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PETITION: Justice for all victims of extra-judicial killings!

ICHRP Secretariat
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PETITION: Justice for all victims of extra-judicial killings!

Dear Friends:

Warmest solidarity greetings from the International Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP)!

Almost two years after the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines, justice is nowhere near. As lawyer Carlos Zarate, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) vice president for Mindanao, aptly describes:

“Nearly two years after the gruesome November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre, the already slow grinding wheels of justice appeared to be in danger of being derailed, if not totally put on reverse.

During these past months we have seen how the defense vigorously put some legal obstacles, just to twist and bend the law and subvert the search for justice – like filing of multiple motions and petitions in various appellate courts.

The ‘dark forces responsible for the carnage’, as the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines once put it, are still in intact – both in wealth and firepower – and continue to attempt to buy off victims’ relatives, and witnesses and their families, or, failing that, threaten or even harm them.”

One witness and two relatives of the victims have already been killed while the other witnesses and victims’ kin either face threats to their own lives or are offered multi-million cash in exchange for withdrawing the charges against the powerful Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuan massacre is only one of the hundreds of cases of extra-judicial killings awaiting resolution.

Once again we are appealing for international solidarity to help end impunity in the Philippines. We respectfully request you to consider signing the following statement which we hope to send to the heads of states and relevant international agencies.

If you agree to sign the petition (below and attached), kindly email icchrp@gmail.com with your full name and organization/position (if applicable), and base country on or before 20th November. Please feel free to distribute this further to your other networks, too. Thank you so much.

For the ICCHRP,

Angie M. Gonzales
Contact person, Secretariat

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International Petition Urging World Leaders to Help Demand Justice for the “AMPATUAN MASSACRE” and ALL VICTIMS of EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS in the PHILIPPINES

23 November 2011

On 23 November 2009, the international community was shocked and outraged over a horrific crime in the Philippines that claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists and two women lawyers in a town called Ampatuan, in the province of Maguindanao, Southern Philippines. The Ampatuan massacre is the worst single incident of media killings and election-related violence in the world in recent history.

We, the undersigned journalists, lawyers, church people, community leaders, human rights, justice and peace advocates from around the world, add our voices with the Filipino people in demanding swift justice for the 58 Ampatuan massacre victims and all victims of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III vowed justice for the Ampatuan massacre victims and the numerous victims of extra-judicial killings under the nine-year watch of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

While the Ampatuan massacre victims’ families are awaiting justice, we are dismayed and outraged over news of more extra-judicial killings. On 17th October, the murder of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME, once again proved the prevailing climate of impunity in the Philippines. Fr. Tentorio is the 54th victim of extra-judicial killings under the Aquino government, according to the human rights group Karapatan.

The continuing threats to human rights and human lives in the Philippines diminish our humanity. The killings must stop.

We support moves to hold former President Gloria Arroyo accountable to the human rights victims, their families and the international community, for the massive human rights abuses committed with impunity during her administration.

Moreover, we call on the governments of the European Union, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Algeria, New Zealand, Canada and the USA* to once again exert pressure on the government of President Benigno Aquino III to stop the killings (among other human rights violations).

We challenge foreign governments to give teeth to their statements against the culture of impunity in the Philippines. We support calls for international economic and political sanctions on the Philippine government for failing to stop the killings.

In particular, we call on the governments of the United States, Australia and others to stop military aid and all forms of support that could be used for private armies of political warlords, and death squads in the country.

Signed:

NAME                                                                     ORGANIZATION                                                         COUNTRY
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* including UN country missions who raised questions and comments about the widely reported human rights violations in the country during the 2008 Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines: France, Norway, Slovenia, Japan, New Zealand, UK, Canada, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Algeria, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico, and the USA

Stop the criminalization of the Moro people’s struggle for right to self-determination — Moro-Christian People’s Alliance

ICHRP Secretariat
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Stop the criminalization of the Moro people’s struggle for right to self-determination — Moro-Christian People’s Alliance

PRESS STATEMENT  – The filing of criminal charges by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against MILF Commander Dan “Laksaw” Asnawi, 12 other MILF forces in Basilan and 300 John Does plainly expose how the Aquino government view and regard the Moro people’s struggle. The MILF, their leaders and members, is a revolutionary organization that espouses the legitimate aspirations of the Moro people.  It is neither a criminal syndicate nor a terrorist organization.

President Aquino’s commitment to pursue the GPH-MILF peace talks is hypocrisy at its height. His justice-cloaked war against the MILF in retaliation for the defeat of his military forces in Basilan is just but a peace posturing and outright deception. His rejection of calls for all-out war and the cancellation of the GPH-MILF peace talks at the height of the Al-Barka tragedy painted him as a peacemaker.  The public is made to believe that “all-out justice” is not all-out war. This ad-inspired military campaign against the MILF coined by his tourism secretary sells in the public psyche. It successfully conceals the militarist character of the Aquino administration.

The Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA), an interfaith rights group, however, believes that the people will see through this deception and will vigorously oppose Aquino’s “all-out justice” campaign. “All-out justice” proves to be too costly to the Moro people’s human rights, security and welfare.

Aquino will continue to harp on his commitment to the GPH-MILF peace talks. But for the Aquino administration, the peace talks is but a counterinsurgency strategy and a central piece of his human rights-coated national security plan, Oplan Bayanihan.  The filing of criminal charges against MILF forces is within the ambit of this counterinsurgency operation. It aims to negate the legitimate aspiration and struggles of the Moro people.  And justify heightened impunity against the Moro people by a presidential order.#

 

Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA)

Supreme Court pushes CHR to move on Jonas Burgos case

ICHRP Secretariat
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Supreme Court pushes CHR to move on Jonas Burgos case

A mother’s strength displayed by Edita Burgos, mother of abducted activist Jonas Burgos, as she faces the ordeal of searching for his son with dignity and determination.

Five years have passed since activist Jonas Burgos was abducted in a Quezon City mall. Jonas is still missing and authorities seem to take its time in pursuing leads to resolve his case.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is now being pushed to move on Jonas’ case as the Supreme Court issues a resolution directing the agency to secure a copy of a sworn affidavit of one of the witnesses who has admitted to knowing the identity of one of Jonas’ abductors.  The court noted in an en banc resolution the statement of Virgilio Eustaquio saying that he could identify one of the armed men who took Jonas from the Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City in 2007.  Eustaquio belongs to Erap 5, a group of former president Joseph Estrada’s supporters who were allegedly forcibly taken, detained, and tortured by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).  According to him, one of the soldiers who took Jonas is the same one who took him and the rest of the Erap 5.

The SC resolution dated October 11 orders the CHR to “undertake all available measures to obtain the affidavit” of Eustaquio.  Once obtained, the CHR is to furnish the Burgos family, the Court of Appeals, and both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) with a copy of the affidavit.  CHR is also given 30 days within which to submit to the high court a report and a set of recommendations pertaining to their on-going investigation of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.  It will be recalled that the SC has found that “the investigations by the PNP-CIDG, the AFP Provost Marshal, and even the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) have been less than complete.”  The SC resolved in its July 5, 2011 en banc session that Lt. Harry A Baliaga Jr. and Philippine Army officers to produce the person of Jonas Burgos and to show cause why he should continue to be detained.

Cases like this that drag on for years do not speak well of the justice system in the country.  Yet again, here is an example of human rights victims and their families continuously being made to suffer even more while those who are responsible for their suffering live their lives undisturbed while the wheels of justice give an illusion of being in motion. (from Noypi.Ph,  By Elmira Joson-Rivera 10/27/2011) #

HK religious and rights activists, protest priest’s slaying

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Release – Human rights activists, religious leaders and migrant workers in Hong Kong joined the call for justice to slain priest, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, in a protest action today at the Philippine Consulate General.

Protesters from the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) HK chapter and the HK Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) believed that Fr. Tentorio was a victim of extrajudicial killings that was rampant during the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and has continued in the current Aquino government.

The protesters were joined by members of Fr. Tentorio’s order, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).

“The culture of impunity persists and yet again has victimized another man of the Church whose devotion to the cause of the Lumad in Mindanao, the poor, and the Filipino people has been unflappable. Like that of all others before him, Fr. Tentorio’s death calls for immediate justice,” said Joram Calimutan of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and a member of the Executive Committee of PCPR-HK.

Calimutan said that Fr. Tentorio was the 56th victim of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

Bruce Van Voorhis of the HKCAHRPP, meanwhile, said that human rights activists in Hong Kong who are supportive of the human rights and peace struggles in the Philippines are alarmed by the rising cases of political killings in the country.

“The body count is again on the rise. While the more than 1,000 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance under the GMA government still await justice, the Aquino government seems more intent in adding more atrocities and human rights violations instead of delivering justice and ending the culture of impunity in the country,” he remarked. “Moreover, this is sadly occurring under a president whose father was killed in very similar circumstances to the assassination of Fr. Tentorio and countless others”, he added.

Van Voorhis said that the repackaged Oplan Bantay-Laya of the previous administration, now called Oplan Bayanihan, “clearly appears to head in the same direction as its predecessor – killings, enforced disappearances, the displacement of militarized people, and fading hopes for a just peace.”

The protesters handed in a letter signed by 19 church leaders, churches and church-related groups expressing their condemnation of the killing of Fr. Tentorio and other activists. Local and migrant workers’ organisations and a Hong Kong legislator also endorsed the statement.

In the statement, the signatories called for the immediate and thorough investigation of Fr. Tentorio’s death and an investigation of Oplan Bayanihan. It also called for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995 that Fr. Tentorio vigorously opposed in his work among the Lumads.

“We are in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Philippines who continue to live in a climate of terror, of poverty, and of injustice. The killings should stop and justice should rein,” Calimutan concluded.

For reference:
Ptr. Joram Calimutan                                             Bruce Van Voorhis
Member, Executive Committee, PCPR-HK             Spokesperson, HKCAHRPP
Tel. No.: (852) 5360-5497                                       Tel. No.: (852) 9492-3064

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Statement of Appeal for Justice for Fr. Tentorio’s Death
And Other Victims of Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

We leaders and members of churches, various church-related groups and organizations in Hong Kong express our indignation of the brutal death of Fr. Fausto Tentorio of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Mission (PIME) on October 17, 2011, in the Arakan Valley, North Cotabato, Philippines.

We leaders and members of churches, various church-related groups and organizations in Hong Kong express our indignation of the brutal death of Fr. Fausto Tentorio of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Mission (PIME) on October 17,2011 in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato, Philippines.

Fr. Tentorio, an Italian PIME priest and member of the RMP (Rural Missionaries of the Philippines), braved the threats to his life and lived and served our indigenous brothers and sisters according to the light that God had given him to see. He was instrumental in the formation of the TINANANON-KULAMANON LUMADNONG PANAGHIUSA (TIKULPA) to empower the indigenous people in his parish to protect their land, livelihood and liberty.

Together with our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and all over the world, we join the call for justice to Fr. Tentorio and the other leaders of indigenous communities, including Rebenio Sungit of the Pelaw tribe gunned down last September 5, 2011, and Ramon Batoy also of Arakan Valley, killed on 20 October, a mere three days after Fr. Tentorio. They valiantly fought for the rights of the indigenous people to their ancestral domain and campaigned against aggressive mining destroying the environment on which indigenous people depend for their livelihood and way of life and in which their spirituality is rooted.

We therefore join the call to:

–    Demand an immediate and thorough investigation of the death of Fr. Tentorio, Rebenio Sungit and Ramon Batoy and to bring before the bar of justice the assailants believed to be paramilitary groups; and to end the climate of impunity by rendering justice to Fr. Tentorio and all victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and to immediately investigate, put to trial and punish the perpetrators of these human rights violations;

–    Demand an investigation into the connection of ‘Oplan Bayanihan’, the counterinsurgency program of the Aquino government, with that of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s failed ‘Oplan Bantay Laya’ that left 1,206 victims of extrajudicial killings, 206 cases of forced disappearances as well as thousands of cases of other human rights violations;

–    Scrap the Mining Act of 2005 and cancel mining permits for large foreign mining firms that have been encroaching on the ancestral domain of indigenous people, affecting their livelihood and destroying the environment.

We offer our prayers for justice for Fr. Tentorio. He will forever be remembered and celebrated by those whose lives he touched and changed, especially the Lumads (indigenous people) and other marginalized people for whom he devoted his life and ministry as God’s faithful servant.

3 November 2011
Hong Kong

Signed:
1.    Bruce Van Voorhis (ICF)
2.    Interfaith Cooperation Forum
3.    Rev. Dwight Q. dela Torre (IFI/PIC), Co-chairperson, PCPR-HK
4.    Rev. Dan Borlado, Minister, New Beginnings Christian Fellowship & Co-chairperson, PCPR-HK
5.    Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) HK Fellowship
6.    Necta Montes, General Secretary, WSCF-AP & Sec. General, PCPR-HK
7.    World Student Christian Federation – Asia Pacific (WSCF-AP)
8.    Back to Christ Alliance – Hong Kong
9.    Jackie Hung, Project Officer, Justice and Peace Commission of the HK Catholic Diocese
10.    Fr. Franco Mella, HK PIME Social Concern Group
11.    Fr. Gianni Criveller, HK PIME Social Concern Group
12.    Rev. Grace Bok, Pastor – One Body in Christ Church
13.    Fan Lap-hin, Director, Hong Kong Christian Institute (HKCI)
14.    Rev. Phyllis Wong, Senior Minister, Kowloon Union Church
15.    Ptr. Joram Calimutan, Executive Committee Member, PCPR-HK
16.    John Chong, Kwai Chung Estate Christian Basic Community
17.    Davy Wong, Hong Kong Christian Institute (HKCI)
18.    Narrow Church
19.    Promotion of Church People’s Response – Hong Kong Chapter (PCPR-HK)

Endorsed by:
1.    Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP)
2.    Hon. Leung Kwok-hung, (LSD) Legislative Councilor, HKSAR
3.    Andrew To, Chairman, League of Social Democrats (LCSD)
4.    Eric Lai, Convenor, Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF)
5.    Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI-HK)
6.    United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)
7.    Gabriela Hong Kong
8.    BAYAN Hong Kong
9.    Filipino Migrant Workers’ Union (FMWU)
10.    Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS-HK)
11.    Cordillera Alliance – Hong Kong (CORALL-HK)
12.    United Pangasinan Hong Kong (UPHK)
13.    Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
14.    Asia Pacific Youth and Students Association (ASA)

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Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of
Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines
c/o ASA, No. 4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 98105070, 97585935        Fax. (852) 27354559
E-mail: hkcahrpp@gmail.com

Families of desaparecidos commemorate missing loved ones in Baclaran Church during All Souls Day

ICHRP Secretariat
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“I know that he is no longer with us,” said Shirley Pascual, wife of missing Roberto Pascual who was abducted on April 7, 1988, twenty-three years ago.

“It took me ten years to finally accept that he is not coming back,” Shirley said. Roberto Pascual was an organizer of fishermen in Navotas and Manila when he was forcibly taken by eight armed men from their house two days before his second son’s birthday. He was at that time preparing for that occasion. “I tried to stop them by hugging my husband really tight, but I was hit with a rifle butt on the head (by the abductors) and lost consciousness,” Shirley recounted.

Mrs. Pascual did the usual round of search for her husband. She inspected the morgues, hospitals, police stations and other possible places she could find him. Yet, Roberto was never found.

Since then, every November 2, Shirley, together with her sons–and eventually her grandsons, would visit Baclaran Redemptorist church with other families of the disappeared to remember their missing loved ones. “Like them, I had hoped that Bert’s perpetrators would bring him back. But after accepting that we would no longer see him, I vowed to continue the struggle of families like us, that one day enforced disappearances would come to an end.”

This year, Families of the Disappeared for Justice or Desaparecidos, are back in Baclaran Redemptorist Church with an exhibit showing photos of victims of enforced disappearances. But instead of the victim’s eyes, a mirror is mounted where viewers find their own eyes replacing that of the victim’s. Mary Guy Portajada explained that, “it is not meant to scare the viewers, but to make them realize that anyone, themselves or their loved ones included, may become victims of enforced disappearances.”  Adding that this happened to the son of Lolita Robiños, a mere tricycle driver who was forcibly taken  from their home in Angeles, Pampanga 5 years ago, on November 17, 2006.

“Reading on, the viewer will also get to know who the victims are — mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers or sisters, church members, farmers, workers, community organizers or activists,” she said. Mary Guy Portajada is the daughter of Armando Portajada who was a union leader of Coca-Cola Bottlers and has been missing since 1987.

“It pains me to know that enforced disappearances still happen and that the number of families of victims who underwent the same pain, are growing in numbers,” Shirley said. “More families come here every year as new members of our organization and as new victims. We welcome them with the resolve that even if different regimes have passed, dictators and democratic alike, unless a genuine change of society and state will happen, enforced disappearances will continue. So we too struggle for a society that will genuinely serve the interest of the people, especially the poor,” Shirley added.

The family of Alfredo Bucal, one of eight victims of enforced disappearance under the Pres. Noynoy Aquino government, came to unite with the Families of the Disappeared for Justice today. Bucal was abducted last Nov. 10, 2010 in Tuy, Batangas. ###

Reference:
Mary Guy Portajada, Secretary General, +639175415133

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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.

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