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P-Noy continues to skirt the issue of Human Rights –Karapatan

ICHRP Secretariat
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P-Noy continues to skirt the issue of Human Rights –Karapatan

“It has been three months since the fugitive general, Jovito Palparan Jr., was issued a warrant of arrest by the Malolos Trial Court for the disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño yet he remains in hiding with neither a word nor two from the P-Noy government on his whereabouts. We now tend to believe that the warrant of arrest issued to Palparan was just for show,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan.

Hilao-Enriquez added that, “until today, P-Noy continues to hide behind his so-called campaign against corruption to skirt the issue of human rights, along with other people’s issues such as the continuous rise of fuel prices and basic commodities.” Hilao-Enriquez’s statement was in reaction to P-Noy’s speech yesterday before the graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). “While we are for good government, P-Noy could also have exhorted the new graduates to make sure that they don’t end up like Palparan but he continues to  avoid talking about human rights because his own Oplan Bayanihan pursues the same crooked path and generates  the same impact on the people as Gloria Arroyo’s bloody Oplan Bantay Laya.” said Hilao-Enriquez.

Karapatan also chided the statement of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that the new PMA graduates will join a “cleaner” AFP. Hilao-Enriquez said, “How can the AFP be ‘clean’ when people like Palparan, whose hands bear blood of people killed in the name of national security, remain unpunished?”

Hilao-Enriquez called on the P-Noy government to “stop showing off and get real” on the issue of human rights. “What good is it that Palparan was issued a warrant of arrest when he remains scot-free? What good is it that GMA was ‘arrested’ but stays in an air-conditioned room in a hospital with the government at a loss on what to do to her? And what good is it to the Filipino people that P-Noy vowed to be the exact opposite of GMA yet sows the same terror and blazes the same bloody path through his Oplan Bayanihan?” ###

Reference:    Marie Hilao Enrique, Chairperson, 0917-5616800
Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580
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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.

IMPUNITY NO LET-UP: Another indigenous leader killed in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Philippines

ICHRP Secretariat
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IMPUNITY NO LET-UP: Another indigenous leader killed in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Philippines

Jimmy Liguyon, the vice chairperson of Kasilo, an organization of the Matigsalug-Manobo of Bukidnon, was shot dead in front of his home on Monday, March 5 by Aldy “Butsoy” Salusad, a leader of a paramilitary group in the province.

Liguyon is also the Barangay Captain of Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon.  In October last year, he already received death threats from the group of Salusad.  Salusad is the son of Ben ‘Nonong’ Salusad, appointed head of the tribal arms of the San Fernando Matigsalug Tribal Datus (SANMATRIDA) which has a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title over 52,000 hectares in San Fernando, Bukidnon.  The SANMATRIDA Multi-purpose Cooperative, chaired by Herman P. Estrella, has been enticing mining investors into their domain since it was instituted in 2009.  The tribal datu of Barangay Dao under the SANMATRIDA is Aldy’s uncle, Datu ‘Manayab’ Carillo Salusad.

Aldy Salusad, after killing Liguyon, shouted to the people who witnessed the act that Liguyon was killed because he would not recognize the SANMATRIDA claim and refused to sign any agreements that support it.  He also threatened the people that those who would oppose their group would similarly be killed.

On October 28 last year, Liguyon and his wife were coming home from a human rights rally in Cagayan de Oro City, Dal-anay, were stopped by armed men and were marched them to a vacant house.  There, Liguyon was ordered by Angge Dal-anay, another leader of the group, to stop joining rallies.  Additionally, Dal-anay told him he should allow mining in Barangay Dao.  Liguyon was steadfast in his anti-mining position, arguing that the people in Barangay Dao did not want it and he, as barangay captain, would not force them to it.

Before that, on October 16, Dal-anay’s group also went to Liguyon’s house looking for him.  Liguyon wasn’t there however.  His family moved out of Dao after the incident.  Also on October 13, Ben Salusad called Liguyon, who was then attending a seminar in Cagayan de Oro, and threatened him that should he go back to Dao, they would kill him.

The body of Brgy. Capt. Jimmy Liguyon will be carried in a funeral procession to the municipal center of San Fernando, Bukidnon after which a vigil will be held by Kasilo and other organizations supporting the community’s fight against mining and the paramilitary group of the SANMATRIDA.
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KALUMBAY Regional Lumad Organization
Ilocos St., Aluba Phase II, Macasandig
9000 Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
E-mail Address: kalumbay@gmail.com
Tel. Nos.: +63 (88) 851 5213

Working for the defense of our land, rights & culture, KALUMBAY is a regional alliance of nine Lumad (indigenous peoples) organizations in Northern Mindanao, Philippines

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Farmer and his two children killed, another wounded in massacre by 49th IB, Labo, Camarines Norte, Bicol

ICHRP Secretariat
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URGENT ACTION ALERT: Farmer and his two children killed, another wounded in massacre by 49th IB, Labo, Camarines Norte, Bicol

 Farmer and his two children killed, another wounded in massacre by 49th IB soldiers in Labo, Camarines Norte, Bicol, Southern Luzon, Philippines

UA No: 2012-03-01
UA Date : March 7, 2012

UA Case :
Massacre, Frustrated Killing, Violation of the International Humanitarian Law, Violation of the Rights of the child, Violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL)

Victims :

Massacre, Violation of IHL, CARHRIHL
BENJAMIN MANCERA
54 years old, farmer

Violation of the Rights of the Child
MICHAEL MANCERA
10 years old

RICHARD MANCERA
Seven years old

* *

RAFAEL LLANTINO aka “Ka Pedro”
29 years old, New People’s Army member

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Frustrated Killing, Violation of the Rights of the Child, Threat/Harrassment/Intimidation
LEONISA MANCERA
14 years old

Threat/harassment/intimidation
LOURDES MANCERA
Wife of Benjamin, mother of Michael, Richard, Leonisa
Employed as household help in Manila

The Manceras are residents of Sitio (sub-village) Mapatong, Malaya village, Labo, Camarines Norte

Place of Incident :  Sitio Mapatong, Malaya village, Labo, Camarines Norte
Date of Incident :  February 25, 2012

Alleged Perpetrator(s) :
Soldiers of the 49th Infantry Battalion led by Lt. Salvador Pabor and based in Tulay na Lupa, Labo, Camarines Norte, under the command of Lt. Col. Epimaco Macalisang

Account of the Incident:

Four people –three civilians, including two children and an NPA rebel – were killed in a massacre by soldiers of the 49th Infantry Battalion in Labo, Camarines Norte on Feb. 25. Those killed were Benjamin Mancera, 54 y.o., farmer, Michael Mancera, 10 y.o. Richard Mancera, seven y.o. and Rafael Llantino aka “Ka Pedro”, 29 years old, New People’s Army member.

Despite claims by the military that they were slain in a crossfire between the government troops and the New People’s Army, results of the fact-finding mission (FFM) conducted by the regional and provincial chapters of Karapatan in Bicol and Camarines Norte, respectively, show that it’s another case of the military’s wanton disregard of civilian lives, as it pursued and tried to destroy its enemies. It is a violation of the international humanitarian law, which provides protection for civilians and their properties, and should be distinguished from combatants.

Aware of their own crime, the military tried to cover up the killings by labelling Benjamin as an “NPA militia” – a claim disproved by the Malaya residents and village officials, with the latter issuing a certificate that Benjamin was a civilian. The military attempted to hide and take into their custody the wounded survivor Leonisa, 14 yo after keeping her under tight guard as she recovered at the hospital.

From the FFM’s interview with Leonisa Mancera, it was learned that in the afternoon of February 25, she was sitting in the living room near the door while her father was asleep, and her brother Richard was playing; Michael was in the bedroom doing homework. An NPA member, whom Leonisa knew as “KaPedro” was also resting in the kitchen, near the back door. Leonisa saw a soldier with a rifle approach their house, so she roused Benjamin, who peeked at the door. As soon as he went back in, they heard a gunshot, followed by a volley of gun fire. Benjamin told Richard to lie down beside him, while Leonisa was already lying nearby.

“Ka Pedro” was immediately shot dead before he could even fire a shot. Benjamin and Richard were both hit and immediately killed; so was Michael who was inside the bedroom. Leonisa had wounds grazed by bullets on both arms, right thigh and left buttock.

After what she estimated as about 30 minutes of gun fire, Leonisa saw a soldier enter their house. Upon seeing the casualties, the soldier shouted: “May mga batang patay! May mga batang patay! (There are dead children here!)” Then he rushed out.

Another soldier came in and made Leonisa stand and walk towards the door where another soldier waited. They then made her walk towards the kitchen where she saw “Ka Pedro” dead on the floor. Leonisa recalled that at least 20 soldiers had gathered at their house. They asked her if she knew the dead NPA rebel in their kitchen. They gave her a biscuit, and two anti-tetanus tablets.

It was only after three to four hours that the soldiers put Leonisa in a hammock and carried her down to the barangay proper. The soldiers covered the hammock, and told Leonisa to hide herself when they get to the barangay proper so that people will not see her.

It was already dark when they got to the barangay hall, where there were other soldiers and policemen.

Despite the soldiers’ efforts to conceal her, barangay officials and health workers saw the wounded Leonisa and helped her change clothes. Several women barangay officials and health workers accompanied her on board the military truck which brought her to the Daet Provincial Hospital where her wounds were treated.

In news reports on February 26, Maj. Gen. Josue Gaverza, 9th Infantry Division commander blamed the NPA for the deaths of Benjamin and his two children, and the wounding of Leonisa. Gaverza claimed that Benjamin Mancera was an NPA member, who was killed along with another NPA, identified as Rafael Llanto. Gaverza even said he was saddened by the deaths, but it was the “NPA rebels” who fired the first shot.

On February 26, 2Lt. Robert Lee and a certain T/Sgt. Babor gathered the barangay officials and several residents of Malaya to retrieve the victims’ bodies, along with the soldiers and investigators of the police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO). The Mancera residence in Sitio Mapatong is a two-hour trek from the village proper. At around 8 am, they approached the house, but the soldiers did not allow the barangay officials to enter until 30 minutes later. The barangay officials overheard the SOCO agents and soldiers arguing because the soldiers handed over the firearms, supposedly of the rebel’s, which was retrieved from the site instead of letting the SOCO gather the evidence.

The barangay officials and residents eventually retrieved the bodies: Benjamin still embracing Richard in the living room, and Michael who was still holding a ballpen in the bedroom; Llantino was in the kitchen. The bodies were carried in a makeshift stretcher of sacks and poles made by the residents, and brought to the barangay proper at around 1 pm.

On the same day, soldiers guarding Leonisa at the provincial hospital prevented her mother Lourdes from seeing her. Lourdes had just travelled from Manila where she works as a household help. Lourdes did not get to see Leonisa until the next day, February 27. A soldier discreetly handed her an envelope containing Php 10,000.

Also on February 27, two members of the fact-finding mission team were able to talk to Leonisa, but only after arguing and strongly insisting with the soldiers that they should be allowed to see her.

On February 28, the military attempted to take custody of Leonisa, who was to be released from the hospital that day. While 2Lt. Robert Lee tried to convince Lourdes to allow the military to take Leonisa, a woman, suspected to be working for the military, pretended to be the child’s mother and had obtained her discharge papers. Lourdes rejected the military’s offer. She also asserted that she is the child’s real mother and insisted that the hospital issue another discharge sheet. Outside the hospital, soldiers on a 6×6 army truck awaited.

The FFM team report said that the Mancera house measured only about a total of 24 square meters, and was made of bamboo and palm fronds. Plants and other thick vegetation surrounded the house. The team recovered a total of 231spent shells from armalite rifles, in different spots outside the Mancera house. Some of the shells were found behind a big tree, some seven meters from the front door where Leonisa said she first saw a soldier. Other bullet shells were found in concealed positions 20 meters away from the house, from which point one could have a clear shot of the kitchen door where the NPA rebel Llantino was killed.

The FFM was conducted from Feb. 27 to 29 by Karapatan, along with the Bicol regional chapters of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Condor/Piston-Bikol, Makabayan, and the Camarines Norte chapters of GABRIELA, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the Camarines Norte People’s Organization. The progressive groups were joined by local government officials, particularly the Committee on Peace and Order of the Labo Municipal Council, led by Councilor Renato Tenorio and the barangay officials and 134 residents of Malaya and Malibago villages.

Karapatan cites other similar cases where civilians killed due to indiscriminate attacks by units of the Phil. Army:

– The Kananga Massacre in Leyte where the renowned biologist Dr. Leonard Co, and his assistants, Sofronio Cortes and Julius Borromeo, were fired at and killed by soldiers of the 19th IB, who claimed that they were killed by “NPAs in a crossfire;”

– The death of Roderick Ballebar and the destruction of the house of the Bergado Family, when the 42nd IB tried to wipe out an NPA unit in sitio Culpa, brgy. Lubgan, Bula, Camarines Sur on Sept. 12, 2010. The military initially labelled Ballebar as an “NPA rebel;”

– The killing of nine-year-old Grecil Buya-Gelacio on March 31, 2007 by 69th IB in New Bataan, Compostela Valley, with officials initially claiming that she was an “NPA child soldier.”

Recommended Action:

Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:

1. 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 massacre of Benjamin Mancera and his two children, Michael and Richard, and Rafael Llantino; and the wounding of Benjamin’s daughter Leonisa;
2. 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.”
3. The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innocent and unarmed civilians.
4. 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.

You may send your communications to:

H. E. Benigno S. Aquino III
President of the Philippines
2/F Bonifacio Hall, Malacañang, Manila
Tel: 733-3010 loc 882/ 887
Website: president.gov.ph <http://www.president.gov.ph/>

Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7/F Agustin I Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Tel: 6360701 to 06 / 637-6083
Fax: 638-2216
Email: stqd@opapp.net
Website: opapp.gov.ph

Secretary Leila M. de Lima
Department of Justice (DOJ)
DOJ Main Building, Padre Faura Street, Manila
Tel: 521-1908
Fax: 523-5548
Email: doj.delima@gmail.com
Website: doj.gov.ph

Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin
Department of National Defense (DND)
DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City
Tel: 911-6193 / 911-1746
Fax 911-6213
Website: dnd.gov.ph

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: <coco.chrp@gmail.com>chair.rosales.chr@gmail.com,
lorettann@gmail.com*

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 Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights,Urgent Action Alerts KARAPATAN <urgentaction@karapatan.org>

Filipino rights workers raise issue of continuing arbitrary detentions and plight of political prisoners before international rights body

ICHRP Secretariat
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Filipino rights workers raise issue of continuing arbitrary detentions and plight of political prisoners before international rights body

[Geneva, Switzerland March 8, 2012] The Philippine UPR Watch, an ecumenical delegation of Philippine human rights organizations and advocates that engages in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), brought to the attention of the international rights body the continuing human rights violation in the Philippines, and the continuous occurrence of arbitrary arrests and detention under Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, as the council conducts its 19th Regular Session.

Speaking in the Interactive Dialogue on the report of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD), Cristina Palabay of Karapatan and the Civicus-World Alliance for Citizen Participation expressed concern on the 81 political prisoners arrested under the Aquino presidency, despite its lamentable denial of the existence of hundreds of political prisoners languishing in jails in different parts of the country.

In her oral statement delivered on the UNHRC floor, Palabay said that as of December 31, 2011, there are 347 political prisoners, 28 of them women, 12 are peace consultants, and 41 are elderly and sick. Among these political prisoners, she said, are artist Ericson Acosta, film student Maricon Montajes, peace consultant Alan Jazmines, farmers Moreta and Jesus Alegre and sickly Rolando Panamogan. She also cited the recent threats by a local court against political prisoner and peace consultant Ramon Patriarca of being transferred to a military camp, where he was tortured upon his arrest. Many of them were arrested under the nine-year rule of the Arroyo government, while 81 were arrested and detained under Aquino’s new watch.

“We believe that the arrests and detention of these individuals are being conducted to suppress their right to air legitimate grievances over state policies. Trumped up charges are filed against them to justify various infirmities on the legality of their arrests. Thus, the political nature of their arrests and continued detention is purposely hidden,” Palabay said.

She likewise raised concerns on threats of arrests, harassments and trumped charges that continue to hound rights defenders, such as the case of 72 leaders of people’s organizations in Southern Tagalog, known as the ST 72 which includes church worker Pastor Edwin Egar, Karapatan worker Doris Cuario, and trade union counsel Remigio Saladero Jr. who are in danger of being issued warrants of arrests for charges previously dismissed by the courts. Saladero is at the same time an officer of the human rights lawyers group National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) .

“Indeed, there has been no fundamental departure of policy from the previous administration to the current one, as shown in the continued practice of arbitrary detention and rights violations. Karapatan has documented 350 victims of illegal arrests under the Aquino government, majority of victims are peasants, indigenous peoples, leaders of the urban poor and environmental and anti-mining activists,” Palabay stated.

Palabay was joined in the Philippine UPR Watch delegation by Atty. Edre Olalia of the NUPL and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL); Nardy Sabino of the Promotion of the Church People’s Response (PCPR); Sr. Stella Matutina of the environmental advocacy group, Panalipdan! Mindanao and Barug Katungod Mindanao consortium of human rights defenders; and, Maribel Mapanao of the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP)– Switzerland.

The group has been meeting and briefing various foreign diplomatic missions and international NGOs based in Geneva as well as representatives of UN human rights special procedures and the Filipino migrant community on the state of human rights in the Philippines as seen from the ground. The Philippines will be subjected to the second cycle of the UPR this May 28 to June 3, 2012. #

Reference: Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Spokesperson and Phil. UPR Watch Convener +639175003879/+0041767924973 Email: peoples.upr@gmail.com,noztalzia2@gmail.com

 

 

Italian priest demands prosecution of alleged masterminds in colleague’s murder

ICHRP Secretariat
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Italian priest demands prosecution of alleged masterminds in colleague’s murder

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—An Italian Catholic missionary has questioned the exclusion of the alleged masterminds from among the people charged with the murder last October 17 of fellow Italian priest Fausto Tentorio.

Fr. Peter Geremia, a colleague of Tentorio in the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), said in a local radio interview Tuesday that businessman William Buenaflor  and Benjamin Rioflorido, the former chief of police in Arakan, North Cotabato, should have been charged along with confessed triggerman Jimmy Ato.

He said it was Ato who provided the names of Buenaflor and Rioflorido to investigators. Both men have denied any involvement in the killing.

Ato said in a signed confession submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation that Tentorio was ordered killed for his opposition to a hydropower plant project in Arakan that would have benefited some landowners. Ato later identified Buenaflor and Rioflorido as the alleged masterminds.

“He was the one who named the masterminds,” Geremia said.

He said Ato’s confession and his implication of Buenaflor and Rioflorido in the crime was credible because he was the confessed gunman. “But until now there was no development on his revelation,” Geremia said.

Aside from Ato, his brother Robert, Jose Sultan Sampulna and Dima Maligudan Sampulna were also charged in connection with the Tentorio killing.

Tentorio was leaving for a clergy meeting in Kidapawan City when he was shot outside his convent in Arakan.

He was the third PIME missionary killed in Mindanao since 1985, when Fr. Tulio Favali was waylaid and killed by militiamen. Norberto Manero, head of the local militia, who was convicted of the murder was pardoned by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010.

In 1992, Fr. Salvatorre Carzedda was also killed as he was entering the PIME regional house in Zamboanga City. No suspect has been identified in the Carzedda killing. (by Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao, February 29th, 2012)

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