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With escalation of political killings, Karapatan demands BS Aquino to step down

ICHRP Secretariat
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With escalation of political killings, Karapatan demands BS Aquino to step down

http://www.karapatan.org/With+escalation+of+political+killings%2C+Karapatan+demands+BS+Aquino+to+step+down

“Karapatan strongly demands that Pres. Noynoy Aquino step down from office for his administration’s accountability for the 169 victims of extra-judicial killings, from July 2010 to December 2013, and for the 19 killed for this year alone, including the killing of our fellow human rights worker William Bugatti of Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) in Ifugao and the massacre of four miners in Caramoan, Camarines Sur,” said Cristina Palabay, national secretary general of Karapatan.

William Bugatti of CHRA was killed at 7:00pm last night, 25 March, along the Ifugao Highway in Bolog, Kiangan, Ifugao. Bugatti is among those included in the target list of the 86th Infantry Battalion of the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in Tinoc, Ifugao. He was tagged as “utak ng NPA” (New People’s Army) in the said list, along with CHRA secretary general Jude Baggo.

Small-scale miners Julio Labiano, Rene Labiano, Salem Virtus, and Jessie Brondia were reportedly massacred by Bantay Kalikasan Task Force of the Caramoan, Camarines Sur local government on 22 March 2014.

“The message is clear. All those who are critical of the Aquino administration are considered ‘enemies of the state’. Activists, human rights workers and civilians are being killed like flies by this government.  The situation is akin to the killing spree of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s state forces in 2006 to create a chilling effect among the Filipino people, amid widspread discontent against the administration,” Palabay said.

Meanwhile, the human rights community in and out of the country are shocked by the massacre of the Ligiw family in Abra, and the killing of a former political prisoner Romeo Capalla. Messages of condemnation came in from various international human rights organizations calling for justice to the victims of extrajudicial killings.

“Mr. President, we are waiting to hear you publicly declaring that these killings must stop now,” International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP)-Toronto, Canada said in its open letter to Pres. Noynoy Aquino.

“Mr. President, we are deeply troubled by the deafening silence of your administration in the face of the brutal violence committed by state agents against citizens of your country. Your government’s commitment to human rights has lost credibility,” ICHRP Canada Chapter said.

“We call on the Philippine government to immediately order an independent, impartial and competent investigation into the killing of Freddie, Edgar and Licuben Ligiw and pull-out the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, and all military troops from Abra to ensure that the investigation is independent and impartial,” ICHRP Canada continued.

Rev. Barry Naylor, Honorary President of the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (UK) and Chairperson of the Global Council of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines called on President Aquino to end the policy of automatically labelling, and targeting, of human rights defenders as “members of front organizations of the CPP” (Communisty Party of the Philippines) and “enemies of the state.”

“With all the demands for justice and peace coming from different countries, BS Aquino cannot turn a blind eye on the escalating number of killings. We will defy the increasing repression of the Aquino administration, and we will never be cowed,” Palabay ended.

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.

Why the arrest of the Tiamzons, et al, is illegal and unjustified

ICHRP Secretariat
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Why the arrest of the Tiamzons, et al, is illegal and unjustified

By the legal defense team of the PILC and NUPL

  1. The Tiamzon spouses are covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) arising from the peace negotiations and thus must not be arrested by the Government of the Philippines (GPH).
  2. Benito and Wilma Austria Tiamzon are holders of documents of identification (more popularly known as “safe conduct passes”) numbers ND978227 and ND978226, respectively, as consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Both have also been issued Letters of Acknowledgement by two Chairmen of the GPH Negotiating Panel, Howard Dee in 1996 and Silvestre H. Bello III in 2001.
  3. Wilma Austria Tiamzon is publicly known by her real name to be involved in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations since the 1990s, and must be afforded recognition and protection as such. The use of assumed names by accredited or protected persons, such as “Crising Banaag” by Benito Tiamzon, is justified by:

    3.1. Accepted practice in peace negotiations with underground organizations, and as agreed upon by the Parties.
    3.2. Additional implementing rules pertinent to the JASIG signed by both Parties explicitly allowing such use.
    3.3. Historical lessons during the 1986 peace negotiations when a number of participants from the NDFP were exposed, arrested, and even killed.
    3.4. Security and privacy considerations, to encourage those who want to participate in the negotiations, and as assurance against present or future reprisals.

  4. The status of the Tiamzon spouses as consultants of the NDFP is not questionable. There is no need for further or additional verification/validation of their identities.

    4.1. They are in possession of and presented documents of identification and letters of acknowledgement. Further verification is only obligatory when there are no other means of establishing identity. (JASIG Implementing Rules)
    4.2. Out of 427 political prisoners in the Philippines, only 14 are being claimed by the NDFP as consultants.

  5. Arresting the Tiamzon spouses constitutes bad faith on the part of the GPH in complying with its obligations under binding bilateral agreements.

    5.1. JASIG was crafted precisely to facilitate the peace negotiations, to create a favorable atmosphere conducive to free discussion and free movement during the peace negotiation, and avert incidents that may jeopardize the peace negotiations. It actually benefits the panelists, consultants, staff and security of both Parties to safety and immunity guarantees.
    5.2. Under the principle in international law of “pacta sunt servanda” (Latin for promises must be kept), agreements are binding between the Parties and must be kept and performed in good faith.
    5.3. A Party like the GPH cannot use its domestic law as a justification or excuse for the non-performance/compliance with its obligations under a binding international agreement like JASIG.

  6. Protection of the Tiamzon spouses under the JASIG subsists.

    6.1. JASIG can only be terminated by written notice of either Party to the other and will only be effective 30 days upon receipt (JASIG Part III. No. 5). No written notice has been sent or received by the NDFP for the termination of the negotiations by GPH under the Aquino administration.
    6.2. There is no provision in the JASIG allowing for suspension or “inoperatibility” of its protections as this will render nugatory its objectives and practical value.
    6.3. The whole peace process or negotiations are huge and elaborate and do not only involve scheduled formal talks across the negotiating table. It equally involves continuing phases such as consultation, research, study, education, information, advocacy, backchanneling, exploratory meetings, informal talks, and formal talks. Absence, suspensions or impasses in formal peace talks do not mean the whole peace negotiations/process are automatically absent, suspended or terminated.

  7. The Tiamzon spouses are engaged in activities directly related to their role as consultants in the peace negotiations.

    7.1. The Tiamzons were conducting intensive consultations with peasants and basic sectors in the Visayas at the time of their arrest particularly with respect to socio-economic issues and the effects of supertyphoon Yolanda.
    7.2. Even the GPH alleges them as leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New Peoples’ Army. It stands to reason and common sense that they should be monitoring implementation of agreements on the field, be consulted by and conduct consultations with members of the NDFP and pertinent individuals and groups, in such a significant work as the peace negotiations.

  8. Four days after their arrest have passed yet still no valid warrants have been presented against the seven detained.

    8.1. The detained and their counsels have not received, nor have been furnished previous valid warrants against any of them. Even present attempts to procure these are being blocked by the military. It is not implausible that shotgun warrants would eventually surface as the Tiamzon spouses are mechanically made default respondents or “usual suspects” in incidents allegedly involving the New People’s Army.

  9. The belated inquest proceedings for the trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives are highly irregular and cannot be given legal credence or effect.

    9.1. It was conducted 44 hours after the arrest, way beyond the GPH maximum period of 36 hours of legal detention without charges being filed; thus the detention is arbitrary and illegal.
    9.2. It was conducted not at the place of the alleged crimes in Cebu, but some 355 miles away, in Quezon City.
    9.3. Evidence has been planted. It is incumbent now upon the GPH prove the integrity and admissibility in court of the firearms and explosives allegedly taken from the detainees. The presumption of innocence subsists and the burden of proof and evidence does not shift to them.
    9.4. New, false, and fabricated charges were filed as an afterthought to cover previous fatal infirmities in supposed warrants almost two days after the incident.
    9.5. Police CIDG officers did not inform counsels for detained about the inquest despite presenting themselves the day before. Counsels were surprised with and only informed about the inquest for the new and fabricated charges only three hours prior by members of media.

  10. The practice of charging common criminal offenses, instead of political crimes, against consultants of the NDFP (and other political prisoners) cannot legalize the arrest and detention of the Tiamzons.

    10.1. Filing criminal charges , false, anomalous and fabricated at that, are precisely calculated to undermine and remove the very protection of the JASIG; conversely, the JASIG was intended to shield participants of the peace process from harassment and other acts that hinder their work, like the filing of such charges.
    10.2. These new false charges are designed to ensure the detention of the Tiamzons when other possible old charges against them wither in the face of intense scrutiny.
    10.3. These trumped up charges violate the political offense doctrine, which mandates that all crimes in furtherance of political beliefs must be subsumed under one political crime of rebellion. Any person investigated, charged, arrested, prosecuted or convicted in violation of this judicial doctrine must be released as mandated by the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which the GPH co-signed with the NDFP way back 1998.

References:
Atty. Rachel F. Pastores
Managing Counsel
Public Interest Law Center (PILC)
+639279219539

Atty. Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)
+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/

Justice for William Bugatti!

ICHRP Secretariat
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Justice for William Bugatti!

We are enraged over the extrajudicial killing yesterday, 25 March 2014, at around 6:00-7:00 in the evening, of William Bugatti, a Tuwali and a devoted human rights worker. William is a Regional Council Member of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance-KARAPATAN, a Regional Council Member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance representing the Ifugao Peasant Movement, and the Provincial Coordinator of Bayan Muna partylist.

We condemn this human rights violation in the strongest possible terms.

William was on his way home to his family at around 7:00 pm at Bolog, Kiangan, Ifugao, when unidentified assassins shot three bullets, piercing his heart.  They shot at him treacherously from the back, as cowards do to brave men.

William has been receiving threats to his life and security from State security forces and their agents since the start of Oplan Bayanihan implementation in the Cordillera region.  This heightened after the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly the 5th Infantry Division and the 86th Infantry Battalion Target List in Tinoc was obtained in October 2012. Bugatti was listed as #21 in the list in a roster of 28 people tagged as brains, members and supporters of the New People’s Army who are now also vulnerable to attack by State security forces and their agents.

He has constantly been accused of being a member of the NPA.  This has resulted to notable incidents of surveillance and harassment against him that derailed him from doing his work.  He was even barred several times from visiting political detainees at the Ifugao Provincial Jail.  The Jail warden claims that there is a “Regional Memorandum” stating that Bugatti was not allowed to enter the jail and visit the political detainees because of the red-tagging.

Yesterday, he attended the hearing of the case of political prisoners Rene Boy Abiva and Virgilio Corpuz in Lagawe, Ifugao.  He went to the office of Ifugao Peasant Movement and was last seen alive by his colleagues at around 5:00 pm before he went home.

William has been a diligent paralegal.  As a human rights worker, he has always made sure that the welfare and rights of human rights victims are addressed and well-taken care of. Despite the threats to his life, he persisted in the work.

We are in deep grief over this loss of a human rights worker whom the people of Ifugao relied on during the most difficult times when they were under attack by state terror.

The killing is meant to silence human rights workers and defenders in the region.  This will not happen.

We will draw strength from the life and work of William.  We will persist in the work for human rights and justice as our fitting tribute to him.

We condole with his wife and three children, and the communities in Ifugao that he has served and have considered him as their son.

We demand justice for William Bugatti.  We call for an impartial and competent investigation of the case.  We demand that perpetrators be brought to the bar of justice.

We hold the Aquino regime accountable for the extrajudicial killing of William.  Its bloody record of human rights violations clearly delegitimizes it as a government for the people.  The spate of extrajudicial killings, now tallying to 12 only on the first quarter of this year, has to end.  This can only be done when Oplan Bayanihan is scrapped and the formal peace talks resume.

Justice for William Bugatti!
Justice for all victims of extrajudicial killings!
End political vilification!
Hold the Aquino regime accountable for its human rights violations!
Scrap Oplan Bayanihan!

For reference:
Audrey Beltran
Deputy Secretary General
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
mobile number:  +639189199007

Is Aquino really sincere in pursuing peace in the Philippines?

ICHRP Secretariat
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Is Aquino really sincere in pursuing peace in the Philippines?

With peace consultants arrested by state elements, peace groups question the Aquino government’s sincerity in peace talks

The illegal arrest and detention of peace consultants is a step backward in the peace process.

This is the statement of the Asia Pacific Committee for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (APCHRPP) as it condemns the illegal arrest by the Philippine government’s security forces of Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria in Cebu, Philippines last 22 March 2014.

Both Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria are consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and are helping very actively in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP/GPH) and the NDFP.

The GRP/GPH is imperiling the peace negotiations as well as violating agreements that it has signed with the NDFP with the arrest of Tiamzon and Austria. The specific agreement that the GRP/GPH violated is the JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.

Both Tiamzon and Austria are holders of Document of Identification as well as a Letter of Acknowledgment signed by then GRP/GPH Negotiating Panel Chairman Silvestre H. Bello III. The said Letter of Acknowledgment states that the holder of the said Letter is entitled to safety and immunity guarantees as provided in the JASIG, which was signed by members of the negotiating panels of both the GRP/GPH and the NDFP on 24 February 1995.

Composed of various organizations and networks in many countries based in the Asia Pacific region, the APCHRPP is concerned that the Philippine government is only further prejudicing the peace negotiations by arresting and detaining peace consultants like Tiamzon and Austria.

The group also questions the inquest of Tiamzon and Austria in Camp Crame, a military camp in Manila, where they were also charged with additional cases like illegal possession of firearms and explosives. According to the lawyer of the two arrested peace consultants, Atty. Rachel Pastores, the validity of the inquest proceedings itself is in question while the new charges did not register in earlier reports of the arrest. Such proceedings being led by the government are highly contentious and unacceptable.

The arrest of Tiamzon and Austria comes on top of many human rights violations being committed in the Philippines. According to Philippine human rights group Karapatan, since Philippine president Benigno Aquino III took office, 169 cases of extrajudicial killings have been documented, in addition to 179 cases of frustrated extrajudicial killings, 19 cases of enforced disappearances, 86 cases of torture and 570 cases of illegal arrest and detention.

How will just and lasting peace be achieved when those in authority are the ones violating the very agreements that they signed with the NDFP? Why would they arrest those who are important to the peace negotiations? With this new development, it is hard not to cast doubts on the sincerity of the Philippine government to pursue peace when their actions clearly run counter to their statements.

If President Aquino and the Philippine government really want just and lasting peace, then it should heed the urgent demand to release immediately and unconditionally Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria.

For reference:
Rev. Joram H. Calimutan
Secretariat
Asia Pacific Committee for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines

Luisita farmers dare DAR officials: Tear down Cojuangco-Aquino landgrab walls

ICHRP Secretariat
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Luisita farmers dare DAR officials: Tear down Cojuangco-Aquino landgrab walls

Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

Hacienda Luisita farmers led by AMBALA held a picket protest before the DAR Provincial Office (PARO) in Tarlac City today to condemn the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) complicity with the shameless land grab efforts of President Aquino’s family. Farmers slammed the DAR for its failure to implement a cease and desist order (CDO) to stop Cojuangco-Aquino landgrabbing in the controversial sugar estate.

“The DAR must stop the continued bulldozing and fencing of agricultural lands by the Cojuangco-Aquino owned Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), Luisita Realty Corporation (LRC) and Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT),” said Christopher Garcia, spokesperson of Luista farmworkers alliance AMBALA.

AMBALA filed an urgent cease and desist petition against TADECO eviction, 27 December 2013. TADECO continues to evict farmers from their lots despite a notice of land reform coverage issued by the DAR for the disputed area in Barangay (village) Balete, 17 December 2013. Local courts have also dismissed ejectment charges filed by TADECO against hundreds of farmers in the said areas.

Until now, the DAR has done nothing to stop aggressive landgrabbing efforts by the Cojuangco-Aquino family, which has now covered several Luisita villages aside from Balete – Lourdes, Cutcut, Central and Mapalacsiao in Tarlac City and parts of Parang village in Concepcion town. The village center of Barangay Balete is now literally surrounded by concrete fences on all directions except its side facing the Luisita Access Road infront of the Las Haciendas Subdivision and CAT.

The CAT is bulldozing and fencing off 214 more hectares of agricultural lands in Mapalacsiao. AMBALA asserts that parcels of agricultural land which the DAR should have included for distribution may reach around a thousand hectares.

Instead of stopping the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ landgrab spree, the DAR recently announced that it is now accepting lot applications for would-be “farmer –beneficiaries” in contested TADECO property in Hacienda Luisita.  Today is the first day of lot application for 100 hectares of land in barangay Cutcut, while applications for the 258-hectare property in barangay Balete will commence on April 1st.

“If they are indeed serious in implementing land reform, these DAR officials must be the ones to tear down the concrete walls installed by this insatiable landlord family, and let farmers till their land in peace,” said Florida Sibayan, AMBALA Chairperson.

Sibayan’s hut and crops were among those destroyed by Cojuangco-hired thugs last 8 February, President Aquino’s birthday. Twelve farmers including Sibayan’s husband Willy, filed new complaints of malicious mischief, grave coercion, illegal detention before the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Thursday. The DAR and the DOJ have yet to act on petitions and complaints filed by hundreds of farmers against TADECO.

These contested lands, Ambala has been consistently asserting, have been excluded from the total area of distributable Hacienda Luisita lands through the cunning manoeuvres of the Cojuangco-Aquino’s and with the complicity of the DAR. According to Sibayan, these lands must be covered by the DAR for distribution as per the explicit provision of the Supreme Court ruling of 24 April 2012 which instructs the DAR to find and award to the farmers all other agricultural lands besides the 4,915 hectares officially declared distributable. AMBALA filed a motion in last January to cite the DAR and TADECO in contempt of the SC decision.

The lands meanwhile which have been supposedly included in the land distribution process, according to Ambala, have not yet been physically awarded to the Luisita farm worker beneficiaries. These lands are instead being usurped and controlled by sugar cane production financiers who are Cojuangco-Aquino dummies and direct agents of the CAT.

“The DAR makes it appear that making farmers fight each other over farmlots is the normal course of land reform in Hacienda Luisita. These lot applications for the TADECO areas will sow more confusion and chaos among so-called ‘farmworker-beneficiaries. Disunity among farmers serves the interests of the Cojuangcos,’” said Sibayan.

New press statements from the (DAR) promise yet again that the so-called “installation of farmworker-beneficiaries” (FWBs) in Hacienda Luisita will be complete this May. The DAR report however, cites actual conflicts between farmers due to the chaotic land distribution process via lottery drum raffle, where the farmlots tilled by farmers for nearly a decade via the bungkalan initiative were allocated to new “beneficiaries.”

Ranmil Echanis, secretary general of UMA and one of the convenors of the Luisita Watch network, said that “the land distribution farce in Luisita and the unchecked violent bullying of the Cojuango-Aquino’s only prove the bankruptcy of the CARPER and thus the need to finally enact the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, a progressive legislation which landlord dynasties in Congress have long been opposing.”

References:
Gi Estrada
media officer
+63916.611.4181

Christopher Garcia
AMBALA spokesperson
+63929.320.0615

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Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
(Agricultural Workers Union)
Philippines

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