For the nth time, the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) has condemned the unabated serial assault of the Cojuangco-Aquinos against Hacienda Luisita farmers, the recent incident of which took place yesterday afternoon in Barangay (village) Mapalacsiao involving the arbitrary arrest by the Tarlac PNP (Philippine National Police) of five farmers. The arrest came barely a week after armed goons of the Cojuangco-Aquino-owned Tarlac Development Corporation (Tadeco), with the aid of a PNP SWAT contingent and Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel, violently attacked the headquarters of AMBALA in Barangay Cutcut which left tens of farmers severely injured.

Unlike previous incidents, this one, according to AMBALA, had the direct, active participation of the Department of Agrarian Reform, as it was a certain Tristy Figueroa, a representative of the DAR survey firm partner, FF Cruz, who ordered the PNP to arrest George Gatus, Gerry Catalan, Jaime Quiambao, Alvin Gratil and Leoncio Suarez. The Mapalacsiao farmers are being charged with coercion and violation of the implementation of the Republic Act 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. They were detained for 20 hours at Camp Macabulos, Tarlac.

“The DAR’s involvement in this latest case of ‘legal’ harassment and intimidation pretty much exposes the fact that the DAR has all along been aiding and abetting the Cojuangco-Aquinos in their relentless and cruel haciendero ways to retain control of Hacienda Luisita,” said AMBALA chairperson, Florida “Ka Pong” Sibayan.

According to AMBALA, through Tadeco, the Central Azucarera de Tarlac and several other corporate avatars of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, the Presidential family has, since July of last year, been in an all-out campaign to evict hundreds of farm worker families from at least a thousand hectares of agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita. Several hundreds of hectares have already been fenced off by the Cojuangco-Aquinos in the villages of Balete, Lourdes, Cutcut, Parang, Central and Mapalacsiao. These lands, Sibayan said, have been excluded from the total area of distributable Luisita lands “through the cunning machinations of the Cojuangco-Aquinos and with the complicity of the (DAR).”

The lands meanwhile which have been supposedly included in the land distribution process, according to AMBALA, have not yet been physically awarded to the so-called Luisita farm worker beneficiaries, despite bold statements by the DAR that land distribution has already been completed. These lands are instead being usurped and controlled by sugar cane production financiers who are said to be mere pawns themselves of the Cojuangco-Aquinos.

The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, through its secretary general, Ranmil Echanis, said that “the fact that the Luisita farmers, whose only desire is to see that land reform is truly implemented, are now being charged of violating the CARP law, tells us just how bogus and violently anti-peasant this law really is.”

Various militant peasant organizations led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas have been calling for a stronger, genuinely pro-peasant and pro-social justice land reform law and program to replace CARP which they believe has long been a sham and monumental failure.

REFERENCE:
Christopher Garcia
Spokesperson, AMBALA
CONTACT NO:  +639293200615

Related article:
Arrests continue, 5 farmers nabbed in Luisita
http://bulatlat.com/main/2014/04/03/arrests-continue-5-farmers-nabbed-in-luisita/

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Statement regarding the visit of the Commission on Human Rights

First released on 25 March 2014

We thank Chairperson Etta Rosales and two other Commissioners of the CHR (Commission on Human Rights) for the visit on 25 March to find out if our human rights were respected during our arrest.

We emphasized to the CHR commissioners that the most important and serious issues relative to our human rights are our being framed-up, accused of fabricated charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and the planting of evidence to justify our illegal arrest and detention and that of our five companions in the house.

This gross violation of human rights completely negates all the efforts of CHR to initiate in the PNP and AFP the respect for human rights. The few and trickled measures to effect in the PNP and AFP the respect for human rights are rendered inutile if the more fundamental right against illegal arrest is wantonly practiced by the whole institution and the State. This creates intense cynicism not only among the victims but also in the ranks of the police and soldiers.

The true and serious promotion of the respect for human rights is towards the welfare and aspirations of the people. In view of this, we urge the CHR to launch an earnest campaign against the contempt for human rights of the PNP, AFP and the ruling State.

Reply to Mr. Alex Padilla, and with regards to the violation of the JASIG

First released on 24 March 2014

We reiterate our condemnation of our arrest as an outright violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) that gives us immunity as national consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines with NDFID No. 978226 (Wilma Austria) and NDFID No. 978227 (Benito with the name Crising Banaag).

The claim of the head of the GPH peace panel, Alex Padilla, that we are not covered by the JASIG is a warped lie. Wilma was openly confirmed as NDFP national consultant by former GRP peace panel head Ambassador Howard Dee, as well as by Pres. Ramos when he ordered the release of Wilma Austria in 1994 as a confidence and goodwill building measure. Meanwhile, Benito was among the original recipients of the NDFP Document of Identification and JASIG immunity, a thing that was expected and indubitable. Whatever pretexts the GPH panel will come up with, its claim that Benito has no role in the peace process and is not covered by the JASIG is utterly farcical.

NDFP consultants, like us, can significantly contribute to the peace process because of our crucial role in the struggle. Our role in the struggle is a requisite to our role in the peace process. The involvement of the movement is inherent in a peace process; hence, the position of a few that the struggle must cease first before we participate in the peace process is unreasonable and will not help. We believe that for the realization of a true, lasting and just peace, the pursuit of the struggle with all our might is not contrary but rather in unity with and corresponds to the peace process.

With regards the allegation of the AFP that Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria are the brains behind the “anti-infiltration hysteria”

First released on 24 March 2014

The allegation made by the Philippine National Police officer (after our statement was read) that the brains behind the anti-infiltration hysteria “kahos” were Benito and Wilma Tiamzon is a stark lie and fabrication. This is contrary to the truth.

The “kahos” was a local campaign which was planned and started in some parts of Mindanao in 1984, at the time that Benito and Wilma were in Luzon and had no direct responsibility of the movement in Mindanao.

When the belated report on the “kahos” was received, this was immediately stopped, investigated and the error, fully rectified.

Benito and Wilma played a crucial role in leading the investigation and rectification, as well as in formulating, approving and disseminating clear and stricter rules on the investigation, trial and judgment.

The movement has clear and strict policies and rules on the respect for human rights and democratic rights of its members and the people. These are systematically and continuously disseminated to all.

The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) that was signed by the NDFP and GPH reflects the stand and policies of the Party and the movement on the respect for human rights and democratic rights and the humane conduct of the armed struggle.

On the other hand, the human rights abuses of the GPH and its armed forces all the more increased and intensified. Extrajudicial killings, which Palparan grossly propagated, massacres such as the ruthless mass killing of the peasants in Palo, Leyte continue. Militarization, especially in the rural areas, and all the turpitude and abuses linked to it, such as illegal arrest, torture, killing, and dislocation of whole barangays and communities are widespread.

Rights groups slam trumped-up charges vs activists, peace consultants in talks with government

Rights groups held a protest action in front of the Manila Regional Trial Court Tuesday morning, when the court conducted a clarificatory hearing on the multiple murder case filed against former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and peace consultants in talks with the government, including Randall Echanis, Rafael Baylosis, Vicente Ladlad, and recently arrested consultants Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria.

“The revival of these trumped up charges against Ocampo and the peace consultants signals the intensification of political persecution under the Aquino administration. These were charges hatched under the auspices of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), which was deemed by United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston as a means by which the government prosecutes and punishes “enemies of the state,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general.

Palabay said that while the IALAG was abolished due to extensive campaign of human rights groups and the international community, the policy and practice of filing trumped-up criminalized charges continues under the Aquino government.

Karapatan has documented 570 cases of illegal arrests and detention from June 2010 to December 2013. The group also documented 427 political prisoners, as of December 2013, including 152 persons arrested under Aquino’s term. Palabay added that almost all of cases, like those of detained NDFP consultants, are criminal charges spuriously filed based on highly questionable evidence and fabricated testimonies.

“Leaders of people’s organizations in Negros, for instance, are constantly threatened with fabricated criminal charges of the AFP and the PNP. Under the Aquino government, the assault on political dissenters through the filing of trumped-up charges is on the rise. In an attempt to silence opposition, they make up all sort of charges using the wildest of their imagination,” Palabay said.

Organization of ex-political detainees SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto), of which Ocampo is board member, also condemned the revival of charges against Ocampo and consultants who are performing tasks in the peace talks on the side of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“How the police and military have arrested, demonized and dealt with the latest political prisoners Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria and their five companions, and the arrest of the late Ka Roger Rosal’s daughter, is vintage martial law practice. The “planting” of evidence has been a long-standing practice of the police and military, extensively used during the Martial Law period. They use this to justify illegal arrests and detention. They also exploit the use of John and Jane Does, even aliases, to charge anyone as respondents to a case,” Bonifacio Ilagan, vice chairperson of SELDA, said.

Ilagan, who was imprisoned during the Martial Law years, recalled “As early as the 1970s, I remember being accosted with fellow activists after a rally, brought to the police precinct at UN Avenue and slapped with illegal possession of explosives, even if we only carried banners and streamers.”

“Circumstances of arrests and detention are highly anomalous, and the so-called evidences improbable,” said Ilagan, “human rights lawyers call the circumstances cited in trumped-up charges as beyond human experience, like soldiers’ testimonies that they identified the respondents by virtue of seeing their faces in alleged military encounters.”

Karapatan and SELDA joined calls to free all political prisoners, and demanded that the Aquino government stop filing trumped-up charges.

“Trumped-up charges are obviously meant to stifle the freedom of movement of political dissenters. This is the bigger crime. The Aquino government should stop silencing its critics, or his regime is bound to face bigger protests for violating human rights here and there,” Palabay ended.

References:
Cristina Palabay
Karapatan secretary general

Bonifacio Ilagan
SELDA vice-chairperson

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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.

FACT SHEET: Incidents in Barangay Cutcut, Hacienda Luisita

I. Assault, Physical Injuries

March 24, 2014

1. Victim:  RUDY CORPUZ, 59, AMBALA leader
Alleged perpetrator: FAUSTINO CORPUZ (not related), TADECO hired personnel

March 28, 2014

2. Victim(s): JERRY MESA, 45, and other farmers / members of AMBALA
Alleged perpetrators: TADECO security personnel led by MAURO DELA CRUZ, JOVITO SUELEN nad a certain PALOMAR

II. Assault, Physical Injuries with Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

Victims: MARCELINO LUGAY, PIA HERNANDEZ, FERNAN CORPUZ, farmers and AMBALA members
Alleged perpertrators:  TADECO personnel, PNP-SWAT Tarlac

III. Destruction of Property / Looting

Dismantling of farmhut serving as organization headquarters, etc.

Victims: AMBALA Barangay Cutcut chapter and individual members
Alleged perpetrators: TADECO security men with PNP-SWAT Tarlac and military personnel from 3^rd Mechanized Battalion as accomplices

IV. Warantless Raids, Harassment

Victims: Residents of Barangay Cutcut
Alleged perpetrators: PNP-SWAT Tarlac / 3^rd Mech Bn personnel

Morning of March 24, 2014, about a hundred members of the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang-Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) representing different barangays (villages), trooped to the provincial office (PARO) of the  Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to follow up on their pending urgent petition for the issuance of a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against the violent eviction of farmers by Cojuangco-Aquino firm Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO).

AMBALA filed the petition before the DAR Region III Office in Pampanga on December 26, 2013, the only working day after TADECO ordered the bulldozing of crops, mauling and illegal arrest of farmers within a 258-hectare TADECO-claimed area in Barangay Balete during the Christmas season. The area is now secured by concrete fences, barbed wires, private security personnel led by the Great Star agency and a company headquarters of the 3^rd Mechanized Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Before the violent attacks, TADECO also filed unlawful detainer (ejectment) charges against 81 farmers in Barangay Cutcut and 26 farmers in Barangay Balete. These farmer-families are long-time residents and farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita, some tilling the land even before the Cojuangco-Aquinos took over the sugar plantation in 1957.

Farmers have been cultivating hundreds of hectares of land for foodcrops since 2005 via the bungkalan (tillage) campaign of AMBALA. The ejectment charges against the farmers have been recently DISMISSED by local courts.
Instead of acting on the CDO petition, local DAR officials enjoined residents of Barangays Cutcut and Balete to “apply as agrarian reform beneficiaries” as the DAR vowed to distribute some 360 hectares of the contested property to bonafide residents and tillers. The DAR issued a Notice of Land Reform Coverage (NOC) for the TADECO areas, published by the Philippine Star on December 17, 2013.

AMBALA chose to protest DAR’s inaction on the first day of its application process for Cutcut residents on March 24. Balete residents, meanwhile, were advised to start applying for lot allocations on April 1.

During the March 24 picket-dialogue, PARO Chief Ileona Pangilinan assured AMBALA Chairperson Florida “Pong” Sibayan that the DAR will look after the interests of so-called “farmworker-beneficiaries (FWBs)” but said that her office cannot do anything to stop the aggressive steps of TADECO against Hacienda Luisita farmers.

Pangilinan claimed that she was not aware that Sibayan was just recently released from police custody. Sibayan is respondent to a number of “harrasment suits” directly filed by TADECO and the local police in Tarlac, meant to silence farmers’ dissent in Hacienda Luisita. Dozens of other farmers and their supporters also face harassment suits.
A few hours after the dialogue, violence erupted in Barangay Cutcut. Local AMBALA leader Rudy Corpuz, 59, sustained six stitches due to head injuries after an assault by a certain Faustino Corpuz (not related to Rudy), one of the men hired by TADECO to fence the agricultural lots in Cutcut. AMBALA members tried to reason with the contract workers that the area is subject to land reform coverage and must not be fenced by the Cojuangco-Aquino family. Thugs hired by TADECO turned violent instead and attacked AMBALA leaders.

Two days after on March 26, residents noticed the build-up of TADECO security personnel, along with the unusual deployment of police forces in Barangay Cutcut. Fifteen policemen in two official vehicles and an 8-man Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team armed with high-powered rifles were deployed to assist TADECO guards in fencing agricultural lands. Ten soldiers from the 3^rd Mechanized Battalion were also reported spotted.

On March 27, police officers identified as S/INSP. GALICIA and SPO3 GARCIA, bluntly told AMBALA leaders to let TADECO personnel “peacefully do their job” of fencing off agricultural land from farmers. Farmers who trooped to the scene told the police that there is a standing agreement to maintain “status quo” forged before local village officials last January, between TADECO security and Cutcut farmers represented by AMBALA. Other police personnel on the scene were identified as SPO3 BALOT, SPO1 ABELLA & PO2 BERNARDO.

On March 28, about 2 pm, around 20 TADECO security personnel led by MAURO DELA CRUZ, JOVITO SUELEN and a certain PALOMAR attacked farmers with hammers and shovels.  Police and soldiers were at the place of incident while the farmers were being beaten up.

Farmer Jerry Mesa, 45, who was hit by a hammer on his head, was rushed to the Tarlac Provincial Hospital for treatment. Other farmers suffered various injuries.

Instead of  intervening to stop TADECO men who instigated the attack, police started arbitrarily arresting farmers. Those nabbed by police were identified as Marcelino Lugay, Pia Hernandez, and Fernan Corpuz. Lugay and Hernandez were brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Tarlac City, while Corpuz, brother of Rudy, was also rushed to the Tarlac Provincial Hospital due to heart problems. Corpuz is currently confined at the hospital with police escorts.

TADECO security guards then proceeded to dismantle AMBALA’s “kubol” or farmhut serving as local headquarters in Barangay Cutcut. Farmers have yet to report the extent of destruction and looting of the organization’s belongings, tools, and crops. Police and soldiers served as “security” while TADECO guards demolished AMBALA’s farmhut.

Police and soldiers terrorized the entire community as they roamed around Barangay Cutcut hunting down AMBALA leaders. They conducted warantless raids and randomly confiscated cellular phones of residents.

TADECO personnel now continue to set up fences to bar farmers from tending to their crops. AMBALA asserts that around a thousand hectares of prime lands including contested TADECO property were cunningly excluded by the DAR and the Cojuangco-Aquinos from land distribution, but is covered by the 2012 decision of the Supreme Court to distribute all agricultural land in Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers.

Photos: injuries of AMBALA leader Rudy Pineda
Tarlac police / SWAT deployed in Hacienda Luisita

Reference:
Renato Mendoza
AMBALA Barangay Cutcut
+63912-330-9329

For more photos and reference links, please visit http://luisitawatch.wordpress.com

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Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

(Agricultural Workers Union) Philippines

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http://www.karapatan.org/Killings%2C+illegal+arrest+and+detention%3A+BS+Aquino%E2%80%99s+kind+of+peace

January 03, 2014—MONTERONA, Marcelo, 41, Farmer, Indug Kautawan, Maco, Compostela Valley
January 12, 2014—TOLENTINO, Antonio, 62, Farmer, Aniban, Hacienda Dolores, Porac, Pampanga
January 30, 2014—ORBINA, Henry, Worker, Cabadian, Sorsogon
January 31, 2014—AMBONGAN, Datu Rolando, 39, Higaonon tribe, Katribu Partylist member, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte

February 05, 2014—LAURON, Julieto, 41, Farmer, Kasama – Bukidnon, Valencia, Bukidnon
February 06, 2014—RAYTERAN, Rosaldo, Driver, Albay People’s Org, Libon, Albay
February 06, 2014—RAYTERAN, Rasty, 18, Youth, Libon, Albay
February 18, 2014—ARCHIVAL, Noel, 53, Lawyer, Dalaguette, Cebu
February 18, 2014—MIÑOZA, Candido, 47, Archival’s aide, Dalaguette, Cebu
February 18, 2014—JAYME, Alejandro, 45, Archival’s driver, Dalaguette, Cebu

March 03, 2014—LIGIW, Fermin, 29, Binongan-Tinguian tribe, Anakbayan/Kastan (CPA provincial chapter), Baay-Licuan, Abra
March 03, 2014—LIGIW, Eddie, 45, Binongan-Tinguian tribe, Kastan, Baay-Licuan, Abra
March 03, 2014—LIGIW, Licuben, 77, Binongan-Tinguian tribe, Kastan, Baay-Licuan, Abra
March 15, 2014—CAPALLA, Romeo, 65, entrepreneur, PFTC, SELDA, Oton, Iloilo
March 22, 2014—LUBIANO, Julio, 31, Small-scale miner, Caramoan, Camarines Sur
March 22, 2014—LUBIANO, Rene, 28, Small-scale miner, Caramoan, Camarines Sur
March 22, 2014—VIRTUS, Salem, 24, Small-scale miner, Caramoan, Camarines Sur
March 22, 2014—BRONDIA, Jesse, 35, Small-scale miner, Caramoan, Camarines Sur
March 25, 2014—BUGATTI, William, 43, CHRA, CPA, BM provincial coordinator, Kiangan, Ifugao

“These are names of 19 people killed as a result of the BS Aquino government’s killing frenzy in the first 13 weeks of 2014. This is the kind of peace the Aquino government pursues desperately to silence the vocal critics of his anti-people governance,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

Palabay said, for the same period, Karapatan also documented 43 victims of illegal arrests and detention based on fabricated criminal charges, “But BS Aquino and his cohorts never ever acknowledged these human rights violations committed by the armed forces. Instead, the Aquino government continues to brag about and propagate lies that peace means people keeping mum and submitting to its policies and programs that spell death to the majority of the poor Filipinos.”

 “The peace that BS Aquino knows only fires up wars, as people clamour for concrete steps to address poverty and underdevelopment. Aquino’s duplicity on the issue of peace is further emphasized. On the one hand, he boasts of forging peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), while military offensives continue in Mindanao, victimizing thousands of civilians.

On the other hand, he lies on his administration’s interest on the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), while his government illegally arrests peace consultants, right defenders and individuals, kills those whom he perceives as his government’s enemies,” said Palabay.

Karapatan earlier called on BS Aquino to step down from office following the spate of killings committed by the armed forces of the BS Aquino government.

The latest victim of extrajudicial killing is William Bugatti, a human rights worker and regional council member of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance-KARAPATAN. He also represented the Ifugao Peasant Movement in the regional council of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance. He was also provincial coordinator of Bayan Muna partylist.

Bugatti, from the Tuwali tribe, succumbed to three gun shots that pierced his heart on the evening of March 25 at Bolog, Kiangan, Ifugao. Bugatti was among the 28 people whose names appeared in a poster-target list by the 5th Infantry Division and the 86th Infantry Battalion Target List in Tinoc, Ifugao tagged as brains, members and supporters of the New People’s Army.

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.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/589691/army-accused-of-seizing-boy-tagging-him-a-rebel#ixzz2xX3pQKQY

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