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GMA, pro-Arroyo Judges, have no right to invoke “right to life” – Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Release – To insist on Gloria Arroyo’s right to travel as her “right to life” is the height of absurdity, insensitivity and injustice.

How about the right to life of Bsp. Alberto Ramento, Eddie Gumanoy, Eden Marcellana, Benjaline Hernandez, Arthur Orpilla, Dionisio Battad, Celso Pojas, Rebelyn Pitao, Fr. Cecilio Lucero, Maximo Baranda, Daya Manunggal Mandi, Roel Dotarot, Flaviano Arante, Elmer de la Cruz, Nonilon Gabani, Dr. Alice Claver, Atty. Juvy Magsino, Leima Fortu, Benjamin Bayles and the 58 victims of the Ampatuan massacre. They are among the thousand of peasants, workers, indigenous people, women, lawyers, students, Church people, activists, environmentalist who were victims of one of the bloodiest wars against the Filipino people. They are among the more than 1,000 victims of extrajudicial killings under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime.

How about the right to life of Jonas Burgos, Sherlyn Cadapan, Karen Empeno, Honor Ayroso, Leo Velasco, James Balao, Nilo Arado, Luisa Posa-Dominado, Leopoldo Ancheta, Rogelio Calubad, Gloria Sioco, Celine Palma and Prudencio Calubid. They are among the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances under GMA’s nine-year regime.

How about the right to life of Rolando Paniamogan, Ricardo Solangon, Muhamadiya Hamja, Mercy Mahinay, Antonio Roda, Freddie Ruiz, Delfin Pimentel, Prospero Agudo, Rogelio Villaresis, Eulogio Castillo, Rolando Laylo, Dario Tomada, Ernesto Dumlao, Manolito Matricio, Genoroso Granado Jr., Edgardo Lingan, Lambert Santiago, Raul Villar, Jesus Alegre, Selman Alegre, Elvie Apolonia, Emeterio Antalan and Leopoldo Caloza. They are among the 44 political prisoners who are sick; who need, but are denied of, immediate and adequate medical attention. They are among those arrested and detained under the GMA regime, being its most vocal critics.

They are the victims of the Arroyo regime. They are twice victimized by the Aquino government’s failure to act on the cases promptly. The government, when it filed electoral sabotage case against GMA, showed that it can act swiftly if it wants to. It was done, it can be done, and it should be done on all other cases filed against GMA. Pres. Aquino should ensure that Arroyo stays in jail and punished for the human rights violations she committed.#

Licensed to Flee: GMA must come to court with clean hands while Pnoy twiddles his fingers

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Statement, National Union of People’s Lawyers – Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s attempts to escape justice and frustrate efforts to prosecute her is in plain view that nobody could have missed it. The minute she steps out of the country, the quest for justice will almost certainly fall apart. She will most probably wait it out till the political atmosphere and conditions are more conducive or accommodating to her political rehabilitation while she is “recuperating” or dodging imagined “political persecution.”

Amidst the competing views and the complex legal and political implications surrounding the issue, it is sad that prudence took the back seat. The Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was seen by not a few as having been issued with rather undue and unusual haste even as there is no compelling urgency for it. Oral arguments and studied contemplation should have been done first. Arroyo’s health condition is, fortunately, not life threatening.

While the Arroyos cry that their rights are being violated, the speedy issuance of the TRO has made some sectors of our society squirm in astonishment. It does not help any that there are pervasive perceptions that the results appear to hew to clear partisan lines. It could be seen as giving a relief that is precisely the meat of the petition and may in fact result in irreparable justice that can not be undone, to the utter disadvantage of the Filipino people and their interest in making high public officials really accountable and that impunity must stop, once and for all. There also is an apparent double standard with which the cases of privileged litigants with power and influence, like the Arroyos, are being treated.

The situation must be put into perspective. Needless to say, the surrounding facts and circumstances show that Arroyo is abusing the right to travel as a plausible ruse to escape accountability for the grave crimes she allegedly committed of which there is strong evidence. Even the “devil can quote the Scriptures,” so to speak.

But the law should not be taken in abstraction; instead it must be applied in a concrete legal and political situation, with the dispensation of justice as the overriding goal. As has been said before, “general propositions do not decide specific cases.”

Ironically, it bears noting that DOJ Department Circular 41 was issued during Arroyo’s time. It is downright odd and curious that she and her allies cry justice and due process now that things have turned and they are on the other receiving end. She and the former First Gentleman must come to court with clean hands. They must also drop the tasteless “persecution complex” and poor victim stunt.

We support all efforts to exhaust all possible remedies to stop attempts of the Arroyos to flee. Too many tyrants, here and abroad, have tried to escape accountability through the hospital door. For history not to repeat itself, we should be vigilant as the events that surely have long term effects on our nation unfold before our eyes. We can argue how many angels can dance on a head of pin but at the end of the day, the issue all boils down to accountability of our public officials. Can we really get justice?

Had President Aquino accompanied the rhetoric and blame game with prompt and concrete legal actions in prosecuting the Arroyos as part of its campaign against corruption, it would not have come to this high drama. While the Arroyos are rushing to leave the country, Pnoy was twiddling his fingers in decisively filing cases in court against them not only for big time corruption and unmitigated plunder but also for the most heinous violations of basic human rights#

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373)

Hustisya warns: “More human rights violations to come under new Army Chief”

ICHRP Secretariat
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Hustisya warns: “More human rights violations to come under new Army Chief”


“There  will be more human rights violations under new Philippine Army Chief Major General Emmanuel Bautista and Oplan Bayanihan,” Cristina Guevarra, secretary general of Hustisya (Victims United for Justice) warned the public today.

The new Army Chief Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista is the primary author of the Oplan Bayanihan.  According to Karapatan’s documentation as of end of September, 2011, the said anti-insurgency program has taken the lives of more than 55 individuals through extrajudicial killings, not to mention the enforced disappearance of eight people and the forcible evacuation of 4,224 residents from their communities.

“No wonder he was promoted army chief.  There is no other top official who can and will faithfully implement the terror of Oplan Bayanihan other than the author himself.  We fear that with Maj. Gen. Bautista at the helm of Oplan Bayanihan, the number of cases of state violence will pile up, similar to that of Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya,” Guevarra said.

Oplan Bayanihan, according to Hustisya is a “cut-and-paste” Filipino version of the US counter insurgency guide released in 2009. Designed to deceive the people, Oplan Bayanihan hides behind so-called “development” programs that actually seek to pacify people’s opposition to military presence or government projects such as large-scale mining, logging and plantations. In the process, it destroys community organizations that are existing in the area for a long time, as well as people’s initiatives to improve their quality of life.

“The way to all out peace is when justice is achieved. Many families of victims of human rights violations are disdained that to this day, P-Noy has not done anything for their loved ones and is instead paving the way towards more human rights violations. He has taken on this ‘legacy’ from his predecessor with Oplan Bayanihan and we have no choice but to fight back.” Guevarra said.

“The killing of Fr. Fausto Tentorio is an omen of worse things to come. The promotion of General Bautista sealed the future we will have to face.” She concluded. #

Reference:
Cristina Guevarra, Secretary General
09175415133/4342837

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
[email protected]

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.

Open letter to President Aquino from Austria

ICHRP Secretariat
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Open Letter to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III through the Philippine Embassy in Vienna , Austria

“Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light,
but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.” Isaiah 59:9

We at Migrante-Austria are much concerned about the human rights violations in the Philippines and  would like to bring to the attention of President Aquino the following:

Thirty nine (39) years after the declaration of Martial Law in our country, we still vividly recall the brutality of the Marcos regime „responsible for 3,257 murders, 35,000 torture cases and 70,000 incarcerations.”
 The horror and the problem on human-rights violations persist through the governments that succeeded Marcos.

In fact, the horrendous massacre of 58 victims in the town of Ampatuan, Maguindanao that shocked the whole world two years ago, on 23 November 2009, is just the tip of the iceberg. Claiming the lives of at least 34 journalists, the massacre has been tagged by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the single deadliest event for journalists in history. Today, the families, friends  and supporters of the victims  continue to pray and pursue necessary legal action in order to get justice and end  the culture of impunity prevailing in the Philippines. Court hearings on this case are proceeding at snail’s pace. It cannot be denied that the massacre reflects the violence engraved in our political system, where political warlordism and military partisanship have created this culture of impunity. It also lends proof of the existence of government’s official policy of allowing the burgeoning of private armies and the fattening of the military and police in the counter-insurgency campaign. These components are essential ones stipulated in Operational Plan Bantay Laya, which outlines the Arroyo government’s internal security plan. The same policy is being implemented by the Aquino government.

Various sectors of the Philippine society continue to be deprived of their basic rights to decent work, land, housing, food, social services, and of the right to fight for these rights without being persecuted.

– Indigenous Peoples’ (IPs) rights to ancestral land and livelihood are violated. The IP groups throughout the country are invariably displaced through military operations to give way to foreign mining, logging and energy projects. Nearly 600-thousand hectares of the 1.05-million hectares approved for mining as of June this year cover ancestral territories, spelling destruction of the fragile ecosystems on which the livelihood of the IPs depend.

– Students and alumni face persecution and political repression of legitimate expressions of dissent and acts of public service. For instance, artist Ericson Acosta, formerly of the State University’s College of Social Sciences, Philosophy and Political Science and the College of Arts and Letter, has been lumped together with common criminals in jail, since his arrest in February this year in Samarf or allegedly being a member of the New People’s Army.

– Human rights defenders and church leaders are vilified and become targets of state terror. On October 17, 2011, Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, a 59 yr-old Italian priest and missionary, became the 56th victim of extra-judicial killings under the Aquino administration. He was known for his active pastoral role with the tri-people communities of lumad, Muslims and Christians. His commitment to serve the disadvantaged and oppressed found expression in his advocacy on IPs’ and peasant struggle for land, environment and human

– The local labour forces are commodified and bought cheaply. They are exported as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to pump up the ailing economy and as payments of foreign debts, but their rights and benefits as workers and as human beings are utterly neglected. In most cases they are left to fend for themselves against physical abuse, sexual abuse, non-payment of salary, overworking by the employers and exploitation by recruitment agencies, political crises in their country of deployment.

– According to latest reports, there are 360 Political Prisoners in the Philippines; they come from various sectors of society — 34 are women and 77 incarcerated under President Aquino III. Political Prisoners are arbitrarily denied liberty and due process of law, charged with political offenses such as: rebellion, sedition and variations thereof. But  they are also slapped with murder, multiple murder, frustrated murder, arson, kidnapping, robbery in band, illegal possession of firearms and other non-bailable offenses. These fabricated charges stigmatize Political Prisoners as plain criminals guilty of most heinous crimes; in truth, their “crime” are but acts in furtherance of political beliefs, social aspirations and struggles against the exploitative and oppressive status quo.  These charges also serve to keep the Political Prisoners incarcerated, suffering torture and inhumane treatment while court hearings proceed also at snail’s pace.

In light of the above, we demand immediate action on the calls of the Filipino people:

Stop political (extra-judicial) killings in the Philippines!
Justice for Fr. Tentorio!
Justice for the 58 victims of the Ampatuan Massacre!
Stop killing journalists!
End impunity Now!
Scrap Oplan Bayanihan!
General, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for all political prisoners!
Save overseas Filipino workers in death row!
Protect the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers!

Elmo Carreon
Migrante Austria
Stavangergasse 1/16/13
Vienna 1220 Austria, Europe
Telephone no: +43 6767 948 686
Email :[email protected]

Join us in a rally-demonstration in the front of Philippine Embassy in Vienna, Austria ( Laurenzerberg 2, A-1010, Schwedenplatz) on Friday, 18 November 2011, 15-16hrs.

18 November 2011

PETITION: Justice for all victims of extra-judicial killings!

ICHRP Secretariat
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PETITION: Justice for all victims of extra-judicial killings!

Dear Friends:

Warmest solidarity greetings from the International Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP)!

Almost two years after the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines, justice is nowhere near. As lawyer Carlos Zarate, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) vice president for Mindanao, aptly describes:

“Nearly two years after the gruesome November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre, the already slow grinding wheels of justice appeared to be in danger of being derailed, if not totally put on reverse.

During these past months we have seen how the defense vigorously put some legal obstacles, just to twist and bend the law and subvert the search for justice – like filing of multiple motions and petitions in various appellate courts.

The ‘dark forces responsible for the carnage’, as the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines once put it, are still in intact – both in wealth and firepower – and continue to attempt to buy off victims’ relatives, and witnesses and their families, or, failing that, threaten or even harm them.”

One witness and two relatives of the victims have already been killed while the other witnesses and victims’ kin either face threats to their own lives or are offered multi-million cash in exchange for withdrawing the charges against the powerful Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuan massacre is only one of the hundreds of cases of extra-judicial killings awaiting resolution.

Once again we are appealing for international solidarity to help end impunity in the Philippines. We respectfully request you to consider signing the following statement which we hope to send to the heads of states and relevant international agencies.

If you agree to sign the petition (below and attached), kindly email [email protected] with your full name and organization/position (if applicable), and base country on or before 20th November. Please feel free to distribute this further to your other networks, too. Thank you so much.

For the ICCHRP,

Angie M. Gonzales
Contact person, Secretariat

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International Petition Urging World Leaders to Help Demand Justice for the “AMPATUAN MASSACRE” and ALL VICTIMS of EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS in the PHILIPPINES

23 November 2011

On 23 November 2009, the international community was shocked and outraged over a horrific crime in the Philippines that claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists and two women lawyers in a town called Ampatuan, in the province of Maguindanao, Southern Philippines. The Ampatuan massacre is the worst single incident of media killings and election-related violence in the world in recent history.

We, the undersigned journalists, lawyers, church people, community leaders, human rights, justice and peace advocates from around the world, add our voices with the Filipino people in demanding swift justice for the 58 Ampatuan massacre victims and all victims of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III vowed justice for the Ampatuan massacre victims and the numerous victims of extra-judicial killings under the nine-year watch of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

While the Ampatuan massacre victims’ families are awaiting justice, we are dismayed and outraged over news of more extra-judicial killings. On 17th October, the murder of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME, once again proved the prevailing climate of impunity in the Philippines. Fr. Tentorio is the 54th victim of extra-judicial killings under the Aquino government, according to the human rights group Karapatan.

The continuing threats to human rights and human lives in the Philippines diminish our humanity. The killings must stop.

We support moves to hold former President Gloria Arroyo accountable to the human rights victims, their families and the international community, for the massive human rights abuses committed with impunity during her administration.

Moreover, we call on the governments of the European Union, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Algeria, New Zealand, Canada and the USA* to once again exert pressure on the government of President Benigno Aquino III to stop the killings (among other human rights violations).

We challenge foreign governments to give teeth to their statements against the culture of impunity in the Philippines. We support calls for international economic and political sanctions on the Philippine government for failing to stop the killings.

In particular, we call on the governments of the United States, Australia and others to stop military aid and all forms of support that could be used for private armies of political warlords, and death squads in the country.

Signed:

NAME                                                                     ORGANIZATION                                                         COUNTRY
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* including UN country missions who raised questions and comments about the widely reported human rights violations in the country during the 2008 Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines: France, Norway, Slovenia, Japan, New Zealand, UK, Canada, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Algeria, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico, and the USA

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