Friday, April 26, 2024
Home Blog Page 209

Peasant activist shot in front of daughter in Isabela Province, Cagayan Valley, Philippines

ICHRP Secretariat
-
0

UA No: 2011-03-04
UA Date :
20 March 2011

UA Case :

Extrajudicial killing; Threat/harassment/intimidation

Victim/s : Extrajudicial killing

BONIFACIO LABASAN
– 61 years old, farmer, married
– active member of Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon iti Cagayan Valley (DAGAMI or Union of Peasants in Cagayan Valley) – Isabela chapter, a peasant organization in the Cagayan Valley region, an affiliate organization of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP)

Threat/harassment/intimidation

LANIE LABASAN-MIGUEL
– married
– daughter of Bonifacio

Place of Incident :
Baranggay (village) of San Roque, Municipality of San Mateo, Isabela

Date of Incident :
9 March 2011

Alleged Perpetrator(s) :
Two (2) unidentified men riding in tandem on a Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle with no plate number

Account of the Incident:

On March 9 at around 10:30 in the morning, Bonifacio Labasan was on his way to his relative’s house in Baranggay Victoria, Municipality of San Mateo, to get some sacks to be used for harvesting palay or rice grains. His daughter, Lanie Labasan-Miguel, hitched a ride on her father’s motorcycle, for she too was going in the same direction as her father was.

While on the road, they have noticed that two men riding in tandem on a motorcycle seemed to be following them. When the Labasans reached Baranggay San Roque, the men who were following them flagged them down and ordered them to stop. Bonifacio did not stop their motorcycle and the men instead overtook them, forcing them to stop.

One of the men, who was described by Lanie as tall and fair-skinned, approached Bonifacio and ordered him to come with them. Bonifacio refused to go with the men and asked them why they were taking him since he did not know any of the men and he didn’t have anything against them. Since Bonifacio refused to dismount from his motorcycle, the tall man pulled an object wrapped with a handkerchief from his waist and pointed it at Bonifacio.

Lanie saw that the man was pointing a gun at his father and pleaded him to not to hurt her father. The man suddenly shot Bonifacio on his right side. When Bonifacio fell, the man moved closer and again shot Bonifacio in the head, killing him. The two men immediately left on board their motorcycle.

Lanie began shouting for help after the men left. Two policemen arrived at the scene after almost an hour. The police interviewed the daughter and brought her back home, and said that they won’t move the body while conducting an investigation.

Prior to the killing, on March 8, Bonifacio told Lanie that he felt that he was being watched but he didn’t give it much importance.

Bonifacio was active in Dagami’s campaign against the bio-ethanol project in Isabela, which will affect thousands of hectares of agricultural lands in the province; it will mean displacement of thousands of farmers from their farms. The proposal to construct a bio-ethanol plant in the province is being supported by the provincial government.

Recommended Action:

Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:

The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the killing of Bonifacio Labasan.

The military to stop the labeling and targeting of human rights defenders as “members of front organizations of the communists” and “enemies of the state.”

The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innnocent and unarmed civillians

The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments’ provisions.

Protection for Lanie as she is the witness to this murder; as well as protection for the family.

You may send your communications to:

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
[email protected]

Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
Email: [email protected]

Atty. Leila De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct Line 521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline  523-84-81 loc.214
Fax: (+632) 521-1614
Email:  [email protected]

Hon. Loretta Ann P. Rosales
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 928-5655, 926-6188
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the above-named government officials, to our address below.

URGENT ACTION Prepared by:
KARAPATAN
[email protected]

—

Rights, church groups bring case of killing of botanist to the UN

ICHRP Secretariat
-
0

The families of the victims and their supporters have expressed fear of a possible whitewash with the report of the Department of Justice and National Bureau of Investigation clearing the military of any responsibility.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com [1]

MANILA – Human rights groups in the Philippines filed a complaint against the Philippine government for the killing of botanist Leonard Co and two others before the United Nations, March 14. The groups also called the attention of the international community on the ongoing trial of the Maguindanao massacre and continuing human rights violations under the new administration.

Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo were killed on November 15, 2010 while conducting a research inside the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) compound in Kananga, Leyte. A survivor, Ronino Gibe and other witnesses pointed to the elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army as perpetrators [2].

Members of the Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines (Ecumenical Voice) handed over the complaint of scientist group Agham (not the party list) to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns. Co was a member of Agham. The group also submitted a copy of the report [3] of an independent fact finding mission on the incident.

Agham urged Heyns to investigate the killing of Co, Cortez and Borromeo, “up to and including all levels of the military command concerned with their shooting.” The families of the victims and their supporters have expressed fear of a possible whitewash with the report of the Department of Justice [4] and National Bureau of Investigation clearing the military of any responsibility.

According to Karapatan, the killings of Co, Cortez and Borromeo were among the first 30 cases of extrajudicial killings committed under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

Members of the Ecumenical Voice went to Geneva, Switzerland for the 16th session of the United National Human Rights Council. The delegation is headed by Philippine Independent Church Bishop Bishop Felixberto Calang and Marie Hilao Enriquez, Karapatan chairwoman.

Maguindanao Massacre, Mindanao Killings

In an oral statement, Calang, also of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace Mindanao), highlighted the “slow pace of the trial on the Maguindanao massacre” and cases of extrajudicial killings in Mindanao.

Calang expressed concern over the conduct of the prosecution in the Maguindanao massacre. The massacre of November 23, 2009 claimed the lives of 58 individuals, including 32 journalists and two lawyers. Members of an alleged warlord political family in Maguindanao province are suspected to be the perpetrators.

“The victims’ kin are apprehensive of attempts to bribe witnesses and prosecutors in apparent moves to weaken the ongoing legal case against the powerful Ampatuan family. The victims’ families complain of the slow pace of the judicial processes while witnesses remain unprotected and some have already been killed,” Calang said.

Calang called on the UN Human Rights Council to monitor the prosecution of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre. He also urged the international community to call for the adequate protection of witnesses and for a speedy and public trial of the case.

Calang’s statement was read by Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) during the general debate on Item 3 at the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Calang also said that of the 1,206 documented cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 375 of the victims were from Mindanao. He cited the recent murder of B’laan chieftain Rudy Dejos [5] and his son Rody Rick in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur and the killing of Benjamin Bayles [6] , a member of the Philippine Independent Church. Calang said the incidents “show that extrajudicial killings continue under the prevailing climate of impunity in the country.”

Other members of the Ecumenical Voice are Dr. Merry Mia Clamor, one of the Morong 43, Cristina Palabay of Karapatan; Girlie Padilla of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace and Rhonda Ramiro of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA chapter. (http://bulatlat.com)

Philippine Human Rights NGO’s bring to the attention of the UN the human rights situation of the country

ICHRP Secretariat
-
0

Geneva, Switerland March 11, 2011 – The Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights Philippines (EcuVoice), an ecumenical delegation of Philippine human rights organizations for the defense and promotion of human rights, today brought to the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council the continuing human rights violations and the continuing impunity in the country under Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, as the council conducts its 16th Regular Session this March 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The delegation is headed by Philippine Independent Church Bishop Felixberto Calang and Karapatan Chairperson Marie Hilao Enriquez.

Speaking in the general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, Cristina Palabay of Karapatan and the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) expressed concern on the 40 cases of extra-judicial killings, 5 disappearances, illegal arrests and detention of 27 individuals from July 2010 to February 2011.

In her oral statement, she asserted that these cases indicate that the “vilification campaign against human rights defenders and the filing of fabricated charges against those who are being tagged as the government’s enemies in the context of implementing counter-insurgency programs such as the newly crafted Oplan Bayanihan of the Aquino government, continue.”

“There was no let-up in the spate of human rights violations from the Pres. Arroyo to the current government. Not one case under the Arroyo government has been rendered justice, not one perpetrator has been brought to jail,” said Palabay.

She cited cases concerning attacks against human rights defenders Benjie Bayles, who was shot dead on June 14, 2010, Benjaline Hernandez killed in 2002, and the case of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy both killed in 2003. She also mentioned the military raid of the provincial office of Karapatan which occurred during the incumbency of President Benigno Aquino. In that raid, four human rights workers were illegally arrested and detained.

Geneva-based Franciscans International, in a joint statement, also expressed concern on the killings of human rights defenders in the Philippines. The international organization expressed that “enforced or involuntary disappearances were practices that often went hand in hand with extrajudicial killings and torture, the main targets were political and community activists who had criticized government policies.”

Bishop Calang, Enriquez and Palabay were joined in the EcuVoice delegation by Dr. Merry Mia Clamor, one of the Morong 43 health workers illegally arrested and detained in February last year; Atty. Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, Girlie Padilla of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, and Rhonda Ramiro of the San Francisco Committee on Human Rights in the Philippines. Clamor, Cortez and Padilla are set to deliver their oral statements on March 14.

The delegation also met with and briefed foreign missions, international organizations and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Margaret Sekkagya on the worsening human rights situation in the country under Aquino. Padilla and Cortez also spoke in the delegation’s side event co-sponsored with the International Movement Against Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) where they highlighted the cases of enforced disappearances under Aquino. #

Desaparecidos: Prosecution on Burgos case should go up to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

ICHRP Secretariat
-
0

Reference: Mary Guy Portajada, Secretary General
09175415133/4342837

“We hope that through this, justice will come swiftly,” Pamilya ng Desaparecidos para sa Katarungan (Families of Desaparecidos for Justice) or Desaparecidos  say as they welcomed the Commission on Human Rights’ investigative report and recommendations on the case of Jonas Burgos.

Jonas Burgos is an agriculturist who taught organic farming among peasants in Bulacan. He was abducted allegedly by the Philippine Army on April 28, 2007 in a mall along Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City. Jonas is the son of a prominent Martial Late press freedom fighter Joe Burgos.

At the same time the organization of families of victims of enforced disappearances reminds the public that there are still a number of similar cases petitioned for Writ of Amparo pending before the Supreme Court. Portajada cited the cases of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño – the two missing University of the Philippines students, Romulo Robiños and Leo Velasco among others. “We are hoping that the respective courts and government agencies follow suit and come out with favourable responses on the said cases.”

Moreover, Portajada criticized AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr.’s order of creating a technical panel to study the CHR report. “The AFP should immediately comply with the CHR recommendations, instead of creating a technical panel to study the findings. It took four long years for a government agency to come out with favourable findings on the Burgos case, we don’t want to add more and lengthen the process by undue processes that would only delay the serving of justice to victims.”

Portajada also warns the public, that even if the prosecution of 1st Lt. Harry Baliaga of the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion will proceed, without the Philippine Congress’ passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Bill, all will be in vain.

Baliaga was identified by witnesses in their testimonies as the “principal by direct participation” on the abduction of Jonas Burgos.

According to the Desaparecidos, Baliaga can only be liable for Kidnapping and NOT for the crime of enforced disappearance.

Portajada explains the difference between the two crimes, “Kidnapping is illegally seizing a person by force and against his will; it also involves the use of ransom for the surfacing of the illegally detained person. This eliminates the political motive of the state forces to disappear a person. While with enforced disappearance, a person is disappeared for political reasons by state security forces; thus both state security forces and the commander in chief will be held responsible. This would mean that, even former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can be held liable for Jonas’ disappearance and even that of other victims.”

“The CHR report might be a welcoming development. Yet, until victims remain to be missing, and masterminds of enforced disappearances are still free, we will continue to be vigilant and our cry for justice will remain.”#

KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights

Philippine Human-Rights Group Honors Former UN Envoy Philip Alston

ICHRP Secretariat
-
0

by Ronalyn V. Olea On January 25, 2011

Prof. Philip Alston in a light moment with Ms. Marie Hilao of Karapatan and Dr. Angie Gonzales of ICCHRP

MANILA — Human-rights group Karapatan conferred a plaque of appreciation to former United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Philip Alston on Jan. 20 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Karapatan and the International Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP) awarded the plaque to Alston “for his resolute fight for human rights amidst adversity, particularly his valuable role in bringing to the attention of the United Nations and the international community his objective and fearless findings on the role of state security forces in grave human rights violations under the counter-insurgency program in the Philippines, the marked reduction of extrajudicial killings following his report, and the institutional recognition of non-government organizations like Karapatan in monitoring government compliance with UN conventions and treaties on human rights.”

Alston visited the Philippines [2]in February 2007 to investigate the spate of extrajudicial killings in the country. In his report [3], Alston blamed the counter-insurgency program of the then Arroyo government for the killings and other rights violations. He also dismissed the “purging theory” within the Communist Party of the Philippines peddled by the Philippine military as a means to dispense responsibility.

Alston presented recommendations to the Philippine government to address the extrajudicial killings, including the outright denunciation of killings in the counterinsurgency program, abolition of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group tasked to build up legal charges against activists and dissenters, among others.

Alston of the New York University School of Law also received an honorary doctorate degree from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands, along with five other honorees for their outstanding contributions to their fields of specialization.

The conferment rites were held on the same day at the Vrijhtof Theater in Maastricht, The Netherlands, and was attended by more than 500 academics and guests. It was presided by Prof. Gerard Mols, rector magnificus of the Maastricht University.

“Philip Alston is one of the world’s most authoritative academics in the field of human rights, and author of a wide-ranging and substantial oeuvre. His work is characterized by a high degree of erudition and originality. He has a sharp tongue and enjoys knocking down sacred cows. He’s also done a great deal of practical work for the United Nations, as member of supervisory committees and as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions”, stated Prof. Menno Kamminga of the MA Faculty of Law, in his testimonial to Alston. (http://bulatlat.com) [4]

1...208209210...220Page 209 of 220