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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

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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.

As Karapatan oppose CA confirmation of Morong 43 captors, torture, criminal raps filed vs. GMA, PNP, AFP officials

ICHRP Secretariat
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As Karapatan oppose CA confirmation of Morong 43 captors, torture, criminal raps filed vs. GMA, PNP, AFP officials

MEDIA RELEASE | May 3, 2012 – Eight of the forty three health workers, collectively known as the Morong 43, today filed a criminal case against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Gen. Victor Ibrado, Gen. Delfin Bangit, Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Col. Aurelio Baladad, Col. Cristobal Zaragosa  and 10 other 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.

Cristina Palabay, Karapatan spokesperson and convenor of the End Impunity Alliance said that, “this is the first criminal case against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo involving human rights violations under her watch, and on the basis of the anti-torture law that was passed during her regime.”

Karapatan expressed support for the health workers for their continuing quest for justice, as the rights group also urged the Department of Justice and Malacanang “to act immediately on the said complaint to make human rights violators in government accountable for the rights they have wantonly violated.”

“Pres. Noynoy Aquino said it himself, that the arrest and detention of the health workers are ‘fruits of the poisonous tree.’ It is however, lamentable that instead of immediately prosecuting those responsible for their illegal arrests and incarceration, the promotion of these military and police officers are being effected. It is déjà vu, similar to period of former Pres. Arroyo, when Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. who, despite many cases filed against him, was heaped upon with promotions and accolades,” Palabay said.

In a letter sent to the Commission on Appointments (CA), through its secretary Atty. Arturo Tiu, KARAPATAN and the Council for Health and Development (CHD) expressed their opposition to the confirmation of the promotion of three officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who are direct parties to the illegal arrest, torture and detention of the 43 health workers. The said officials are Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Brig. Gen. Aurelio B. Baladad and Col. Jaime Abawag.  Col. Abawag has no formal appointment yet but was already in the list of Karapatan and CHD for future reference for the CA.

Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez expressed “alarm upon learning of the recent appointment of the above-mentioned officials, they being perpetrators of gross human rights violations.” Hilao-Enriquez was one of the signatories, along with Dr. Eleanor Jara for the CHD, of the letter submitted to the CA.

Hilao-Enriquez added that, “we understand that any officer who has a pending case against him in court must not be promoted. Thus, we take exception to the promotion and confirmation of Segovia, Baladad as well as Zaragosa, who was promoted in February 2012, as they are among the respondents in cases mentioned above. We therefore ask the Commission if there are measures which it can do to rectify this transgression.”

Last year, on April 4, 2011, six of the 43 health workers also filed a civil case for damages under Articles 27, 32 and 33 of the Civil Code at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.  Segovia, Baladad and Abawag were among the respondents for illegal arrest, torture, arbitrary and illegal detention.  A complaint was also filed before the Commission on Human Rights on February 25, 2010 against Segovia and Baladad.

“Thus, their supposed promotion must not be allowed and the institutions that gave the clearances for such promotion must answer to the people,” said Hilao-Enriquez.

Reference: Marie Hilao Enriquez, Chairperson, 09175616800/Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, 09175003879/Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 09189790580

———————————————————————
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.

Police brutality and military terror trademark of P-Noy’s Oplan Bayanihan—Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Police brutality and military terror trademark of P-Noy’s Oplan Bayanihan—Karapatan

Press Statement, April 24, 2012 – Genasque Enriquez, a Manobo leader from Surigao del Sur expressed sympathy, in behalf of internal refugees or bakwet from Visayas and Mindanao who are in Manila, with the urban poor victims of police brutality in yesterday’s demolition at the Silverio Compound in Sucat, Paranaque.

The bakwet find strong affinity with the residents of Silverio compound as they likened the urban poor situation to the situation of the bakwet. “Here in the urban centers, there is forced eviction of urban poor dwellers in favour of ‘development’; while there is forced evacuation in the countryside, also in the name of ‘development’. Theirs is for commercial purposes for P-Noy’s public-private partnership (PPP); ours is for agri-business plantations and large-scale  mining operations. Theirs is police brutality, ours is military combat operations,” said Enriquez, secretary general of Kahugpong sa Lumadnong Organisasyon (KASALO), a CARAGA-wide organization of Lumad. Enriquez attended, along with 130 others, the conference on Internally Displaced People or internal refugees held in Quezon City.

Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez also said that, “The everyday life of the ordinary Filipino is hard enough with the unabated high prices of basic commodities and oil, the low wages, the endless demolition and the resulting displacement of urban poor dwellers; the life of internal refugees is doubly hard. It is unimaginable to most Filipinos how it is to be uprooted from the community that is your home from birth.”

Genasque Enriquez added that, “yearly, we are forced to leave our communities, our farms that are ready for harvest; our children had to stop schooling, only to seek shelter in unfamiliar places, sleep in cold cemented floors in gyms, basketball courts or school halls, bear the sweltering heat of makeshift tents; and rely on donated food and medicine. When we go back to our communities all our efforts to build and develop our communities and to secure our children’s future are destroyed. Our harvested crops are thrown out on the roads, our houses and the schools we built are ransacked and vandalized. We are endlessly building and rebuilding our lives amidst the turmoil created by military presence and activities in their lands. Worst, we are treated like dirt by some government and military officials who are sworn to protect our rights as human beings.”

Karapatan has documented more than 6,500 victims of combined forced eviction and forced evacuation from the time P-Noy assumed the Presidency until the first quarter of 2012. According to Marie Hilao-Enriquez, “this number does not include those who were harassed and intimidated; those who were wounded and hit by bomb shrapnel or by the military’s indiscriminate firing, or the number of people, including minor, who were used as guide in navigating the forest areas,  or shield by the military during their operations and the number of schools and other public places which the military used for their purpose.”

Victims of forced evacuation and rights groups also called on the P-Noy government to stop military operations, bombings and airstrikes in the countryside and to immediately pull out military troops, especially in peasant communities and ancestral lands of Moro and indigenous peoples. The delegates of the conference on Internally Displaced People yesterday lit candles along E. Rodriguez Ave. in Quezon City to show their sympathy with the residents of Silverio Compound and express their protest over the reported death of four protesters, scores of wounded and the arrest of at least 33 others. ###

Reference: Marie Hilao Enrique, Chairperson, 0917-5616800, Genasque Enriquez, 09072688642
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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.

Massacre, violent demolition in Silverio condemned, groups to PNoy: Make Bernabe, PNP, Henry Sy accountable

ICHRP Secretariat
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Massacre, violent demolition in Silverio condemned, groups to PNoy: Make Bernabe, PNP, Henry Sy accountable

The End Impunity Alliance, Promotion for Church People’s Response, and Karapatan vehemently condemned the massacre and violent demolition of residents of Silverio Compound in Paranaque City this morning, as the 23,000 population of the said area defended their legitimate right to housing against the so-called “development plans” of the local government and SM mogul Henry Sy.

According to Karapatan National Capital Region (NCR) paralegal team, four residents were killed in the violent demolition today, one of them is resident Arnel Tolentino, 36 years old. Three others are still unidentified.

Meanwhile, two minors identified as Bodging Isaias, 16, and Rodman Ortega, 16, reportedly sustained gunshot wounds. Some 36 were wounded and 30 were arrested. All these violations were instigated by elements of the Southern Police District of the Philippine National Police.

“Indeed, Henry Sy and his cabals in his big corporate mafia are not only responsible for environmental degradation in Baguio, but also for the rights violations which occurred today during the demolition in Paranaque and the utter greed that comes with their forced eviction of residents who have legitimate claim to their homes,” said Lourdes Villarias, chairperson of Karapatan-NCR.

The incident occurred while internal refugees from Mindanao and Negros and human rights advocates were gathered in a national conference on internally displaced persons in Quezon City.

Nardy Sabino, secretary general of the Promotion of Church Peoples Response, said “while farmers and indigenous peoples are being driven out of their lands and homes because of military operations, urban poor communities are demolished.”  Sabino said they both experience the same harassment and violence from state forces.

“Such impunity reigns, the violence and terror amongst the urban and rural poor, when the Aquino administration promotes its Public Private Partnership program which gives credence to private corporate interests such as that of the SM Development Corp. over the rights of the poor. We challenge Aquino to make accountable Paranaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr., the PNP, and Henry Sy for these violations on the political and civil rights of the peoples and their right to housing,” stated Cristina Palabay, convenor of End Impunity Alliance.

Karapatan, PCPR and End Impunity alliance called on the Supreme Court to immediately rule in favor of several urban poor residents’ petition filed in March 23, 2012 for a moratorium on demolitions, especially in the light of the violence that comes with these forced evictions.

The groups will be conducting today a solidarity action at 6pm in front of the Christ the King Seminary (E. Rodriguez Avenue corner Gilmore Street, Quezon City) to condemn the PNP-instigated violence in Silverio Compound, Paranaque. They will be joined in by victims of demolition in Brgy. Corazon de Jesus, San Juan. ###

REFERENCE:
Lourdes Villarias, Chairperson, Karapatan National Capital Region 0905-3276119
Nardy Sabino, Secretary General, Promotion of Church People’s Response 0929-9707910
Cristina Palabay, Convenor, End Impunity Alliance 0917-5003879
———————————————————————
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.

NUPL hails court order denying Palparan et al’s pleading to halt proceedings, Motion only obstructs and frustrates justice

ICHRP Secretariat
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NUPL hails court order denying Palparan et al’s pleading to halt proceedings, Motion only obstructs and frustrates justice

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) just received an Omnibus Order dated April 3, 2012 from the Malolos, Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 14 denying the “Omnibus Motion for Preliminary Investigation; to Quash or Recall Warrant of Arrest; Hold Departure Order; and to Suspend Proceedings” filed by the accused M/Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr., M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio in the case involving the disappearance of university students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

“We welcome the court’s order as it basically sustains our position all along and is in accord with the law and jurisprudence,” said the NUPL panel of private prosecutors, through Atty. Edre Olala. “It only further proves that Palparan et al. are just obstructing and frustrating justice at all costs,” Olalia added.

In the same order, the court denied the “Motion for Reconsideration” of the Panel of Prosecutors regarding the issue of the propriety of the Court’s order transferring the custody of Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Osorio.

“We will study whether to ask for the motion on the continued detention in the Army of the two accused though,” said Atty. Olalia.

Ret. M/Gen. Palparan and M/Sgt. Hilario are still at large since a warrant of arrest was issued against them on December 19, 2011.

“The government must deliver on fugitives pronto and dispel pervading views that it is inutile and even held by the military at the nose instead of promoting known human rights violators one after the other like those in the torture of the Morong 43.” #

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, Secretary General, 09175113373
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National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers(NUPL)
3F Erythrina Bldg., Maaralin corner Matatag Sts. Central District,Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.No.920-6660,Telefax No. 927- 2812
Email addresses:nupl2007@gmail.com and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com
“Visit the NUPL  at http://www.nupl.net/

By calling yourselves the ‘people’s lawyer,’ you have made a remarkable choice. You decided not to remain in the sidelines. Where human rights are assaulted, you have chosen to sacrifice the comfort of the fence for the dangers of the battlefield. But only those who choose to fight on the battlefield live beyond irrelevance.”  Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, in his message to the NUPL Founding Congress,Sept. 15, 2007

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