SELDA demands inclusion of all 9,539 Hawaii class suit members

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The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) is an organization of former political prisoners in the Philippines. Founded on December 4, 1984, SELDA was initiated by newly-released political prisoners of the martial law period.  SELDA’s primary task is to work for the release of all political prisoners and to see to it that humane treatment of those who are still in detention are complied with by the Philippine authorities.  SELDA advocates justice for current and former political prisoners.  It calls for the mobilisation of resources in support of political prisoners, former detainees and their families.  It carries out legislative advocacy for the indemnification and rehabilitation of political prisoners. SELDA goes into partnership and builds solidarity with concerned individuals and groups for the freedom and welfare of political prisoners and all victims of tyranny. 

Lawyers raise constitutional challenge on State responsibility and people’s right to health

A group of indigent patients, employees of the orthopedic center, health professionals, concerned citizens and progressive legislators have asked the Supreme Court to halt government plans to cede management and operations of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) to a private entity, saying that it violates constitutionally guaranteed rights to health care & equitable access to health services.

“The bleeding and injured destitute patients in representation of themselves and in representation of all others to be similarly situated come now to the Court because they are being rushed to the emergency or operating room for profit by those who should be taking care of them in the first place. They will be bled dry for commercial fees due to privatized health care service by forces preying on their miserable conditions, ” said Atty. Edre U. Olalia, secretary-general and head of the legal team from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

The group sought to stop the implementation of the “Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center” project under the Public-Private Partnership scheme of the Aquino administration – the first hospital to be privatized. The project costing P5.6 Billion was awarded to the giant Megawide Construction Corp. and World Citi Consortium.

“We have the power to choose for ourselves, and more than merely being charitable, to be civilized and just, especially for the poor and underprivileged,” said Atty. Olalia.

“Should this happen this first time with the POC, then all the rest of the government hospitals or public health facilities and services all over the country will follow this route, and the health of the people and their basic right to it and access to health services will be bludgeoned to smithereens. It would spell the death knell by adding insult to injury, as it were.”

The POC is a Department of Health-retained hospital. It is the country’s only hospital specializing in orthopaedic disorders, including cases of spinal cord injuries. It is being privatized as part of President B. S. Aquino’s Private Public Partnership (PPP) project of funding even social services.

“If one thinks that health can be exchanged for wealth, this Petition does not deserve the court’s precious attention,” the petition’s prefatory statement reads. It adds, “But if one believes that wealth must be subordinated to health, especially of the dying destitutes… then this Petition and what it is fighting for deserve more days in this Court.”

Invoking the State’s responsibility to provide and ensure a basic social service, the Petition states, “such duty should not be relinquished to a private entity through privatization or commercialization of a government hospital, to the prejudice of the poor and underprivileged.”

Through the Petition, novel questions on people’s rights and welfare are brought before the Supreme Court as it involves the fundamental question of whether the right to health and other socio-economic rights are self-executory and legally demandable.

Under the winning bid, the “modernized” POC is allowed to allocate only 70 beds for service (indigent) patients and 420 for sponsored (Philheath) patients – compared to the current 562 beds or 85% capacity for indigent patients. The new management would have an option not to accommodate non-paying patients if the 70 beds are already occupied.

POC employees also face the possibility of losing their jobs. The contract makes the workforce private, such that those who wish to remain in government service have to transfer to another DOH hospital. Those who choose to stay at POC are not assured that they will be absorbed. To emphasize the significance of the Petition, the modernization of the POC is only the first in a series of other PPP projects to be implemented in the health sector. Definitely, this Petition gives the Highest Court the perfect opportunity to give life to the constitutional mandate to the State to promote the people’s right to health through the accessibility of affordable health care.

This is a challenge for the court to shoot down neo-liberal programs which will only worsen the already inept and ineffective health care system in the country.

Petitioners included doctors and nurses from the Network Opposed to Privatization of Public Hospitals and Health Services (NOP), Council for Health and Development (CHD), Nars ng Bayan Community Health Nurses’ Association, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), Health Alliance for Human Rights (HAHR), People’s Health Movement; Community Medicine Practitioners and Advocates Association (COMPASS); Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), leaders of citizens’ groups Makabayan, Gabriela, Kalipunan ng Damayan ng Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), and congressmen from Bayan Muna and Kabataan party-list.

Reference:
Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
+63917511373

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
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and facebook @https://www.facebook.com/nuplphilippines
Visit the NUPL website at http://www.nupl.net/

Tension continues to escalate between farmers and President Aquino’s family in Hacienda Luisita as the Cojuangco-Aquino firm Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) commenced bulldozing of farmers’ crops in Barangay (village) Cutcut earlier today.

Members of Luisita farmworkers alliance AMBALA reported that past 3:00 in the afternoon today, a Sunday, that around 50 armed personnel of the Great Star Security Agency employed by TADECO started bulldozing a ricefield in Barangay Cutcut.

Dozens of AMBALA members who rushed to the scene were able to stop TADECO guards but only after  the bulldozers already flattened around a hectare of the area. AMBALA asserted that the farmlands in Cutcut are subject of a pending court case and a notice of land reform coverage by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

It may be recalled that TADECO also ordered the bulldozing of more than a hundred hectares of  crops in Barangay Balete during the Christmas season. The destruction of crops and eviction of farmers was actively assisted by the Tarlac Provincial Police and also led to the mauling, unlawful arrest and detention of five farmers who were trying to defend their land.

Today, the 268-hectare agricultural land in Barangay Balete, which is also subject of the same DAR notice issued on 17 December 2013, is already fenced with barbed wires, iron sheets and concrete. The area is also heavily guarded by armed TADECO guards and by a company of soldiers belonging to the 3^rd Mechanized Batallion. This army unit’s headquarters, located inside the fenced TADECO area in Balete, is also where the Cojuangco bulldozers are parked.

This incident boosts our assertion that the DAR and its top officials are in collusion with the Cojuangco-Aquinos and TADECO,” said Christopher Garcia, AMBALA spokesperson. Aside from its mum stance on the bulldozing issue, DAR personnel are also openly conniving with Cojuangco dummies such as ex-Land Transportation Office Chief Virgie Torres to reclaim vast agricultural lands from farmworker-beneficiaries through the illicit “aryendo” or lease system.

AMBALA also scored DAR Undersecretary Anthony Parungao for denying any knowledge of harassment perpetrated by TADECO against the farmers. Parungao was quoted in a 30 January 2014 news article in the Business Mirror as saying that the DAR has received no report of alleged harassment.

The DAR already acknowledged that TADECO filed cases of unlawful detainer against more than 100 farmers in Barangays Cutcut and Balete. In fact, when it released a Notice of Coverage (NOC) for TADECO on 17 December 2013, the DAR used as basis the titles submitted by TADECO in court. The violent and illegal eviction conducted by the Tarlac PNP together with Cojuangco guards and goons on 21 December 2013 became front page news in a major daily and went viral in the internet.

Even if DAR officials failed to know about the violence against Luisita farmers through traditional and social media, AMBALA made sure that the DAR was duly notified by filing an urgent petition for the issuance of a cease and desist order (CDO) against TADECO before the DAR’s regional office in Pampanga a day after Christmas, 26 December 2013. The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, Union of Workers in Agriculture) immediately furnished the DAR Main Office in Quezon City copies of this urgent petition.

The DAR issued an impotent “show cause order” to TADECO via courier service the next day.

Farmers were able to confirm  the inutility of the DAR’s “due process” when low-level officials of the DAR admitted in a dialogue with AMBALA that they cannot as yet do anything about the CDO petition because the Cojuangcos refused to receive the show cause order. Technically, the DAR can only act “10 days after receipt” of the said order. Undersecretary Parungao and other key DAR officials failed to attend this dialogue held on 21 January 2014 at the DAR main office, despite an urgent plea from Luisita farmers.

However, Parungao himself signed official correspondence asking Florida Sibayan of AMBALA to update DAR on developments regarding the CDO petition. The letter was dated 08 January 2014 but was delivered to  Sibayan’s residence in Tarlac only a week after the said DAR dialogue.

“Mabuti pang itigil na ng DAR ang pagsisinungaling nito at patunayan sa aksyon ang sinasabi nitong ‘pagpapatupad ng batas’ sa Hacienda Luisita. Pigilan muna nila ang mga bulldozer ng Cojuangco sa paninira ng kabuhayan at ari-arian ng mga magsasaka, bago nila ipagmalaki ang mga peke nilang ‘accomplishment’, [The Department of Agrarian Reform must stop its brazen lies and prove their own words that they are “implementing the law” in Hacienda Luisita. They should stop the bulldozers of the Cojuanco’s from destroying the livelihood and properties of the farmers before they boast of their so called “accomplishment”]. ” said Sibayan.

AMBALA also called on the Department of Justice to create a special panel for Luisita human rights cases. AMBALA recently filed a motion to cite the DAR and TADECO in contempt for undermining the 2012 Supreme Court ruling to distribute Luisita to farmworkers.

KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights