Bantay Laya.  The arrest was done in contrast after political prisoners, men and women – now more than 500, were unjustly arrested and put behind bars because they were defying State repression and because trumped up charges were filed against them.  The most recent case is that of Mr. Eduardo Esteban – a 60- year old businessman from Iloilo – arrested in Jaro, Iloilo and brought to the Abra Provincial Jail.  For the PHP 5.8 M bounty to be collected, the AFP has alleged him to be the Mr. Manuel Esteban they have accused to be a top-ranking leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).  Yesterday, August 20, the AFP awarded PHP 3.2 M to the “tipster” to the November 2012 arrest of Grayson Naogsan – son of Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front spokesperson Filiw Naogsan.  Esteban and Naogsan are unjustly detained at the Abra Provincial Jail because of trumped up charges.

Working for justice is a continuing challenge.  We stand by the Empeno and Cadapan families who represent all victims of human rights violations and their families in the case against Palparan and violators like him.  The people’s courage and perseverance, in the end will prevail against the violators of human rights and against the fascist State.

For reference:
Audrey Beltran
Deputy Secretary General
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
Mobile no.  09189199007

Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
55 ferguson road
baguio city, philippines
telefax: +63. 74. 443. 7159
telephone:  +63 74 304 4239
cp:  +63 918 919 9007
email: chra.karapatan@gmail.com