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Zamboanga Crisis: A fiasco of Aquino’s peace process in Muslim Mindanao

ICHRP Secretariat
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Zamboanga Crisis: A fiasco of Aquino’s peace process in Muslim Mindanao

Moro-Christian People’s Alliance

“The ongoing political crisis in Zamboanga City gives away Aquino’s failure to address the Bangsamoro Question amidst his claim of success of the GPH-MILF peace negotiation,” according to Antonio Liongson, spokesperson of the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA).

“It is a serious price that Aquino has to pay in belittling the significance of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement of the GRP-MNLF in pursuing a just and lasting peace Southern Philippines,” Liongson added.

Clearly left out in the Aquino GPH-MILF peace talks and peace policy in Mindanao, Prof. Nur Misuari, founding Chairperson of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), declared independence of the entire Mindanao, including Palawan and Sabah, and announced the formation of the “Bangsamoro Republik” before an assembly of MNLF members in Talipao, Sulu last 12 August 2013.

Misuari invoked a 1960 UN General Assembly Resolution that granted independence to all colonized peoples in the world.  He declared that the “Bangsamoro Republik” is a sovereign nation under the colonial occupation of the Government of the Philippines.

Malacañang, through Secretary Edwin Lacierda, dismissed MNLF’s claim of being left out and said that the Framework Agreement of the GPH-MILF peace negotiation will benefit all the Bangsamoro. Deputy Spokeswoman Abigail Valte also pointed out that the 1996 GRP-MNLF Peace Agreement does not include any secession.

Liongson said that this is not the first time that the Aquino government’s belittling attitude toward important stakeholder organizations in addressing the roots of the decades-long armed conflict in Mindanao resulted in a war situation, warrantless arrests, forced displacement of thousands of Bangsamoro/non-Moro civilians, and loss of lives.

In February – March 2013, a standoff and armed confrontation between the Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu & North Borneo, led by Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, and the Malaysian Armed Forces in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia over the issue of reclaiming Sabah caught the Aquino administration off guard. The two-week standoff has caused the forced displacement of thousands of Moro and non-Moro families, who have lived and worked in Sabah for years.  The displaced Moros (majority of the Tausug tribe) returned to Mindanao with little assistance, if any, from the Aquino government.

The Sabah standoff was triggered when President Aquino deliberately ignored the two letters of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo about the Philippine Sabah claim to be considered in the GPH-MILF peace talks which is facilitated by the government of Malaysia.  Feeling snubbed, Sultan Jamalul Kiram III decided to revive and pursue the Sabah claim on his own initiative.

He sent his younger brother Agbimuddin Kiram, the crown prince, accompanied by some 200 members of the Royal State Forces of the Sultanate, to Lahad Datu, a coastal village in Sabah, Malaysia to start the process of reclaiming Sabah.  Historically, Sabah belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu.

“To address the roots of the Moro Question and attain a just and lasting peace in Mindanao, President Aquino  must conduct a comprehensive and genuine peace policy with  the active participation and involvement not only with the Moro Islamic Liberationm Front (MILF) but of other legitimate stakeholder organizations that include the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Prof. Nur Misuari and the Sultanate of Sulu & North Borneo led by Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.

“Even the MILF breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) led by Ustadz Ameril Omra Kato, must be considered, as it is fighting for the same legitimate issues of the Bangsamoro. All these organizations have been fighting for the Bangsamoro people’s homeland and right to self-determination,”  Antonio Liongson concluded.

Reference:
Antonio Liongson
National Spokesperson
Moro-Christian People’s Alliance
CP #0905-8248028

Church groups denounce military harassment of Pastor Mangao

ICHRP Secretariat
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Church groups denounce military harassment of Pastor Mangao

By National Council of Churches in the Philippines

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines stands in solidarity with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, in the face of the persecution of its church workers for their courageous defence of the poor and the disenfranchised. The UCCP denounced the recent harassment and surveillance of Pastor June Ver Mangao, a UCCP pastor assigned in Mabitac, perpetrated by intelligence agents of the 1st Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army under the command of Col. Jose Augusto Villareal.

The NCCP is outraged that the military continues to brand church workers who stand with the poor as leftists and targets them to surveillances and harassment. In the continued climate of impunity that prevails in the Philippines, where perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and human rights abuses are not brought to account for their actions, any tagging by the military of church workers as leftists puts the lives of all church workers in potential danger. The NCCP denounces this vilification of  church workers. Jesus Christ calls people of faith to stand in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. This faithful advocacy of the Christian gospel neither makes churchworkers enemies of the state nor leftists.

Pastor Mangao, is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary (Philippines) and a former exchange student of the Stockholm School of Theology (Sweden). He has exemplified this commitment to the poor through his involvement with the church in Mabitac, its community outreach program to the poor in Brgy. Kabulusan, Pakil, Laguna, and his chairmanship of the Community Ministries Committee of the Northeast Southern Tagalog Conference of the UCCP. Pastor Mangao has also been involved in the Prison program of the UCCP in Laguna Provincial Jail.  He conducts regular visitation to political and other prisoners and has organized the church’s advocacy on their behalf.

The NCCP calls on our member churches and international partners to pray for and maintain continual vigilance against signs of abuse of power and authority by the military. We call for a change in the culture of impunity in the Philippines, where human rights defenders and church people, are subject to killing, disappearance and harassment, and where perpetrators are not brought to account. The NCCP calls on the government of the Philippines to respect the human rights of all citizens and to cease from engaging in harassment, labelling and surveillance of human rights defenders and church workers. The NCCP urges the President to exercise his command responsibility to ensure that our churchworkers do not become vulnerable to harassment, surveillance and labelling, that place their lives at risk and undermine their vocation to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ among and for the poor. Let us uphold the persistent prayer and call that all of God’s children live in peace in their homes, in their workplaces and in their communities.

REV. REX RB REYES, JR.
General Secretary
National Council of Churches in the Philippines

THE MOST REVEREND EPHRAIM S. FAJUTAGANA
Obispo Maximo XII, Iglesia Filipina Independiente
and Chairperson, National Council of Churches in the Philippines

P466M reward for “communists” a waste of people’s money — Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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P466M reward for “communists” a waste of people’s money — Karapatan

By Karapatan

“Local government secretary Mar Roxas should be held accountable for the organized racket of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of National Defense (DND) through the P466million bounty for individuals whom they accuse as communists,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

The Karapatan statement was issued in time for the hearing of the DILG 2014 budget by Committee on Appropriations at the House of Representatives. Palabay said the joint DILG-DND memorandum 14, announced by Roxas in November 2012 provides for P466million reward for those who can provide information that could lead to the arrest of 235 wanted individuals listed as “communists”. The said list has been kept confidential until now and, even during the DND budget hearing at the House of Representatives last Sept. 3.

Karapatan called the scheme an “organized racket,” citing the cases of arrests, torture and detention of security guard Rolly Panesa and farmer Olegario Sebas. Both were wrongly tagged as leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA).

“The reward money is better used in productive endeavours that will  benefit thousands of hungry and homeless Filipinos instead of pay-offs to so-called informers who are used to arbitrarily arrest, detain, torture or kill innocent people,” Palabay added.

Panesa was arrested on October 5, 2012, tortured and detained for 11 months because he was mistaken to be “Benjamin Mendoza”, an alleged high ranking regional officer of the NPA.  On August 29, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled positively on Panesa’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, citing his case as a case of mistaken identity, and ordered the jail warden of Camp Bagong Diwa to release him from prison.

Sebas, 65, was arrested on December 25, 2012 by the joint forces of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police in Tubod, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental. Sebas was mistaken to be the top NPA cadre “Felimon Mendrez”, a subject of four arrest warrants for rebellion. Sebas was detained in the BJMP District Jail in Bayawan City for three weeks and was released when the court granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Last month, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista personally handed P5.25M and P5.6M rewards to informants who “identified” Panesa as “Benjamin Mendoza” and Sebas as “Felimon Mendrez,” respectively.

“Now that the Courts have ruled in both cases that they got the wrong men, the big question is where is the P10.8million bounty? Or has the money been pocketed already by entrepreneurial generals?” Palabay asked.

Karapatan research showed that the DILG has P73.6 billion at its disposal for the implementation of the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, including P306 million for intelligence funds.

DILG FUNDS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OPLAN BAYANIHAN 2014 (proposed)
PNP 71,945,660,000
Support for Peace and Order Councils (DILG) 33,830,000
Comprehensive Local Integration Program (DILG) 74,036,000
PAMANA 1,547,470,000
TOTAL 73,600,996,000

“Many of these items, including intelligence funds and the budget for PAMANA program, are discretionary in nature and are not subject for audit by the Commission on Audit (COA). These programs are also conduits in the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan’s components, specifically the psyops and intelligence aspects,” Palabay added.

Karapatan reiterated its call to scrap Oplan Bayanihan and echoed the people’s clamor to redirect huge amounts of government money “to social services like hospitalization and medical care for the poor and marginalized, education and subsidies to public colleges and universities and, housing facilities where people could access the funds directly and benefit from, instead of ending up either in the generals’ pockets or used to violate people’s rights.”

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
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.

Defense department’s budget is “budget to kill” — Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Defense department’s budget is “budget to kill” — Karapatan

By Karapatan

Amid the people’s call to abolish the presidential and congressional pork, the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights (Karapatan) and several people’s organizations today held a picket at the House of Representatives, in time for the hearing of the proposed budget for the Department of National Defense (DND) for 2014. The protest underscored the “DND’s more than 82.1 billion-peso proposed budget meant to oil the Aquino government’s killing machine, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the primary implementer of Oplan Bayanihan.”

Karapatan called for “ZERO budget for the DND.” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay echoed the people’s clamor to redirect huge amounts of government money “to social services like hospitalization and medical care for the poor and marginalized, education and subsidies to public colleges and universities and, housing facilities where people could access the funds directly and benefit from, instead of ending up either in the generals’ pockets or used to bomb communities as what is happening now in Sagada, Mountain Province.”Palabay cited the use of MG520 attack helicopters by the Philippine Air Force 1st Division’s Strike Wing on 31 August on a suspected lair of the New People’s Army, destroying communal hunting grounds, uma (farms), and water sources near rice fields and communities.Earlier, on 23 August, Blaan tribal chieftain Anting Freay, 60, and his son, 16-year old Victor, were killed by elements of the AFP’s 39th Infantry Battalion and Task Force Kitaco (Kiblawan, Tampakan, Columbio). Task Force Kitaco was created under the command of the 1002nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army to secure the areas covered by the SMI-Xstrata’s mining project.

The Freays were killed when their house was strafed by the soldiers who were positioned three meters from their house. The older Freay was immediately killed while his son sustained 18 gunshot wounds when he was fired at by another group of soldiers.

“Public funds are being used to kill the people and perpetrate thousands of rights violations. Under Aquino’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, Karapatan has documented and recorded to 142 documented cases of extrajudicial killing and 164 frustrated killing; 16 incidents of enforced disappearance; 76 cases of torture; 540 cases of illegal arrest; and more than 30,000 victims of forced evacuation,” Palabay said.

Included in the DND budget is the allocation of P2B for compensation of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs), despite wide and persistent clamor for the disbandment of paramilitary groups, civilian volunteer organisations and private. The European Parliament and several States also called on the Philippine government, in the Universal Periodic Review in 2012, to immediately disband all paramilitary groups.

Palabay said Karapatan also documented several extrajudicial killings and human rights violations since 2010 involving paramilitary groups, such as the incidents involving Datu Jimmy Liguyon, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, and the massacre of Juvy Capion and her two children. “Similarly, the operations of the Special CAFGU Active Auxiliary (SCAA) units, which are co-funded and organized by the AFP and mining/transnational corporations, have continued, with Pres. Aquino categorically giving the go-signal for it on October 20, 2011. The question then is why are we still funding CAFGUs and SCAAs?” she asked.

Karapatan’s research showed the Oplan Bayanihan budget, with at least a total of PhP162 billion, is allocated in various government agencies.

Palabay explained the inclusion of the proposed budgets of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), National Security Council (NSC) and of some specific projects as in the case of PAMANA in the overall budget of Oplan Bayanihan “because these agencies and programs are conduits in the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan’s components, specifically the psy-ops and intelligence aspects.”

Oplan Bayanihan Fund

Agencies

2014 (proposed budget)
Department of National Defense (DND)

82,195,121,000
Philippine National Police (DILG)

71,945,660,000
Support for Peace and Order Councils (DILG)

       33,830,000
Comprehensive Local Integration Program (DILG)

       74,036,000
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA)

      590,956,000
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)

      351,547,000
National Security Council (NSC)

        88,584,000
PAMANA (Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan allocated in various government line agencies)

   7,217,664,000
Intelligence Funds (allocated in various line agencies)

      250,026,000

(except PNP-DILG,DND and NICA allocations)
TOTAL

P162,747,424,000

“The Filipino people deserve better than a government that is repressive and corrupt. It is the people’s right to have access to health services, to medical attention, to attend school and to better education and, to decent housing at the very least. We can no longer tolerate a government that has nothing to offer the people but PR spins and catchphrases of goodwill while violating the people’s rights at the same time,” Palabay concluded.

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 Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
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. 

Urgent call for support against threat of demolition

ICHRP Secretariat
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Urgent call for support against threat of demolition

By Tanggol Karapatan

2 September 2013 is the deadline of the notice of demolition issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways against the remaining 250 families living at the R10 community in Tondo, Manila (near the Philippine Ports Authority).

More than 300 families have already been evicted using the deceptive “voluntary demolition” scheme by the DPWH and the National Housing Authority. These families were relocated to Bocaue, Bulacan — far from their source of livelihood.

To defend their homes and assert their rights to adequate housing, education, access to jobs and livelihood, health and other services, the Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa R10-Kadamay (Neighborhood Association in R10) is holding a people’s barricade. They are demanding social justice; amidst the systemic corruption in the government on one side, the vast majority of the people is in a dire sitution, they are hungry, homeless and jobless.

We are calling everyone to support the calls of the R10 community and other urban poor families who are experiencing the same situation of criminal neglect of the Philippine Government.

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