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Honesto General
Philippine Daily Inquirer

On Dec. 10, in observance of the 60th year of the of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the group Karapatan, at a news briefing in a Quezon City restaurant, presented a 32-page 2008 Human Rights Report, which was featured by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a front-page story.

Human rights — i.e., freedom from unlawful arrest, imprisonment, torture or execution — are regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons.

What is Karapatan? At the suggestion of Inquirer Research, I visited Karapatan’s website . I downloaded 12 pages of stuff. But after reading them — twice, mind you — Karapatan impressed me as a shadowy organization.

Karapatan claims to be an “Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights.” But the website did not include the name of even one member of the alliance. And yet, Karapatan claims to be “the biggest human rights network in the Philippines today.”

Only the name of the secretary general, Marie Hilao-Enriquez, appears on the website. What is this I hear, that at the top of Karapatan’s table of organization is the wife of a well-known communist?

Are Karapatan’s articles and bylaws registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission? When was the last elections held to select the governing body? Or, have the officials been elected for life?

In the insurance industry there are associations of insurers and reinsurers, broker and agents, adjusters and surveyors. But everything is transparent. Each association has its articles and bylaws available for scrutiny by the Insurance Commission. Meetings are held regularly. Annual elections are held, sometimes hotly contested.

Karapatan can be virulent. Listen to this: “The Arroyo government has not lived up to the promise of respecting the dignity and fulfilling the human rights of Filipinos, as we have not been any better over the last eight years … and the government has instead unleashed the brutality of the armed forces against the very people whose lives it has sworn to protect.” I have my complaints against the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration and the Armed Forces, but this is too much.

Karapatan lashes out at everyone and everything in sight. This is the classic tactics of communists.

How much of the statistics Karapatan foists on us is verifiable? In a decades-long war against the communist New Peoples Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf, there are bound to be human rights violations. But nothing compared to the slaughter of 250,000 communists in Indonesia during Suharto’s reign.

Karapatan seems to be well funded. Where does it get its money? Is it taxable, and, if so, are taxes being paid?

Is this one more proof that the Communist Party is the richest in the country?

With editing by INQUIRER.net

Cecille Suerte Felipe
Philippine Star

Government agencies have joined hands in investigating the murder of a radio commentator in Northern Samar last Tuesday night.

A source said Task Force 211 is now closely coordinating with local authorities to identify those behind the killing of Leo Mila, a radio announcer of 104.5 Radyo Natin.

Task Force 211, under the supervision of Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, investigates unexplained killings and is composed of the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation and other government agencies.

Task Force 211 is different from Task Force Usig, which the PNP created to address killings of militants and journalists.

A police officer said Mila, who was ambushed near his office in Sitio Napares, San Roque, Northern Samar, had been critical of the forced taxation by local New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

“Although he was an anchor of an FM station, he managed to air his criticisms against the NPA, and that was one of the angles being considered,” said the police officer.

Meanwhile, police said charges have been filed against two suspects in the killing of another radioman, Ariceo Padrigao, a block-timer commentator of dxRS Radyo Natin, who was gunned down in front of the Bukidnon State University in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental.

Charged with murder were Benjamin Palarca and Ariel Degamo, who were identified by witnesses from the rogues’ gallery of the local police.

The charges were filed through the efforts of Task Force 211 and the Gingoog City police.

“Palarca and Degamo were reportedly guns-for-hire, and police are now waiting for their warrant of arrest,” a police officer said.

Padrigao had just brought his daughter to school when two motorcycle-riding men shot him.

Padrigao was the seventh journalist murdered since January and the 54th since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

Philippine Star

The Philippine Army has intensified its campaign against human rights violations by investigating officers and men who have been implicated in such cases and to educate soldiers on international protocols.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Army spokesman, said their human rights team has started making the rounds of camps in Luzon and the Visayas to conduct lectures on the implementation of laws upholding human rights.

“The Philippine Army has intensified its campaign to instill in the minds of all its soldiers that the reason for their existence is to protect the rights of every Filipino by conducting seminars on human rights nationwide,” he said.

He said the campaign is part of the Army’s continuous efforts to promote human rights while enforcing discipline and administering justice, including, among others, the basic principles of humanitarian law and the value of respecting human rights.

Several Army officers and enlisted personnel have been tagged as suspects and masterminds in several cases of human rights violations, particularly the killings of activists and the disappearances of leaders of militant groups, the latest of whom is Baguio City activist James Balao.

The Army has earlier denied holding Balao, and has pledged to assist in the search by tapping military intelligence assets.

Brawner said the Army’s human rights team has finished its first leg of visits to units in Central, Northern and Southern Luzon and Samar.

The group is scheduled to have its second round of lectures in Capiz, Cagayan de Oro, Maguindanao and Davao City.

In its third quarter report, the human rights group Karapatan said that since 2001, there have been 933 extrajudicial killings and 199 enforced disappearances which it alleged were perpetrated by government agents, particularly the police and military.

But Armed Forces chief Gen. Alexander Yano has challenged those accusing soldiers of committing human rights violations to present evidence and file charges in court instead of drumbeating their allegations before the media and other forums.

In response to calls from the international community, the Armed Forces has created a human rights office to address cases of human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by its personnel.

– James Mananghaya

Dennis Jay Santos, Jeffrey M. Tupas
Inquirer

DAVAO CITY – A farmers’ leader was shot and killed by three unidentified men who disrupted a meeting of cooperative members in a remote village here on Saturday night, according to his colleague.

Vicente Paglinawan, vice president of the Pambansang Kilusan ng Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama) in Mindanao, was talking about development programs during the meeting in Paquibato District when the assailants suddenly barged in and shot him three times in the head, Louise Lampon, a Pakisama coordinator, told the Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

The killers fled on a motorcycle, he said.

“We ruled out personal motive because he has no known enemies,” Lampon said. “It’s political.”

The government has been criticized heavily by human rights watchdogs here and abroad for its failure to end unsolved political killings.

Senior Supt. Ramon Apolinario, city police chief, said by phone that he had yet to gather information on the latest killing.

In May, Celso Pojas, a member of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas was shot dead by unidentified assailants here.

Meanwhile, the vice chair of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), a group of human rights lawyers, has reportedly received death threats while attending an administrative hearing on the case against the police chief of Pagadian City at Camp Crame in Quezon City last week.

Lawyer Emiliano Deleverio said he received a text message on his mobile phone on Tuesday, warning him to take things easy. “Atorni au au ha ang imo batasan kay ampay ra ba na sa tagabukid. (Attorney, watch your manners, the people up the hills will surely like you),” the message read.

Deleverio was one of the lawyers behind the first issuance of a writ of amparo on the abduction of Ruel Muñasque in October 2007.

The Counsels for the Defense of Liberties said 22 lawyers and 15 judges had been killed, while 41 human rights lawyers had been attacked from January 2001 to October this year.

“(The) UPLM believes that this renewed threat on Deleverio came from the same elements who consider public interest lawyering anathema to their antidemocratic activities,” said Carlos Isagani Zarate, the group’s secretary general.

Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has released a report saying the Philippine government violated provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the murders of activists Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy in 2003.

Copies of the report were distributed to media on Monday by the militant human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), which represented Marcellana’s and Gumanoy’s kin in the complaint they filed before the UNHRC in March 2006, after the Arroyo government’s alleged inaction on the double-murder case.

In a 12-page report, the committee said the government violated the following in the Covenant: the right of violated persons to effective remedies and the State ensuring that such remedies are provided and enforced (Article 2, Paragraph 3); the right to life of every person (Article 6, Paragraph 1); and the right to liberty and security of persons (Article 6, Paragraph 1).

“In the present case, though over five years have elapsed since the killings took place, the State party’s authorities have not indicted, prosecuted, or brought to justice anyone in connection with these events.”

“The Committee notes that the State party’s prosecutorial authorities have, after a preliminary investigation, decided not to initiate criminal proceedings against one of the suspects due to lack of sufficient evidence.”

“The Committee has not been provided with any information, other than about initiatives at the policy level, as to whether any investigations were carried out to ascertain the responsibilty of the other members of the armed group identified by the witnesses,” the report said.

The committee concluded that the “absence of investigations to establish responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of the victims amounted to a denial of justice.”

“The State party must accordingly be held to be in breach of its obligation under Article 6, in conjunction with Article 2, Paragraph 3, properly to investigate the death of the victims and take appropriate action against those found guilty,” the report said.

The committee, which is under the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is the UN treaty body that monitors state parties’ compliance with the ICCPR.

The committee said that the Philippine government “is under an obligation to provide the authors [victims' kin] with an effective remedy, including initiation and pursuit of criminal proceedings to establish responsibility for the kidnapping and death of the victims, and payment of appropriate compensation.”

It also stressed that the Philippine government should take measures to “ensure that such violations do not recur in the future.”

Karapatan secretary general Marie Hilao-Enriquez said the Committee’s November 11 report was received by her group last Friday.

Enriquez said that the UN Committee report would make a strong evidence on the alleged human rights violations committed by the government, one of the bases of the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The deaths of Marcellana and Gumanoy in 2006 were blamed by their colleagues on alleged henchmen of then Army colonel Jovito Palparan, who headed the 204th Army Infantry Brigade in Mindoro Oriental.

Marcellana used to be the secretary general of Karapatan in Southern Tagalog while Gumanoy was once the chairperson of Kasama TK, an organization of farmers.

The two were leading a fact-finding mission on the abduction of three people allegedly perpetrated by the 204th IB. The fact-finding team suspected they were placed under surveillance in Mindoro Oriental since then.

After concluding their mission, Marcellana and Gumanoy, with their colleagues, left Gloria town for Calapan City on April 21, 2003 but were seized by 10 armed men.

The two activist leaders were taken by the armed men. Their bodies were found the next day. Both had been shot dead.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) dismissed the kidnapping and murder complaints filed by Karapatan against the suspects on the ground of insufficient evidence, as well as the subsequent petition for review and motion for reconsideration.

On May 22, 2007, Karapatan appealed the DoJ’s decisions before the Office of the President. The appeal remains pending to this day.

In response to Karapatan’s complaint before the UN Committee on Human Rights, the Philippine government said the group and the victims’ kin failed to establish “how the State party has violated the Covenant.”

The government also stressed that the creation of the Melo Commission to look into the alleged extrajudicial killings of activists and journalists was its response to the problem.

Moreover, the government said the human rights organizations failed to inform the UN Human Rights Commission on the number of victims of extrajudicial killings and the reasons why they believed the military was behind the killings.

Aurea Calica
Philippine Star

Sen. Richard Gordon is asking the Philippine National Police (PNP) to submit to the Senate a progress report on its investigations into the killings of journalists and activists.

Gordon said PNP officials must bring the list of people who had been killed so that they could explain what they have been doing to address the problem.

In a privilege speech, he condemned the killing of broadcast journalist Aristeo Padrigao in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental last Monday.

Padrigao is the sixth journalist slain this year and the 61st since 2001.

Padrigao, radio host of DZRS Radyo Natin and a columnist of the Mindanao Monitor Today, was gunned down last Monday by two motorcycle-riding men wearing dark jackets. He was taking his children to school, one of them aged seven, when he was attacked.

“If we do not act, we are encouraging, in effect, these people who have no morals, who have no qualms of killing people in front of their families, to continue these acts,” Gordon said.

He said it was unacceptable for the police to say that they were following up the case or that the killing was work-related.

“What kind of policemen do we have, when all they can say is, ‘We’re investigating, we’re making a follow-up. We’re looking at this event but sorry there are no witnesses and we think it was related to his job that’s why he was killed.’ We must say no more,” he said.

Gordon recommended the relief of Superintendent Leonroy Ga, Gingoog police chief, and make PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa himself explain “what he is doing about it, what kind of programs he is doing about it to answer for all these motorcycle-related killings and public executions that have gone array in this country.”

Gordon said the Senate should be the forum where people could seek redress for their grievances, as he noted the killings had gone haywire, “with reporters doing their jobs are shot in broad daylight, or judges cannot make decisions because they are killed in public, and many other people brutally robbed of their lives for the flimsiest reason.”

Cecille Suerte Felipe and Ben Serrano
Philippine Star

Police investigators have taken over the murder case of the radio commentator who was shot dead in front of his seven-year-old daughter in Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental last Monday.

A source said Task Force Usig director Chief Superintendent Raul Bacalzo is now coordinating with local police in investigating the murder of Ariceo Padrigao.

“Investigators are assessing if the case falls under the mandate of Task Force Usig,” the source said.

“His being a block-timer will be one of the considerations in the probe.”

Police said Task Force Usig investigates the killing of journalists.

Padrigao suffered two gunshot wounds in the left jaw, according to police.

Witnesses said one of Padrigao’s assailants was wearing a crash helmet.

Police recovered from the crime scene plate number LI 1995 and an empty shell for a 9mm pistol.

In Gingoog City, Teresita Padrigao, widow of the 52-year-old Padrigao told The STAR their seven-year-old daughter saw her father murdered.

“I think she is suffering trauma because she saw how the crash helmet-wearing gun man shot her father and saw him fall on the ground bloodied,” she said.

Teresita said they have no money to bring her daughter to a psychiatrist or to a social worker for therapy.

Her family does not know where to get money for her husband’s funeral services and other expenses, she added.

Her husband had no regular income, Teresita said.

Padrigao left behind three children: the eldest, Arcelli, 17, is a high school senior; Arecio Jr., 16, is in third year high school; and Ares, 7, is a Grade One pupil.

Gingoog City Vice Mayor Marlon Kho yesterday charged before the prosecutor’s office the widow of Padrigao with oral defamation for allegedly shouting in public that he (Kho) as the one who killed her husband, I did not believe it until I was the one who heard it,” Kho said.

Karen Lapitan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – A militant labor leader was almost hit by bullets when two unidentified armed men shot his residence several times Thursday night in Riverside, Calamba City at 9:30 p.m., a labor group reported Friday morning.

The labor leader, identified as Arnold Cerdo, is a staff member of the Cabuyao Workers Alliance.

According to Virgilio Colandog, member of Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno, two men wearing bonnets, suspected to be military agents, attempted to shoot Cerdo and his brother-in-law, Juanito Dacillo.

Fortunately, they (Cerdo and Dacillo) immediately saw the gunmen so they were able to evade the shots,” he added.

The two unidentified men with bonnets were reportedly riding a motorcycle, the usual style of perpetrators of political killings in the country, Colandog added.

Cerdo and Dacillo temporarily transferred into another house given the threats, Colandog said in a phone interview.

Prior to this incident, four Southern Tagalog activists were jailed in Calapan.

They were accused of multiple counts of murder and frustrated murder in an ambush on March 3, 2006.

Of the 72 names identified by the police, at least 30 are militant leaders.

Cerdo, however, is not included in the list.

In Cavite, a labor leader was arrested by the police Thursday morning in Barangay Manggahan, General Trias.

Arnaldo Seminiano, organizer of the militant Ilaw-Buklod Manggagawa (IBM), was reportedly arrested by four policemen, two of whom were not in uniform, at around 10 a.m. Thursday.

He was joined by another organizer of IBM, Sonny Gum-o, who was released after the police failed to present a warrant of arrest.

Their personal belongings like flash disks, cell phones and bags were reportedly confiscated by the police.

Seminiano was brought to Camp Vicente Lim, Laguna, for interrogation on Thursday.

His name is among the 72 names that appeared in the charge sheet in connection with the ambush of government troops on March 3, 2006, in Puerto Galera.

The ambush was reportedly staged by communist New People’s Army rebels.

Manila Times

THERE is an advancement in protecting human rights in the Philippines, but much work still needs to be done, human rights group Amnesty International said Sunday.

Jeselle Papa, spokesperson for Amnesty Philippines, stressed that while the Philippines has enacted laws and lobbied for initiatives that aims to protect human rights, the limited awareness of the Universal Declaration of Hu­­man Rights, both from the government and the people, is disrupting progress.

Papa was referring to the Department of Foreign Affairs’ formal announcement of its support and co-sponsorship of the Universal Moratorium on Capital Punishment since October 10, 2007 and reports that the United Nations Human Rights Council lauded the Philippines for being vigilant in addressing abuses on women and children, children under detention, and defending the social and cultural rights of people, including migrant workers, disabled persons and indigenous peoples.

However, there were also reports that 17 countries blasted the Philippines’ record over at the UN rights conference in Geneva, which Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor denied. He quoted a US head of delegation as saying, “the US congratulates [Executive] Secretary [Eduardo] Ermita for the engagement in this process and for introducing best practices.”

Blancaflor also quoted Switzerland as saying that “Switzerland views positively the measures adopted by the Philippine authorities in the abolition of extra judicial executions and welcomes the cooperation it has developed in this regard.”

Japan also commented that “We appreciate the various measures taken by the Government of the Philippines so far, such as the establishment of the Human Rights Office in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the establishment of a special task force to handle relevant cases and the strengthening of the witness protection program.”

Papa noted that while the Philippines has done such measures, it still needs stricter implementation.

“The rights to life, values, sanitation, health care are not being enjoyed by the majority of our people and the laws on anti-torture and anti-discrimination are yet to be passed,” Papa said prior to the staging of the Riders with a Cause, Small Place Tour on Sunday.

The caravan, joined by 200 participants from Bagbaguin Cycling Club riders, Pugadlawin Philippines, Commission on Human Rights, Philippines Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines and Amnesty International, was staged to jumpstart the 60-day countdown to the 60th founding anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 2008.

The UN declaration advocates the right to equality, freedom from discrimination, right to life, liberty and personal security, freedom from slavery, freedom from torture and degrading treatment, freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile, and the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, among others.

RP signed declaration

Since its inception in 1948, around 40 countries voted in favor of the UN declaration, including the Philippines.

However, the country’s human rights record has been assailed by various groups for the unresolved extra judicial killings and mysterious disappearances linking government forces, allegedly caused by the passage of The Human Security Act in July 2007.

The Human Security Act, among others, allows authorities to detain suspects without warrant or charges for up to 72 hours. The government claimed that law was enacted to deal with the renewed conflict in Mindanao.

In the same year, the UN Special Rapporteur sent to the Philippines cited government’s failure to address the military counter-insurgency strategies that target civil society groups as fronts for communist insurgents.

Finally, a 2008 Transparency International report for the Philippines showed at least 33 people were alleged victims of political killings, while several people disappeared. The concern on political killings and disappearances peaked in 2007, at the advent of an intensified all-out war against terrorism.

– Llanesca T. Panti

Katherine Adraneda
Philippine Star

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said yesterday it is likely to endorse a moratorium on demolitions and forced evictions, as it expressed support for the Supreme Court’s plan to expand the coverage of the writ of amparo to protect people against demolitions.

In a dialogue with urban poor groups, CHR chairwoman Leila de Lima said they might come out with a resolution calling for a moratorium on demolitions and forced evictions as a response to the clamor of the urban poor sector against “illegal demolitions notoriously” carried out by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and some local government units (LGUs).
‘Lina law’ not enough

The CHR also announced plans to merge terms with non-government organizations Urban Poor Associates (UPA) and Task Force Anti-Eviction in a manifesto that aims to push for the amendment of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 or Republic Act 7279. It is also known as the Lina law, after its principal author, Jose Lina.

The manifesto presented during yesterday’s dialogue between the CHR and urban poor called for the amendment of the UDHA to ensure that the law protects the welfare and rights of informal settlers.

“The manifesto presented… represents the first giant step forward for the commission on the cause of putting an end to illegal demolitions and forced evictions,” De Lima said.

She said the UDHA failed to address the unjust and inhumane demolition and forced eviction of informal settlers in Metro Manila and the LGUs failed to fully implement the provisions of the law and the Constitution.

De Lima also said LGUs and lawmakers should go beyond recognizing flaws of the UDHA. She urged the local governments and concerned agencies to immediately take action by coming out with local legislations and ordinances that would prohibit the unjust demolitions and forced evictions of urban poor.

She then stressed the significance of fostering cooperation between organized urban poor groups and various mayors in the metropolis.

“Before the passage of any amended law on the UDHA, the LGUs must be on board and supportive of alternatives to forced evictions and (in) proactively preventing illegal demolitions,” De Lima noted.
SC urged to expand amparo soon

Meanwhile, De Lima hailed the SC for considering an expansion of the writ of amparo to include the protection of people against demolitions.

De Lima said the move of the SC is “a very important development,” especially since there “has hardly been any declared support from the executive branch and LGUs,” while legislative support will take time.

The UPA urged the SC to come out with an expanded writ of amparo soon, believing that it will be a helpful mechanism to favor the urban poor “who mostly fall victims to demolitions and forced evictions.”

However, De Lima, advised the urban poor to continue with the struggle against demolitions and forced evictions with sobriety and not with anger, violence or dissidence.

She pointed out that “we need to be very deliberate in our efforts” in order to obtain the cooperation of key sectors of government and civil society.

“The gains are still small, but they are promising… we will attain the justice for all informal settlers not by indignation, but with clarity of thought,” De Lima said.

De Lima told the urban poor groups’ representatives to help find alternatives to forced evictions and suggest solutions instead of just expecting the government to devise solutions.