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Are government and military officials exempted from arrest under P-Noy? —Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Are government and military officials exempted from arrest under P-Noy? —Karapatan

Media Release, April 4, 2012 – Karapatan, with Hustisya and Desaparecidos, today asked those commuting to the provinces to help find fugitive Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. in places where they are spending the Lenten Season. Members of the rights groups and relatives of the victims of rights violations went to several bus stations along EDSA in Cubao to distribute ‘Wanted Palparan’ flyers. The action was part of the People’s Manhunt on Palparan, that was launched three months ago when the Malolos Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest against Palparan.

“The P-Noy government should show grit, consistency and seriousness in arresting criminals and human rights violators such as Palparan and his co-accused M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario. The delay in their arrests puts across the message that government and military officials are being exempted from arrest under P-Noy. We hope that this will not happen in the case of Palawan ex-governor Joel Reyes for the murder of Gerry Ortega,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan spokesperson and co-convenor of the End Impunity Alliance.

Palabay added that “Malacañang may have backtracked from its ‘out-of-deference to (Reyes) previous government post’ position, but the statement reflects the government’s attitude on rights violations and justice issues.”

“This is the reason why Gloria Arroyo is still in the hospital instead of a regular jail; why Palparan and his right-hand man Hilario are still at-large; and why Joel Reyes has the gall to say that he is not hiding from the authorities but simply ‘hiding in the hearts’ of the Palaweños. Such brazen acts indicate the extent of the prevailing climate of impunity that emboldens these public officials to simply shrug off accountability because they can go scot-free anyway,” said Palabay.

Palabay concluded that “unless Palparan, Reyes and their likes are put to jail and prosecuted by the P-Noy government, it will only continue to encourage those in the government and in the Armed Forces ofthe Philippines (AFP) to perpetrate human rights violations and perpetuate impunity.” ###

Reference:    Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, 09175003879, Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580
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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.

The importance of arresting retired general Jovito Palparan Jr.

ICHRP Secretariat
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The importance of arresting retired general Jovito Palparan Jr.

March 30, 2012, Opinion, AHRC – Media Statement, Mindanao Examiner – IN THE STREETS of Metro Manila, it is common to see photographs or posters of missing persons posted on walls and electricity poles, with details of the missing person and how to contact the relatives looking for them. These families have taken it upon themselves to look for their loved ones, in the absence of any help from the government.

What is not common however, is the poster of Jovito Palparan Jr., a retired military general, also posted widely on public walls in Manila. He is not a missing person, but a person who went into hiding after the court issued arrest orders against him, to answer allegations of his and his men’s involvement in the disappearance of two activists, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno in 2006. The inability of the government to arrest him is not surprising; in fact, him being actually arrested would be more of a surprise.

Failure to arrest persons subject to court arrest orders is not unique to Palparan. The failure or inability to arrest is unfortunately a norm more than an exception throughout the Philippines. Even ordinary criminals or escapees from jail can in fact roam freely. Unless they make trouble again, or they apply for employment requiring police clearance, they are not likely to be arrested. Under such circumstances, how can society expect Palparan to be arrested?

Firstly, Palparan is not an ordinary man. Before he retired from the military, he commanded military units and was assigned to various different regions. His military accomplishments–regardless of whether they conform to the articles of war and human rights norms, which the military establishment claim to adhere to–are publicly endorsed and recognized by his former commander-in-chief, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Secondly, Palparan is well known to the government. All of his personal and military records are well documented by the Armed Forces, not only as a military officer, but also as a civil servant subject to civil service laws. In performing his duty in the military, he is subject to both administrative and criminal proceedings. As a known military general well endorsed publicly by the former president, it is hard to imagine that the government, particularly the military establishment, does not know where Palparan is.

Thirdly, Palparan’s military career and achievements was strongly endorsed during Arroyo’s presidency. In other words, Arroyo consented to Palparan’s actions and his rhetoric justifying the fight against counter-insurgency and protecting the rights of only those people he considered as ‘humans’. Now that Arroyo herself is under hospital arrest and being prosecuted for election fraud however, where does Palparan’s support lie?

Despite the change in leadership and government knowledge regarding Palparan, there are today posters put up in search for him. This is a clear indicator that the assumption that any police or military officer who committed violations during Arroyo’s time could be held accountable once the leadership is changed, is deeply flawed. The dominant thinking that change of leadership is prerequisite to accountability for gross human rights violations has been flawed for many years; this did not happen in the present Aquino term, nor did it occur in the regime of Corazon Aquino after Marcos, or in Gloria Arroyo’s regime after Estrada.

Rather, it is clear that those accused of crimes, regardless of whether they are government civil servants, policemen or military officers, have developed sophisticated methods of escaping from accountability. At the same time, the relatives and victims of human rights violations are also developing creative means to deal with this absence of accountability; the distribution of Palparan’s poster being one such method.

Escaping arrest for instance, is not a special skill unique to Palparan. Needless to say, the current Philippine Senator Panfilo Lacson himself had gone into hiding and absconded from his responsibility as a lawmaker to evade the very jurisdiction of law he was mandated by the people to uphold. In his defence, he also claimed innocence of the murder charges against him for the assassination of the former publicist of President Estrada. After the court dismissed the charges, he surfaced bragging about his exploits while in hiding.

Like Palparan, Lacson is also a ‘decorated police officer.’ He had been accused for committing torture and human rights violations during his career as a police officer before joining the Senate. The difference is that the charges on Lacson were dismissed, while Palparan’s charges had just begun. In the Philippines, jurisprudence says that flight is an indication of guilt; Lacson can now afford to show up in public, while Palparan cannot. However, there is one thing that these individuals have in common: the capacity to hide from the law using their connections with the police and military.

The spread of posters of Palparan in the streets of Manila, initiated by Karapatan and the families of the victims who took responsibility in asking to locate him, demonstrates an utter state of impunity that continues to thrive in the country. In the case of Palparan and his men involved in forced disappearance, even the Department of Justice and its attached special investigation unit, the National Bureau of Investigation, have openly admitted being unable to arrest them, despite their resources and intelligence network all over the country. While the government may be willing to arrest Palparan, it seems its willingness does not match its ability.

The failure and inability of the government to arrest Palparan should therefore be examined thoroughly by the country’s justice institutions to address unresolved cases and the ongoing impunity of past regimes. The skills and habits to evade accountability developed by the offenders of the law, particularly the security forces expected to uphold the law, must first be learned and understood. No reform can be made possible without this knowledge. This is not only about arresting Palparan or him evading prosecution, but rather narrating the state of justice institutions that exist in the country. (listadmin@ahrchk.net)

Original source: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20120330075640

Arrest and jail rapists in the AFP–Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Arrest and jail rapists in the AFP–Karapatan

Karapatan Public Info Desk Mar 30, 2012 –  “That Capt. Danilo Lalin of the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army was simply ‘relieved from duties’ is a pathetic response from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) considering the damage he wrought on the life of Isabel, the 16-year old rape victim in Mankayan, Benguet. This is not the first time that members of the AFP have committed such heinous crime against women and minors,” said Cristina Palabay, spokesperson of Karapatan and Tanggol Bayi (association of women human rights defenders).

According to Palabay, Karapatan received at least three reported cases of rape in the last six months, all involving AFP personnel. “Military rape has been committed under Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya and it continues under P-Noy’s Oplan Bayanihan. There are other known incidents but are not yet documented because the victims fear for their lives, aside from the humiliation that goes with it. Others were threatened or offered bribes to silence them. Still other victims have reportedly experienced trauma and psychological distress because of the experience,” added Palabay.

Palabay said that, “sexual violence such as military rape is used to humiliate, silence and terrorize not only the women victims but the whole community as well. Women and children are thus made more vulnerable by the presence and operations of the military in their communities.”

“Rape of women and minors is proof that the military’s presence in the communities endangers the lives and rights of the people. Like other rights violation, rape happens when the military impose and flaunt their supremacy over the civilians. Rape is one of the military’s atrocious acts against women and the people. It is in the military’s arsenal of tactics to terrorize the people in the communities even as the P-Noy government boasts of a ‘people-oriented’ Oplan Bayanihan,” concluded Palabay. ###
Reference: Cristina Palabay, Spokesperson, +639175003879
Angge Santos, Media Liaison, +63918-9790580
——————————————————————–
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.

What should we expect from the Aquino regime about the stalled peace talks and the repression of detained NDF peace consultants?

ICHRP Secretariat
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What should we expect from the Aquino regime about the stalled peace talks and the repression of detained NDF peace consultants?

Karapatan Public Info Desk Mar 29 – We wonder if the administration of Benigno S. Aquino III does enough of serious consideration and work to really promote and push the peace talks, and if indeed it really is interested in the peace process at all. Several indications seem to show the opposite.

After the long stalled peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) and the Government of the Republic of Philippines (GPH) were briefly initiated again in February last year, they have been indefinitely stalled again as the GPH continues to renege on its obligations to free NDF peace consultants detained in violation of the standing NDF-GPH Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG),which is supposed to protect peace consultants from surveillance, arrest, detention and other antagonistic acts.

Add to that, the GPH has not done anything at all and continues to do nothing in the face of intensified repressions and abuses (including torture) that have been and continue to be committed by the military, police, intelligence and prison authorities against the arrested and detained NDF consultants. These have been constituting not only persistent violations of the JASIG and the earlier NDF-GPH Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), but also persistent slaps by the GPH against those at the opposite side of the negotiation table.

Fascist reprisals and further repression have been the systematic response of state and prison authorities against political prisoners, specially NDF officials and consultants identified to be in the forefront of prison struggles.

Last January 25, without notice to him and his counsel, and without the court (that has been hearing his case and had specifically committed him for detention at the Davao City Jail) even officially knowing it, right from his court hearing that day, Ramon Patriarca, an NDF peace consultant representing the Central Visayas Region, was not returned to his cell at the Davao City Jail, but was instead secretly brought temporarily to the Cebu Provincial Jail and then to a military jail at Camp Lapu-Lapu of the Visayas Central Command of the AFP.

Prison authorities concocted as justification for his sudden transfer his incitement of fellow detainees to rebellion and as a further purported intelligence information of a rescue plan by the New People’s Army.

In truth, his spurious transfer was because of his leadership of fellow detainees at the Davao City Jail in fasts and other forms of struggles for the release of all political prisoners throughout the country as well as for the rights and welfare of all detainees at the Davao City Jail. As a result of their series of prison struggles, the detainees were able to have their food budget doubled from a mere P15/detainee/day toP30/detainee/day.

They were also able to set up an Alternative Learning System (ALS) class and extra review classes participated in by about 50 detainee students, who were able to earn DepEd credits for their studies. Instead of appreciating and assisting in these endeavors, however, prison authorities did all they could to sabotage the projects and wage reprisals against all those who participated in the struggles and resulting projects.

The vast majority of detainees stood firmly in supporting Patriarca and even proceeded to formally elect him to head the leading council of detainees in the jail, despite all-out efforts of prison authorities to block his election and continue to directly appoint their own stooge.

Patriarca’s sudden transfer to military jail immediately after this was clearly a means of prison authorities to insist on their reprisals and
repressions against him and fellow prisoners who have struggled for their rights and welfare. The acts of reprisals and repressions by prison authorities were in league with city and provincial government officials as well as military and police authorities.

Patriarca’s sole rebellion case has been trumped-up, has crawled at snail’s pace and has dragged on for several years now. The Supreme Court had already ruled in the case filed by Satur Ocampo, Rafael Baylosis, Randall Echanis and Vic Ladlad that rebellion cases are baiIable even if recommended by prosecution to be non-bailable. Yet Patriarca continues to remain in jail.

The military camp where Patriarca has surreptitiously been transferred to is the camp where he was brought to and heavily tortured right after he was arrested in February 2005, and where he was held incommunicado and practically deprived of practically all his rights for four years. He was only surfaced in February 2009 as a result of a writ of Amparo case filed against those who arrested and continued to hide him. His surreptitious and anomalous return to the hands of his torturers and to the camp where he was held incommunicado for several years reprises his hellish experiences there of torture, isolation and deprivation of practically all his rights.

In 2009, Patriarca filed a damage suit for the torture committed against him by those who ordered and perpetuated his torture. In returning him now in the hands of his torturers, the military, police, intelligence and prison authorities have further intensified their intimidation and reprisals against him, especially now as the damage suit he filed for the torture against him is about to be concluded with very convincing testimonies by witnesses, including doctors and psychologists attesting to his torture.

Here at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, the same attitude is carried and practically the same moves continue to be made ‘by prison’ authorities. They react with the same fascist reprisals when prisoners, especially political prisoners, wage struggles for their rights and welfare and against the atrocities and abuses of police and prison authorities here.

The custodial command here always reacts viciously to statements, letters of protest and complaints against the undue restrictions and
repressive acts it imposes on detainees, especially political detainees. It wages reprisals against prison struggles, especially those led by political prisoners, even if the struggles were only in the form of dialogues sought by the detainees or letters of requests collectively made by the detainees.

There have also been several instances of the custodial center command’s narrow-minded fetish at censoring communications and reading materials, and confiscating even legitimate and publicly available for being “critical of government”. Last December 26, it confiscated all copies of a KARAPATAN primer on Oplan Bayanihan brought for us by our visitors whom it also attempted to prevent from visiting us. The primer criticizes human rights violations by state forces in the field; the confiscation of copies of the primer all the more blatantly depicts how the custodial center command here knows nothing about human rights.

The most vehement reaction recently of the custodial center command has been against the ongoing efforts of political prisoners here to come out with studies and documentations of cases of unjust, arbitrary and illegal arrests, prosecution and detention of practically all political prisoners here, in preparation for a proposed joint investigation by government and human rights entities on those cases. The custodial center command here has been very apprehensive of the repercussions of the proposed joint investigation, and has thus made several attempts to prevent and sabotage it. The custodial center command here has been intensely making reprisal moves against political prisoners here, targeted principally against an NDF peace consultant detained here and identified to be in the forefront of struggles of political prisoners and other prisoners here. It has made several attempts (three so far) to have the said NDF peace consultant transferred to another detention center where he can hopefully be more effectively gagged and further repressed. The transfer moves have so far been averted with the resistance of the one targeted for transfer and the support of other political as well as other fellow detainees and of others from outside of prison.

The custodial center command, however, continues to plot and make reprisals and further repression moves, the most recent of which is the confiscation of old-fashioned typewriters being used by NDF peace consultants detained here. With the confiscation of the typewriters, the custodial center command hopes to hamper or at least greatly slow-down the output of exposes`, statements, letters of protests and complaints and even the studies and documentations of cases of unjust, arbitrary and illegal arrests, prosecution and detention of political prisoners here. But, the bigoted fascist character of the command of the custodial center here is all the more exposed as its bigoted fascist act has added more material to expose`s, statements, letters of protest and the like.

NDF consultants and other political prisoners in other detention centers throughout the country also suffer the same repressive treatment in the hands of military, police, intelligence and prison authorities.

The daily sufferings of another NDF consultant, Tirso Alcantara in the hands of his jailers who continue to keep him in isolation and almost total deprivation in Fort Bonifacio is one of the cruelest.

All such repressive treatment of detained NDF consultants and other political prisoners are rampant gross violations of human rights, peace agreements (including JASIG and CARHRIHL), legal and other rights.

What has the administration of Benigno S. Aquino III done about all these. . . in the interest of promoting the peace process with the NDF? What should we expect?

ALAN JAZMINES
detained NDF consultant
PNP Custodial Center
Camp Crame
29 March 2012

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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.

Rights violations under GMA and Palparan continue to surface

ICHRP Secretariat
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Rights violations under GMA and Palparan continue to surface

Karapatan Public Info Desk, Press Media Release | March 26, 2012
Reference: Marie Hilao Enrique, Chairperson, +63917-5616800, Angge Santos, Media Liaison, +63918-9790580

The more than a thousand cases of extrajudicial killings and hundreds of disappearances, and other rights violations cases documented under the Gloria Arroyo regime may be smaller than the actual incidents that happened, said Karapatan. “Some victims and their relatives are only able to report now out of fear of military reprisal because the military have not left their communities. But as these state-sponsored atrocities continue to happen under P-Noy’s watch, the victims and relatives have no other choice but to speak out now,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan.

Hilao-Enriquez said that cases of human rights violations continue to surface as victims recall for the first time the terror they experienced under GMA and her favorite butcher Gen. Jovito Palparan, one of the main implementers of Oplan Bantay Laya. “We have specifically documented cases as far back as 2004 involving farmers in Hacienda Luisita. At that time, Tarlac was among the seven provinces targeted by Palparan, then commander of the 7th Infantry Division,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez.

Aside from the publicized killings, among the cases documented in a fact-finding mission in Hacienda Luisita from 2004 to 2010 were:
surveillance, threat, harassment, illegal arrests and detention, and intimidation. The victims were mostly leaders and members of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) and the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU). During this period, 300 soldiers from several units under Palparan’s 7th ID were deployed in the villages of Hacienda Luisita.

Other provinces affected were Bulacan and Nueva Ecija where cases of suicide because of fear of military presence and harassment are publicly known but remain undocumented.

Lito Bais, President of ULWU, was among the leaders who were frequently visited by soldiers. Bais now face charges of ‘grave coercion’, along with 22 other farmer-leaders in Hacienda Luisita as they continue to assert their right to own the lands in Hacienda Luisita.

Sgt. Rizal Hilario was specifically identified by the victims. Hilario was Palparan’s right hand man at that time. He is Palparan’s co-accused in the kidnapping and serious illegal detention case of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno. Both remain fugitives, three months after they were issued warrants of arrest by the Malolos Regional Trial Court.

The unresolved land dispute in Hacienda Luisita; the continuing harassment of Lito Bais and other hacienda workers from Arroyo to Aquino; of Palparan and Hilario who remain scot free despite their crimes against the people; of Gloria Arroyo landscaping at the Veteran’s Memorial Hospital instead of being jailed in regular prison—exemplifies how rights violations and impunity continue under the P-Noy government. “It only shows that GMA’s bloody Oplan Bantay is extended in P-Noy’s Oplan Bayanihan. Oplan Bantay
Laya is out but terror continues through P-Noy’s Oplan Bayanihan,” concluded Hilao-Enriquez.

———————————————————————
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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