http://www.tribuneonline.org
by Michaela P. del Callar
A prominent human rights watchdog yesterday blamed what it called a two-decade reign of terror of the Ampatuan warlord clan on former President Arroyo’s political patronage of the Ampatuans, saying this allowed them to amass great wealth and unchecked power, strengthen various militia forces, increase the sale of military weaponry and ensure impunity for rights abuses in Maguindanao.
PRESS RELEASE
November 17, 2010
For reference:
Hanimay Suazo
Karapatan Acting Deputy Secretary-General
DAVAO CITY – Human rights group Karapatan says today that the peace and development teams of the Armed Forces of the Philippines now going around some parts of the city are meant to harass civilians and sow fear among the residents.
“The concept pf Peace and development teams in the barangay is a candy-wrapped presentation of militarizing communities or a sugar-coated-bullet kind of operation,” says Hanimay Suazo, acting deputy secretary-general of Karapatan.
Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
Published in Business World
Leonard Co, unarguably one of the country’s foremost botanists and biodiversity experts, as well as an indefatigable conservationist, was killed in a forested area in Kananga, Leyte last Monday, together with two of his companions, while undertaking scientific explorations under the auspices of the Energy Development Corporation. Two others survived.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) immediately claimed that the three killed were “collateral damage” in a legitimate military operation against rebel New People’s Army (NPA) who had been sighted in the area.
More than seven years ago, also in Kananga town, nine civilians were reported by Tacloban human rights groups and people’s organizations to have been tortured and massacred by soldiers of the 19th Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Oscar Lactao, dubbed the “Palparan of Leyte”. The AFP reported the incident as an “encounter with the NPA”.
Human rights groups decried that eight of the victims were shot in the head, at close range, and that there was evidence of torture as shown by scald burns found on the victims’ bodies. Among the dead were Eugenio Tazan, 54-year-old peasant leader of the San Isidro Small Farmers Association, and 24-year-old Rowena Superior of the Bagalungon Small Farmers Association, who was three months pregnant. Four others killed were minors with ages ranging from 13 to 17.
In another infamous case in Palo, Leyte on Nov 21, 2005, a group of farmers resting by a make-shift warehouse before they start work on their plots were viciously attacked by elements of the 19th IB. Hurling five grenades and firing continuously for 30 minutes, the soldiers killed seven farmers, including a pregnant woman, and wounded several others. Not satisfied, the soldiers hit the survivors with rifle butts, forcing them to confess they were armed and members of the NPA. Failing to extract confessions, the soldiers brought in a sack of old rifles and claimed these belonged to the farmers, in the same fashion that the 16th IB PA planted firearms and explosives as evidence against the Morong 43 early this year.
As in most cases of human rights violations in the rural areas, the planners and perpetrators of the Kananga and Palo massacres remain unpunished despite numerous evidence and testimonies. The victims being ordinary folk have been consigned to oblivion, just another statistic in the government’s counter-insurgency drive, as “rebels” who had been properly “neutralized” or as “collateral damage”.
Apparently, this is what the AFP wants to happen in the case of Co and the two other victims, forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and farmer Julius Borromeo, who were acting as Co’s assistants. But since the military cannot impugn the character of Co nor raise questions about the legitimacy of his group’s presence in the virgin forest surrounding the EDC geothermal facility, their claim is that the victims were killed in the supposed crossfire between clashing soldiers and rebels.
Unfortunately for the AFP, such claims are being belied by the two survivors of the massacre. “I only heard a continued burst of gunfire. There was no answering gunfire. None. That was what I heard…,” said Policarpio Balute, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association who served as Co’s guide.
According to Niño Gibe as recounted by Co’s wife, “(Gibe) said that when my husband tried to get up from the ground, another burst of gunfire hit him in the back.” “After the second volley of gunfire, Niño said he held up his hand as sign of surrender and shouted, ‘Tama na, tama na’ (Stop it), and the gunfire suddenly stopped,” the wife said.
Compare these eyewitness accounts to that of Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th IB who, in a press conference held in Tacloban, claimed that before the shooting started, his soldiers saw a person wearing black and holding an M-16 rifle, prompting them to assume a combat formation. Denying earlier reports that he said a soldier fired the first shot, Tutaan now says, “There was a volume of fire. The bullets ricocheted to different directions.”
Tutaan added that since early November, the 19th IB was on “heightened alert and always on a combat mode” because of intelligence reports that NPA members were planning to attack the EDC complex. He claimed that it was the EDC that had tipped them off on the presence of the NPA yet he also claimed they were uninformed that there were EDC employees in the area.
CENCOM Commanding General Ralph Villanueva betrayed the AFP’s mindset and default mode of shifting the blame to the NPAs, if not to the victims themselves, when he said that investigations are being conducted to determine whether the bullets that killed Co and his companions came from the soldiers’ rifles or from the NPAs. Assuming without granting that the bullets did not come from 19th IB firearms, how could he tell that these came from the NPA minus ballistic tests on such rifles?
Meanwhile the family of Co has raised pointed questions about the AFP’s version of what took place. They want to know why Co was allowed to enter the area if rebel presence had been reported there. And if the military was in such close coordination with the EDC with regard to their ongoing operations, why was Co not forewarned about imminent danger to his group of being “caught in a cross fire”?
Most poignantly, Co’s wife, Glenda asks in disbelief, “Nangyayari pa rin ang ganito kahit na sa ilalim ni Pnoy, bakit?” (“This is still happening under Pnoy’s administration, why?”)
The climate of impunity that pervades the entire AFP and other state security forces evidently emboldens them to continue perpetrating atrocities against perceived or even imagined “enemies”. Surely, the impunity with which the 19th IB had perpetrated several massacres and gotten away with them is behind this most recent tragedy.
The AFP has of late been attempting to refurbish its tarnished image with grand claims of upholding human rights.
A day after the killings, General Ricardo David Jr, AFP chief, proudly announced that the AFP was setting up human rights offices in all three major services – the army, navy and air force – and would designate HR officers down to the battalion level. The aim was purportedly “to demonstrate the AFP’s resolve and enhance its campaign in ensuring observance of human rights, international humanitarian law and the rule of law.”
However, an objective appraisal of these welcome words of institutional commitment to human rights in light of the AFP’s most recent actuations and track record leads to the inevitable conclusion that this latest pronouncement is nothing more than a public relations move.
It is in line with the so-called security sector reform being flaunted by Malacañang, whose aim is not really to reform the military, police and other state security forces but to clean up and improve their public image and make them more acceptable and credible.
How President Aquino, AFP Commander-in-Chief, will deal with this indiscriminate and wanton slaughter of a brilliant scientist and his assistants will again test his willingness and capacity to uphold human rights over and above the military’s protestations of innocence. (19-20 November 2010)
On February 6, 2010, 43 health workers taking part in the First Responders Training were illegally arrested by combined elements from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police in Morong, Rizal.
The health workers, who became known as the “Morong 43”, included two doctors, a nurse, two midwives, and volunteer community health workers. At the time of their arrest, they were training for medical interventions in far flung areas during times of disasters. The training was sponsored by Community Medicine Foundation (COMMED) and Council for Health and Development (CHD), two organizations known for community health work.
Using a defective search warrant, the illegal raid was conducted in gross violations of standard procedures and basic human rights. The health workers were not informed of the reasons for their arrest and for fi ve days, were denied their right to counsel even during the inquest proceedings.
The military falsely accused the health workers of being members of the New Peoples Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines, allegedly of conducting a bomb making training. During their detention in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, the military committed various atrocities, including prolonged psychological, physical, torture and sexual harassment. As such, the military was able to coerce fi ve health workers to become “state witnesses” and turn against their colleagues.
The 43 health workers did not get justice under the Arroyo government. At present, the 38 are still detained at Camp Bagong Diwa while waiting for the Supreme Court of the Philippines to act on their appeal. The legal battle and mass actions will continue until justice is fi nally served to the 43 health workers.
As an act of goodwill we appeal to president-elect Benigno Aquino III to uphold and respect human rights and free the 43 health workers and all political prisoners.
We call on all sectors of society, colleagues in the health professions, lawyers, lawmakers, political leaders across party lines, religious formations, human rights advocates, artists, and advocates and benefi ciaries of community-based health programs to join the campaign to free the 43.
We call on various national and international organizations to support the campaign, undertake advocacy work, mobilizations and call on the new administration to free the 43 health workers.
Calls and Demands
What you can do:
1. Join and support the campaign activities
2. Send letters, statements calling for their release to Philippine government institutions
3. Attend, organize for a, discussion groups and other educational activities
4. Provide support services for the detainees and their families
5. Sign up for the on-line petition
6. Do lobby work
7. Raise funds for the defense of Morong 43
Financial donations can be placed in:
Account name:
COUNCIL FOR HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Philippine National Bank
Peso Savings Account # 219-8303219
Timog Branch
Timog Avenue,
Quezon City, Philippines
Bank of Philippine Islands
US$ Account # 3144 00 5391
swift code BOPIPHMM
Kamuning Branch
Tomas Morato Avenue,
Quezon City, Philippines
FREE THE 43 HEALTH WORKERS
#35 Examiner St., West Triangle Homes, Quezon City
Telefax: (+632) 929-8109
Cellphone #: 0922-499-6237
EMail: [email protected]
Blog: http://freethehealthworkers.blogspot.com
Online Petition: http://petitiononline.com/FreeD43/petition.html
Nine months have passed since the illegal arrest of 43 innocent health care workers on 6 February 2010 by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). These doctors, nurses and midwives now known to human rights defenders across the world as the “Morong 43” were arrested while participating in a one week First Responders Training, sponsored by the Community Medicine Foundation, Inc. and the Council for Health and Development at the farm of Dr. Melecia Velmonte located in Bgy Maybangcal, Morong, Rizal. Dr. Velmonte is a respected infectious disease specialist as well as a consultant at the Philippine General Hospital and her farm is a regular venue for medical health trainings that attract community workers, hospital staff and academicians.
