(Hong Kong, 14 April 2014) On 12 April, Al Jazeera broadcasted a report, titled: “Philippine farmers fight for land rights” indicating that none of those involved in the massacre of farmers in Hacienda Luisita, owned by the family of current President Benigno Aquino III, have been punished for the massacre ten years on.

Below is the transcript of Al Jazeera‘s questions in a live interview and the AHRC’s comments on why and how there is lack of accountability:

Al Jazeera: Now, joining me from Hong Kong on Skype is Danilo Reyes, deputy director of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Good to have you.

I guess the question here, looking at that report is: why has there been no accountability for these deaths?

Danilo: Because impunity or the lack of investigation, prosecution and punishment of any the security forces in the Philippines is deeply rooted. None of those involved in the killing of these seven protestors (in Hacienda Luisita in November 2004) has been prosecuted.

In fact, after the 2004 incident, six or seven more activists—human rights and political activists—have been killed. Even witnesses to the massacre were also killed. When it comes to investigation, it is impossible that any form of investigation, prosecution involving these killings which would result in punishment within the existing system.

Al Jazeera: The next question then is: how much official involvement is there, and the State, if none of this can be investigated properly?

Danilo: The problem in the Philippines is that those who make the laws could not be subjected to the same law. So that applies to the killing of protestors, and the struggle of the farmers who are demanding for distribution of their lands for many decades.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that these lands should be distributed in full, but the implementation of that again involves a lot of exemption (of which land would be distributed to the farmers or not). This makes it impossible for farmers to reclaim their land despite the court order.

There are around 4,000 legitimate farmers who are beneficiaries to this land distribution. The Supreme Court has already ordered that it should be distributed to them.

The problem also here is that: the security forces and the Philippines government link these legitimate demands for a livelihood by the farmers—which is supported by the human rights activists and political activists—to an issue of security.

So, when a person’s demands for food as part of reclaiming their land, the security forces say “it is becoming a security threat”. That is why in Hacienda Luisita, there is a heavy presence of security forces. They are from the paramilitary forces—forces under the control of the military and the police.

Not only in Hacienda Luisita, but in many lands or plantations owned by the politicians and those who have positions in the government. (Their lands) have a heavy presence of armed forces because they connect (the farmer’s demands) to an issue of security.

Once it becomes an issue of security, then they can justify any of their actions. This involves justifications to the killings, targeted attacks of human rights activists, as subversives.

Al Jazeera: Alright. Thank you so much Danilo Reyes, there.

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For more details, please read reports and appeals by the AHRC:

PHILIPPINES: A peasant leader who was defending his land was hurt in a confrontation with thugs
http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAU-011-2014

Vol. 11 – No. 02-03 June-September 2012 — Special Report: The Philippines’ hollow human rights system (p. 19-24; Stories Nos. 35 and 62)
http://www.article2.org/pdf/v11n0203.pdf

Vol. 06 – No. 01 February 2007 – Special Report: The Criminal Justice System of the Philippines is Rotten (Stories No. 22, 55, 74, 76, 85 and 90)
http://www.article2.org/pdf/v06n01.pdf

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Farmers groups seek international support

TARLAC CITY, APRIL 5 — Agrarian reform advocates led by the Luisita Watch network launched a national fact-finding mission (FFM) in Barangay Cutcut, Hacienda Luisita today to document growing rights violations against land reform beneficiaries.

The fact finding mission led by Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis party list, and leaders of various peasant and human rights organizations and alternative media groups, will seek international support against escalating terror and impunity in Hacienda Luisita. The mission also brought relief aid, courtesy of Caritas Manila, to families and individual victims of rights abuses and displacement.

The organized ranks of Luisita farmers led by the AMBALA alliance and its land cultivation initiative called “bungkalan” have been targets of relentless attacks by the Cojuangco-Aquino family since the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) commenced land distribution activities in Hacienda Luisita.

Most recent rights violations include “Martilyo Gang-”type attacks, arbitrary arrests, and ‘legal’ harassment. Eviction of farmers, bulldozing of crops and dismantling of homes and farmhuts started by Cojuangco firm TADECO late last year became more aggressive as vast farmlands are fenced with barbed wires and concrete. Other Cojuangco-Aquino entities such as the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT)  sugar mill and the Luisita Realty Corp. (LRC) are also involved in the violent eviction of farmers.

Peasant and human rights organizations such as the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA), and KARAPATAN observed that reported violations against Luisita farmers are practically state-sponsored.

Government institutions such as the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and local courts are involved in violations. State forces like the Tarlac Philippine National Police force, SWAT teams, and regular and paramilitary personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are utilized as “private armies” to impose landlord authority in Hacienda Luisita. The Department of Justice (DOJ), meanwhile, has been dragging its feet on farmers’ urgent pleas. President BS Aquino, a fifth-generation scion of the Cojuangco clan, has been mum on Luisita.

The mission focused on recent incidents in Barangay (village) Cutcut where terror was instituted by thugs and security guards hired by TADECO, with the support of local police and army personnel. The attack, according to the farmers, involved not only mauling but planned murder attempts of particular AMBALA leaders allegedly ordered by the Cojuangco family.

Three peasants were illegally arrested by the police on March 28 namely Marcelino Lugay, Ofelia “Pia” Hernandez, and Romeo “Fernan” Corpuz. All three were injured by hammer blows along with other farmers, while Corpuz was rushed to the Tarlac Provincial Hospital due to heart problems. Corpuz also suffered fractures on his left hand and was placed under hospital arrest. The three were released on 31 March. Charges of physical injury were lodged against them by their very attackers.

TADECO thugs with the help of police and military forces also dismantled and ransacked AMBALA’s Barangay Cutcut headquarters, and set up a checkpoint near the area to prevent tillers from entering the farmlands.

The fact-finding mission also interviewed AMBALA members George Gatus, Alvin Gratil, and Leoncio Suarez, who with two other farmers Gerry Catalan and Jaime Quiambao were illegally arrested on 3 April in Barangay Mapalacsiao by Tarlac police led by Acting Tarlac Chief of Police PSI Felix Bervo. To justify the arrest, an employee of the DAR-hired survey firm FF Cruz Co. lodged a complaint of coercion and violation of the implementation of the Republic Act 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. The farmers were released the following day.

Human rights violations in Hacienda Luisita are monitored by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and recently documented by international artist and activist Monique Wilson’s New Voice Company. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) also issued an appeal letter circulated globally regarding a Luisita peasant leader, Rudy Corpuz of AMBALA, who was hurt defending farmlands in a confrontation with thugs employed by TADECO.

Luisita Watch will release a full-report on this fact-finding mission and the status of implementation of land reform in Hacienda Luisita before 24 April — or two years after the historic Supreme Court decision to implement land distribution in this dispute-ridden sugar estate.

REFERENCE:
Gi Estrada
CONTACT NO.: +63 916 6114181

Human rights lawyers from the Philippines from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) will attend the 18th Congress of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) from 15 to 19 April 2014 in Brussels, Belgium.

More than 500 delegates from 50 countries consisting of lawyers, judges, magistrates, academics, law students, and representatives from various sectors are expected to attend the five-day Congress to be held at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel with the theme “Lawyering for People’s Rights.”

Plenary speakers at the Brussels Congress include M. Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women; Samir Amin, co-founder of the World Social Forum; Michael Ratner, President of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights; Kumi Naido, International Executive Director of Greenpeace International, among others. Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares, deputy minority leader of the Philippine House of Representatives, will talk about impunity in the Philippines and human rights issues.

The 12-member Philippine delegation will be led by Edre Olalia, NUPL Secretary General and IADL Bureau member, together with Bayan Muna Representatives Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate. Colmenares and Zarate are also the President and Adviser, respectively, of the NUPL. The other delegates are officers and members of NUPL chapters in Metro Manila,  Central Luzon, and Negros.

The Philippine delegation will be raising and bringing to the attention of the international legal community the following issues, among others: political repression, persecution and impunity; the plight of political prisoners; and the stalled peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. On the socio-economic front,  the delegates will speak on the rehabilitation efforts of the supertyphoon Yolanda and government accountability; the liability of the US for the Tubbataha reef incident; and the onerous privatization of government hospitals.  The issue of US intervention and increased access of US troops will also be brought before the international community. Finally, they will point out the continuing attacks against human rights defenders and lawyers.

The IADL Congress, a worldwide gathering of progressive and democratic lawyers, is also a venue for dialogue and networking between lawyers and activists from various social movements.

The IADL is a non-governmental organization of lawyers with consultative status at the United Nations ECOSOC and UNESCO. It was founded in 1946 by legal professionals who had been active in the struggle against fascism. IADL’s first president was René Cassin, one of the principle authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. IADL’s first President Emeritus is Nelson Mandela.

Since its founding, the IADL has assisted with legal advice to peoples and liberation movements throughout the world who struggled against colonialism, oppression, racism, and exploitation. The NUPL is the Philippine affiliate of the IADL which has hundreds of members all over the world today.

The IADL Congress is held once every five years, the last one in Hanoi, Vietnam in June 2009.# (js)

Reference:
Edre U. Olalia
NUPL 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/

Human rights lawyer Atty. Ma. Catherine Dannug Salucon filed a Petition for the Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data to seek protection against threats to her life, liberty, and security by means of threats and harassments perpetrated by the military (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the Philippine National Police.  The Petition came after Atty. Salucon’s paralegal, William Bugatti was brutally killed on 24 March 2014.

A few minutes after Atty. Salucon learned of Bugatti’s death, she learned from a very reliable source, who verbally relayed to her the information, that the Regional Intelligence Division of the Philippine National Police (PNP) issued a directive to the PNP of Burgos, Isabela, Atty. Salucon’s hometown, to conduct a background investigation and to confirm whether Atty. Salucon is a “Red Lawyer”.  She further learned that she is being secretly followed by members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

Atty. Salucon has been a human rights lawyer since her admission to the Philippine Bar.  She is a founding member of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyer (NUPL), a national association of peoples’ lawyers which is principally engaged in human rights practice.  Atty. Salucon is an incumbent national officer of the NUPL. As a private lawyer, she took on the defense of several political detainees and most of her clients are members of peasant and other people’s organizations.

The NUPL, through its Secretary-General, Atty. Edre U. Olalia, in a statement condemned what they call, “the cowardice of the government’s security forces in choosing to futilely silence its perceived enemies instead of protecting their rights.”

The NUPL further stated that if any harm is inflicted on Atty. Dannug-Salucon, or to any of her staff or family members, “we shall hold the military and the police, and Commander-in-Chief President Aquino himself accountable, given the documented harassment and surveillance being made against her.

The Petition for the Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data prayed for the issuance of a temporary protection order in favor of Atty. Salucon and her family, and the subsequent issuance of the privilege of the Writ of Amparo. The Petitioner further seeks an order from the Court to direct the named Respondents and any persons acting on their behalf to destroy any information, statements, records, photographs, dossier, and all other evidence pertaining to Atty. Salucon in their files or record.

The Petition, which was filed today at the Court of Appeals named President BS Aquino, AFP Chief-of-Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, Philippine Army Commanding General Gen. Hernando Irriberri, and Commanding General of the 5th Infantry Division of the AFP Gen. Joel Ibanez as party Respondents.

REFERENCES:
Atty. Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary General
+639175113373

In the Cordilleras: paralegal killed, rights lawyer under attack

On 25 March 2014 at around 7:00 p.m., activist and paralegal William Bugatti was gunned down by unknown assailants widely believed to be government security forces.

The morning Bugatti was killed, he was with Atty. Ma. Catherine Dannug-Salucon in a hearing the latter attended as counsel for one of two political prisoners who are accused of murder and frustrated murder at the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Lagawe, Ifugao, hundreds of kilometers north of Manila.

In this hearing, the prosecution presented its third witness who virtually admitted on cross-examination by Atty. Salucon and during clarificatory questioning by the court that he did not actually see Atty. Salucon’s clients at the scene of the ambush and that he was just shown pictures of them before the hearing. However, the witness failed to divulge the identity of the person who showed him the pictures, prompting Atty. Salucon to task her paralegal Bugatti to get the names, ranks and addresses of the prosecution’s witness’ handler/s.

After the hearing, he joined Atty. Salucon and relatives of their detained political prisoner clients for late lunch. There Bugatti told Salucon that he even helped secure the Hall of Justice by going there as early as 6:00 a.m. as a security precaution, culled from previous experiences and incidents of reaction and reprisal.

He also advised Atty. Salucon to change her usual routine in attending hearings at RTC Lagawe to ensure her security and to avoid a pattern by which the military men and PNP operatives could rely on in their surveillance. Hours after that, Atty. Salucon would learn of Bugatti’s killing.

Atty. Salucon’s name is reportedly included in the military’s Watch List of so-called Communist Terrorist supporters rendering legal services. She has been a public defender for several years, an active founding member of and recently elected as National Auditor of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL).

A few minutes after Atty. Salucon learned of Bugatti’s death, she learned from a very reliable source that the Regional Intelligence Division of the Philippine National Police (PNP) through the PNP Provincial issued a directive to PNP Burgos, Isabela, Atty. Salucon’s home town, to conduct a background investigation and to confirm Atty. Salucon as a “Red Lawyer”. She further learned that she is being secretly followed by  Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) members.

Atty. Salucon also monitored the following:

• Three different persons obviously looking like soldiers and all riding on motorcycles and a civilian intelligence operative from the so-called CIS, a group maintained by the CIDG, came around Atty. Salucon’s office to ask for her whereabouts with civilian intelligence operative leaving when told that Atty. Salucon was at the Hall of Justice but returned an hour after only to leave again after Atty. Salucon decided to stay late at the court.

• Around lunch on the same day, Atty. Salucon also received text messages from the investigator of the CIDG requesting for a copy of the records of a human rights case which was dismissed at the preliminary investigation level. The CIDG investigator said he lost his copies and the record was required, according to him, by the Regional Commander. Atty. Salucon was surprised because it was his third time to ask for a copy, so she decided to just ignore his text messages.

• On or about 7:30 o’ clock in the morning of 3 April 2014 while Atty. Salucon’s driver was waiting for her in front of her residence at Poblacion, Burgos, Isabela, a red “Wave” motorcycle with its plate number cased inside a tinted plastic cover which renders identifying plate numbers impossible, passed by the house.

The motorcycle driver who is of medium height, of dark complexion, with the haircut and demeanor of a military/policemen, with a tattoo at his left arm, wearing a white sando shirt and with a pistol bag slung around his shoulder, looked intently at Atty. Salucon’s driver when he passed by.

Then after passing by the whole stretch of Atty. Salucon’s house, the motorcycle rider suddenly made a U-turn and again stared intently at Atty. Salucon’s driver. As the unidentified motorcycle rider passed with Atty. Salucon’s driver trying to get some identification of him, the latter noticed that the motorcycle rider looked intently at his side mirror before reaching the highway and turned left towards the west.

With the brazen killing of her paralegal Bugatti on 25 March, her harassment and surveillance by the police and the military and given the military’s involvement in the extra-judicial killings of human rights defenders identified as leftists, Atty. Salucon, although a young fearless and dedicated defender of human rights and lawyer of political prisoners, has all the reasons to be worried. All these is intended to hamper her in the exercise of her profession.

We, at the NUPL, once again condemn the cowardice of the government’s security forces in choosing to futilely silence its perceived enemies instead of protecting their rights, including their right to dissent, as they are obliged  to do under the Constitution. Members of the bench and of the bar, with greater risk faced by those who choose to tread the path of alternative lawyering for the poor and the oppressed, are not exempted from the government security forces’ cowardice and impunity by those who cannot give a good and fair fight.

We cannot afford to lose another human rights defender in the person of Atty. Ma. Catherine Dannug-Salucon. We have already lost one too many especially during the time of Marcos and Arroyo.

If any harm is inflicted on Atty. Dannug-Salucon or to any of her staff or family members, we shall hold the military and the police and Commander-in-Chief President Aquino himself accountable given the documented harassment and surveillance being made against her.

We demand justice for the killing of William Bugatti, Atty. Dannug-Salucon’s paralegal and a staunch activist, and an end to impunity even as we exhaust all legal and metalegal means, nationally and internationally, to prevent or stop these continuing attacks on human rights defenders.

Certainly, Atty. Salucon, as with many other faceless human rights lawyers out there who quietly toil daily on the battlefield of human rights, will never retreat from being on the side of the poor, the oppressed and the underdog. But who shall ultimately defend the defenders? (af)

References:
Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary General
+639175113373

Alnie Foja
NUPL Asst. Sec Gen for Protection and Welfare of Lawyers
+639479761197

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/