18th IADL Congress calls for resumption of GRP-NDFP peace talks

The fifty-six countries attending the 18th Congress of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) in Brussels, Belgium made a major declaration today and approved a resolution on the Philippines that not only called on the Aquino government to end any negotiations granting military basing rights to the US but also the pull out of all US troops, facilities and material in the Philippines. The same resolution also called upon its member-countries to press for resolutions, legislation and campaigns urging an end to foreign intervention and aggression in the Philippines.

The UN-accredited IADL believes this violates both Philippine and international law and threatens the stability of the Asian region. The more than 400 lawyers attending the IADL Congress also urged the Philippine government to “cease all acts that violate human rights”, called for the release of all political prisoners including the peace process consultants and, in recognition of the call of the Filipino people for a just and lasting peace, urged for the immediate resumption of the peace talks between the government and the NDF.

“This is a major statement of the international community that the Aquino government cannot just disregard as it expresses the sentiments of a huge number of lawyers groups around the world and at the same time issued by a prestigious and respected UN-ECOSOC accredited organization” said Atty. Edre Olalia, Secretary General of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) which represented the Philippines in the IADL Assembly.

Olalia and NUPL President and Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares were also elected by the IADL Congress to its governing Bureau to serve a 5-year term.

“The Aquino government ‘s refusal to heed the people’s call for a just and lasting peace while it pursues a war mongering policy by allowing the open entry of US military bases is getting the increasing attention of the international community, and rightfully so, Colmenares concluded. (nc)

REFERENCES:
Neri Javier Colmenares
NUPL President
+639178350459

Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary General
+639175113373

Over Easter weekend, rights lawyers help resurrect hopes for just and lasting peace

Lawyers from various countries call for resumption of peace talks, release of peace consultants

The resumption of the peace talks and the release of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultants Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria and other political prisoners was among the significant consensus highlighted at the 18th Congress of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) closing yesterday in Brussels, Belgium.

Earlier, the separate IADL Commissions on the Right to Peace and on the Right to Resist in their respective action points as well as the plenary IADL Resolution “urging accountability and action against human rights violations in the Philippines” also made similar calls.

Furthermore, the 12-member NUPL delegation painstakingly gathered signatures from more than two hundred lawyers, judges and other legal luminaries from fifty six (56) countries who individually signed a strongly-worded petition expressing concern over the “intensifying political repression” and human rights violations committed by the Aquino government including its “increasing intolerance” of dissent and protest by the people.

The lawyers who came from Asia and Europe as well as North and South America, Africa and Oceania called for a stop to political repression and persecution in the Philippines, and the release of all political prisoners, including all the consultants of peace negotiations, “in pursuit of a just and lasting peace” in the Philippines.

The petition demanded that the Aquino government “respect democratic rights” and “end political killings, harassment and attacks” against the people.

“With these IADL resolutions, reports and petition by hundreds of lawyers, judges, law professors and law students from a huge number of countries, the lack of respect for basic democratic right in the Philippines has further been brought within the radar of the international community,” said Bayan Muna Representative and NUPL President Neri Javier Colmenares, who was unanimously elected to the highest governing Bureau of the IADL. “Where the persecution of political prisoners heighten the pain of our Lenten suffering, international solidarity is a fitting cap for a time of hope for just and lasting peace,” he said.

NUPL Secretary General Edre U. Olalia, also unanimously re-elected to the IADL Bureau, said “Peace activists everywhere are registering their indignation over the arrest and persecution of Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria and other peace consultants, which have seriously imperiled peace talks of the Philippine government with the NDFP. The international community finds the filing of dubious and legally untenable charges as violative of basic criminal law principles against the Tiamson couple not only a threat to the peace process but also to due process rights recognized by all civilized nations.”

IADL counts among its members international lawyers associations such as the Japanese Lawyers International Solidarity Organisation, All India Democratic Lawyers Association, Arab Lawyers Union, Progress Lawyers Network of Belgium, Droit Solidarite of France, Giuristi Democratici of Italy, the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers of the United Kingdom, American Association of Jurists, Lawyers Rights Watch of Canada, and the National Lawyers Guild of the United States.

IADL, which paid tribute during the Congress to its President Emeritus Nelson Mandela, and to NUPL founding Chairperson Atty. Romy Capulong, is an association of progressive lawyers who use and change the legal landscape to promote peoples’ struggles all over the world. It has a consultative status with the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). (kc)

(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

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