The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) strongly denounces the massacre and brutal killing of Freddie “Fermin” Ligiw, Edie Ligiw, and their father Licuben Ligiw on 2 March 2014 in Sukaw, Domenglay, Baay-Licuan town, in Abra province by elements of the 41^st Infantry Battalion (Philippine Army), which has a notorious track record of rights violations in Abra, such as indiscriminate firing, arrest and detention, harassment and intimidation of community members.

The victims’ bodies were recovered on 8 March by kakailian (town mates) in a shallow grave near the victims’ pacalso (temporary shelter for farmers and small-scale miners). Their hands were bound and their mouths were gagged. They were piled on top of each other. They were obviously buried, in the perpetrators’ hope that they won’t be found, that no one will know.

Fermin was a member of Sidakan-Anakbayan, and with his brother and father, members of the Lenneng-Killeng Tingguian Farmers Association (LEKITIFA). These organisations are members of KASTAN (Kakailian Salakniban tay amin a Nagtaudan), the CPA Abra Province chapter. The victims were active leaders of the people’s campaign against destructive mining in Baay-Licuan.

Data gathered by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) shows that as early as 19 February, elements of the 41^st Infantry Battalion conducted military operations in Lenneng, where Fermin was forcibly taken to serve as a guide in the military operations against suspected New People’s Army presence in the area. Family members last saw Fermin, Edie and Licuben on 2 March at their pacalso. The three were expected to be home in sitio (hamlet) Sukaw the same evening, but they never showed up. The family searched for them the following day.

Search teams were later organized to continue looking for the victims, until the grave was discovered on 7 March. Fermin was scheduled to meet with CHRA and the Abra Human Rights Alliance on 4 or 5 March to give his account of when he was coerced to be a military guide. He never made it to the meeting.

Not so long in late February, a fictitious organization “Ifugao People’s Council” circulated posters  in Banaue entitled “Rupa ken Nagan dagiti NPA nga Agsusweldo” (Names and Faces of Salaried NPAs) with malicious accusations against Jude Baggo, CHRA secretary general; Emerson Soriano, CPA Staff; Beverly Longid, KATRIBU President and former CPA chairperson, among other personalities, whose names and photos appeared in the posters, in still another desperate attempt to vilify defenders and advocates of indigenous peoples rights and human rights. In another northern Luzon province just recently as well, peasant leader Romulo dela Cruz was abducted on 1 March in Isabela. He has not been surfaced until now.

At least 43 indigenous peoples were killed in cold blood under this current Aquino regime, which has long-proven it is no different from the past Arroyo regime. It is the same fascist regime that instigates, plans and executes this national policy of terrorism across the country. Today it is called Oplan Bayanihan and is masked with deception and pronouncements of respect and recognition of human rights and international humanitarian law, but in reality, its concrete examples include the bombings in Malibcong and Sagada last year, and the rape of young women in the mining community of Mankayan in 2012.

As in Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, Oplan Bayanihan is implemented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and is therefore accountable for countless rights violations, including Benigno Aquino III as commander in chief of the AFP.

We demanded from Aquino justice for all victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo regime, but all it did was add to the number of killings, harassment and enforced disappearance of human rights and development workers, activists and advocates.

What does government intend to do with the increasing number of victims, orphaned children, families and communities when it has the knack of allowing such injustice to prevail? Clearly, there is no room for human rights and justice under this regime, and we the people must rage against a State that breeds lawlessness and human rights violations.

Aquino must step down, lest he is ousted. If the State can go on with the killings and vilification only because of people’s political beliefs, then who will protect and defend the people? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the Philippine government is a signatory, states that “Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law…”

Therefore, let us not allow this culture of terrorism and impunity to continue. Let it be known that the people have a right to defend themselves, to mobilise for our human rights,  and to rise against fascism and extra judicial killing as what happened to the Ligiw family, and against a terrorist and fascist regime.

Reference:
ATB Anongos
Secretary General
CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE
No. 55 Ferguson Road
Baguio City 2600, Philippines
Telephone No. +6374 3044239
Fax No. +6374 4437159
Email: cpa@cpaphils.org
Webpage: www.cpaphils.org

Malacañang spokesperson Abigail Valte recently announced that President Aquino is hoping that tension in Hacienda Luisita does not escalate. The announcement, as expected, failed to mention that the continuing agrarian unrest in the said Tarlac estate has generally been engendered by the bogus land distribution efforts of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), which has once again proven the bogus nature of the CARPER.

Malacañang likewise has consistently kept mum as regards the aggressive and oftentimes violent means by which the powerful Cojuangco-Aquino family, to which the President himself belongs, has been employing against Luisita farmworkers in staking claim over at least 1000 hectares of agricultural land in the area.

Just this 7 and 8 March, the Cojuangco-Aquino owned Tarlac Development Corp. (TADECO) tried to bulldoze 214 hectares of land in barangays (villages) Mapalacsiao and Central with the aid of Philippine National Police personnel.

The Mapalacsiao and Central lands are apart from the 358 hectares that have been issued a Notice of Coverage (NOC) by the DAR in barangays Balete and Cutcut on 17 December 2013. Despite the DAR’s NOC, the Balete lands have already been completely bulldozed and fenced off by TADECO, leaving scores of farm workers without any means of livelihood. The same farm workers are now also facing various trumped-up charges lodged against them by both the police and TADECO.

Aside from these lands, it is estimated that TADECO has still at least 700 hectares of agricultural lands under its control which the DAR has failed to include for land distribution.

At present, the Presidential uncle, Peping Cojuangco himself, is vigorously conducting a petition in the ten barrios of Hacienda Luisita, openly opposing any effort to cover the said lands for land distribution. Cojuangco is also trying to deceptively bribe the farm workers with the prospect of being compensated from the P1.33 billion standing debt of Hacienda Luisita Inc. in exchange for surrendering their call for land distribution.

There is no sign meanwhile that the DAR will seriously implement land distribution in the said areas notwithstanding the NOC that it has earlier issued for the lands in barangays Balete and Cutcut. The DAR also has no intention of recognizing that 216 farm workers have already been tilling the lands there since 2005. This was also the attitude of DAR when it implemented the Lot Application Certificate (LAC) through raffle starting July last year. In essence, DAR is purposely creating friction among those who are already tilling the lands since 2005 by designating other beneficiaries to these lands.

Tension in the Hacienda will not cease unless genuine land distribution is implemented. Lands should be distributed for free to those who have been tilling in the area since 2005. All the security guards and military personnel inside the Hacienda should also be pulled out, and all those who ordered and carried out the violent eviction of farm workers on 21 December 2013, and various other suceeding incidents should be prosecuted and punished.

UMA Media Officer:
+639166114181

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

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“The BS Aquino regime is a bane to poor Filipino women. His presidency has made lives harder and more dangerous for women, especially those who speak out against rights violations and his anti-poor policies,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general and Tanggol Bayi convenor, on the commemoration of International Women’s Day.

Palabay said that “despite the Aquino government’s much-ballyhooed declarations on economic growth under his presidency and on the promotion of equality by his administration, the joblessness rate among women remains high at 35.9% of the labor force, according to the December 2013 survey of the Social Weather Station.” These figures, she said, may be higher because many of the unpaid and family workers are women.

“The Public-Private Partnership program has resulted to forced evictions of poor women and their families from the urban poor communities where such projects were implemented. Poor women also bear the brunt of poverty, as the number of families experiencing hunger in the past years under Aquino has risen,” she added.

Kiri Dalena, co-convenor of Tanggol Bayi said, “as more women are faced with escalating problems, they are also the first to rise to defend their rights, their families’ and their communities’ interests. The Aquino regime seems to be threatened by the poor Filipinas’ defense of their rights, that it has made women human rights defenders targets of state repression.”

Dalena said “18 women activists, most of them human rights defenders, have been killed under the Aquino administration. The loss of these women who have valiantly struggled for genuine pro-people change is unforgiveable.”

Among those killed by state security forces were Cristina Jose, a village councilor and leader of typhoon survivors in Davao Oriental, on 4 March 2013; and Juvy Capion, an anti-mining activist who was massacred in October 2013 together with her two children.

Palabay and Dalena also scored the Aquino administration for its recent appointment of police general Lina Sarmiento as the chairperson of the Martial law victims claims board.

“The appointment of Sarmiento to a top government post is NOT an achievement for Filipino women. It is a grave insult that is tantamount to a slap on the faces of thousands of Filipino women who suffered during the Marcos dictatorship. Aquino successfully proves how he overwhelmingly underestimates our capacity to see through this cheap and superficial shot at women empowerment,” they concluded.

References:
Cristina Palabay
Karapatan secretary general
and Tanggol Bayi convenor
+639173162831

Kiri Dalena
Tanggol Bayi convenor
+63920-9755575