Nearly ten months into unjust incarceration, lawyers, health professionals and health workers march to highlight their call to free the 43 health workers.  From the illegal arrest and continued detention of the Morong 43, the medical and legal professions have been at the helm of the efforts to free the 43 health workers.

“The medical and legal community calls for the withdrawal of all cases filed against the health workers,” Dr. Julie Caguiat, spokesperson of the alliance said.

While President Aquino keeps on claiming a commitment on human rights and moves away from the dark shadows of the Arroyo regime, since it assumed office, it has only resorted up to this to sheer sloganeering on human rights and an evasive stance on the Morong 43.

According to Dr. Caguiat, “how can President Aquino be so callous by insisting on a trial of the health workers and still has not moved to withdraw the charges against the health workers when he himself already confirmed the blatant defects of the arrest which by principle should not merit a judicial review.”

By these pronouncements of the Aquino administration, it virtually sanctions the military’s sinister and illegal behavior within its counter-insurgency program.

“We believe that it is among the salient duties of the government to protect its citizens from injustices especially from the abuses of the state.  However, Aquino is making himself complicit of the past administration’s atrocities by refusing to perform his moral obligations to uphold human rights and enforce the rule of law and heeding only to the arbitrary ways of the military.”

The alliance also said that it is unfortunate that Aquino has the mettle to call for the release of Aung Sang Su Kyi while the rest of the world still has to remind the Philippine government of the urgency of addressing the injustices here in the country.

The group underscored that the continued detention of the Morong 43 portends more days of injustices and violations of human rights and affronts of civil liberties.  Caguiat said “we fear that there will be more similar cases of illegal arrest and detention if the government will not make the correct political stand.”

Among the medical and legal groups who participated in the march included the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, National Union of Peoples Lawyers, International Association of Progressive Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Philippine Nurses Association, Free the 43 Health Workers! Alliance and representatives from various medical and legal schools. (Reference: Julie P. Caguiat, M.D. – 0909.1133038 / (+632) 929.8109)

For more information and updates, you may also refer to: http://freethehealthworkers.blogspot.com/

2010 HR REPORT Dec 2010 MANILA, Philippines – “Nothing has changed” in the Philippine human rights situation under President Benigno Aquino and, in fact, violations of civil and political rights are “getting worse,” the human rights alliance Karapatan said Wednesday.

Releasing its 2010 Human Rights Report, Karapatan noted that there have already been 20 extrajudicial killings of activists in Aquino’s first four months, compared to the 18 who died in the last six months of the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The report documents human rights violations from January to October this year.

“Contrary to his promised change and daang matuwid (straight or righteous path), PNoy (Aquino) not only did not pursue justice for the victims, he is adding more victims to the already long list,” Karapatan chair Marie Hilao-Enriquez said in a statement. “His promised ‘cases of extrajudicial killings need to be solved, not just identify the perpetrators but have them captured and sent to jail’ statement has fast become an empty forgotten promise as killings continue without letup.  In fact, perpetrators have become more atrocious and impunity is worsening.”

Enriquez singled out Aquino’s appointment of Colonel Domingo Tutaan as head of the Armed Forces’ human rights office, which she called an “alarming message that no essential change will take place in the character of a repressive state.”

Tutaan, she pointed out, is the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Federico Tutaan, whose Army unit was involved in the killing of renowned botanist Leonardo Co and two of his companions in Leyte last month.

The military has claimed that Co died in the crossfire when soldiers clashed with communist rebels. But this has denied by witnesses as well as friends and colleagues of the botanist.

Enriquez also cited the raid on Karapatan’s Camarines Norte., the continued detention of the so-called “Morong 43” and other political prisoners, worsening militarization in the countryside, the extension of the counterinsurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya, and Aquino’s refusal to disband militias despite growing observations that these have often been used as private armies by political warlords.

Karapatan criticized Aquino’s granting amnesty to rebel soldiers while leaving the fate of political prisoners to the courts.

“In the case of the Morong 43, it has been admitted by no less than the President himself that the warrant was faulty and pieces of evidence were illegally gotten,” Karapatan said.

An international media group on Monday demanded prompt action from the Philippine government for two alleged abuses against media workers last week.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) sought the immediate arrest of men who allegedly shot and wounded Randy Makiputin in Valencia City in Bukidnon on November 26.

The IFJ questioned the alleged rough treatment that presidential guards gave Northern Luzon-based journalist Adela Wayas at a presidential event in Baguio City, also last weekend.

“The attempt on Makiputin’s life is reprehensible, regardless of the motives of his attackers … It is a shameful reminder that killings and attacks on media workers continue to be a very real threat to freedom of expression, human rights and a healthy media landscape in the Philippines,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said in an article posted on the IFJ website.

Makiputin, 39, is a broadcaster 0f Radyo Abante based in Maramag town in Bukidnon province.

Citing data from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the IFJ said at least four motorcycle-riding men ambushed Makiputin at 7 p.m. Friday.

Makiputin sustained a gunshot wound to the back of his head, and is now in stable condition.

The local police are investigating the incident, and are yet to establish whether the attack is related to Makiputin’s work with Radyo Abante.

The incident occurred only days after the country marked the first anniversary of the infamous Maguindanao massacre, where 58 people, 33 of them journalists, were killed.

Baguio journalist

Meanwhile, the IFJ said the NUJP’s Baguio-Benguet chapter questioned the alleged mistreatment of a local journalist in Baguio City also on Friday.

According to the IFJ, the PSG allegedly shoved Northern Dispatch journalist Adela Wayas at the opening of a fastfood outlet there.

“Presidential guards allegedly shoved Wayas as she attempted to enter the site of a media stunt featuring President Benigno Aquino III to mark the opening of a popular chain restaurant,” the IFJ said.

The IFJ said the PSG and police reportedly questioned Wayas’ media credentials after she covered a student protest outside the venue.

The guards allegedly asked Wayas if she was a “companion” of the protesters and prevented her from entering the venue to report on Aquino’s speech.

IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 125 countries. – VVP, GMANews.TV

In one of the harsher foreign assessments of the Philippines in recent times, a Hong Kong-based human rights group has called the Philippines a “broken and lawless nation.”

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) drew this conclusion after two more recent murders in Mindanao, where the victims were executed in front of family members, one of them in the presence of three young daughters.

But the non-government body also made an apparent reference to the eight Hong Kong tourists who died in the Manila hostage crisis last August 23 after botched police negotiations and a rescue attempt, describing the Philippines as a place where citizens “cannot hope to protect the foreigners on its soil.”

‘A broken and lawless nation’

In an article on its web site, the AHRC stated:

“In a country where an individual can no longer protect himself, he cannot protect his family; a family that cannot protect its members, cannot protect the community where they belong; and a person, a family and a community that cannot protect itself cannot protect a Nation. A Nation that cannot protect its own citizens, their families and the community where they live cannot hope to protect the foreigners on its soil. It is a broken and lawless nation.”

AHRC said it has become an “illusion” and “absurdity” for anyone to claim that there is protection and security for people in the Philippines.

The Philippine National Police and government spokesmen have a habit of assuring the foreign community that the country is safe, in the face of travel advisories to the contrary issued by foreign governments.

The human rights body said it has become ordinary for killings to be carried out by policemen, the military and the paramilitary forces working for them, and for killings to be perpetrated in broad daylight in crowded public places and in front of the victims’ families in their own homes.

Unreported cases

“Hundreds if not thousands” of stories go unreported and this has been taking place in the country for many years now, the AHRC lamented.

“A system of justice can still continue to exist on paper, structure and appearance, but its existence is meaningless once it departs from its original role of being a protector, it becomes the very opposite of what it was supposed to be; that is the protector of those within the system, protecting those who are already protected; securing those who are already secured. This is the type system that each Filipino lives in daily in their own country. Unless there is a discussion and organic realization by those who are part of the system of the need for reform to reexamine their purpose, its existence remains an object of contempt,” it said.

Mindanao murders

The AHRC cited the murders of Reynaldo Labrador of Davao City and Vicente Felisilda of Mawab, Compostela Valley, who were executed in front of their families.

Labrador, 39, was shot at 7:30 p.m. last Sept. 3 in front of wife Leonisa and daughters Reylon, 10; Raquel, 8; and Jennifer, 4, at their home in Paquibato District in Davao City.

He was a member of the Paquibato District Farmers Association (PADIFA), a local chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

The gunmen escaped after the shooting. They left a note at the victim’s house that read: “Demonyo ka! Hiposon ka!” (You’re evil! You must be killed!)

Felisilda, 38, a farmer with four children and a member of Bayan Muna, was shot dead last September 9 at 7 p.m.

Both the KMP and Bayan Muna are leftist groups that the military has tagged as being communist front organizations. The Philippines has seen a spate of extrajudicial killings of activists committed by what international observers say are agents acting on behalf of the military, or by soldiers themselves.

What happened to Felisilda illustrates the brazenness exhibited by killers in the prevailing culture of impunity, the groups claimed.

The victim and and his elder brother Allan were resting inside a small hut in Mawab town, Compostela Valley after extracting meat from coconut shells on their farm.

While the brothers were resting, two gunmen arrived. They were wearing civilian clothes and armed with cal-.45 pistols.

“At first the two greeted the brothers and tried to make conversation with them by asking what they were doing. However, suddenly one of them shot Vicente at close range. Startled by what he saw, Allan ran for safety to a cliff nearby,” the AHRC said. – HS/TJD, GMANews.TV

Families of the victims of the massacre still live with threats
By Hazel Galang, Philippines campaigner, Amnesty International

Today many people in the Philippines are pausing to remember the Maguindanao massacre that thrust the nation into the international spotlight on 23 November last year: At least 57 people, including 32 media workers, travelling in a convoy to file a candidacy for a local politician were ambushed, brutally murdered and hastily buried on a hillside in Ampatuan, southern Philippines.

It was, and still is, the world’s largest ever single attack on journalists. Even for the Philippines, which has suffered from intermittent armed conflict, unexplained disappearances, and political killings, the scale of this tragedy is astounding.

The families of the slain are still scared, one year on. I arranged to meet with widows and mothers of those murdered at a secret safe house a few days ago. I had a password to get in, and walked into a dark compound at night – all the lights were turned off so that potential attackers would not be led to the site of the interview. At the first sign of trouble, our contact would speed-dial a number and the rest of the families gathered there would flee.

One by one, these ordinary women emerged from the dark to talk to me, seeking justice from one of the most powerful families in the Philippines, whom they suspect murdered their children and husbands. Their loved ones were all journalists killed as they travelled with a convoy of supporters of a politician who was running against a member of the Ampatuan clan.

The families of the dead are not covered by the government witness protection programme, which is why they must go to such lengths to protect themselves. I could be a researcher from Amnesty International, or I could be a hit-man. Although members of the Ampatuan family are in detention, the clan still has private armies at its disposal.

The longer the trial of the suspects drags on, the longer they will be at risk. One potential court witness was killed before the hearing even started. The families of the dead are careful not to make any statements that may anger the perpetrators. The most vocal woman is the one who receives the most threatening phone calls and messages, although she is not the only one.

But more than thinking of their own safety, they worry for their children. A widow said one of her daughters “was working for a shop in a city a few hours away from Maguindanao, when a policeman from Maguindanao came up to her and said, ‘I recognize you. I saw you on the television. Wasn’t your father one of those who was massacred?’” She told her daughter to quit her job immediately and come home. “We did not know if the policeman was working under the Ampatuans,” she said. Her children do not give interviews, conscious of the danger, but her daughter may have been seen on television when the victims were buried.

One widow tells of a threat her daughter received on her dead father’s mobile phone. Both she and her daughter sent text messages to her husband trying to locate him on 23 November last year. His mobile phone was not recovered with his body, so they called it, and someone answered but hung up on them immediately. Her daughter tried the number again, and someone answered, saying “You keep on calling me. I can kill you.”

Aside from the physical threat, there are emotional wounds that have not healed.

Families are still recovering from the trauma of exhuming the dead bodies of their loved ones from this hillside ©APGraphicsbank

Another widow tells me the harrowing story of how her adult son who carried his father’s corpse after it was unearthed still suffers from trauma. He lost more than 20kg after the murder, and instead of sleeping at night, talks to his father’s portrait. Her son told her, “Ma, I carried Daddy’s body, but it’s no longer Daddy…One of his eyes was missing from its socket, his leg had been broken, his brain matter was dripping from his head. It’s no longer the father I know.”

The families of the victims need to receive counselling, but this has not been a priority as it is too expensive. For the most part, the murders have deprived them of their family breadwinner, and flying to Manila to attend the trial hearings has drained their finances. One widow said, “My son went to Saudi Arabia [to work] because he is determined that we will have money to keep me going to the court hearings long enough to see this case through. My children could not accept the loss of their father in such a brutal killing – his face was smashed and only his chin was left intact. We identified him through the mole on his chin.”

That they have lent their voices to the case at all is a tremendous act of courage and resilience. One of the women says even her neighbours criticize her for participating in the case, telling her “You are small fry. You will only last one year and then what? You cannot take them on.” She tells me she just ignores them and draws strength from her children and the other families who, like her, fight for justice.

Another of the widows describes how she and her family coped with her husband’s death: “When I first confirmed that he was one of those murdered, my blood pressure shot up to 190/180. I told myself to calm down… I have high blood pressure and I am diabetic… What will happen if I die, too? Who will take care of my children? So I took a cold shower and it was there where I cried. I told my children to be strong and not let their anger overcome them. To help them heal, I collected photos of their father taken from the happiest moments of his life. I put it in an album so our children can look at them when they miss their father. I set up a small table near our altar and placed their father’s photo there with flowers and a vigil candle which is lit the whole day. The light in that candle will continue to burn until we find justice for my husband.” (from Livewire, Amnesty International)