By National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers

Like a ghoulish ritual for the carcass of the dead, the military once again would resuscitate its long discredited claim that our clients, the Morong 43 health workers, are members of the underground New People’s Army.

Jumping on another opportunity to peddle this storyline — quite inherently contradictory most of the time — they now claim that one of those killed in an encounter weeks ago was in fact a former member of the Morong 43 who were illegally arrested, searched, detained and tortured more than 3 years ago.

It now claims that most of our clients “have returned to the hills” even as it concedes that a number of them have “continued” to be members of “progressive organizations”. It confirms that our clients — especially those who are visible in rallies and public places or events, or who chose to file cases against them and whom they stalk to this very day — continue to engage in health services.

As for all the rest that are less visible or who chose to keep a low profile, if not a “quiet” life after their horrific ordeal for 10 months, the military automatically claims are again NPAs.  Except of course a select few of them that they have spoiled and are living it up as their glorified slaves.

If the military cannot keep its facts straight, at least — if it has time — it should review its math. Even their convoluted figures do not literally add up.

As for Ramon dela Cruz who was reportedly killed in an alleged encounter, the belated claim that he is an NPA and the same person as the namesake of a former member of the Morong 43 is grounded on questionable bases and circumstances.

The comparison with his supposed mugshots and the similarity of the names of his supposed parents that he allegedly disclosed while under extreme and hostile interrogation in isolated detention is at best self-serving and at worse contrived if not malicious. And it does not help one bit that those who purportedly corroborated his identity as an NPA were most probably the usual roving mad dogs and itinerant professional “rebel returnees.”

And what if he was? On the supposition which cannot be independently established that he became an NPA after he was released, as far as his basic human rights were concerned, so what?

While we as lawyers are absolutely positive that our clients were not members of the NPA at the time the incident of illegal arrest happened, we are not privy into the minds and daily lives of each and every single client of ours after our legal engagement. We are incompetent and would be pretentious to judge them in whatever choices or options they subsequently take.

Yet we would be the least surprised as counsels who have known their torment up close that they are simply frustrated or have just had enough of a system that has betrayed them, with their pending cases they had filed personally and in constructive representation of others to seek justice in the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, the Regional Trial Court and the Commission on Human Rights still in outstanding limbo after all these years.

We have to remember these people who just wanted to help the poor and those in need went through horrendous psychological and even physical torture, not to mention illegal arrest, search, detention, and denial of counsel. The arguable supposition that one of them became an NPA more than 3 years afterwards does not make those violations right, much less make those liable for such violations immaculate.

Otherwise, we would accept the strained fallacy as follows:

1. the military claims the Morong 43 are NPAs,
2. there were violations of their rights including torture,
3. the Morong 43 deny that they are NPAs but are community health workers,
4. the killing of one of them supposedly confirmed he was an NPA,
5. all of the Morong 43 were therefore NPAs all along, and
6. Ergo, the torture and rights violations are proven justified and it is alright to have tortured them after all.

While checking on its arithmetic, it would also do well for the military and those who want to get away with impunity – again if they have time – to review their logic if not their sense of right and wrong.

Indeed, when was torture by anybody on anyone at anytime and in any place and under any circumstance ever justified?

Reference:
Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
+639175113373

Paper cranes, desaparecidos, and political prisoners in the Philippines

30th of August is International Day of the Disappeared. Tomorrow, 21st of August, Ninoy Aquino Day will again be observed, commemorating the life and death of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

On this occasion, the Philippines Solidarity Network together with faith-based justice and peace advocates in New Zealand reiterate their appeal for President Benigno Aquino III to end human rights abuses.

“Since Aquino came to power in 2010, we have joined the international community in challenging him to honour his father by heeding the appeals to stop the extra-judicial killings, free political prisoners and surface victims of involuntary disappearances,” Murray Horton, Secretary of Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Last July, New Zealand-based Korean Pastor Kyoung Gyun Han represented the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand at the International Conference for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines.

“It was a big conference of over 200 people from around the globe. It is such an honour to be part of a global network including churches actively supporting the Filipino people’s quest for justice and peace.”

“Coming back to New Zealand, I am committed to watch out Philippine situation, engage in solidarity action and strengthen migrants’ ministry particularly in Auckland and Christ church where there are now around 1,000 Filipinos working to help rebuild the quake-devastated city,” Rev. Han, who is the PCANZ Asian Ministries Coordinator, noted during his report-back meeting with Auckland Philippines Solidarity

Rev. Han also met recently with APS members and representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and The Methodist Church about action plans to support justice and peace quest in the Philippines.

They lamented the fact that far from Aquino’s 2010 election promise to deliver justice for human rights victims of past regimes, his three-year administration now holds a record of 142 extra-judicial killings, 540 illegal arrests, 76 cases of torture, 30,678 forced evacuations and 31,417 cases of threats, harassment and intimidation, among others.

In solidarity with victims’ families, they made paper cranes — Japanese origami — in support of the campaign to Surface James Balao and all victims of enforced disappearances.

Based on the ancient Japanese legend that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, they sought the help of Japanese friends to demonstrate how to make paper cranes so they can express support for all the families awaiting the return of their loved ones who have been abducted by state agents.

“The permanent presence of US troops in the country, the unlimited access to Philippine facilities, including storage of arms, and the use of drones, are direct attacks against Philippine sovereignty and the people’s rights,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, on the talks between the US and Philippine governments which start today on the increase of rotational presence of American forces in the country.

As the Philippine government and US military officials gear to “formalize” the deployment of more US troops in the country, hundreds of residents of Loreto, Agusan del Sur, left their homes and sources of livelihood, and opted to stay in an evacuation center to evade threats, harassment and intimidation by elements of the 26th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA) and paramilitary groups attached to it.

Prior to the evacuation, two children, Jay-Ar S. Basilisco, 17 years old, and Arnel B. Tolentino, 16, were detained on 22 July, after they were accosted and tortured by elements of the 26th IBPA and the Bagani Force, a paramilitary group. Their hands were tied, they were punched in the stomach, neck, and head. They were told to run at gunpoint but they refused, knowing the possibility that they will be shot at.

Basilisco’s lips were burned with cigarettes; bullets were inserted between his fingers. Tolentino’s face was beaten; a calibre .357 handgun was inserted in his mouth. Both Basilisco and Tolentino’s heads were wrapped in plastic until they were unconscious. Later, they were charged with attempted murder for the death of Ramon Dioganon, a Barangay (village) Captain of Brgy. Kauswagan.

“This scenario has become familiar, and will be multiplied all over the country as the US government props up the Armed Forces of the Philippines with more troops, war materiel and training for the final push of Oplan Bayanihan’s last year of its Phase1,” said Palabay.

Karapatan said Noynoy Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan is patterned after the US Counterinsurgency Guide and is implemented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the guidance of the US.

“Even as the AFP already admitted Oplan Bayanihan’s failure, the Aquino government is dead set on meeting its deadline to render the Communist Party of the Philippine ‘irrelevant’ and to turn over internal security matters to the Philippine National Police so it can shift its focus on external security. The so-called shift is timed with the US’s so-called Asian pivot,” added Palabay.

Karapatan maintains Oplan Bayanihan’s deadline and the presence of more US troops and military aid in the country will bring about more human rights violations and perpetuate impunity.

“The ‘negotiations’ between the Aquino government and the US government, the so-called rotational deployment, the drones for humanitarian purposes are blatant assaults to the nation’s sovereignty, violate the interest of the country and the Filipino people who already said NO TO U.S. BASES. It is a clear manifestation of the Aquino government’s puppetry to the interests of the US government and its treachery against the Filipino people,” Palabay ended.

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
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.

By National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)

The payment by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of reward money to supposed informers allegedly responsible for the capture of what it referred to as “terrorist personalities and communist leaders” is ludicrous as it is dangerous. The reward was paid pursuant to Department of National Defense and Department of Interior and Local Government Joint Order No. 14-2012 which updated the AFP’s bounty list.

Earlier on, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers publicly questioned the propriety and legality of the joint order, since it violates the basic principles of fairness and due process. The payment – – or some observers say the division of the spoils or loot? – – is further put into doubt in the light of nagging questions as regards the identities of those they paraded as alleged “communist leaders”. Rolly Mira Panesa, a security guard for the longest time, was abducted in a busy street in Quezon City, heavily tortured and now still detained for 10 months based on the AFP’s claim that he is “Danilo Benjamin Mendoza” an alleged high ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Southern Tagalog with a Php 5.6 Million bounty.

The AFP chose to shamelessly rely on the perjured statements of their own professional itinerant jokes they call witnesses, and deliberately ignored the overwhelming testimonial and multiple documentary evidence, most of which were issued by government agencies themselves confirming what the AFP knew all along, that he is not Danilo Benjamin Mendoza.

Oligario Sebas, a resident of Negros Oriental, suffered the same fate. He was abducted and detained based on the AFP claim that he is “Felimon Mendrez” an alleged high ranking member of the CPP in Negros with a Php 5.2 Million bounty. Sebas, unlike Panesa, was subsequently released through a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus where it was quickly established that he is not “Felimon Mendrez”.

Panesa and Sebas join other detainees who have been arrested and detained based on trumped up charges, their number having increased upon the public announcement of the existence of the joint order. Their cases confirmed NUPL’s fear that the list will only be used to harass political activists, leaders of peoples organizations and even ordinary citizens who have the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and who can be exploited as unwitting sources of huge incomes. Even bona fide assistance by human rights groups and rights lawyers organizations like NUPL regrettably is being used to discriminate and maliciously profile these victims and hence lead to plain injustice.

This cheap publicity stunt by the AFP is a conspicuous badge that they are resorting to this kind of tactic to give pretense to their false claims and justify the of arrest of innocent citizens without due regard to their rights to due process. These betray their utter disregard for the legal and constitutional rights of the citizenry, and the propensity to violate human rights without any iot of compunction.

Is there, pray tell, still any shred of decency, conscience or humanity left for all those who made and continue to make possible this kind of gross and wholesale injustice?

Reference:
Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
+63917-5113373

By KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines has no right to brag about the capture of ‘terrorist personalities and communist leaders’ through their so-called informants. It’s a shame that it spent P19.25 million of the nation’s money for capturing and torturing people like security guard Rolly Panesa and presenting him as “Benjamin Mendoza”, a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines, for the prize of P5.6 million. It’s simply a rip-off, an organized racket,” commented Karapatan’s secretary general Cristina Palabay. Panesa has been in jail for 10 months now.

Palabay added, “the AFP committed the same violation to Oligario Sebas, a resident of Manjuyod, Negros Oriental, who was also jailed because of the AFP’s claim that he is “Felimon Mendrez”, allegedly a CPP leader in Negros.”

The AFP said Sebas had a P5.2 million on his head and was on the list of the Department of National Defense-Department of Interior and Local Government Joint Orders on Reward or Joint Order 14.2012. Sebas was released through a writ of habeas corpus.

Karapatan, in earlier statements, lambasted the Joint Order 14.2012 saying “it is no different from the secret hit list of Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya which resulted to thousands of cases of human rights violations ranging from illegal arrest and detention, enforced disappearances and political killings.”

The said DND-DILG Joint Order was used to legitimize the enforced disappearance, illegal arrest, and detention of Estelita T. Tacalan, a 60-year old peasant organizer and rural health worker in Misamis Oriental. Tacalan was reported missing on 27 April and was surfaced on 7 May at the Dipolog City Jail where she is currently detained.

“The DND-DILG’s secret hitlist should be scrapped as it has become the basis to arrest, detain, and torture people on false charges; or worse, disappeared or killed. The AFP should also be held accountable for squandering the people’s money to violate people rights. These acts confirm the AFP’s own admission that the Aquino government’s Oplan Bayanihan is a failure” said Palabay.

REFERENCE:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General, KARAPATAN
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison, KARAPATAN
+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
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.