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Human rights volunteers harassed, arbitrarily arrested and detained in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, Philippines

ICHRP Secretariat
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UA No: 2011-03-05
(initial report)

UA Date :
20 March 2011

UA Case :
Threat/Harassment/Intimidation; Illegal arrest and Detention

Victim/s :
Christopher Solano, 18 years old
Althea Villagonzalo, 18years old
Whelgester Paglinawan, 21 years old
Manuel Bentillo, 51, member of Bayan Muna

all are volunteers of Karapatan – Central Visayas Human Rights Monitoring Team

Place of Incident :
Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental

Date of Incident :
17 March 2011

Alleged Perpetrator(s) :
Some members of the Alpha Company of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA)

Account of the Incident:

On March 17, 2011, the five-man HR Team of Karapatan-Central Visayas went to the village of Barangay Nagbinlod, municipality of Sta. Catalina in Negros Oriental, to document reported human rights abuses of the state security forces following an alleged clash between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA).

The HR Team was in Sta. Catalina since February 14, 2011, documenting human rights violations in the militarized communities of the municipality. On March 17, local farmers reported to the HR Team that Marvin Villegas, 18, a village resident, was shot by members of the 1st Scout Rangers Battalion while the youth was taking the family’s carabao to the fields. The HR Team and 11 farmers were assisting Villegas to get medical help, when they were all arrested by members of the Alpha Company of the 79th IBPA.

The victims were held in custody by the soldiers along the village road side of Bgy. Nagbinlod, and questioned by the military.

Nine of the local farmers were later released, while the rest were brought to the Sta. Catalina Municipal Police Station, and guarded by soldiers led by 1st Lt. Tagle. The soldiers accused the HR Team and Villegas as members of the NPA. Villegas, together with his mother, was later taken away by the soldiers, purportedly to Dumaguete City.

Until this writing, no charges were filed against the victims who are being accused by the soldiers as members of the NPA.

Recommended Action:

Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:

The immediate release of Christopher Solano, Althea Villagonzalo, Whelgester Paglinawan, and Manuel Bantillo from detention.

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 incident and illegal arrest and detention of the human rights workers.

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.”

The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innocent and unarmed civilians

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.

The investigation of the shooting of Marvin Villegas as well as the illegal arrest and detention of the human rights defenders and filing of charges against the perpetrators.

You may send your communications to:

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
osec@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: 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
urgentaction@karapatan.org

Burgos family urges government, AFP to surface Jonas after CHR found Army culpable

ICHRP Secretariat
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MANILA – While the family of missing activist Jonas Burgos welcomes the latest report of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) implicating the military in the abduction, Jonas’s mother Edita said the real measure of success is the recovery of her son. Jonas’s brother JL, meanwhile, said the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

“Our theory has been right all along. The evidence gathered by the CHR confirms our family’s theory that the Philippine Army is involved in the abduction of my son and elements of the police and military are participating in a cover up to hide the identity of the abductors and those involved,” Mrs. Burgos said in a statement.

Jonas, son of press freedom icon Jose “Joe” Burgos Jr., was abducted on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth, Quezon City by suspected elements of the Philippine Army. He remains missing to this day.

The CHR investigation led by Commissioner Jose Mamauag found that the abduction of Jonas is “not a simple case of kidnapping done by some individuals within the military, but is, in fact, a part of the entire counter-insurgency program of the past administration wherein both military and police forces played a crucial role in its enforcement.”

The CHR was tasked [2] by the Supreme Court to investigate the abduction of Jonas. In its resolution, the high court noted that there were “significant lapses” in the police investigation. The Burgos family filed a petition seeking the reversal of the decision of the Court of Appeals denying their petition for writ of amparo and absolving police and military officials implicated in the Burgos case.

In the report signed by Mamauag, the CHR has asked the Supreme Court to direct Army Lt. Harry Baliaga Jr. to produce Jonas. Baliaga was known to have been assigned to the 56th Infantry Battalion in Bulacan. The license plate of one of the vehicles used in Burgos’ abduction was traced to a vehicle under the custody of the Army battalion.

The CHR recommended the filing of kidnapping charges against Baliaga who was identified by two witnesses as among those who abducted Jonas. The commission also urged the high court to grant the petition for writ of amparo filed by Mrs. Burgos.

“After almost four years of waiting, we finally see a glimmer of hope…” Mrs. Burgos said. “While we seem to have won this battle, the real measure of success is the recovery of my son. We shall continue the fight until Jonas is returned to us, alive and well and justice is served.”

Command Responsibility

The Burgos family deems that Baliaga “will not act without orders from higher authorities.”

The CHR said the assignment of criminal responsibility must not be confined to the few soldiers who executed the crime. “If ever, they are mere henchmen of the hierarchy of fear that held sway in the past. What is more fundamental is how the principle of command responsibility may be made to bear against the higher-ups who ordered the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, an activist and critic of the former regime,” the CHR said in a statement.

“A judicial determination in line with the facts as found by the CHR investigation can only lead to the conclusion that personalities bigger and more powerful personalities than Lt. Col. Baliaga were responsible for Jonas Burgos’ disappearance, and, in all probability, for the many other cases of enforced disappearance and extra-legal killings in the past administration,” the CHR further said.?

In a phone interview with Bulatlat.com, JL said all those who they named as respondents to their petition before the Supreme Court must be held accountable. They are former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon; former army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino; Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez, commander of the army’s 7th Infantry Division that has jurisdiction over the 56th IB; Lt. Cols. Noel Clement and Melquiades Feliciano, former 56th IB commanders; and then Police Dir. Gen. Oscar Calderon.

“Arroyo then, as commander in chief of the AFP, had the power to surface Jonas but she did not do it,” JL said.

In a separate statement, Mary Guy Portajada, secretary general of Desaparecidos, said the prosecution of those involved in Jonas’s case should go up to Arroyo.

AFP’s Reaction

In a report, AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta denied custody of Jonas. “We don’t have any idea of his [Jonas] whereabouts. We’ve been trying to look for him since day one,” Mabanta said.

JL said the AFP knew since day one where his brother was.

The AFP has created a task force [3] to determine the contents of the CHR report and to “dig deeper” into Jonas’s abduction. The task force is composed of a representative from the office of Inspectorate General, Provost Marshal General, Judge Advocate General’s Office and AFP’s Human Right Office.

JL expressed apprehensions on the task force, noting that members of the task force were allegedly involved in the cover up, citing in particular the Provost Marshal General [4] that refused to release their report on Jonas’s abduction. “They were only compelled to release it after the court threatened to cite them for contempt,” JL said. “Now, they will be the ones who will coordinate with the CHR. I fear that they would muddle the issue,” JL told Bulatlat.com.

JL further revealed that the Provost Marshal General deleted the name of 1st Lt. Jaime Mendaros, a former intelligence officer of the 56th IB, in its report. JL said it was Mendaros who prepared a document citing that Jonas should be neutralized, a military’s euphemism for killing or abduction.

“The CHR recommendations are clear. What else do they [the military] need? They should surface Jonas. From day one, we do not believe that they are searching for him. Release all documents pertaining to Jonas’s abduction. Hold accountable all those involved,” JL said.

Desaparecidos’s Portajada agreed, saying that the AFP should immediately comply with the CHR recommendations, instead of creating a technical panel to study the findings. “It took four long years for a government agency to come out with favorable findings on the Burgos case, we don’t want to add more and lengthen the process by undue processes that would only delay the serving of justice to victims,” Portajada said.

Col. Domingo Tutaan, head of the AFP HRO, said in a news conference that Baliaga had since been promoted to the rank of major. Tutaan did not say, however, where Baliaga is now assigned.

In a statement, CHR chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales welcomes the AFP’s shift to “human rights-based paradigm from militarist solutions” and expressed confidence that state security reforms will lead to respect for human rights.

“That has yet to be seen. Policies that cause human rights violations are still there. They should first prove that they have the political will to punish perpetrators of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings,” JL said.

Mrs Burgos challenged the new administration: “We appeal to President Noynoy Aquino. You have always pronounced that the rule of law must prevail. As Commander-in-Chief, it is time to show the military that you will never condone any wrongdoing. Mr. President, the military must be the first to follow the ‘tuwid na daan’ (righteous path).”

Criminalize Enforced Disappearances

Desaparecidos reiterated its call for the passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance bill, seeking to criminalize enforced disappearances.

In the absence of a law punishing perpetrators of enforced disappearances, Baliaga, if found guilty, would be charged with kidnapping.

Portajada explained: “Kidnapping is illegally seizing a person by force and against his will; it also involves the use of ransom for the surfacing of the illegally detained person. This eliminates the political motive of the state forces to disappear a person. While with enforced disappearance, a person is disappeared for political reasons by state security forces; thus both state security forces and the commander in chief will be held responsible. This would mean that even former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can be held liable for Jonas’s disappearance and even that of other victims.”

Desaparecidos also said there are still a number of similar cases pending before the Supreme Court, citing the cases of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, the two missing University of the Philippines students, Romulo Robiños and Leo Velasco among others. “We are hoping that the respective courts and government agencies follow suit and come out with favorable responses on the said cases,” she said. (Ronalyn V. Olea, Bulatlat.Com)

Trained for torture

ICHRP Secretariat
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Editorial, Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHAT’S GALLING about several videos circulating on the Internet showing military officers beating up trainees is that they seem to have been taken by the delighted torturers themselves, perhaps as a twisted way of showing off their filmmaking skills. Or since these are terrible times for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, what with corruption reaching up to the comptrollership and the top brass, could the videos be perhaps the best way of marketing the AFP and getting recruits? If its image has hit rock-bottom, surely the videos wouldn’t anymore taint the scandal-prone AFP.

But alas, the people are supporting the AFP, providing the money for its expensive wars that seem to have no end in sight and thus, no end at all for people’s sacrifice.

The AFP has defended the torture as a form of training recruits. So are people supposed to support this rather unorthodox form of training with their money, too? Moreover, does that mean that torture and physical abuse are institutionalized in the military? If so, why should the people pay for measures that, based on gruesome human rights cases, have been used against the people?

And what about the pledge of the military to respect human rights? How can an institution that makes torture and abuse part and parcel of its training make human rights its paramount concern?

The persistence of torture and instruments of violence in the work of people tasked to enforce the peace dates back to the Cold War, where mayhem and murder were supposed to be carried out in a war that was low-key and low-intensity, which means they should be carried out surreptitiously, clandestinely, but a war that was nonetheless brutal and ideologically twisted, and sadly enough, a war turned against non-combatants and the citizens themselves.

Completely confusing the enemy, the military and the police have made war on the people they have sworn to protect. In the context of the Philippines, where the ideological wars remain because of the persistence of conflicts and insurgencies, torture represents a persistence of past practices, a throwback to an era whose tentacles continue to smother and constrict any attempt to foster a more humane society, one that is grounded on the ways of peace and civilization.

The resilience of torture and terror tactics has perpetuated the insurgency and other conflicts. Because neither the government nor the insurgents can win the war decisively, they resort to foul, underhanded techniques to get back at or put one over each other. It is a matter of record that the military and the insurgencies have fed on each other’s blood lust. In fact, both seem to thrive on each other’s underhandedness, thus prolonging the war that neither wants to win because that would mean the end of their reason for being. This explains why our insurgencies continue to fester, and Filipinos now live under constant siege. We are a nation in a perennial state of war. The Philippines has become a nation of checkpoints. Even malls and schools have spot security checks.

For the police, the ready recourse to terror tactics to extract confession and intelligence information against the enemy has only fostered incompetence, professional laxity, and consequently intractable criminality. Several celebrated cases of heinous crimes have remained unsolved due to the botched handling by the police who resorted to shortcuts to yield results for publicity. Trained in the ways of terror to obscure shoddy police work, our law enforcers meld with the faces of the criminals they pursue. They become the criminals themselves, underworld characters in state uniform.

It is shocking that tactics and strategies associated with totalitarian despots, which have riled and roused peace-loving people around the world and unleashed the pro-democracy wave that is sweeping Tunisia, Egypt and the rest of the Arab world, are proving to have a long shelf life in the Philippines. The country, ironically enough, started the international people power movement a generation ago. The Arab phenomenon is a credit to the power of the People Power Revolt of 1986. It is regrettable that on the 25th anniversary of the Edsa miracle, Filipinos are not celebrating the historic milestone in a manner that gives it credit and substance. Worse, we have chosen to return to the earlier era of abuse and strong-arm tactics. We continue to spurn the legacy of Edsa.#

Peasant activist shot in front of daughter in Isabela Province, Cagayan Valley, Philippines

ICHRP Secretariat
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UA No: 2011-03-04
UA Date :
20 March 2011

UA Case :

Extrajudicial killing; Threat/harassment/intimidation

Victim/s : Extrajudicial killing

BONIFACIO LABASAN
– 61 years old, farmer, married
– active member of Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon iti Cagayan Valley (DAGAMI or Union of Peasants in Cagayan Valley) – Isabela chapter, a peasant organization in the Cagayan Valley region, an affiliate organization of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP)

Threat/harassment/intimidation

LANIE LABASAN-MIGUEL
– married
– daughter of Bonifacio

Place of Incident :
Baranggay (village) of San Roque, Municipality of San Mateo, Isabela

Date of Incident :
9 March 2011

Alleged Perpetrator(s) :
Two (2) unidentified men riding in tandem on a Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle with no plate number

Account of the Incident:

On March 9 at around 10:30 in the morning, Bonifacio Labasan was on his way to his relative’s house in Baranggay Victoria, Municipality of San Mateo, to get some sacks to be used for harvesting palay or rice grains. His daughter, Lanie Labasan-Miguel, hitched a ride on her father’s motorcycle, for she too was going in the same direction as her father was.

While on the road, they have noticed that two men riding in tandem on a motorcycle seemed to be following them. When the Labasans reached Baranggay San Roque, the men who were following them flagged them down and ordered them to stop. Bonifacio did not stop their motorcycle and the men instead overtook them, forcing them to stop.

One of the men, who was described by Lanie as tall and fair-skinned, approached Bonifacio and ordered him to come with them. Bonifacio refused to go with the men and asked them why they were taking him since he did not know any of the men and he didn’t have anything against them. Since Bonifacio refused to dismount from his motorcycle, the tall man pulled an object wrapped with a handkerchief from his waist and pointed it at Bonifacio.

Lanie saw that the man was pointing a gun at his father and pleaded him to not to hurt her father. The man suddenly shot Bonifacio on his right side. When Bonifacio fell, the man moved closer and again shot Bonifacio in the head, killing him. The two men immediately left on board their motorcycle.

Lanie began shouting for help after the men left. Two policemen arrived at the scene after almost an hour. The police interviewed the daughter and brought her back home, and said that they won’t move the body while conducting an investigation.

Prior to the killing, on March 8, Bonifacio told Lanie that he felt that he was being watched but he didn’t give it much importance.

Bonifacio was active in Dagami’s campaign against the bio-ethanol project in Isabela, which will affect thousands of hectares of agricultural lands in the province; it will mean displacement of thousands of farmers from their farms. The proposal to construct a bio-ethanol plant in the province is being supported by the provincial government.

Recommended Action:

Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:

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 killing of Bonifacio Labasan.

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.”

The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innnocent and unarmed civillians

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.

Protection for Lanie as she is the witness to this murder; as well as protection for the family.

You may send your communications to:

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
osec@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: 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
urgentaction@karapatan.org

—

Rights, church groups bring case of killing of botanist to the UN

ICHRP Secretariat
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The families of the victims and their supporters have expressed fear of a possible whitewash with the report of the Department of Justice and National Bureau of Investigation clearing the military of any responsibility.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com [1]

MANILA – Human rights groups in the Philippines filed a complaint against the Philippine government for the killing of botanist Leonard Co and two others before the United Nations, March 14. The groups also called the attention of the international community on the ongoing trial of the Maguindanao massacre and continuing human rights violations under the new administration.

Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo were killed on November 15, 2010 while conducting a research inside the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) compound in Kananga, Leyte. A survivor, Ronino Gibe and other witnesses pointed to the elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army as perpetrators [2].

Members of the Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines (Ecumenical Voice) handed over the complaint of scientist group Agham (not the party list) to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns. Co was a member of Agham. The group also submitted a copy of the report [3] of an independent fact finding mission on the incident.

Agham urged Heyns to investigate the killing of Co, Cortez and Borromeo, “up to and including all levels of the military command concerned with their shooting.” The families of the victims and their supporters have expressed fear of a possible whitewash with the report of the Department of Justice [4] and National Bureau of Investigation clearing the military of any responsibility.

According to Karapatan, the killings of Co, Cortez and Borromeo were among the first 30 cases of extrajudicial killings committed under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

Members of the Ecumenical Voice went to Geneva, Switzerland for the 16th session of the United National Human Rights Council. The delegation is headed by Philippine Independent Church Bishop Bishop Felixberto Calang and Marie Hilao Enriquez, Karapatan chairwoman.

Maguindanao Massacre, Mindanao Killings

In an oral statement, Calang, also of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace Mindanao), highlighted the “slow pace of the trial on the Maguindanao massacre” and cases of extrajudicial killings in Mindanao.

Calang expressed concern over the conduct of the prosecution in the Maguindanao massacre. The massacre of November 23, 2009 claimed the lives of 58 individuals, including 32 journalists and two lawyers. Members of an alleged warlord political family in Maguindanao province are suspected to be the perpetrators.

“The victims’ kin are apprehensive of attempts to bribe witnesses and prosecutors in apparent moves to weaken the ongoing legal case against the powerful Ampatuan family. The victims’ families complain of the slow pace of the judicial processes while witnesses remain unprotected and some have already been killed,” Calang said.

Calang called on the UN Human Rights Council to monitor the prosecution of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre. He also urged the international community to call for the adequate protection of witnesses and for a speedy and public trial of the case.

Calang’s statement was read by Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) during the general debate on Item 3 at the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Calang also said that of the 1,206 documented cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 375 of the victims were from Mindanao. He cited the recent murder of B’laan chieftain Rudy Dejos [5] and his son Rody Rick in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur and the killing of Benjamin Bayles [6] , a member of the Philippine Independent Church. Calang said the incidents “show that extrajudicial killings continue under the prevailing climate of impunity in the country.”

Other members of the Ecumenical Voice are Dr. Merry Mia Clamor, one of the Morong 43, Cristina Palabay of Karapatan; Girlie Padilla of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace and Rhonda Ramiro of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA chapter. (http://bulatlat.com)

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