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Palparan should end up in jail not in Congress

ICHRP Secretariat
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Palparan should end up in jail not in Congress

Press Release, “Stop Daydreaming and Face the Music”

“Gen. Palparan’s incorrigible, remorseless and unmitigated demonization of defenseless civilians merits him a place behind bars  more than a seat in Congress.” This was the statement of Atty. Edre Olalia, Secretary General of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), in response to reports that retired Major General Jovito Palparan was planning to run for a partylist seat in Congress in 2013 on the basis of his “expertise in security.”

“He should not be daydreaming this early. It would be healthier for him if he deals with the reality that he is facing and will be facing a string of multiple charges in different fora and that sooner or later, justice will catch up on him, “Atty. Olalia added.

Trying to smokescreen the strength of the evidence against him, Palparan manifested his intention to run for Congress in an interview during a break in the clarificatory hearing of the preliminary investigation conducted by a panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the enforced disappearance of University of the Philippines (UP) student-activists Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

“The partylist system is intended to empower the marginalized sectors and not to  perpetuate into power those who marginalize them. It is supposed to be a social justice mechanism intended to give more in law to those who have less in life and not to those who have destroyed many lives,” Atty. Olalia pointed out.

Palparan continues to  label activists, progressive groups and members of Congress as enemies of the state. This fascist way of thinking and messianic delusions, according to Atty. Olalia, is the mindset for  extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances as it makes no distinction between armed rebels and defenseless civilians and as it gives no regard to legal processes and to human rights.

Meanwhile, during the pendency of the preliminary investigation, Wilfredo Ramos, one of the eye-witnesses for the complainants, was approached three times in their barangay by military men to recant his testimony in exchange for economic considerations. Ramos  vividly recognized a security aide of Palparan as one of the abductors. The aide was later named as Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio of the 24th Intelligence Service Unit of the Philippine Army based in Fort Bonifacio. “This is clearly a case of  subtle harassment by the military in a desperate attempt to weaken the merits of the case and to relieve of any criminal responsibility all those who are  part of the conspiracy,” Atty. Olalia commented.

Also, Raymond Manalo  identified during the clarificatory hearing one of his abductors as Major Harry Baliaga, the  identified suspect in the abduction of activist Jonas Burgos.  Manalo is a human rights victim himself and an eyewitness for the complainants in the case of Sherlyn and Karen. “Baliaga’s involvement both in the enforced disappearance of the Manalo brothers and of Jonas only attests to the  fact that security forces systematically perpetrate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in that they should not be taken simply as individual cases of human rights violations unrelated to each other,”Atty. Olalia insisted.

Criminal Charges Against Palparan Nears Resolution

The clarificatory hearing last Friday concluded the preliminary investigation on the criminal charges against Palparan et. al. for the enforced disappearance of the two UP students.   “The clarificatory hearing reinforced that the testimonies of the witnesses for the complainants were vivid, candid, consistent and straightforward.” Atty. Olalia noted. “This is as opposed to the telling inconsistencies between the testimonies of the respondents denying the accusations against them to save their skin.” In fact, Palparan was compelled to make damning admissions that further “connect the dots,“ he  added.

“Given the strength of the evidence against Palparan and his cohorts, the context and the circumstances of the case and related incidents, we  trust that there is a sufficient ground to hold the respondents for trial and that corresponding charges will be filed soon,” Atty. Olalia  asserted. “We should not let up and be vigilant in ensuring that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime will be accountable for their felonious acts,”he concluded.

The legal team for the complainants and their witnesses include Atty. Julian Oliva, Atty. Ephraim Cortez,  Atty. Cristina Yambot, Atty. Jobert Pahilga, Atty. Jill Santos and Atty. Olalia, all members of the NUPL. .#

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

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The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers was formally founded on September 15, 2007 as a nationwide voluntary association of human rights lawyers as well as law students, paralegals and legal workers in the Philippines, committed to the defense, protection, and promotion of human rights especially of the poor and the oppressed.

Groups urge Aquino to free all political prisoners in marking martial law

ICHRP Secretariat
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By Ronalyn V. Olea, Bulatlat.com

MANILA – On the 39th anniversary of the imposition of martial law, human rights advocates and other groups called anew on President Benigno S. Aquino III to release all political prisoners.

Members of people’s organizations allied with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) marched from España to Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola bridge). In various detention facilities nationwide, hundreds of political prisoners went on hunger strike from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 to demand their release.

Karapatan said there are 360 political prisoners still languishing in jails today. Seventy-seven of them were jailed under the new Aquino administration.

Marie Hilao-Enriquez of KARAPATAN

“Today’s commemoration of the 39th year of the declaration of martial law is again an occasion for the President to reminisce the experience of how he and his family suffered under martial law… But even as he recalls the suffering of his family, he callously ignores the suffering of other families whose sons, daughters, wives, husbands, fathers and mothers are detained, not by the dictator but by his government, not 39 years ago, but today,” Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan secretary general, said in a statement.

Aquino government’s denial

“To our knowledge, we have no political prisoners,” said Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

“The government has the gall to say there are no political prisoners because it has criminalized political offenses, conveniently covering up the fact that there ARE political prisoners under Aquino’s watch,” Enriquez said in reaction to Lacierda’s statement.

Enriquez cited Crisanto Fat, a peasant leader charged with fabricated cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. He died in jail last Sept. 20. (See related story)

“Under the Marcos dictatorship, it is clear that there were political prisoners. In this sense, Marcos is better. Now, they (Aquino) refuse to recognize the existence of political prisoners, preferring to call them as ‘alleged political offenders,” said Casambre, Rey Claro Casambre, executive director of Philippine Peace Center. This he attributed to the filing of trumped-up charges and other criminal offenses against activists.

Karapatan chairwoman Marie Hilao-Enriquez, survivor of martial law, calls on protesters to continue fighting against repression. (Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

Casambre pointed out that the arrest and continuing detention of 13 consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) violated the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Alan Jazmines, one of the NDFP consultants, said in his message from prison that the Government of the Philippines (GPH) needs to abide by previous agreements and exercise goodwill measures for the smooth continuation of the peace talks. This the GPH could start doing by releasing all political prisoners, he said.

Jazmines also suffered detention and intense torture under martial law, according to martial law activist Bonifacio Ilagan. Jazmines was again arrested February 11 this year. He is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center inside Camp Crame.

Karapatan is calling for a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for political prisoners. “He did it in the case of the Magdalo soldiers. Yet he remains indifferent to the political prisoners,” the group said.

‘Remnants of fascism’

“The Marcos dictatorship was ended by people power more than 25 years ago but many essential remnants of fascism have remained, buttressed by the continuation of the same old, rotten semi-feudal and semi-colonial system and rule,” Jazmines said.

Karapatan’s Enriquez shares the same view, saying that the Aquino government continues the practice of arrest and detention of those who criticize the government’s inaction on soaring prices of basic commodities, unabated oil price increases, and the government policies and programs on land reform, urban poor housing, mining and budget cuts on basic services such as health and education.

“Beneath the Oplan Bayanihan’s slogan of ‘adherence to human rights and peace and development,’ political repression remains,” Enriquez declared, citing as example the killing of Rabenio Sungit, a member of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) on Sept. 5 in Quezon, Palawan, and the death of seven-year-old Sunshine Jabinez, on Sept. 2, due to indiscriminate firing of members of the 71st Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (IBPA).

Presidential Spokesman Lacierda said:” We frown on extralegal killings.” But under the Aquino administration, there are already 55 victims of extrajudicial killings and eight victims of enforced disappearances, based on Karapatan’s documentation.

Cristina Palabay, convenor of End Impunity Alliance, called the Aquino administration “a liar” when it comes to human rights. “Even as the soldiers conduct fun run for peace and offer services to communities, military operations continue. They say they ‘respect’ human rights? Such is the gall of this government,” Palabay said.

Palabay noted that the Aquino administration is seeking to increase the budget of the Department of National Defense by P2.4 billion in the 2012 budget. The amount includes P169 million for intelligence funds and P26.5 million for advertising expenses.

The Office of the President also allots funds for intelligence expenses amounting to P600 million for 2012. The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency will also get a hefty P436 million in 2012.

“How these funds will be spent is a big question because intelligence funds are deemed as confidential expenses. We fear that these funds will be used for surveillance and vilification campaigns of the military against human rights defenders and activists, as they did in the past,” Palabay said in a statement.

“The Aquino administration is not simply ignorant of human rights violations happening. We point to it as the criminal, as it favors Aquino’s class and the foreign powers,” Palabay said.

U.S. government’s role

Meanwhile, Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general, highlighted the role of the United States government in counterinsurgency campaign of the Philippine government.

Coincidentally, Aquino was on a five-day official trip to US during the commemoration of Martial Law in the Philippines.

“In the darkest periods of our history, there was the bloodied hand of the US government. The Marcos dictatorship was supported by the US. Even the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s Oplan Bantay Laya was funded and promoted by the US military and US economic aid,” Reyes said.

Reyes described Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan as “a template of the US Counterinsurgency Guide of 2009.”

“Our struggle for human rights is not isolated from our bigger fight for national liberation from foreign domination,” he said. “Until our institutions are governed by the same class, we can expect that human rights violations will continue and that we cannot achieve genuine justice.”

Karapatan’s Enriquez said the Filipino people should heed the most important lesson of the 14 years of struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, that is, to continue fighting without fear. (http://bulatlat.com)

Aquino should decisively end human rights crises, vestiges of martial law, in the Philippines– BAYAN USA

ICHRP Secretariat
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News Statement
Reference: Bernadette Ellorin, Chairperson, BAYAN USA, email: [email protected]

Filipino-Americans, under the banner of BAYAN USA, and their allies are seriously doubtful over the integrity of Philippine President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III’s so-called commitment to human rights, peace and justice in the Philippines. As today marks the 39th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines by the former Marcos dictatorship in 1972, BAYAN USA warns that the Aquino administration has so far failed to scrap the vestiges of martial law, including an ongoing human rights crisis throughout the country and state corruption, since its inception. It will continue to fail and break its promises on this for as long as it remains loyal the structural framework at the root of rampant human rights violations and corruption– US intervention in the country’s economic, political, and military affairs.

US Intervention & the Philippine Human Rights Crisis

A series of cables between the US Embassy in Manila and the US State Department recently released by the whistle-blowing online site Wikileaks reveals the disturbing extent of US government interference in Philippine affairs, as well as a general compliance to the country’s deteriorating human rights and peace situation. This includes strong affirmation and multi-million monetary support for counter-insurgency programs Oplan Bantay Laya I and II that international human rights organizations have patently criticized for perpetrating extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests and torture in the Philippines. The cable communications also revealed the US and Philippine government’s lack of concern for the well-being of Melissa Roxas, a US citizen who was abducted, secretly-detained, and tortured for six days by the Philippine military in 2009, as well as a distortion of the facts of the high-profile case that has spurred international uproar and support for Roxas.

As with the previous Arroyo government, human rights violations have continued under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan. The Philippine human rights monitoring group Karapatan has documented 48 politically-motivated killings, 5 abductions, 29 torture cases, 151 illegal arrests, and 3010 victims of forced evacuations in rural villages in the first year of the Aquino administration alone. In addition, Aquino has failed to exert any serious effort to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the scores of human rights violations committed under the Arroyo administration. A culture of impunity for human rights abusers remains intact in the country.

Posing Roadblocks to a Just and Lasting Peace

As revealed in the Wikileaks cables, the US, Philippine, and Dutch governments collaborated in framing Professor Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), on trumped charges of murder, as well as in keeping Sison on the US Foreign Terrorist List. The 2002 listing of Sison, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA) contributed to jeopardizing the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the NDFP. The NDFP-GPH peace negotiations were set up with the aim of resolving the 40+ year-old civil war between the AFP and the CPP-NPA.

While the resumption of peace negotiations under Aquino led to the release of some NDFP consultants in detention such as Jovencio Balweg, Angelina Ipong, Glicerio Pernia, Maria Luisa Pucray and Jaime Soledad, there remains 13 NDF peace consultants and 340 political prisoners still in detention. The detention of NDF peace consultants remains in violation of the GPH’s obligation to uphold the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and The Hague Joint Declaration.

Ninoy was a Political Prisoner

On the 39th anniversary of the declaration of martial law, it is important that Aquino remember that his own parents were victims of martial law. The son of a political prisoner who was detained, tortured, and assassinated for his political convictions, as well as a widow who after ascending to the presidency acted on behalf of her martyred husband and released all political prisoners, including Sison, Aquino can and should decisively scrap the vestiges of martial law in the country by releasing all NDF peace consultants in detention and all political prisoners in the country. Instead, Aquino is in the United States this week with the objective of lobbying for more economic aid, including military aid, from the US government. It is this loyal subservience to US imperial dictates and lack of patriotism in the form of asserting Philippine sovereignty that not only perpetuates, but necessitates state violence and repression against those who struggle for genuine nationalism and democracy.

But those who were victimized by killings and disappearances perpetrated by the Philippine state have not been silenced. Their voices resound even louder through the Filipino people’s continuing mass struggle for a truly sovereign and democratic state– a country with an industrialized, self-reliant national economy providing of jobs for its citizens as well as a fair and just land distribution program for the majority of Filipinos who live and work off of it. It is a struggle that echoes even from the Filipinos in the US, as BAYAN USA and allies are meeting Aquino’s US visit with stronger demands for the assertion of Philippine sovereignty by way of rejecting US military, economic, political interference and justice for the victims of human rights violations in the country.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
JUSTICE FOR MELISSA ROXAS!
JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS & ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES!
NEVER AGAIN TO MARTIAL LAW!

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BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 15 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org

Solidarity International-Stuttgart holds demonstration to demand surfacing of James Balao

ICHRP Secretariat
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To president Benigno Aquino III, to the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of Philippines, mass media, trade unions and to the international democratic public, to the human rights organizations-  please forward this email whereever and whenever you can to strengthen the international protest and solidarity movement for human rights in the Philippines, which people needs for their life in standing up to fight for a liberated world!

On the 7th anniversary of the Monday demonstration against the unsocial law Hartz 4 and on the 3rd anniversary of the disappearance of James Balao, an international vigil and birthday-meeting was made in Stuttgart on Monday, the 12th of September 2011.

We counted – as it was decided  in October 2008 in the partnership agreement between the Monday-Demonstration Movement Stuttgart and the family Balao and Cordillera People Alliance (CPA) –  the days of disappearance of James Balao. It was the 1092nd  day of the disappearance of James Balao.
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Dear friends of the Monday demonstration in Stuttgart,

As you all know we have decided together with Solidarity International of Stuttgart to organize a partnership with the family of the enforced disappeared victim James Balao of the Philippines and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). James Balao was one of the founding members of the CPA. Being an international protest and vigil, we count the days of his disappearance.

Today is the 1092nd day of his disappearance.

In the last three years there were mutual visits and emails and a lot of information. Some newspapers in the Philippines reported about the postcard action to President Aquino III at the 1000 day (12th of June 2011) of his disappearance and it strengthened the solidarity there and here: You never walk alone!

Seven years of Monday demonstration in Stuttgart are 3 years of solidarity with the struggle of the people in the Philippines for liberty and dignity.

More than 1000,00 € and more than 20 Balik Bayan Boxes could be transfered. Thank you very much. International solidarity needs active and passive members.

Join Solidarity International for 1,50 € monthly.

Medy of the organization Kapatiran, the counterpart organization of the German-Filippines Friend wrote: “Many many thanks to the Monday demonstration for the friendship and the solidarity. We are one in our struggle for liberty and justice fo all peoples!”

If we demonstrate on the 17th of September in Berlin against the policy of the German goverment, we demonstrate as well for the surfacing of James Balao and for a stop to impunity!

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Dear friends: Greetings of peace based on justice!

September 17, 2011 marks the1097th day since the indigenous people activist James Balao was abducted by state security forces in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Here in Baguio City, we will be commemorating this day and reiterating our demand for the government to surface him through an activity with the theme, “Never again to Martial Law! Surface James Balao! Justice for all Victims of Human Rights Violations!”

It has been three long years since James Balao was taken away and still we continue to search for him. The administration of President Benigno Aquino III has been silent on the issue despite the thousands of postcards sent to his office since June 12 of this year appealing for him to take action on the matter. Since President Aquino took oath, there have been eight documented cases of enforced disappearances and other human rights violations similar to the ones perpetrated under martial rule.

On September 17, we will gather to condemn the Philippine government’s inaction regarding the enforced disappearance of James Balao and the continuing human rights violations. We will also take this time to continue to impart the lesson from the darkest years of Martial Law as former Senator Jose Pepe W. Diokno stated in one of his famous speeches, “ I knew then that martial law could crush our bodies; it could break our minds; but it could not conquer our spirit. It may silence our voice and seal our eyes; but it cannot kill our hope nor obliterate our vision. We will struggle on, no matter how long it takes or what it costs, until we establish a just community of free men and women in our land, deciding together, working and striving together, but also singing and dancing, laughing and living together.”

We encourage you to organize solidarity actions this coming September 17 to call on the government to surface James Balao and to put an end to enforced disappearances.

The continuing struggle for justice is not only for him but for all victims of human rights violations in the country. We are very optimistic that you can join us on this day and in the continuing pursuit for peace based on justice…

Thank you.
Sincerely, Jude Baggo
Secretary General

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On behalf of the Monday-Demonstration against Hartz 4, Stuttgart

In commemoration of martial law: political prisoners conduct symbolic fast, supporters in sympathy picket

ICHRP Secretariat
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In commemoration of martial law: political prisoners conduct symbolic fast, supporters in sympathy picket

NEWS RELEASE, Reference: Angie Ipong, SELDA (0949-9587373)

In time for the commemoration of Martial Law, political prisoners in various detention centers nationwide today started their coordinated actions to call for their immediate release through general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for all political prisoners, while sympathy fasting and picket were conducted by families, friends and supporters of political prisoners at the gate of Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Angie Ipong, Secretary General of the Samahan ng Ex-detainees laban sa Detensyon at Aresto said political prisoners detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, New Bilibid Prisons, Camp Bagong Diwa, Correctional Institution for Women, Iloilo Integrated Provincial Jail, Bohol District Jail, Danao City Jail in Cebu, Samar Sub-Provincial Jail in Calbayog, Samar, and Misamis Occidental Reformatory Jail in Oroquieta are conducting their coordinated symbolic fast starting September 13 up to September 21, 2011.

“Among the notorious legacies of the Marcos dictatorship were the illegal arrest and detention of political prisoners who fought against the corrupt and repressive regime. Such reality exists to this day, with 360 political prisoners (according to Karapatan, as of August 30, 2011) languishing in jails for fabricated and trumped-up charges against because of the exercise of their political beliefs that run counter to those of the powers running our government. In fact, there are already 77 political prisoners illegally arrested and are currently detained under the Aquino administration. Pres. Aquino should look at the mirror of history twice when he likens activist organizations to a dictatorship. His administration is actually carrying on the more vivid legacy of a dictatorship with such rights violations under his term,” commented Ipong.

The woman leader also said “that Aquino shows no compassion toward political prisoners and their families by keeping them locked up in jails and by not pursuing their immediate release.”

“We cannot fathom how the President understood the plight of his father, a former political prisoner during the Marcos dictatorship, when his administration is committing the same crimes of fascist predecessor governments. In enforcing the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, it has unleashed the blueprint for the various human rights violations on the ground, with the strong support of the US government, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the PNP, and agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),” she added.

SELDA reiterated the call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, especially the elderly and sickly ones and women political prisoners. According to Karapatan, there are eleven elderly prisoners, twenty eight sickly ones, and thirty women political prisoners.

Ipong cited the cases of Rolando Pañamogan, detained at the National Bilibid Prisons, who is suffering from diabetes, deep toxic goiter and congestive heart failure, and has recently been confined at the NBP hospital due to lowered blood pressure, a complication of his diabetes, where facilities and attending medical personnel are scarce; Ernesto Dumlao, detained at the Quezon City Jail, has asthma and has been sleeping on the floor of the Quezon City Jail because he cannot pay for a “tarima” (cot) that costs P3,000; and Antonino Roda, detained at the Misamis Occidental Provincial Reformatory Jail, with severe kidney infection, urinating with blood several times already.

“A general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for them is but a just step toward rectifying the injustices and rights violations against them,” she concluded.

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
[email protected]
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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 campaigns.

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