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Statement on the commemoration of International Human Rights (IHR) Day on 10th December 2011

ICHRP Secretariat
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December 2011 – Philippines Australia Solidarity Association (PASA), an organisation of individuals committed to promoting peace and social justice in the Philippines, Australia and in other parts of the world, celebrates the 63rd year of the United Nations’ declared International Human Rights day with hope and determination.

Since PASA’s founding in 2003, it has campaigned ceaselessly for Human Rights in the Philippines and Australia and advocated for human rights violations victims. PASA commemorates the IHR day yearly and welcomes it as an opportunity to update the public on the Human Rights situation in the Philippines and in Australia.  This IHR day also serves to highlight the experiences of victims of human rights abuses.

Philippine government administrations since the Marcos regime of the 1970s has assured us that there is no shortage of victims of human rights abuses. Even the current administration, on which many Filipinos pinned their hopes, is no different from its predecessors in abusing its citizens. In just 16 months of rule, the Aquino administration added to the list of victims with sixty four extrajudicial killings and nine enforced disappearances.
Militarization in the countryside motivated by the massive exploitation of lands by big foreign companies for its natural resources impacts on the rise in human rights violation.  Mining companies are protected by the Philippine government military personnel, in addition to being allowed private armies that patrol their sites.  As a result, many Filipinos are displaced, driven out of their lands and their means of living destroyed depriving them their very basic right to food, shelter and security of life.

Overseas Filipinos, representing more than ten percent of the Philippine population especially the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), also experience abuses.  They expect the Philippine government to protect their rights as Filipino citizens wherever they may be. Philippine President Noynoy Aquino promises to the OFW’s are yet to be fulfilled.

In September this year, PASA sent letters to Australian Parliamentarians and senators expressing concern about Human rights violation in the Philippines. In the letter PASA asked the Australian government to raise the issue of HR to the Philippine President Benigno Aquino Jr, review the military aid and financial support to the Philippine government given that the Philippine Military is implicated in majority of the Human Rights violations. PASA also requested that Australia support the peace process between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Philippines.

Many of the responses from Australian Federal politicians mentioned that they are happy to be updated of the issue; that they have referred the matter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd; and that they will ensure that the issue of human rights in the Philippines is addressed by the Australian government.

The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, in his reply to PASA’s letter gave assurance that the Australian Government is promoting the respect for human rights in the Philippines; that Australia is conducting training of the Philippine Military and the course includes the emphasis on the rule of law, individual and command responsibility, the law on armed conflict, detainee handling and rules of engagement.  The Minister also accepted that there is more work to be done to ensure that the Philippine government protects all its citizens.

We are confident that the Philippine Military knows and understands its duties and responsibilities to the people it is supposed to protect. They just ignore them and abuse their positions because the Philippine government allows the culture of impunity to continue.

PASA is committed to pursuing the respect for human rights in the Philippines and in Australia. It is vigorously interested in pursuing genuine peace and justice. ###

May Kotsakis                                                          Andrew Morrison
Co-Chairpersons
Email: maykotsakis@yahoo.com.au            Email: osipino@optusnet.com.au
Ph. 0411 406700                                                  Ph. 0415 365109

Aquino administration perpetuates double standard of justice

ICHRP Secretariat
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Press Statement – Baseless arrests, brutal dispersals, inaction on human rights violations, and kid-gloves treatment of GMA – Aquino administration perpetuates double standard of  justice

The recent actions of the Aquino administration has shown not only lack of empathy for the ordinary people, but perpetuate a double standard of justice.
The demonstrations in Mendiola over the past days seeking fundamental reforms are treated as if they were presumptively criminal, instead of legitimate exercises of  the basic right to freedom of speech, and to assemble peaceably and petition the government for redress of grievances.
The baseless arrests and brutal dispersal of protesters is a sign of pathetic paranoia by “law enforcement” agents. The police have been overzealous and grossly abused their power, even filing fantastic charges for sedition that did not hold water.

Perhaps Malacanang’s definition of “maximum tolerance” is misplaced. In principle, it was designed to be in favor of the rallyists, and it means that police must observe the highest degree of restraint during a public assembly. It is not a privilege that Pnoy and his spokesperson imperiously endow on the citizens. The Aquino administration has only acted otherwise: it quickly mobilized nine trucks of policemen and resorted to physical mauling and deprivation of liberty to restrain protesters.

Also, slow action, and most times, inaction, on human rights violations cultivate a climate of impunity where violators get away with crimes. Former president Gloria Arroyo, infamous for craft and cunning, could escape accountability, given this administration’s ambivalence and  even sloth in filing strong cases against her.  Any slower and further fidgeting and Aquino himself would be accessory to her offenses. Any current intramurals among the political and economic elite obscures signs of eventual accommodation and compromise.

PNoy should stop being confused with how to treat Arroyo. It is not the government’s responsibility to give her peace of mind, provide her conveniences, nor cheer her spirits. And certainly it is not the government’s business to give her special treatment. Her high crimes and abuse of power are in fact aggravating circumstances. It is his duty to make her accountable especially for gross human rights violations.

On International Human Rights day, human rights defenders have one common demand from PNoy: release all political prisoners. There are more than 350 political prisoners languishing in jail today, on hazy, even  made up charges that penalize them for their political activism that he himself also benefitted.

Perpetrators for human rights violations must be held accountable. This is one chance for redemption before a frustrated people come claim justice for themselves. Those who forget the lessons of history are damned to repeat them. #

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General, 0917-5113373

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.

One year after their release, Morong 43 still cry for justice

ICHRP Secretariat
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Today, as the world celebrates the International Day of Human Rights, members of the Morong 43 march with hundreds of others in Mendiola, Manila to amplify their call for justice.

“If there is one thing that 10 months of illegal incarceration and torture did to us, it is proving to ourselves and the people that the military under the Arroyo and Aquino governments failed to break our spirits in our quest for justice,” Nurse Gary Liberal said.

Marching alongside hundreds of others, whose economic and political rights are continued to be trampled upon, Liberal commented that the Aquino administration should work double time in building people’s confidence in the country’s justice system and not working “over-time in giving Mrs. Arroyo special treatment” by allowing her to stay in a plush presidential suite at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

Liberal reminded Mr. Aquino that he should pay more attention to the inhumane conditions within regular detention facilities around the country before minding the health and comfort (including the installation of new toilets) of Mrs. Arroyo at VMMC.  He added that ordinary prisoners die of curable and preventable diseases due to lack of medical attention, proper nutrition, and congestion.  “He [Mr. Aquino] may be denying it, but according special treatment to Mrs. Arroyo speaks a lot about his bias for the rich and powerful.”

The spokesperson maintained that Mrs. Arroyo should be placed in a regular jail just like any regular civilian.

“It is shameful for Mr. Aquino to trumpet his parents’ legacy for being human rights defenders and staunch fighters for democracy while he continues to tolerate and encourage the culture of impunity by not doing anything to put make human rights violators accountable for their crimes.  To date, not a single one of our torturers has been tried in court,” he added.

Liberal furthered that the best gift that Mr. Aquino could ever grant their families and those of other human rights victims and political prisoners is to “make Mrs. Arroyo and her cohorts pay for their crimes and grant general, omnibus, unconditional amnesty to more than 300 political prisoners in 65 jails nationwide.”  This includes 2 of the Morong 43 who are still in jail.

He enjoined the Filipino people in their call to “end impunity, justice for the Morong 43, jail GMA now!”

Reference – Gary Liberal, R.N.- Mobile: (0922)5751689 / Telefax: (+632 929.8109)
Spokesperson, Morong 43

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Giving in to constant local and international pressure on his government, Mr. Aquino declared that the charges against the 43 health workers will be dropped followed by orders to release them.  On December 17, 2010,  36 of the Morong 43 walked free.  Two of their colleagues are still in jail because of trumped-up charges slapped by a Metro Manila court.

Mindanao human rights summit rebuffs Malacañang denial on killings,says Oplan Bayanihan is cause of impunity

ICHRP Secretariat
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(4th Mindanao Human Rights Summit, December 2, 2011. CAP Grand Auditorium, Davao City) – The stories heard from the 4th Human Rights Summit held in Davao last Friday told of how the military struck fear and terror in communities all over Mindanao.

A Mamanwa woman recounted how soldiers burned her village in an operation in Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte.  A farmer from Arakan Valley, North Cotabato who is nine months pregnant told of how soldiers illegally arrested her relatives and strafed at their houses.

A lumad advocate lamented how soldiers conducting a ‘peace and development’ mission in Sarangani harassed Blaan students and teachers in a literacy school that forced it to close down.  A Moro advocate said the situation of displaced 15,000 civilians in Basilan and Zamboanga Sibugay is the effect of President Aquino’s ‘all-out justice’ crusade for the death of 19 soldiers.

Bishop Felixberto Calang, convener of Barug Katungod Mindanao that spearheaded the Summit, said that out of the more than 1,200 victims of extrajudicial killings— all unsolved— nearly 400 of these are Mindanawons.

Calang said this belie Malacañang’s pronouncement this week claiming there are only five victims of extrajudicial killings under President Aquino’s government

“We come here for the fourth time, only to see human rights getting worse,” Calang said.

The annual gathering of victims, churchpeople, and human rights advocates of about 500 made sharp criticism on Aquino, especially ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines to continue pursuing a counter-insurgency program that has worsened human rights violations.

The Summit also demanded the pull out of military troops to stop the terror in communities, and said the AFP’s Oplan Bayanihan is responsible for the atrocities.

“If the military does not distinguish between human rights defenders and their targets, we will see no end to the killings and repression of human rights,” Calang said.

Another church leader, Bishop Modesto Villasanta, said the killings happened in the presence of the AFP’s peace and development teams in the communities.  These include the killing of Fr. Fausto Tentorio in Arakan, North Cotabato and farmer Rudy Dejos in Davao del Sur, and nine-year old Sunshine Jabinez in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

“What ‘peace and development’ is the AFP talking about? That people rest in peace?” asked Villsanta.

Bishop Calang further said that the country’s human rights record under Aquino is “more appaling compared to Gloria Arroyo’s” with 55 cases of extrajudicial killings in less than two years.

The atrocities however emboldened communities and rights advocates alike to pursue actions to protect human rights.  He said several human rights organizations are now preparing to take the Aquino government to task for this continuing impunity before the United Nations Human Rights Council which is set to review the Philippines’ human rights record next year.

He said tens of thousands from all over Mindanao are expected to pour out into the streets to demand an end to impunity on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

“Coming to this summit, defenders and survivors, the tears that you have kept are now a wellspring of courage to stop the continuing impunity in our country,” Calang said.
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Barug Katungod Mindanao is a consortium of human rights and peace advocacy groups in Mindanao including InPeace Mindanao, Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao, Sisters’ Association in Mindanao (Samin), Kalumaran, Kawagib Moro Human Rights Alliance and is supported by the European Commission under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) program.

KARAPATAN, End Impunity Alliance call for immediate resolution of Morong 43 civil suit

ICHRP Secretariat
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KARAPATAN, End Impunity Alliance call for immediate resolution of Morong 43 civil suit

Media Release – Justice delayed is justice denied.

Human rights group Karapatan and End Impunity Alliance, a network supporting the victims of human rights violations in their quest for justice, joined six members of the Morong 43 and their counsels from the National Union of People’s Lawyers as they filed a second motion to resolve their petition for the writ of preliminary attachment in their P15-million civil case against former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and key military officials.

Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor said the undue delay of the resolution prompted plaintiffs to file a second Urgent Manifestation with Motion to resolve. The civil case has been stalling in RTC branch 226 for more than five months now and has not gone beyond its only hearing last June 10, 2011.

“GMA’s attempts to leave the country only show her deliberate intent to evade justice. As long as the cases are still pending before the courts, she has all the chances to evade accountability. We will not allow this shameless act to happen. The lives claimed under Arroyo’s counter-insurgency program must not go in vain,” Clamor asserted.

End Impunity Alliance convenor Cristina Palabay noted that “the resolution of the petition is necessary for the court to issue summons for all respondents including GMA.”

“The court should immediately resolve the case considering GMA’s attempt to abscond. While the former president is already under arrest for electoral fraud, albeit under well off conditions far from jail conditions, it is necessary to hold her and her henchmen in the military and police accountable for the human rights violations she has wrought under her administration,” Palabay commented.

The Morong 43 filed the first civil charges against GMA on human rights violations on April 4 this year.

Resolve other cases ASAP

In June, the United Church of Christ of the Philippines followed suit. Together with torture victim Pastor Berlin Guerrero and five others whose relatives were killed under GMA. Meanwhile, relatives of the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre filed last week.

According to Palabay, the Morong 43 and UCCP damage suits are only some of the lawsuits filed by relatives and victims of human rights violations against top government and military officials under GMA.

“Criminal charges filed against Arroyo’s lapdogs like retired army major Jovito Palparan have yet to be resolved,” she said.

It can be remembered that mothers of desaparecidos Erlinda Cadapan, Connie Empeno and Edita Burgos filed criminal charges against Palparan and ranking officers of the AFP and PNP for the abduction, torture and other grave human rights violations committed against their children Sherlyn, Karen and Jonas, respectively.

Also, torture victims Raymond Manalo and Oscar Leuterio filed their urgent motions to resolve the administrative and criminal cases they filed against Palparan and AFP officers which have long been pending under the Office of the Ombudsman. Both Manalo and Leuterio were witnesses to the abduction and disappearance of the missing UP students. ###

References:   Jigs Clamor, Deputy Secretary General, 0920-9466210
Cristina Palabay, End Impunity Alliance Convenor, 09175003879
Angge Santos, Public Information Officer, 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.

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