Media Release
April 11, 2011

Reference: Carlos Montemayor, RN – (+63) 922-4996237 / (+632) 929-8109

“Whatever it takes, we are determined to make those torturers pay for their crimes.”

With sheer determination in their faces, six of the Morong 43 who filed a civil suit against Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, et. al said that the cases they filed last April 4 is their contribution to end the culture of impunity in the country.

“My colleagues and I are utterly unfazed by what Col. Baladad and Col. Parlade are rattling in the media. They should do better than to recycle old arguments that we are members of the NPA. Our message is clear and strong, human rights violators must be made accountable for their crimes,” Gary Liberal, R.N., one of the plaintiffs said.

Liberal added that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the top military officials named in their complaint are delusional for thinking they can get away with their crimes. “We enjoin all victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration to file a case and pursue justice.”

He ended that Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts should brace themselves for more lawsuits from their victims. “This is our contribution to end impunity in this country,” Liberal said.##

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————
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.

The 2010 Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines is now available for download via the KARAPATAN website: http://www.karapatan.org

or click here to download the report

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.

Andreo Calonzo, GMA News

Six of the so-called “Morong 43″ health workers filed on Monday a P15-million damage suit against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several military officials for alleged “physical and psychological” torture committed against them while they were detained last year.

The Morong 43 health workers were detained for 10 months last year on suspicion that they were New People’s Army members.

The health workers filed the lawsuit against Arroyo, and nine other government and military officials before the Quezon City Hall of Justice at 11:00 a.m. on Monday.

The six complainants in the case were:
# Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor;
# Dr. Alexis Montes;
# Gary Liberal;
# Ma. Teresa Quinawayan;
# Mercy Castro, and
# Reynaldo Macabenta.

Liberal said he and the five other complainants wanted to send a “strong message” to human rights violators and to make those responsible for their alleged torture accountable for their actions.

“Isa ito sa mga hakbang namin para wakasan ang impunity na ginagawa ng mga human rights violators,” he said in a phone interview with GMA News on Monday afternoon.

He said that former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Arroyo was included in the case because she was the military’s commander-in-chief during the time of their alleged torture.

“Sinampahan namin siya ng kaso dahil sa command responsibility. Siya ang commander-in-chief at dapat alam niya ang ginagawa ng mga sundalo niya sa field,” he said.

Elena Bautista-Horn, the former President’s spokesperson, refused to comment on the case filed by the health workers while waiting for documents related to the lawsuit.

“Our lawyers have advised us to wait for a copy of the complaint before issuing any statement,” she said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Aside from Arroyo, the others charged were:
# former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales;
# former chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado,
# former chief of staff Gen. Delfin Bangit,
# Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia (former Philippine Army 2nd Infantry Division commander),
# Lt. Col. Cristobal Zaragosa (2nd Infantry Division commander of intelligence unit),
# Major Manuel Tabion (2nd Infantry Division warden),
# Col. Aurelio Balbad (202nd Infantry Battalion Commander),
# Col. Jaime Abawag (16th Infantry Battalion Commander), and
# Police Superintendent Marion Balolong (Rizal provincial police office commander)

Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta, for his part, called the complaints filed by the six health workers as “hazards of the trade.”

“Ever since weve gone into this internal security operation we fell this will be part and parcel of what were going into this is what we may call hazards of the trade as we move on and ensure that rules of engagements are abided with,” Mabanta said in a separate interview.

“These are some of the things we have to face. With that in mind, we welcome this development,” he said.

“One thing we see forthcoming is the truth will surface. We are waiting for this. We hope authorities will come up with decisions based on the truth in order for the accused to clear their names,” he added.

The complainants were among the 43 health workers arrested and detained in February last year, four months before Arroyo’s term as president ended.

The 43 health workers were accused of allegedly conducting explosives training at a private residence in Morong, Rizal at the time of their arrest.

In December last year, President Benigno Aquino III ordered the dropping of charges against the health workers, who were eventually freed days after Aquino’s pronouncement. – VVP, GMA News

April 4, 2011, by Marya Salamat,Bulatlat.com

MANILA – When President Benigno Simeon Aquino announced a new counter-insurgency program in place called Oplan Bayanihan, respecting human rights was said to be one of its biggest changes from the one it replaced, the bloody Oplan Bantay-Laya. In the last few months though, rights advocates noted that not much seems to have really changed in the military’s conduct.

For instance, last March 4 when more than 30 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines conducted military operations in the hinterlands of Carolina village in Matuguinao, Samar, the residents reported that they were forcibly summoned to a meeting at the town plaza. They were first alerted by a five-minute gunfire, followed by soldiers burning of a house near their village.

Based on a report of the Katungod-Sinirangan Bisayas, a regional alliance for human rights in the area, the soldiers pelted with stones the houses of residents who did not immediately heed their call for a meeting. In one of the houses “visited” by soldiers to check if the residents had complied with their summons, they entered a house with four children inside, aged from four to 12 years old. The children had been left on their own because their father was picked up by the military to attend the town meeting.

According to the Katungod-SB report, a soldier acting as team leader interrogated the children, asking them if they have a gun. When the children answered no, the soldier accused them of lying. Only when the eldest child told the soldier to search the house if they didn’t believe them did the soldiers leave.

“The Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan of the AFP, on paper, gives primacy to human rights. Does this incident show any iota of respect to human rights?” asked Kathrina R. Castillo, head of the documentation of Katungod– SB.

Children rights must be respected at all times, Castillo reiterated. But this incident that they had documented “shows the ignorance of soldiers and the culture of disrespect and shroud of impunity arrogated by the soldiers to themselves as they obediently implement the counter-insurgency program devised by the US–Aquino III Regime”, Castillo said.

In Surigao del Sur, 110 families including children were forced to flee their homes as the military indiscriminately fired canons targeting their areas last month. Karapatan-Caraga Secretary General Dr. Naty Castro said in a statement, “The conduct of these active combat operations clearly shows that the AFP regards civilians as collateral damage in its anti-insurgency campaign. Oplan Bayanihan reveals itself as no different from Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya after all.”

Children as Fair Game for Military Operations

Last week marked the fourth death anniversary of Grecil Buya, a nine-year old victim of strafing by the military in New Bataan town in Davao City. After four years, children’s rights advocates lamented that justice has been elusive for her and other children who were falsely accused as child soldiers.

“The case of Grecil Buya is just one of the many cases of continuing abuse targeting children, said Edessa Campos, Advocacy Officer of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC). “Unfortunately, the perpetrators remain unpunished and the military’s habit of misrepresenting children as “child soldiers” for their counter-insurgency operations remains unchecked,” said Campos.

Grecil was the 9-year old child killed by the military’s 67th Infantry Battalion in an encounter with the New People’s Army in New Bataan Compostela Valley. The military claimed that Grecil was an NPA child soldier and that she was carrying an M-16 rifle and firing at them. But based on the frail body structure of the diminutive Grecil, it turned out that it was physically impossible for her to have carried an M-16 rifle and fired it. Documents also confirmed that Grecil was a studious grade two student of Simsimen Elementary School.

As of 2010 the CRC has documented 19 cases of children who were mislabeled by the military as “child soldiers” from Mindanao. Campos said “The misrepresentation of children as ‘child soldiers’ is a clear violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).”

Last year, the CRC handled the case of “Amanda”, a minor at the time. The soldiers from the 84th Infantry Battalion under 10th Infantry Division presented Amanda to the media as a “child soldier” last September. “Amanda” was supposedly included in the top three list of “child soldiers” in the Philippines. But CRC proved these allegations were wrong, Campos said.

“We urge the Aquino government to have concrete and sustainable program for children affected by armed conflict and, in general, to protect the basic rights of children,” Campos said. (http://bulatlat.com)