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Palm oil plantation in Misamis Oriental has no right to occupy indigenous lands, IFFM says

ICHRP Secretariat
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An International Fact-Finding Mission (IFFM) on the landgrabbing of indigenous peoples’ lands in Opol, Misamis Oriental in Southern Philippines today confirmed that A. Brown Company, Inc. has no right to operate in the 520-hectares of public land from which it forcibly displaced hundreds of families from the Higaonon tribe.

In a dialogue with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday, environment officials said that the government agency has not issued any permit for A. Brown to operate in the said land, located in barangays Tingalan and Bagocboc. According to Joey Austria, chief of the Indigenous Community Affairs Office, the Forest Land Grazing Agreement granted to Victors Paras, covering the Higaonon’s ancestral lands, was cancelled last March 4, 2011. Thus, no company can enter the area without applying for a permit. Even if Paras, the latest of the local landlords who have been claiming the indigenous lands since the 1950s, entered into an agreement with the American company, “the permit granted was only for grazing and not the planting of palm oil,” according to Austria. This contradicts the statement of Opol Mayor Dexter Yasay last May 8 to the IFFM team that A. Brown’s operations for the past two years is approved by the national government. Farmers have complained that the local government and the local arm of the DENR is colluding with A. Brown.

“This only confirms that it is A. Brown who is ‘squatting’ in our lands. It also shows that we are being treated like fools by our own government officials, who aid in the deception and divide-and-rule tactics of the company,” said Rubenson Batuto, vice-chairperson of Pangalasag, a local organization of tribal leaders.

The IFFM, which started in May 6, was led by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP), Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization, Sentro Kitanglad, and the Asian Peasant Coalition.

In a public forum at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, the IFFM presented their findings and reiterated their demands for the pull-out of A. Brown from Opol and the immediate return of the indigenous peoples to their ancestral land. They also called for the investigation of human rights violations of the Higaonons, including shooting and illegal arrest of farmers, burning of houses, uprooting of crops, harassment, and death threats.

“With our lands being taken away, our families left to starve, and our rights violated, we have no choice but to fight. As indigenous peoples, we have the right to land, yet this has continuously been denied us,” said Rubenson, whose family has been residing in Tingalan since the pre-Spanish colonization era. Many Higaonons were driven away by a local landlord half a century ago, but came back and reclaimed their land. “The company will not succeed in driving us away this time, especially now that we are organized and ready to fight.”

Zen Soriano, chairperson of Amihan (National Federation of Peasant Women), lauded the Higaonons for their courage. “Global landgrabbing made by companies is increasing. With the onslaught of neo-liberal policies, it is not just local landlords that farmers have to contend with, but large companies that have an insatiable thirst for profit.”

Erwin Navarro, Pesticides Programme officer of PAN AP, warned of the social, cultural, health and environmental impacts of palm oil plantations, which are widespread in other Asian countries and are now beginning to expand in the Philippines. Palm oil is a major export crop. “In the experience of Malaysia and Indonesia, forests were bulldozed and numerous indigenous peoples were displaces to make way for palm oil plantations,” he said. He further related that in Malaysia, the highly hazardous pesticide Paraquat sprayed in palm oil plantations have poisoned thousands of women workers.

The IFFM team has documented the use of the toxic pesticides Carbofuran and Glyphosate in the A. Brown plantation. Residents of Opol have reported an increase the incidence of coughs and colds, skin diseases, diarrhea, and other illnesses since the plantation started spraying pesticides. Their coconut and banana trees have also become sickly and refused to bear fruit, so they are left with no income and nothing to feed their families.

Rahmat Ajiguna, deputy secretary general of APC and secretary general of Aliansi Gerakan Reforma Agraria (AGRA) in Indonesia, a member of the IFFM team, called on the Philippine government, “We reiterate our demand to stop land use conversion and uphold people’s food sovereignty. We also call for justice for the victims of human rights violations in Opol.”
End Land grabbing! Return the land to the peasants, respect the right to ancestral lands!
Justice for all victims of human rights violations!
For more information, contact:
Virgilio Tamayao Jr.
E-mail: jingo.tamayao@panap.net
Phone: +63 2 4130975, +63 2 6979545

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific
P.O. Box 1170, 10850 Penang,
Malaysia
Tel: +604 6570271 or +604 6560381
Fax: +604 6583960
E-mail: panap@panap.net
Website: www.panap.net

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RURAL MISSIONARIES OF THE PHILIPPINES-Northern Mindanao Sub-Region (RMP-NMR)
Room 01, Kalinaw Lanao Center for Interfaith Resources
0016 Bougainvilla Puti, Villaverde
9200 Iligan City, Philippines
T/F: +63 (63) 223 5179  E: rmpnmr@gmail.com  W: www.rmp-nmr.org

“our love is not to be just words or mere talk but something real and active” –1 John 3:18

Women’s group decries arrest of health worker in Dipolog

ICHRP Secretariat
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Women’s group decries arrest of health worker in Dipolog

AS eight of the 43 health workers collectively known as the “Morong 43” filed torture and other violations pertaining to their arrest and detention, another staff of a community based health program of a Lumad organization in Dipolog City was arrested over a week ago.

According to reports from the Karapatan regional chapter, Helen Igloria, a community based health worker, was arrested last April 25 in her residence by almost 20 police officers and soldiers. “The Miranda rights were not read to Igloria nor was she informed of or subpoenaed on the trumped up charges against her. These are clear violations of the rights of arrested persons. This is a clear indication that the policy and practice of filing fabricated cases against women human rights defenders continues under the Aquino administration, contrary to claims by the government that the human rights situation has ‘improved’ under Pnoy’s watch,” said Cristina Palabay, spokesperson of Tanggol Bayi. Igloria, 56, is the administrative officer of the Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran) health program since 1990 and is also one of the founding members of Gabriela-Zamboanga del Norte chapter. She also suffers from hypertension.

She is now currently detained at the Tangub Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Jail on alleged trumped up charges of murder with direct assault. She is the latest among 32 women political prisoners arrested and are still currently detained under the Aquino government. Tanggol Bayi is an association of women human rights defenders to advance women’s rights as human rights.#

Stop practice of filing fabricated charges against human rights defenders!
Free all political prisoners now!

http://www.goldstardailynews.com/national/9289-womens-group-decries-arrest-of-health-worker-in-dipolog.html

Military continues to spew “Goebbelish” claim health workers were not tortured, Pnoy must understand the subtext of command responsibility

ICHRP Secretariat
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Military continues to spew “Goebbelish” claim health workers were not tortured, Pnoy must understand the subtext of command responsibility

Press Statement, May 5, 2012

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

– Joseph Goebbels<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/-if_you_tell_a_lie_big_enough_and_keep_repeating/345877.html>, Reich Minister of Propaganda during Hitler’s Nazi Germany

“The military continues to speak in forked tongues, “ the Panel of Private Prosecutors from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) through its Secretary General Edre Olalia observed in reaction to the claim that the Morong 43 doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers were not tortured.

“In classic unremoulded Goebbelism, the military continues to spew ad nauseum” through Armed Forces of the Philippines Spokesperson Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. that the “Morong 43” health workers are NPA rebels, that they were not tortured and that their arrest was a legitimate operation . “This patently demonstrates that the military is still in denial after all these years about systematic and routinary human rights violations right under its nose, “ Olalia lamented.

“How could the people even start to trust the military when in the face of abundant evidence and incontrovertible facts to the contrary, it continues to refuse to accept reality when it declared that they were ‘just performing their duties and responsibilities,” that “it is never a policy to commit torture,” that “they have long condemned this practice in our ranks” and that they were “only executing an arrest warrant?, ” Olalia asked.

“And then it has the gall and temerity to gloat that the uniformed personnel involved in the illegal arrest, detention and torture have received “commendations and promotions, ” Olalia added. With its credibility at its lowest ebb, the “Goebellish” declaration cannot fence off the big, bold and even brave step of the health workers to tell the truth as it is seek and justice,” he said.

Olalia also asserted that the inadmissible and even spurious or simulated evidence they expect the military to present as a way of “damage control” and cover up will explode in their faces. “Pure hogwash, “ he said of the contrary claim of five of the Morong 43 who have been forcibly segregated from the rest and have been under the “care and protection” of the military since the last part of February 2010. “The evidence of torture is indubitable. There are overwhelming and credible testimonial, documentary and medical evidence to establish this,” he maintained.

The five remaining in the custody of the military, as each and every one of the Morong 43, have priorly been repeatedly subjected to vicious and intense interrogation, day and night and lasting till dawn for weeks on end, since they were illegally arrested On February 6, 2010. Unlike the rest of the 38 who stood by the truth and asserted their rights, the five apparently gave in to the clever combination of “good cop-bad cop” approach or a mix of hard and soft tactics including torture, threat and intimidation to them and their families, pressure, brainwashing, enticement of promises of rewards and a “good life”. “Before they were pestered and worked on endlessly to break their will, these five have in fact executed free and voluntary statements attesting to their ordeal before “new” lawyers not of their own choice were parachuted by the military to put a semblance of legality to such cheap stunt, “ Olalia recalled.

Finally, Olalia enjoined President Pnoy as present Commander-in Chief to “tell his army to toe the line and behave. Or is it already? The subtext of the case against GMA is that it is the first criminal complaint for human rights violations against a Philippine president….. so far. Should he neglect, ignore or even tolerate this clarion call for himself to shape up or lest he be put to task for the acts of his subordinates, he may, in time, be next,” he pointed out.

Olalia noted that there are abundant local and international laws and jurisprudence that have set the precedents on command responsibility of heads of States for acts of their subordinates through their own acts or negligence to stop, prevent or investigate – when it is within their power and authority to do so – serious and credible charges of human rights violations that they knew or were reasonably expected to know under the circumstances and by virtue of their position.#

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, Secretary General, +639175113373

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
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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 campaign.

Karapatan to AFP: You may fool the US government but not the Filipino people

ICHRP Secretariat
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Karapatan to AFP: You may fool the US government but not the Filipino people

MEDIA RELEASE | May 4, 2012 – Karapatan, through its chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez today chided the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) saying that, “in its bid to get additional military support from the US government, the AFP shamelessly resorts to spinning yarn by claiming that ‘human rights violators in the AFP have been punished.”

Hilao-Enriquez added that, “it is outrageous because the AFP has not lifted a finger to jail the fugitive retired general, Jovito Palparan Jr. Worse, it has promoted Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Col. Aurelio Baladad, Col. Cristobal Zaragosa who were involved in the torture of the 43 health workers illegally arrested on Feb. 6, 2010.”

On May 3, eight health workers filed a criminal case at the Department of Justice (DOJ) against former President Gloria Arroyo and 13other officials of the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for violations of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, Republic Act 7438 (Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation) and robbery.

Hilao-Enriquez said that the move was part of the series of the legal initiatives of victims, their relatives and human rights groups to file administrative and criminal charges against the past president and her generals to make them accountable for the thousands of rights violations committed under the past regime. “We’ve proven that  it is unlikely for Noynoy Aquino to make the first move to punish rights violators, he being at the helm of the implementation of the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, a more deceptive plan but equally cruel and vicious as the Oplan Bantay Laya,” she added.

Karapatan said that is logical for the AFP to secure military assistance from the US government because Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan is essentially the US government’s counter-insurgency program in the Philippines. All past administrations, according to Hilao-Enriquez, had their own version of US-guided counter-insurgency programs and had relied on the US government for military hardware, financing and advice.

“The current administration has no qualms to lie through its teeth that human rights violators among the AFP ranks have been punished just to receive the US government’s doleouts for its counter-insurgency version, Oplan Bayanihan,” said Hilao-Enriquez.

Hilao-Enriquez concluded that, “all that crap about ‘respect for human rights’ and ‘peace and development’ in Oplan Bayanihan are nothing but to cover up the increasing incidents of rights violations under this administration. The US government’s supposed pro-human rights conditionality to grant the AFP such aid are likewise nothing but posturing also meant to cover up its intervention from the eyes of the international community.” #

Reference: Marie Hilao Enriquez, Chairperson, 09175616800/Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 09189790580

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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.

No improvement of GPH human rights record under Noynoy – Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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No improvement of GPH human rights record under Noynoy – Karapatan

MEDIA RELEASE | May 4, 2012 –   Human rights group Karapatan today belied the statement of Dept. of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario who said that the “significant decline of extrajudicial killings in the country,” is the result of the actions taken by the Philippine government “to improve the human rights situation in the country.”

Del Rosario made the statement during his lecture in Washington Wednesday, as he urged the United States government to take out “improved human rights record” as a condition for increased military aid to the Philippines.

Cristina Palabay, spokesperson of Karapatan, said that “if del Rosario considers the 76 victims of extrajudicial killings as an indication of a better human rights environment, he must be either deluded or simply covering up the inadequacies and liability of the government to stop and resolve the many cases of human rights violations under Aquino’s watch.”

Karapatan cited the case of Aklan municipal councilor Fernando Baldomero, the first incident of extrajudicial killing under Aquino, as among the many unresolved cases. It has been almost two years since the killing but the case filed by Baldomero’s relatives is currently archived at the Aklan Regional Trial Court, with the perpetrators still scot-free.

The high-profile case of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio has also yet to be resolved as the masterminds of the killing on October 16, 2011 have not been arrested.

Through an interrogation at the Italian Chamber of Deputies in April 19, Italian parliamentarians Leoluca Orlando and Fabio Evangelisti said that the “murder of Father Tentorio is clearly a demonstration of the continuing culture of impunity and injustice in the Philippines.” (copy of interrogation in Italian and its translation attached)

“Since Aquino assumed the presidency in July 2010, there have 76 cases of extrajudicial killings documented but none have been prosecuted. The killings stemmed from the implementation of the counter-insurgency program of the government called Oplan Bayanihan. The state security forces are deployed in rural areas and in urban areas to neutralize the unarmed civilians considered members or sympathetic to the guerrilla New People’s Army (NPA),” they said.

The Italian parliamentarians also sought the answer of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs on “what action the (Italian) Government considers diplomatic with the Philippine Government to end militarization, and particularly the operation Oplan Bayanihan, and extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.”

“The issuance of warrants of arrests against known human rights violators such as Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. and Governor Joel Reyes are borne out of the perseverance and unwavering search for justice of the victims’ relatives. The government should exercise delicadeza in claiming it as their “achievement” out of respect to the relatives, because this government has done nothing to go after the  perpetrators of human rights violations,” Palabay commented.

“The Aquino administration resorts to proliferation of lies and in offering a wider expanse of our territories for increased access and military operations of the US in the Philippines and in Asia, in exchange for greater military aid. Such acts are nothing more than blatant display of mendicancy and puppetry,” Palabay concluded. ###

Reference: Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, +639175003879, Angge Santos, Media Liaison, +639189790580

——————————————————————–
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.

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