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APPEAL FOR ACTION: Brother of political prisoner, shot dead in Occidental Mindoro, Southern Luzon, Philippines

ICHRP Secretariat
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Brother of political prisoner, shot dead in Occidental Mindoro, Southern Luzon, Philippines
UA No: 2012-12-01 January 3, 2012
UA Case : Extrajudicial Killing
Victim/s : GUILLERMO CASTILLO, 46, Farmer
· Resident of Sitio Tiguilan, Brgy. Tayamaan, Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro
· Married with six children
· Member of the Samahang Magbubukid sa Kanlurang Mindoro, a local farmers’ organization
· Brother of political detainee Eulogio Castillo, one of the Morong 43 detainees who remain incarcerated

Place of Incident : Sitio Tiguilan, brgy. Tayamaan, Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro
Date of Incident : December 13, 2011

Alleged Perpetrator(s) : A lone gunman, suspected soldier of the 80th Infantry Battalion, Phil. Army, wearing a jacket, denim shortpants, with a shirt covering the lower half of his face, and sporting a crew-cut hair

Account of the Incident:

On December 13, 2011, at 6:30 pm, Marites de Villa, Guillermo’s wife was manning their small sari-sari store, when a man she mistook as her eldest son, came and entered their house. He went straight to the kitchen which was near the door and shot her husband Guillermo, who was then cooking their dinner.

Guillermo was still able to run and hide inside their room, while the assailant fled on foot.
Guillermo suffered from four gunshot wounds and was declared dead-on-arrival at the hospital.
Guillermo was the brother of Eulogio Castillo, one of the 43 health workers who were illegally arrested in Morong and detained in 2010. Eulogio was kept in detention based on more trumped-up criminal charges, even as the others were released in December 2010. On September 12, 2011, Eulogio was transferred from Bicutan, Taguig to the Occidental Mindoro Provincial Jail in Mamburao town. A total of 17 criminal charges had been filed against him.

Prior to the killing, Guillermo and his siblings were subjected to constant military harassment, being accused as supporters of the New People’s Army. One of the siblings recounted the threat allegedly made by Army Lt. Juvielyn Cabading that they will be killed after Eulogio was arrested in February 2010.

Soldiers maintained presence in Guillermo’s community. Members of the 80thInfantry Battalion were deployed to their village, a month before he was killed.

The local policemen interviewed Maritess at the hospital and in their home, and asked questions from their nieces and nephews at the house. Other family members said that the police implied that Guillermo owned a gun because they asked why he was still able to run and hide inside their room. The police even went to the back of the house and noted that the place led to the boondocks and that the house was isolated from other homes.

In 2004, soldiers repeatedly harassed Guillermo because he was accused of supporting members of the New People’s Army. Guillermo promptly filed complaints with the police regarding such harassment, and even had a dialogue with the military to expose the harassment against him.

Karapatan-Southern Tagalog views the killing as part of the continuing political repression on progressive groups and activists critical of the government.

Guillermo was laid to rest on Dec. 20.

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 extrajudicial killing of Guillermo Castillo.
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 innnocent 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

Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
Email: osnd@philonline.com

Atty. Leila De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct Line 521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.214
Fax: (+632) 521-1614
Email: soj@doj.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
National Office
2/F Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin cor Matatag Sts.,
Brgy. Central, Diliman, Quezon City 1100 PHILIPPINES
Voice/Fax: (+632) 435 4146
Email: urgentaction@karapatan.org
Website: www.karapatan.org

NUPL on the 1st Cadapan-Empeno Court Hearing

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Statement – As the court heard today the charges of Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention against Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and three others involving the disappearance of UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) private prosecutors said:

“We welcome and agree the judge’s firm and clear ruling that fugitive Gen. Palparan cannot seek relief, if at all, unless he surrenders or is arrested. He cannot have his cake and eat it too while trifling with the judicial and legal process.

The mothers continue to protest the dubious and sleight of hand transfer of his co-accused to military custody based on the Army intelligence group’s invocation of an ancient and obscure 1937 executive order issued by President Manuel Quezon and Interior Secretary Elpidio Quirino. It is essentially thumbing the nose versus the basic sense of fairness and decency.”

Reference (Panel of Private Prosecutors): Atty. Edre Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373); Atty. Ephraim Cortez, NUPL Assistant Secretary General for Legal Services; Atty. Julian Oliva; Atty. Jobert Pahilga; and Atty. Cristina Yambot
—
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

Private prosecutors in case of 2 missing UP students welcome bounty for immediate arrest of Palparan

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Statement –   The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) welcomes the P500,000 bounty put up by authorities for any information leading to the arrest of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. If it will be an additional incentive to bring in a fugitive running scared and in denial that the time of reckoning has come and who must be held accountable for other crimes against humanity and international humanitarian law pending or about to be filed in the courts, then so be it. Any legitimate effort to further inform the public to turn him in is fine.

At the end of the day, with all its powers, machinery and resources, it is incumbent on the government to arrest forthwith and bring before the bar of justice the highest military officer to be ever indicted for human rights violations in the country. He must be reunited with his avid fan, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in an ordinary jailhouse sooner than later.

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (+639175113373)

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

NUPL on Palparan’s being a fugitive from justice

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Statement – In light of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan’s being a fugitive from justice, his remarks to Judge Teodora Gonzales who issued the warrant of arrest against him, and his criticisms on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Atty. Edre Olalia said:

“Palparan is hopelessly incorrigible and his braggadocio is incomparable. The highest military officer ever criminally indicted for human rights violations is now spewing veiled threats versus the judge and venom versus the justice secretary. He has done that to anyone who stands in his way. He must now turn himself in to the authorities and stop being the coward and heartless creature that he really is. He tried to sneak out of the country while the whole nation was sadly riveted by a horrible calamity of tragic proportions. He should face the music and leave the lawyering to his counsels.”

Atty. Olalia is the Secretary General of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and a member of the panel of private prosecutors in the criminal case against Palparan involving the disappearance of UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Press Statement, December 19, 2011, NUPL on Palparan’s attempt to leave the country

Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL secretary-general, on the reported attempt of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan to leave the country this morning:

Days after the release of the DOJ resolution implicating him in the disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, the bid of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan to sneak out of the country is a manifest attempt to flee justice.

Flight is an indication of guilt. The poster boy of GMA-sanctioned heinous rights violations is obviously pulling a fast one again. He has been lying through his teeth for the longest time and everything that comes out of his mouth is a barefaced lie. As he is guilty as hell, Palparan’s arrest must be done with dispatch. He is as remorseless as he is cunning and arrogant. This latest stunt patently shreds off any of his pretensions.

Press Statement, December 16, 2011, Arrest Palparan and His Cohorts

More than five years and five months after the disappearance of Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, the DOJ found probable cause to the charges against Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio. Finally, Palparan and his cohorts in the military will be tried in court for the crime of Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention of the 2 UP students.

Holding Palparan for trial is long overdue amidst the several crimes he perpetrated against activists and those who espouse dissent amidst injustice. While this is just the start of a long and rigorous trial to account Palparan for his crimes, this is a significant victory for human rights defenders and a big step towards ensuring respect for human rights in a country that has witnessed monstrous human rights violations in the past decade.

At long last, justice has caught up with Gen. Palparan and his ilk. The resolution sends a strong, clear and loud message to human rights violators that they cannot just get away with their inhumane acts and that there is no other place for them but behind bars. It should help abet the longstanding climate of impunity, the offspring of the anti-insurgency policy of the state that has no regard for human rights and the law.

We call for the immediate arrest of the perpetrators and ask that the 2 UP students and other victims of enforced disappearances be surfaced. We shall continue to be determined to make other violators like former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other top civil, military and police officials accountable for their high crimes against the people.#

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (+639175113373)

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

Moro-Christian People’s Alliance on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

ICHRP Secretariat
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As nations all over the world commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) today, the Moro people in the Philippines have yet to experience the spirit and real intent of the UDHR in their lives.

On the contrary, the Moro people bear the brunt of continuous, systematic and large-scale human rights violations by the Philippine government’s “total war”, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaign. The previous Arroyo government implemented the brutal Oplan Bantay Laya and a culture of impunity reigned not only in Moro communities but throughout the country.

The 9-year Arroyo regime openly avowed an “all-out peace” policy to resolve the decades-old Moro armed rebellion. However, it launched two major devastating military offensives against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2003 and 2008 that forcedly displaced hundreds of thousands of Moro civilians.

The Arroyo regime also declared a “state of lawlessness” in Basilan in 2001 in response to the acts of terrorism by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).  But hundreds of innocent Moro civilians became the victims of warrantless arrests and torture in the indiscriminate military crackdown on suspected ASG leaders and members.

For ten years now, more than 43 innocent Moro victims of Arroyo’s declaration in Basilan still languish in jail. These Moro detainees were arbitrarily arrested and charged with trumped up cases of terrorism.  For ten years now, they are forced to endure the almost inhumane prison condition, the sick and elderly lack medical care, and are imprisoned in an already condemned and unsafe prison facility. They have not received any special treatment from the government.

Their human rights have been violated and continuously violated many times over with their prolonged detention.

Yet former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrested on charges of electoral sabotage is given special treatment, her feigned illnesses given much concern and allowed to be detained at a luxurious presidential suite of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, at the expense of people’s taxes, by the Aquino government.

The Aquino government has the moral obligation to rectify the wrongs of the past administration. It should expeditiously prosecute and punish Arroyo for her abuse of power and gross human rights violations against the Filipino people. It should end the practice of arbitrary arrests, torture and illegal detention of innocent Moro civilians. It should immediately and unconditionally release all Moro political prisoners particularly those detained during the 2001 Basilan crackdown.

As long as justice continues to be denied to the Moro political prisoners, they remain victims of human rights violation under the Aquino administration. And for as long as the basic aspiration of the Moro people of their inalienable right to land and self-determination is not genuinely addressed by the Aquino administration,  the spirit  and intent of the UDHR will never be realized by the Moro people.###

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