“Nine years after the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, the struggle of the farm workers continues. The killings, human rights violations and deceit continue. There has been absolutely no justice attained under the BA Aquino administration,” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general said.

In November 16, 2004, thirteen Luisita farmworkers were massacred while they were on strike, demanding decent wages and land distribution. The big landlord clans of the Aquinos and Cojuangcos own the more than 5,000-hectare wide Hacienda Luisita.

“The Supreme Court may have decided to distribute the vast lands of Luisita in 2012, but the Aquinos and Cojuangcos, Dept. of Agrarian Reform and Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) are using all possible kinds of deception, bribery, state violence to prevent the lands to be actually distributed to all farmworkers,” Palabay said.

In those nine years, eight cases of extra-judicial killings and one enforced disappearance related to the Hacienda Luisita struggle was documented by Karapatan. This includes the murder of Obispo Maximo Alberto Ramento in October 3, 2006, a staunch supporter of the farm workers during and after the strike.

“Nine years after, those responsible to the massacre have not spent one day in prison. Former Dept. Of Labor and Employment secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, is holding office at the Land Bank of the Philippines. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, head of the Philippine Army deployed in the Hacienda Luisita and a protege of Ret. Maj. Palparan is still sowing terror in the places where he is being deployed,” Palabay cited. Gen. Visaya’s recent stint of terror is the beheading of the village councilor Ely Oguis, justifying that the victim is an NPA tax collector. “Then Senator BS Aquino, whose family’s interests reign in the hacienda, is now the President,” Palabay said.

Meanwhile, Karapatan strongly condemns the latest case of extrajudicial killing in the town that recently suffered bombings by the Philippine Army.

While the whole world was witnessing the tragedy brought by typhoon Yolanda, Juban, Sorsogon in the Bicol Region suffered another case of extra-judicial killing. Wellington Brogada Jr., male, 50 years old was gunned down on morning of November 11, 2013 in front of his house in Brgy. Catanagan, Juban, Sorsogon.

Brogada, a tricycle driver, came from Brgy. Biriran to drop off a passenger. As he was nearing his house, a passenger of the motorcycle coming from the back of Brogada’s tricycle alighted and shot the victim four times. The first bullet came through Brogada’s nape which exited through his left cheek. Three other bullets were fired at his chest. The gun man casually aboarded the motorcycle bearing no plate number. The perpetrators went to the direction of the town center of Juban. Another motorcycle met with the perpetrator to receive the gun used to kill Brogada. It sped to the direction of the Brgy. Rangas where the headquarters of 31st Infantry Battalion Philippine Army is located. According to witnesses, Brogada was already being tailed by the gunman starting from Sitio Madlangaw, Brgy. Tabok.

Brogada is a member of Bayan Muna Sorsogon and was part of the Fact Finding Mission that documented the September 22 incident of bombing and strafing by 31st Infantry Battalion of the Phil. Army in Brgy. Calmayon and Brgy. Maalo, Juban, Sorsogon.

“Dito magaling ang gobyerno ni BS Aquino, ang mambomba ng mga komunidad, pumatay ng mga kritiko,” (This is what BS Aquino’s government good at, bombing communities and kill his critiques.) Palabay said in condemnation. “Yet, in addressing people’s concerns, preparing for disasters such as Yolanda and providing immediate relief to the survivors, we just don’t seem to see the government’s response,” Palabay ended.

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Floor, Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
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.

Human rights organization Karapatan today said, “The BS Aquino government’s so-called relief operation in calamity areas is equally disastrous as typhoon Yolanda. It’s been almost a week since the typhoon struck but people still cry for water, food, medicine and shelter. People who survived the typhoon are dying because of the government inability to respond to the situation.”

“Ill-equipped in responding to the disastrous condition of the victims and survivors of  typhoon Yolanda, the BS Aquino government turns its ire against the people, especially in Tacloban City, by deploying hundreds of police men and soldiers to contain ‘lawlessness and looting’,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

Palabay further said that soldiers and police men, hundreds of them, were deployed in Tacloban City. Curfew was imposed and checkpoints were set up. “What’s next? This is another case of BS Aquino’s victim-blaming, not knowing it was his government’s inutilitythat drove people to find ways, on their own, to survive the situation,” she said.

Karapatan finds BS Aquino’s statement on November 10 “inappropriate and arrogant.” News reports quoted Aquino saying armored vehicles, as well as members of the Armed Forces, will be deployed in disaster areas to show ‘state power’.

“Amid the disaster, BS Aquino still finds time in attacking the victims, calling them looters and lawless. Meanwhile, Aquino’s spin doctors, apologists and paid hacks are busy urging people to stop criticizing BS Aquino and his government while alternately painting the typhoon survivors as zombies and security risks,” Palabay added.

Karapatan said the government is playing up lawlessness and looting among the victims of Yolanda to divert the nation’s attention and cover up its failure to immediately and effectively respond to the situation of the typhoon victims. “International and local aid are pouring in. It’s best the government focuses its efforts to facilitate aid provision to reach the intended beneficiaries as soon as possible instead of making up excuses and meeting people’s restiveness with restrictive and later, repressive measures,” said Palabay.

“As in the past, the Filipino people’s compassion and unity are manifested amid crisis. We call on the people to turn our collective frustration and anger into actions to demand accountability and for positive and meaningful change in the country, including a government responsive to the needs of the poor majority.  We also thank the peoples of the world for their concern and support as we call on the people to be vigilant in ensuring these donations end up with the intended beneficiaries,” Palabay ended.

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
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National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)

It was twenty-seven years ago to this day when rogue members of the military ruthlessly and calculatingly snatched, tortured,  and killed Rolando “Ka Lando” Olalia and Ka Leonor Alay-ay to make a political statement. The Decision of the Antipolo court that discreetly handed down the ruling on bail for the accused retired military colonel last month makes a statement of its own, hopefully unwittingly: we’ll let the small fry suffer and the big fish go scot-free.

Granting bail to one of the masterminds, Lt. Col. Eduardo Kapunan, and in the same breath denying it to two co-accused low in rank, is a nail into the coffin of justice. Why the Decision found evidence of guilt strong against Sgts. Dennis Jabatan and Desiderio Perez, the men who participated in the surveillance, abduction and murder, and not against Kapunan escapes logic, reason and experience.

The same state witnesses have pointed to Kapunan, then the intelligence officer of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), as the one of the higher-ups who sanctioned the killings; even Kapunan himself admitted in court that he and his exclusive circle were then in charge of “naughty jobs”. Why put blame only to those whose hands actually pulled the trigger, or thrusted the knife, or gouged the eyes, or stuffed the mouths, and not to the minds credible testimonies indubitably point to as having hatched the crime?

The Olalia-Alay-ay double murder is a classic case of all things awry in the Philippine legal system – stretched through almost three decades of litigation, mired in controversial liabilities, checkered with resort to technicalities,  marked by impunity. It stands as a brazen, monumental testament to how much the law indeed inexorably tilts in favor of the influential, of the high and mighty.

Ten other accused are still at large: Ret. Col. Oscar Legaspi, Filomeno Maligaya, Cirilo Almario, Jose Bacera, Fernando Casanova, Ricardo Dicon, Gilbert Galicia, Gene Paris, Freddie Sumagaysay, and Edger Sumido. And as RAM leaders Juan Ponce-Enrile and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan sit in the Senate, it seems to many that no force of law or legal prosecution can make them all account for their past antics.

When the hammer finally falls, the Olalia and Alay-ay families, victims many times over, have nothing to show for their dogged pursuit of truth and justice. From one Aquino administration to the next, it has been nothing but an uphill battle to find the peace and punishment for such an outrageous injury – the loss of Ka Lando was a loss for the Philippine labor movement and the post-Martial law movement for democracy as well.

The present Aquino administration has failed in ensuring not only accountability for the past, but also protection against military adventurism and excesses in the future. With many erring military leaders like Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan at large for so long now, no Filipino has the right to feel safe whether inside or outside the confines of this volatile and merciless political system.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, private prosecutors in the case, today honors the memory of Ka Lando and Ka Leonor by staunchly heeding, together with workers, community leaders, and activists, the clarion call for change. For as long as we let the big fish go, this country will forever be a disaster zone, reeling from storm to storm as the waters beat us black and blue.

Reference: 

Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary General
+639175113373
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National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)
3F Erythrina Bldg., Maaralin corner Matatag Sts. Central District,Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax no.920-6660
Email addresses: nupl2007@gmail.com and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com

Farmers slam DAR for inaction, partiality towards TADECO

A hundred farmers in Barangay (village) Balete, Hacienda Luisita clashed this morning with around 60 security guards and police officers who thwarted their attempt to assert their claim on lands they have been tilling since 2005.

Said properties are now being land grabbed by Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) which is a suspect in the killing of Dennis de la Cruz on November 1 and which filed cases against farmers in Barangay Cutcut on November 4 for unlawful detainer.

On November 12, TADECO bulldozed houses set up by a few families in Balete and stated that they were also constructing a road in the property they are land grabbing.

TADECO suddenly appeared in the picture of the ongoing land saga in Hacienda Luisita right after the Lot Allocation Certificate (LAC) distribution in Cutcut on July 18, 2013.  Initially it set-up security guard outposts in the two barangays and eventually gave warning letters to around 100 farmers demanding that they stop encroaching on said property.

Ka Pong Sibayan, acting chairperson of Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) and her mother Maria Versola were slightly injured when they fell while struggling with security guards near the foundation of the hut they were trying to set-up. Ka Pong also hurt slightly her nape and shoulder.

An apologist of Noynoy Aquino working as a columnist in a Manila newspaper earlier wrote that Mr. de la Cuz, which he wrongly named as Mr. Cayabyab allegedly died of an accident. He revealed that supposedly there is a witness to this and that photos of SOCO also proved that this was indeed what happened.

There was no autopsy, however, done on Mr. de la Cruz. The family told AMBALA who visited his wake and paid a tribute to him, that they were afraid of repercussions if they would agree to have his cadaver autopsied.

Overall, however, it is the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) that has been the staunchest apologists for TADECO and the Cojuangco-Aquinos. It stated that the lands being grabbed by said firm are not part of the lands that were distributed to farm worker beneficiaries as ruled by the Supreme Court.

DAR Secretary de los Reyes also warned the farmers that they had no right to till the land as they are still determining its status. He added that those who encroach and till the land would have no right to own it if they decide that this should be distributed later to them.

The DAR chief however has remained silent on the recent actions done by TADECO. It is only a continuation of its unabashed subservience to the Cojuangco-Aquino clan who owns the Hacienda when it undertook a sham land distribution there. But that is another story.