2013 karapatan Year-end Report on the Human Rights Situation in the 2013 karapatan Year-end Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines CONTENTS

1 Karapatan’s 2013 Human Rights Report SIDEBARS: 5 Typhoon Pablo survivors and victims 13 Out to get the Capions and other environmental activists 17 Mining, natural gas, oil palm plantation in Loreto town Agusan del Sur 27 Other child victims 29 Bombings 33 Enforced disappearance 41 Harassment of members of international solidarity groups 45 Budget to kill 49 DECLARATION | International Conference for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines

2013 KARAPATAN Year-end Report 55 For land & justice: The continuing agrarian struggle in on the Human Rights Situation Hacienda Luisita in the Philippines 67 Amid repression, indigenous peoples continue resistance against plunder Cover Design: Tom Estrera III 75 Aquino PPP: Profits for big business versus people’s rights 83 Stranded OFWs in Saudi 87 Tales of Yolanda Photo Credits: abs-cbnnews.com | arkibongbayan.org | bulatlat.com 95 Surviving typhoon Pablo: The people’s movement to davaotoday.com | flipland2.blogspot.com | gmanetwork.com rebuild their lives a year after inquirer.net | kalatas.com.au | Kilab Multimedia 101 Serious doubts about the present Aquino regime’s migranteinternational.org | ph.news.yahoo.com respect for ceasefires and peace agreements pinoyweekly.org | remate.ph | RMP NMR seldapilipinas.wordpress.com | thestar.com.my | UMA Pilipinas 105 Acronyms Karapatan’s 2013 Human Rights Report

he masquerade is over. The balloons of promises and hopes have burst. 2013 unmasked the pretentions of a self-proclaimed messiah who vowed to create miracles—eradicate the deeply entrenchedT cancerous cell of corruption in a hopeless bureaucrat capitalist system; a bounty in economy through magical, impalpable statistics of GNPs; a life without twist and turn of reality. 2013 is marked by significant gains of the people’s movement as the BS Aquino government bares itself before the Filipino people, exposing not only its humbug character but also its fascist nature, its shrouded corruption, its ineptness. People poured into the streets, angry and disgusted. The government’s efforts to thwart the mass protests and victories of the people’s movement did not stop the people from asserting their rights against the government’s anti-people and pro-business, haciendero, and imperialist interests. 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

The progressive movement TABLE 1 claim to fame was outlined BS Aquino’s Violation of Civil and Political Rights paraphrasing the US accountability to the Counterinsurgency under the Noynoy Aquino Government Filipino people in its more Guide and naming than three years in power: July 2010 to Dec 2013 his “invention” unemployment and chicken VIOLATIONS No. of Victims Oplan Bayanihan, feed wages; continuing was promoted AFP Extrajudicial killing 169 landgrabbing as exemplified Chief of Staff in in the case of the President Enforced disappearance 19 January, to be at clan’s Hacienda Luisita; Torture 86 the helm of the government’s failure to implementation of Rape 3* provide the poor majority OpBay in the last of basic social services and Frustrated extrajudicial killing 179 year of its Phase 1. instead evict urban poor Illegal arrest without detention 255 dwellers and demolish Karapatan has Illegal arrest and detention 570 their homes; corruption been urging the and pillage of the nation’s Illegal search and seizure 229 US-Aquino regime to abandon the coffers through the pork Physical assault and injury 319 barrel system, the new counterinsurgency Forced eviction and demolition 13,528 breed of organism called program because it Disbursement Acceleration Violation of domicile 436 is simply a waste of people’s money. For Program (DAP), and all other lump sum forms; the underhandedness Destruction of property 12,031 in the conduct of peace negotiations; the plunder of natural resources; 2014, the BS Aquino Divestment of property the puppetry to the US dictates that spawns the ill-impact of neoliberal 317 government allotted policies of privatization, deregulation and liberalization; and the Forced evacuation 38,836 a total of PhP162 billion dispersed implementation of Oplan Bayanihan (OpBay) which resulted in unabated Threat/harassment/intimidation 63,077** human rights violations and continuing impunity and injustice. in several agencies. Indiscriminate firing 8,923 This includes the BS Aquino took great pains to contain the people’s rage and gloss over the Forced/fake surrender 54 Department of dismal situation in the country. But it failed to quell the rising discontent National Defense’s Forced labor/involuntary servitude 172 and distrust of the people. (DND) more than Use of civilians in police and/or military PhP82.1 billion PEOPLE’S GAINS, OPLAN BAYANIHAN’S FAILURE operations as guides and/or shield 509 proposed budget, 2013 is marked by significant people’s gains in every respect. Use of schools, medical, religious and other which is meant public places for military purpose 132,633 to oil the Aquino The first phase of Oplan Bayanihan ended in 2013 but failed to achieve its Restriction or violent dispersal of mass government’s objective to render irrelevant the so-called enemies of the State. Oplan actions, public assemblies and gatherings 9,329 killing machine, the Bayanihan aimed to suppress the people’s struggle for genuine reforms in Armed Forces of the *All victims are minors Philippines (AFP), the country. Its very intent caused its failure. **Mostly communities in militarized areas the primary OpBay No less than Gen. , Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of implementer. the Philippines, admitted this in public as early as July 2013. Bautista, whose

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In reality the Filipino people, especially those in rural areas, effectively On February 5, after almost two frustrated the counter-insurgency, even as they bear the brutality of BS years of being detained at the Aquino’s version of Oplan Bantay Laya. The cheap tricks used to package Samar Provincial Jail in Cat- Oplan Bayanihan such as the Peace and Development Teams (PDT) or Peace balogan, cultural worker and Typhoon Pablo and Development Organizing Teams (PDOT) and other deceptive taglines activist Ericson Acosta was proved useless. At the onset, the brutal nature of the counterinsurgency released. The Department of survivors and victims program was bared to the people, especially those who showed defiance Justice dropped the charge of against US-Aquino’s anti-people policies, programs, and projects that were illegal possession of explosives detrimental to the people’s lives and livelihood. against Acosta for lack of prob- able cause due to a number of All forms of force and repression were used against the people, but all People in the communities hit by typhoon irregularities in his arrest. Pablo/Bopha were victimized many times over. failed to stop the people’s protests against all that BS Aquino stands for— The typhoon bared the increased vulnerability of the the interests of the hacienderos, the imperialists, and the bureaucrats in On August 31, security guard people and communities ravaged by illegal logging, his government. Rolly Panesa, accused of agri-business plantations, and by the operations of giant being a top ranking official of mining corporations. Those who survived had to go All over the country, people’s organizations stand tall against the fascist through the bureaucratic maze and bear the ill-effects the Communist Party of the of corruption just to get the relief packs and assistance attacks of the State forces as they continue to assert their rights against all Philippines (CPP), was released. for rehabilitation that was theirs in the first place. Those forms of exploitation and oppression. The Court of Appeals (CA) who protested and exposed the government were subjected to harassment and many forms of human Oplan Bayanihan was exposed as Oplan Bantay Laya’s alter-ego, no matter ordered Panesa’s release 10 rights violations, including extrajudicial killing. months after his arrest, torture how the BS Aquino dressed it up as pro-human rights and pro-people. On March 4, Cristina Jose, 40, councilor of Binondo and after a series of hearings on village Baganga, Davao Oriental, and a mother of Campaign to release political prisoners the petition for a writ of habeas three, was on a motorcycle driven by her niece, corpus filed by his partner Medelyn Enriquez, while her 11-year old daughter sat The people’s campaign to release political prisoners was fruitful as 64 and sister. Panesa presented in front. Three men aboard a motorcycle overtook political prisoners were released in 2013, including poet-cultural worker them and shot Cristina. She sustained a gunshot to the court identification wound at the left side of her back, with the bullet Ericson Acosta, security guard Rolly Panesa, and teacher Charity Diño. cards and undeniable proof exiting through her right breast. Cristina was declared such as contribution receipts dead on arrival at a lying-in clinic. to the Social Security System, Jose led a series of protests by victims of typhoon PhilHealth (medical insurance) Pablo/Bopha against the government’s neglect, contribution, and job payslips bureaucratic red-tape, inefficiency and corruption in providing assistance to the typhoon survivors. to belie claims of the AFP She was vocal against the military’s control over that he is communist leader the distribution of relief goods in her town using “Benjamin Mendoza,” who has red tagging as an excuse. Because of this, she was a PhP 5.6M bounty on his head. subjected to military harassment. Jose was a village councilor since 2007. She was an active member of the Bayan Muna partylist in Baganga. Before typhoon Pablo struck, Cristina was consistently OPPOSITE: Political detainees threatened by a certain “Max”, a rebel turned soldier Acosta and security guard of the 67th Infantry Battalion, PA, and “Ramos”, a CAFGU member. Cristina led several dialogues and Panesa were among those confrontations with the 67th IBPA commander Lt. Col. released in 2013 -- proof that Krishnamurti Mortela, who tagged her as a “councilor of cases against political prisoners the NPA.” cannot stand in court.

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Victims of Extrajudicial Killing and Panesa was arrested On December 26, teacher TABLE 2 (Typhoon Pablo...) Enforced Disappearance on October 5, 2012 Charity Diño, Sonny Rogelio under the Noynoy Aquino Government by elements of the and Billy Batrina (known BY REGION Philippine National as Talisay 3) were released July 2010 to Dec 2013 The same kind of red-tagging caused the delay of Police (PNP) and when the court dismissed the relief distribution among the typhoon victims who Extrajudicial Enforced were considered by the military as supporters REGION (PA) charge against them of illegal Killing Disappearance of the NPA. In some cases, only five kilos of rice using a warrant of possession of firearms and were given instead of the allotted 10 kilos. The Ilocos 3 0 arrest meant for a explosives. Diño, Rogelio, and military suspected that the relief goods would Cordillera Administrative Region 1 0 certain ‘Benjamin Batrina spent four years at the only be given to the rebel groups. Survivors’ organizations held a series of protest action against Cagayan Valley 6 1 Mendoza’. Panesa’s Batangas Provincial Jail because the anomalies by the government. In turn, leaders Central Luzon 9 1 face showed signs of of a trumped-up charge. were charged with obstruction of traffic, illegal assembly, and public disorder. National Capital Region 10 0 the terrible beatings he endured from his The release of the political Southern Tagalog 21 4 prisoners proved that the cases Those charged were Barug Katawhan officials Carlos military interrogators, Trangia and Grace Curso, Panalipdan spokesperson Bicol 39 3 when his partner saw against them cannot stand in Juland Suazo, Bayan-SMR spokesperson Sheena Western Visayas 10 4 him at Camp Vicente court precisely because they Duazo, Compostela Farmers Association are fabricated charges meant chairperson Sabello Tindasan, Farmers Association Central Visayas 1 0 Lim, Calamba, Laguna. in Davao City chairperson Tony Salubre, and ACT Eastern Visayas 7 0 to silence opposition. The Teachers Partylist third nominee Mae Fe Ancheta. With a strong recent releases also strengthen Northern Mindanao 10 0 case behind him, the call to release all political On October 1, University of the Philippines Caraga 7 3 professor and chronobiologist Kim Gargar, 33, was victim of mistaken prisoners, as all of them were arrested by elements of the 67th IBPA in Aliwagwag Socsksargen 10 0 identity Panesa filed sent to jail on the basis of Village, Cateel, Davao Oriental. Western Mindanao 7 1 complaints of violation crimes they did not commit. The environmental degradation in Pablo/Bopha- Southern Mindanao 23 2 of the Anti-Torture devastated areas prodded Gargar to be temporarily Recognition and Reparation of ARMM 5 0 Act of 2009, unlawful seconded to Panalipdan-Southern Mindanao, an martial law victims environment advocacy group in June. TOTAL 169 19 arrest, incriminatory machination and Women 18 0 Decades of tedious and Gargar is a member of AGHAM (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People) who joined perjury at the difficult process of seeking Organized 80 11 Department of Justice a humanitarian mission to the Pablo-devastated justice and reparation for areas in April. He witnessed the government’s on September 4. the victims of martial law, inaction and neglect amid massive destruction. He realized the need to support the people in Named respondents to Panesa’s complaint were Maj. Gen. Alan Luga, former through SELDA (Society of Ex- their rehabilitation work and directly help in the Commanding Officer of the Southern Luzon Command of AFP; Maj. Gen. Detainees Against Detention efforts to rebuild the communities. By June, and , Commanding Officer of the 2nd Infantry Division of the and Arrest), bore fruit when the following months before his arrest, he went the Human Rights Victims to the municipalities of Bagangga and Cateel in Philippine Army (IDPA); P/CSupt. James Andres B. Melad, former Regional Davao Oriental, and New Bataan, Maragusan, and Director of the PNP Regional Office IV; P/SSupt. Manuel M. Abu, Chief of Reparation and Recognition Compostela in Compostela Valley province to see Regional Intelligence Office of PNP Regional Office IV; P/CINSP. Reynaldo Act of 2013 (Republic Act for himself the extent of the damage in these areas. 10368) was finally signed into Gargar helped in the people’s reforestation efforts Mendoza of the Regional Intelligence Office of PNP Regional Office IV; and, in Cateel. five other police officers. law on February 25, 2013. On the day of his arrest, Gargar was in a forested Charged with perjury were Col. Generoso Bolina, spokesperson of Southern The victims, despite age and area of Aliwagwag Village, Cateel, Davao Oriental their health conditions, fought when he heard shots fired from a distance. Alarmed, Luzon Command, Luis Grajo Rayos, Michael Rojo Alvarado and Erwin he immediately ran for cover, but slipped and fell off Rosales, all rebel returnees. to seek justice in the halls of

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Congress, in the streets, and elsewhere to ensure that the final version of Like the Human Rights Victims the law included the following provisions: Reparation and Recognition (Typhoon Pablo...) Act of 2013, the Anti-Enforced 1. The recognition of the final judgment of the US Federal Court or Involuntary Disappearance a waterfall. The military found him barely conscious, System in the Human Rights Litigation against the Estate of Act of 2012 is a product of long with a broken leg and a wound on his head. He was Ferdinand E. Marcos (Multi District Litigation 840) and the years of advocacy and lobbying immediately arrested as the military claimed he was a member of the NPA. Swiss Federal Supreme Court Decision of December 10, 1997. work. Both laws, however, This means that the 9,539 class suit plaintiffs and the 24 direct remain essentially inoperative Gargar was taken to the Cateel Police Station where action plaintiffs listed in the despite their passage. he was interrogated by the military and police. It Hawaii Court judgment are was only after the questioning did the police bring Gargar to the local hospital to have his injuries automatically considered as Solidarity of peoples around the treated. He was returned to the police station human rights victims, and thus, world for human rights in the to undergo a few more rounds of interrogation. the State has the moral and Philippines Kim Gargar is currently detained at the Bagangga legal obligation to compensate Provincial Jail. them immediately. The three-day international “To throw Dr. Kim Gargar in jail on trumped up conference held in July 2013, charges because he wanted to help the Pablo 2. The inclusion of the victims the International Conference victims in rehabilitating and developing their of enforced disappearance for Human Rights and communities is not only violating his rights but is also injustice to the communities he is assisting,” as victims of human rights Peace in the Philippines said Karapatan in a statement. violations under martial law. (ICHRPP), successfully ended with the establishment of On December 6, another survivor of typhoon 3. The removal of the provision Pablo, a member of Tindug Kautawan was killed. the International Coalition Pedro Tinga, 57, a Mansaka tribal leader in Barangay that only those who “peacefully” for Human Rights in the Malamodao, Maco, Compostela Valley, was killed exercise their civil and political Philippines and the election in a military operation led by elements of the 71st Battalion Alpha Company-Philippine Army. rights are considered human of its 11-person Global rights victims because it would Council. The coalition’s initial Before he was killed, residents of Malamodao saw exclude those who fought the membership includes some 50 Tinga at his farm, harvesting peanuts. Residents dictatorship through armed said they heard a series of gunfire twice that organizations from various was followed by aerial bombings. Two military resistance. countries around the world. helicopters bombed the area six times. The farmers ran for safety but were stopped and held by the 4. The recognition of the significant role of the main organizations, The coalition is set to mobilize military for almost a whole day. They were sent such as SELDA, that worked for the victims immediately after the international community home at 3 p.m., escorted by the military. martial law—particularly in documenting their cases and filing in its campaign to support the Tinga was not with them. The group of farmers of complaints for their compensation. Filipino people’s search for looked for Tinga in their community but failed. The justice and for lasting peace in next day, the farmers went to a town near them Also, the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the Anti-Enforced when they heard that the military brought a dead or Involuntary Disappearance Law of 2012 (Republic Act 10353) was the Philippines. body to a funeral parlor in the said town. They later learned that it was Pedro Tinga, whose body formulated and approved in February 2013. The Families of the Disappeared Concretely, the solidarity coali- sustained multiple gunshot wounds. for Justice (Desaparecidos) participated in the crafting and co-signed the tion is expected to lobby at the IRR. The law recognizes the criminal nature of enforced disappearance and A few days after, the media carried the story of United Nations, parliaments the AFP-Eastern Mindanao Command that Tinga command responsibility, and acknowledges that enforced disappearance and other international insti- was among the four NPA killed in Brgy. Teresa and can only be perpetrated by State forces. Malamodao.

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Justice Renato Corona. But, no matter how Malacañang de- (Typhoon Pablo...) fends DAP, it is plain and simple, a lump-sum fund at the Presi- Tinga’s group, Tindug Kautawan, was among those that dent’s discretion, thus, highly demanded fair and efficient distribution of relief goods vulnerable to corruption. BS among the typhoon victims. More significantly, Tindug Kautawan members, including Tinga, held a three-day Aquino continues to justify the barricade at the entrance of Apex Mining, Inc. to press existence of the DAP, which is for reparation for the degradation of the community’s now subjected to deeper probe forest and river systems, brought about by the large scale and open-pit mining operations of the company. at the Supreme Court for its Apex Mining Co. is largely owned by Mapula Creek constitutionality. Gold Corp., a subsidiary of Crew Gold Corporation based in the United Kingdom; and Mindanao Gold At about the same time the Ltd., a special purpose company formed by Malaysian Napoles-PDAF scandal hugged investment company ASVI. the headlines, there were also Despite the obvious ill-effects to the Filipino people newspapers that carried sto- and the environment, a liberalized mining industry ries that linked presidential continues to be one of the core programs of the Aquino government. In a bid to invite more foreign sister Ballsy Aquino and hus- investors, BS Aquino allowed the continued existence band Eldon Cruz in an “extor- of a special armed force, the Special CAFGU Active tion” case involving a Czech Auxiliary (SCAA) and the Investment Defence Force (IDF), specifically to protect the mining interests of big company. The Aquino-Cruz business and transnational corporations. couple was said to have asked Inekon Company for some US$ tutions to present the crimes committed by the Macapagal-Arroyo and the 20 million to be able to bid for BS Aquino governments against the Filipino people and to hold them ac- the coaches of the Metro Rail countable. (See page 49 for the ICHRPP Declaration.) The coalition is chaired by Rev. Barry Naylor of the Anglican Church of the United Kingdom with Peter Murphy of the SEARCH Foundation in Australia as Secretary General.

People’s anti-pork protests The Filipino people were so enraged over the magnitude and impudence of corruption as divulged in the Janet Napoles-Priority Development Assis- tance Fund (PDAF, also known as the pork barrel) scandal during the last half of 2013. Like the proverbial Pandora’s Box, scandals were coming out in public one after the other as BS Aquino and the bureaucrats in his govern- ment tried to defend the pork barrel system and all its lump sum forms, including the Development Acceleration Program (DAP). The DAP was used to justify Noynoy Aquino’s bribery of legislators to in- fluence the impeachment proceedings against former Supreme Court (SC)

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Transit. The story was quickly killed however, when Malacañang dismissed puppetry of Malacañang to US the news as “made-up stories,” shunning all calls for investigation. dictates are dealt with. Out to get the For the first time in the three years of Aquino’s presidency, the anti-cor- CONTINUING HUMAN Capions and other ruption protests drew in people from all walks of life, in all corners of the RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND country. What has been going on in whispers finally came out in the open. IMPUNITY environmental The corruption in the Aquino government has finally been exposed – un- masking Aquino’s slogans ‘tuwid na daan’ (righteous path) and ‘pag walang The US-Aquino regime can activists korap, walang mahirap’ (without corruption, there would be no poverty). The no longer evade its dreadful haciendero President continues to fall deeper into the pit in trying to keep record of gross human rights the pork that he uses for political patronage and buy the loyalty of those violations and the destruction With a US$5.9 billion investment in Tampakan, of the rights, lives and South Cotabato, the XStrata-Sagittarius around him. Mining Inc. (SMI) remains as the largest livelihood it has brought to the foreign investor in the country. The company Filipino people. is considered an intruder in, and landgrabber of, the ancestral lands of the Blaan tribe. Since its operation, By the end of 2013, the numerous human rights violations have been committed against the Blaan, especially those who are at the US-Aquino regime is forefront of protest actions against the mining company. accountable for the 169 On the February 21 House of Representatives- extrajudicial killings and Committee on National Cultural Communities onsite 179 frustrated killings, 19 investigation on the Capion massacre, Kiblawan Mayor enforced disappearances, Marivic Diamante admitted that Xstrata-SMI gives a monthly compensation of PhP7, 500 to each member and 86 incidents of torture of of the CAFGU assigned in the area where the mining individuals. company operates. On January 29, at around 7 a.m., 15 members of the The victims of extrajudicial CAFGU killed Kitari Capion, 24, in Sitio Nakultana, killing were mostly leaders of Brgy. Kimlawis, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur. The CAFGU people’s organizations who members belong to Task Force KITACOM (Kiblawan, Tampakan, Columbio and Malungon), a special unit of led people’s protests against the AFP assigned to protect XStrata-SMI. Members of the corruption in the bureaucracy, paramilitary group indiscriminately fired at the house of plunder of the country’s Kitari, hitting him on his right hip. resources like in mining and Kitari’s sister Rosita rushed to Kitari’s house and called agri-business plantations, and on the CAFGU members to stop shooting but the CAFGU projects under the Public- members instead fired at the direction of Rosita and Even political prisoners held their own anti-pork barrel activities in jails her three companions. The CAFGUs left without giving Private Partnership (PPP). medical aid to the wounded Kitari, who was brought to through noise barrage, hanging of streamers, distribution of leaflets – draw- Allah Valley Hospital in Koronadal City, South Cotabato ing in the support of jail officials and inmates, who are likewise witness to Among those who were killed two hours after the shooting. Kitari died five hours later. the terrible jail conditions resulting from corruption in government. in 2013 were: Kitari is the fourth member of the Capion clan who was killed since the Blaan tribe waged a “pangayaw” (tribal People’s protests, however, are not confined to anti-corruption. There is Cristina Jose, 40, was killed war) in defense of their ancestral land from the intrusion strong people’s resistance to the rising cost of food, fuel, electricity, water on March 4. She led a series of XStrata-SMI. Three months earlier, in October 2012, soldiers from the 27th IBPA strafed the house of, and and the dismal lack of services such as decent housing, health care, and of protests of typhoon Pab- killed Juvy Capion and her two sons, Pop and John. Both education. More pressing issues of unabated poverty because of landless- lo/Bopha victims against Juvy and Kitari were related to Daguil, a known leader ness, joblessness and plunder of the country’s resources and the obvious the government’s neglect, of the “pangayaw”. Juvy was Daguil’s wife while Kitari

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bureaucratic red-tape, inefficiency and corruption in providing assis- wounds in his right chest tance to the typhoon survivors. She was vocal against the military’s and another two gunshot (Out to get...) control over the distribution of relief goods in her town, as the AFP wounds in the hip area, used red tagging as an excuse to deny the victims relief and rehabilita- near his spine. His face and was his brother. In April, Daguil decided to join the New tion support. chest were covered with People’s Army. bruises; his teeth were all On August 23, Datu (tribal chief) Anting Freay, 60 years Kitari Capion, 24, was killed on January 29 by 15 members of the Citizen gone and his head was de- old and son, Victor, 16, were killed by elements of the Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) in Sitio Nakultana, Brgy. formed. 39th IBPA and the military composite group Task Force Kimlawis, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur. The CAFGU members belong to KITACOM at Sitio Bulol Kalon, Bong Mal, Kimlawis, Task Force KITACOM (Kiblawan, Tampakan, Columbio and Malungon), a Communities -- wholesale Kiblawan, Davao del Sur. special unit of the AFP assigned to protect the foreign mining corporation victims of military abuses and At around 4 a.m., Datu Freay went outside his house to XStrata-SMI. He was the fourth member of the Capion clan who was violations check why his dog was barking, not knowing his house was already surrounded by soldiers and paramilitary killed since October 2012, when Juvy Capion and her two sons, Pop and men. Upon seeing him, the soldiers strafed his house, John, were massacred. The terror of Oplan Bayanihan hitting Freay at the right cheek, right part of his neck and is manifested not only in right leg. He was killed instantly. Farmer Benjamin Planos, 28, was shot in front of his two children on extrajudicial killings and Freay’s wife, Kiit, 50, was awakened by the burst of September 13 in Brgy. Kausawagan, Loreto, Agusan del Sur. He sustained enforced disappearances, but gunfire. She was almost hit by stray bullets when she gunshot wounds on his also in the terror sown by the went out of their house. She saw Datu Freay on the ground, bloodied and lifeless. Kiit shouted at the soldiers, left ear, right hand, and Victims of Extrajudicial Killing and AFP in communities that are TABLE 3 Enforced Disappearance “Why did you kill my husband?” One of the CAFGU on his right chest near considered mass base of the New members responded, “It is our revenge for the death of under the Noynoy Aquino Government the armpit. His right July 2010 to Dec 2013 People’s Army (NPA) or areas our two colleagues.” BY SECTOR hand and nape also that are targeted for foreign Kiit went back inside the house to get her children when Extrajudicial Enforced the military and CAFGU members sprayed their house had hack wounds, and SECTOR investments and government Killing Disappearance with bullets again. Later, Kiit and her sons found a way his nose was slashed. projects, or both. The mere out of their house. As they were running, Kiit met Victor, The family suspected Church 3 0 presence of a huge number of who was on his way to his father’s house. that the paramilitary Entrepreneur 4 0 soldiers in the communities is Victor, despite Kiit’s warning, proceeded and was fired Bagani Force of the Environmentalist 6 0 already an infringement on the at by another group of soldiers. Victor sustained 18 gunshot wounds. His abdomen was ripped open and his 26th IBPA perpetrated Fisherfolk 1 0 people’s freedom, disrupting the killing. their socio-cultural and intestines ruptured. Government employee 3 0 economic activities. The remains of Datu Anting and Victor were first brought The 26th IBPA and the Indigenous people 37 1 to the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Division members of CAFGU Media 3 0 Soldiers roam the communi- Philippine Army (IDPA) before they were brought to a funeral parlor. It was only the following day when the were also accused in Minor 18 0 ties, doing surveys or census as families of Datu Anting and Victor were able to retrieve their remains. the killing of indig- Peasant 98 13 a cover for intelligence opera- enous people’s leader tions, an important aspect of Teacher 1 0 As in the case of Pablo Tinga, the military presented the Genesis Ambason Oplan Bayanihan’s implemen- Freays as “lawless” elements who were killed in “pursuit in 2012. There was a Urban poor 13 1 tation. Most often, residents operations”. marked similarity in Human rights worker 1 0 are subjected to interrogation the brutal way the two Workers 7 2 and harassment because of were killed. Ambason Youth & students 4 1 their membership in progres- sustained two gunshot Moro 5 1 sive organizations and affilia- Transport 1 0

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tion with partylist groups such as Gabriela, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, and places, conducted ‘surveys’ and Kabataan, which are tagged by the military as communist fronts. took photos of the residents, Mining, natural gas, mostly indigenous peoples. Identified leaders and members of organizations labelled as “red” are sum- moned to the barracks or headquarters for questioning and are obliged to Several mining companies and oil palm plantation in “clear” their names from a supposed list of NPA members and sympathizers. corporations which are into oil Loreto town, Agusan palm plantation and natural A clear indication of the increased and prolonged presence of AFP troops gas are eyeing Loreto town. (See del Sur in the community is the increase in the documented number of victims full account.) of harassment, threat and intimidation among civilians. The number of victims rose from 27,308 individuals in 2012 to 63,077 in 2013. There is an increase in the News reports named several corporations documented cases of forced that are eyeing the town of Loreto, Agusan The number of victims in the use of schools, medical, religious and del Sur such as the Seng Hong Exploration, a Chinese evacuation from 30,260 company, said to be interested in natural gas exploration other public places for military purpose also dramatically increased victims in 2012 to 38, 836 in some 750,000 hectares in Agusan marsh; the New from 23,792 victims in 2013 to 132, 633 in 2013. in 2013. The figures can Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBOL), a British company that wants to acquire some 36,000 hectares of land in 11 be higher since there are barangays of Loreto for its expansion in Asia; and several unreported cases. other mining companies ogling at the gold and other mineral deposits in the said town. In September, families of Military operations in Loreto accompany the entry of Manobo-Matigsalog tribes these big business corporations interested with the min- in Sitio Manlungon, Calag- eral resources. As a result, extrajudicial killings, torture, bombings and forced evacuation were among the human angan, Dao, San Fernando, rights violations committed by the military. Bukidnon evacuated from On September 13, Benjamin Planos, 28, was on his way their homes due to threats to a nearby village to gather coconuts and chicken in his from the NIPAR (New Indig- farm. He was on board his motorcycle with his two chil- enous People’s Army Reform) dren when unidentified assailants shot and killed him in front of his two children. They were only a kilometer away and CAFGU Active Auxiliary from his house in Kauswagan village, Loreto. Benjamin (CAA). Both are paramilitary sustained gunshot wounds on his left ear, right hand, groups attached to the 8th and on his right chest near the armpit. His right hand and nape also had hack wounds, and his nose slashed. IBPA. More than 40 families opted to hide in the forest ev- When a female neighbor picked up the two children, ages Most of the incidents recorded were from Southern and Northern Mindanao, two and three, she saw the children had blood stains on ery night, returning to their their clothes and arms. regions that are among the priority targets of OpBay. These are the same homes only during the day. The following day, elements of the Loreto police arrived at areas marked for mining and agri-business investments. Planos’s wake. They wanted a post mortem examination The village leader said they of the remains, but the family refused. In the same eve- The human rights situation in the town of Loreto, Agusan del Sur typifies received reports that NIPAR ning, elements of the 26th IBPA, led by its commanding the actual relation between military operations and big business interests. officer 1st Lieutenant Jeremy Ecellin, arrived at the wake leader Aldy “Butchoy” Salusad and offered a sack of rice and cash to the family. The The activities of the 26th IBPA and the paramilitary group Bagani resulted was heard saying that his military denied any involvement in the killing of Planos. in numerous cases of human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings group would retaliate at the Emily told the military in Visayan dialect “Abi ba nako sir, (as in the case of Planos), torture, bombings and forced evacuation. villagers whom he suspected kung malimpyo na ang pangalan ni Benjie dili na siya hi- as NPA sympathizers who labtan” (Sir, I believed that after Benjie ‘cleared’ his name, In Loreto town alone, more than 3,000 residents left their homes in July and he will no longer be harmed). September 2, Planos was in August because of AFP combat operations. The soldiers occupied public allegedly attacked the summoned by 1Lt. Ecellin to the brigade headquarters located at the Kauswagan village center, purportedly to

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Victims of Extrajudicial Killing and NIPAR barracks on Arrests, fabricated charges, (Mining, natural gas...) TABLE 4 Enforced Disappearance September 16. detention, and Aquino’s reward July 2010 to Dec 2013 under the Noynoy Aquino Government system Salusad is the same BY AFFILIATION “clear his name.” Emily said when Benjamin returned person involved in While 64 political prisoners home he seemed assured that the military would not Extrajudicial Enforced AFFILIATION the killing of Datu were released in 2013, 49 harm him. Killing Disappearance Jimmy Liguyon on people were arrested within Planos was an active leader of Kahugpungan Alang sa ACT Teachers Partylist 1 0 March 5, 2012. The the year and are currently Kalambuan sa Kauswagan (Kasaka or Organization for the local policemen detained in jails all over the Development of Kauswagan), an organization of peasants Anakbayan 3 0 and indigenous peoples in defence of their land and Anakpawis 8 0 claimed, and was country, bringing the number against the militarization of their communities. His family confirmed by the of political prisoners to 427 suspected that the paramilitary Bagani Force of the 26th Bayan 1 0 late Jessie Robredo in 2013. IBPA perpetrated the killing. Bayan Muna Partylist 8 0 of the Department In 2012, the 26th IBPA and the CAFGU were also pin- pointed in the killing of Genesis Ambason who sustained Courage 1 0 of Interior and Aside from the currently detained political prisoners, two gunshot wounds in his right chest and another two Gabriela 1 0 Local Government, gunshot wounds in the hip area, near his spine. His face 301 people were arrested and and chest were covered with bruises; his teeth were all Kabataan Partylist 0 1 that a warrant of arrest had been detained in 2013, but released gone and his head was deformed. Kadamay 2 0 issued for Salusad. before the year ended. The Bagani paramilitary group was also involved in the Katribu Partylist 6 1 killing of another Kasaka member Manhiloy Mantog, 35, But after more Based on reports received on September 18 in the village of Kasapa, Loreto, Agusan KMP 19 2 than a year, Salusad by Karapatan, a total of 825 del Sur. KMU 0 1 remains free to people have been arrested Manhiloy was at a friend’s store with a group of Mano- harass people in the bos, his uncle Datu (tribal chieftain) Ambalan Mantog NFSW 2 2 since Noynoy Aquino assumed villages and commit and cousin Kenny. When they arrived, Tony Demalansi, Piston 1 0 the presidency. Of the 825 Datu Ambalan’s son-in-law, was already at the store with more human rights arrested, 570 were detained Bansing Iyawan and Polod Santos. Kenny left the store Selda 1 0 shortly. violations. while 255 were arrested UCCP 2 1 without detention. Tony saw three members of the Bagani Force coming Bombings and aerial their way. The Bagani members were identified as Cri- Various other organizations 24 3 santo Banggaan, Sadlong Manlangit and Jemar Banggaan. attacks are also Most of those arrested, es- TOTAL 80 11 among the reasons The three wore military fatigue uniforms and were armed pecially those who are still with a shotgun, caliber .30 rifle and M1/Garand. why people in the detained, are falsely charged Initially, Datu Ambalan was not alarmed because the villages are forced to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere. Victims with criminal offenses. The Bagani members were from their locality. But they were of indiscriminate firing, including bombings and aerial strikes, increased practice of hurling fabricat- surprised when the Bagani members Crisanto and from 6,743 in 2012 to 8,923 in 2013. Sadlong, who were four meters away from them, started ed criminal charges against firing. Crisanto directly fired at Manhiloy and hit him in On September 22, at around 2 p.m., gunshots were heard from the side members of people’s organi- different parts of his body thus killing him. Bagani mem- zations is part of the govern- ber Jemar tried to fire at Datu Ambalan and his compan- of the mountains as two helicopters were sighted. Residents saw one of ions but his gun malfunctioned. ment’s efforts to neutralize the helicopters strafing the village of Alolocot, Brgy. Maalo and Brgy. Datu Ambalan, Bansing and Polod took cover behind the Calmayon in Juban, Sorsogon. The residents of Brgy. Calmayon prepared the people’s movement work- store. Tony and Polod shouted at the gunmen to stop to leave their village but were barred by the military. A number of residents ing for real and meaningful shooting. After the gunfire, the Bagani members headed change in the country. back to the residence where they came from, but fired of Brgy. Maalo evacuated to the nearby barangays of Bacolod, Tublijon, another three rounds while they retreated. Seeing her Catanusan and in the town center of Juban. husband still standing in front of the store, Nida ran and On September 8, Joel Quintana pulled Tony to safety. The group hurried towards another Yagao, a lay worker of the Rural residence for safety, leaving Manhiloy’s remains.

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Missionaries of the Philippines as basis to arrest and detain (RMP) in Misamis Oriental, people tagged as communists. (Mining, natural gas...) was arrested. Yagao was falsely The said list and the reward charged with double murder, The incident was immediately reported to the village murder, and multiple frustrated money amounting to a chief, Benan Man-anohoc. The shooting aimed at terror- murder in connection with the total of PhP466.88 million izing the residents. Classes and other livelihood activities were suspended temporarily. shooting incident between the continue to pose danger to NPA and escorts of Mayor Ruthie political dissenters who may On October 10, another Kasaka leader, Gabriel Alindao, end up in jail, or killed, or 57, farmer and sitio leader in the village of Kauswagan, Guingona’s convoy in Gingoog in Loreto, participated in a ‘bayanihan’ (cooperative) activity May 2013. disappeared. The reward is of the 26th IBPA. The day before, the village chief of also a moneymaking scheme Kauswagan sent written notices that sub-village leaders Yagao was accosted by a by the AFP because the funds with some other members should attend the ‘bayanihan’ to build a detachment for the 26th IBPA. Alindao, with composite team of the Philippine are arbitrarily handed over to neighbors Lydio Tarsio, Concordio Maig-angay Jr., Loloy Army, led by Capt. Joe Ryan supposed military assets, and Culipano and Dominador Petiluna decided to help in the Manalo, in the compound of who knows who end up sharing construction of the detachment for fear they might be accused as NPA supporters if they did not show up. the Villanueva Roman Catholic the loot. On August 12, AFP At noon that day, Alindao’s wife Paulina was informed that Church. Karapatan-Northern Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel her husband was killed. One of the ‘bayanihan’ partici- Mindanao Secretary General Fr. Bautista awarded PhP 5.6 pants said the activity at the detachment ended around Chris Ablon and his co-workers million to a “military tipster” 11 a.m. Alindao and his companions were on their way home when one of the soldiers called him back. Alindao’s in RMP attested that Yagao is for the arrest of Rolly Panesa, companions walked back to their sub-village, dropping not a member of the NPA and has whose case was eventually by the village chief’s house for lunch. Another witness been a long-time RMP lay worker declared that of mistaken said Alindao went home after talking with a “Lieutenant Biernes”. One of his neighbors saw him walk along Kaus- assisting farmers in their struggle identity by the court. wagan road; passing by the village chief’s residence. for their right to land. Panesa’s case happened At around 12 noon, residents of Sitio Nazareth, Brgy. Kauswagan heard two gun shots. A man on a motorcycle A hit list of so-called communist again when organizers from arrived and told the residents that Alindao was shot. leaders with corresponding Cagayan Valley, Aileen Cruz, People flocked to the crime scene along Kauswagan monetary reward is still in place. Rey Busania, and Ofelia Road. They found Alindao’s body some 20 meters from the gate of the Kauswagan Elementary School near a The Department of Interior and Inong who were vacationing canal. He was lying in a pool of his own blood with bullet Local Government (DILG) and at Sagada, Mountain Province, shells beside him. Department of National Defense were arrested without warrant Earlier, on September 27, Alindao and several residents (DND) came out with the list in on September 10 by joint were summoned by the 26th IBPA to the camp in Brgy. November 2012 through the Joint operatives of the Regional Bugdangan. He was accused by the military of being chairman of the village revolutionary committee of the Memorandum #2012-14. It is used Special Weapons and Tactics NPA. Under duress, Alindao was forced to admit the ac- (SWAT), PNP and AFP. The team cusations in order to “clear” his name. was headed by Senior Supt. Alindao, like Planos, led protest actions against the Ulysses J. Abellera. increasing military presence in their communities that forced them to evacuate from Loreto to Davao City. The The arresting team insisted group demanded the pull out the military from their community. Loreto, Agusan del Sur: Military that Ofelia Inong is a certain operations go with the entry of big On July 2, some 1,200 individuals, mostly Manobo were ‘Lolita Loguibis’, allegedly a forced to leave their homes because of the combat business corporations interested in the finance and logistics officer of operations of the AFP against members of the NPA who country’s natural resources.

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the NPA. ‘Loguibis’ reportedly has a PhP 2.05 million bounty on her head. The insufficient medical care The three are still detained in Quirino, Cagayan Valley. the government provides, the (Mining, natural gas...) crammed quarters and the Inside jails, political prisoners’ rights continue be violated. measly PhP 50 daily food bud- were allegedly in the villages of Sabud and Kauswagan On December 12, around 10 guards of the BJMP-SICA (Bureau of Jail get are among the inhumane in Loreto, Agusan del Sur. The evacuees came from the treatment the prisoners suffer villages of Kauswagan, Sabud, San Mariano, Mansanitas, Management and Penology Special Intensive Care Area) ganged up on Sto. Niño, and Bugdangan. inside jail. political prisoner Roland Laylo to forcibly cut his hair. Laylo and a number Almost 500 individuals evacuated to the elementary of political detainees had let their hair grow since 2012 as a “symbolic and On September 18, Alison school in Brgy. Kauswagan, while some sought refuge in peaceful protest” to their illegal arrest and detention. The guards handcuffed other communities. The military prevented a number of Alcantara, 55, died of fatal villagers from the interior sitios (sub-villages) to go to the Laylo and pushed him to sit on a bench in front of the jail warden’s office. arrhythmia, sepsis and evacuation center. The military presence in the evacua- The warden then ordered another prisoner to cut Laylo’s hair while men, acquired pneumonia. He tion center caused anguish among the evacuees. Some evacuees reported they were interrogated by soldiers. with long firearms, guarded Laylo. had been in and out of the Prior to the evacuation, the 26th IBPA occupied the infirmary at the National community’s barangay hall, gym, and health center. The Bilibid Prison for uncontrolled soldiers conducted surveys and profiling of households, diabetes, hypertension and and took photos of residents who, they said, were on a military list. TABLE 5 an infected wound on his left foot. But, the persistent On August 1, 325 Lumad evacuees left Loreto and hiked as of December 2013 Political Prisoners for almost a day to the town of Laak, Compostela Valley. request of Alcantara’s family They then took a bus to Tagum City, Davao del Norte and TOTAL No. of NDFP ARRESTED stayed at the UCCP chapel. REGION WOMEN and SELDA, an organization of PPs CONSULTANTS UNDER PNOY former political detainees, to On August 2, the evacuees went to the provincial capitol Ilocos 0 0 0 0 immediately transfer him to of Agusan del Sur to inform the provincial government of the military operation in their community and sought Cordillera Administrative Region 6 1 0 5 the Philippine General Hospital its assistance. The evacuees reported several incidents Cagayan Valley 8 2 0 7 (PGH) and to eventually release of human rights abuses by the military and paramilitary group Bagani, and demanded the immediate pull-out of Central Luzon 8 1 1 2 him on humanitarian grounds were repeatedly rejected by the the 26th IBPA from their communities. National Capital Region 193 10 8 28 Bureau of Corrections. It was In a dialogue between the provincial government officials Southern Tagalog 20 2 0 4 and the evacuees led by Kasaka, Social Welfare and not until he went into a coma Development Regional coordinator Flor Ubane said their Bicol 18 1 0 9 that he was transferred to the office did not receive any report on the evacuation and Western Visayas 21 3 0 20 PGH where he died. human rights violations. Ubane urged the evacuees to return to Loreto. Ubane said the evacuees can only avail Central Visayas 3 0 1 0 There are currently 48 political of services from the Municipal Social Work and Develop- Eastern Visayas 27 9 1 20 ment Office when they return to Loreto. prisoners with ailments and Northern Mindanao 17 1 2 10 Vice Governor Santiago Cane, Major Loayon and Maj. who are in dire need of proper Kanashiro of the 401st IBPA visited the evacuation center Caraga 17 0 0 17 medical attention. on the same day. The evacuees reiterated their demand Socsksargen 22 1 0 9 for the military and paramilitary groups to immediately Ramon Argente, a peasant pull out of Loreto. Western Mindanao 18 0 0 14 organizer from Bicol, On August 4, the PNP prevented a support group from Southern Mindanao 22 2 0 4 underwent a triple bypass bringing medicines to the evacuees. The police bar- ARMM 27 0 0 10 ricaded all entry points to the capitol. This prompted the heart surgery. Oscar Belleza evacuees and human rights workers to march in protest TOTAL 427 33 13 159 underwent a brain operation of the PNP action. On August 6, the evacuees decided to after he suffered an ischemic transfer to Davao City where they stayed at the Bankero- SickLy 48 Elderly 35 Arrested Minor 8 han gym. After two weeks, the evacuees risked returning to their communities.

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stroke. Cruelly, Belleza was handcuffed to his With Magpatoc’s arrest, hospital bed while recuperating. Instead of there are now 13 NDFP peace (Mining, natural gas...) releasing them, the two were sent back to jail. The consultants detained based government still has not given any financial or on trumped-up criminal On July 22, four male Manobo teenagers were aboard medical support for the two who are under their charges. a motorcycle on their way to register for the Barangay jurisdiction. It was their families and human and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections at On December 11, peace con- the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office at Brgy. rights organizations which raised the urgently Poblacion, in Loreto. They were Roland Sanglid, 19; Rico needed funds. sultant Eduardo Sarmiento, Basilisco, 18; “John”, 17; and, “Allan”, 16. who was arrested in Febru- On the way, the teenagers were stopped by members of Human rights organizations ary 2009, was sentenced to 20 the paramilitary Bagani Force, led by a certain Jun Hozon and the families and friends to 40 years imprisonment by of the 26th IBPA. The four teenagers were forced to get of the political prisoners had Judge Myra Quiambao of the off the motorcycle and to line up. unceasingly called for the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Bagani member Maril Dioganon accused John, Allan and Rico of being NPA members. The youths explained they release of all political prisoners Court (RTC) Branch 203 based were on their way to the voters’ registration at the local especially those who are sick, on a trumped-up criminal Comelec office. Dioganon is the son of Brgy. Captain the elderly and the minors. Aside charge of illegal possession of Ramon Dioganon who was allegedly killed on July 19 by from the 48 ailing political firearms and explosives. the NPA. prisoners, there are 35 elderly Hozon tied the hands of John, Allan and Rico behind their Sarmiento should have been backs and forced them into a dump truck. Roland, the and eight minors who should motorcycle driver, was also ordered to board the truck. be immediately released on released as early as 2011, had the Several Bagani members beat up John, Allan and Rico. humanitarian grounds. Aquino government fulfilled its Roland was asked if the three were members of the NPA. commitment, contained in the Roland said no. Peace Talks and the NDFP Peace February 2011 Oslo GPH-NDFP When the truck reached the gym of Brgy. Sto. Niño, consultants Joint Statement, to release Roland was seen by his aunt who immediately took him in custody. Ruel Dioganon, Rico’s uncle, saw how a Bagani ‘most, if not all’ of the political member punched his nephew. Ruel immediately claimed The Aquino government (GPH) prisoners. In fact, Sarmiento Rico and brought him home. John and Allan were left continues to use obstructionist should have not been arrested aboard the truck with the members of the Bagani Force tactics in the peace negotiations and a number of soldiers. The two were later taken to at all as he is JASIG-protected. Brgy. Kauswagan and detained at the village hall. with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Meanwhile, Ramon Patriarca, John was repeatedly beaten up, his upper lip burned with a cigarette and bullets were inserted between his fingers. as one peace consultant was abducted and detained The barrel of a gun was put in Allan’s mouth while he was arrested while another was FROM TOP: Roland Laylo, Alison Alcantara since 2009, remains under forced to admit they were members of the NPA involved convicted and sentenced to solitary confinement in a in the killing of barangay captain Dioganon. The boys and Oscar Belleza, who was handcuffed to collapsed from suffocation after the military covered their life imprisonment based on a his hospital bed while recuperating. military detention facility at heads with plastic bags. fabricated charge. the AFP Central Command The next day, July 23, the two boys were turned over to headquarters in Camp Lapu- the Loreto police. The Bagani Force and Dioganon family Ma. Loida Magpatoc, a JASIG-protected NDFP consultant, was arrested lapu, Cebu City. He has filed attempted murder charges against the two minors. on July 28 as the Aquino regime refused to acknowledge the documents relentlessly fought for his Allan and John were turned over to the Regional Rehabili- and agreements signed by the previous representatives of the GPH in the tation Center for Youth of the Department of Social Work release, or at the minimum and Development in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. They peace talks. Magpatoc is a holder of NDFP Document of Identification No. immediate transfer to a regular were released in November, four months after. ND978254, using the assumed name Puri Feleo. detention center.

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Aside from the detained consultants, the Aquino government remains mum State forces to continue to on the whereabouts of the 10 NDFP consultants and staff who were victims commit such gross human of enforced disappearance and who remain missing to date. rights violation. There are now 19 victims of enforced Clearly, the BS Aquino government’s peace overtures are merely for public disappearance, with five of Other child victims relations. On the ground, it is waging war against the people especially in the victims abducted and the rural areas. In April, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita disappeared after the law “Ging” Deles said that the GPH peace panel already informed the official third was passed. party facilitator of the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations, the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG), of its intention to terminate the peace negotiations with With how these laws, supposed the NDFP. This was preceded by a unilateral declaration by the GPH peace to render justice to the victims Aside from “John”, “Allan” who were tortured and detained, and Victor Freay who was panel head Alexander Padilla that the JASIG was “inoperable”. The proper of human rights violations, killed with his father, another child became a process is for the GPH to officially inform the NDFP of such an intention, are effectively ignored by the victim of extrajudicial killing. which the GPH has not done. Aquino regime, impunity is still In early morning of April 3, 2013, Roque Antivo, 8, unbridled. Also, the promotion joined his grandmother, brother and cousins to bring Justice denied of generals implicated in breakfast for their relatives working on the family farm human rights violations, at Brgy. Anitapan, Mabini, Compostela Valley. In the Almost a year after its enactment into law, the Human Rights Victims afternoon, he accompanied his uncle and cousins to Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 remains lifeless as the Claims Board, as regularly practiced by hunt wild cats on a hill near their farm. the main body to implement it, has yet to be created. the BS Aquino government, perpetuates the culture of Before 6:00 p.m., the Antivo family headed home. They walked on an abandoned road where Sonny Antivo, In March, SELDA and Tanggol Bayi formally sent to Malacañang their official impunity. With utter disregard Roque’s stepfather, parked his motorcycle. Roque was nominees for the Claims Board. But, Malacañang’s prolonged silence on the with his brother “Janjan”, 12, cousin “Joshua”, 13, and formation of the Claims Board, as mandated by law, raises serious doubts Sonny. After loading the crops on the motorcycle, Sonny instructed the young boys to walk ahead of him, on the sincerity of the government to implement the law. The Claims Board since the path was uphill and it was difficult to drive the is mandated to draft and approve the IRR of the law, and undertake the vehicle with passengers. process of indemnification. The delay in the formation of the Claims Board The boys were about 40 meters away from Sonny remains a hindrance to the full implementation of the law. when they heard a sudden burst of gunfire. Janjan, who was walking in front of the two boys, immediately Also, the lack of transparency in forming the Board brings in more questions shouted, “Mga bata mi sir…” (We are children, sir) as he and possibilities that, for political reasons, not even one of SELDA’s nominees took cover behind tall grasses. Roque fell down a few will be appointed. SELDA’s meters away. When the shooting stopped, Janjan ran to Roque and helped him stand up but Roque was already nominees have proven bleeding from a gunshot wound. track record in the anti- A second volley of gunfire followed. Janjan again called dictatorship struggle and out saying they were merely children. Meanwhile, are knowledgeable on the Joshua ran back to Sonny, crying and trembling in fear. historical significance The boy told his uncle they were fired at by soldiers. of the law. The same When Sonny and Joshua reached Janjan and Joshua, he shouted at the group who fired at the children. Fully holds true for the Anti- armed soldiers led by a Lt. Llorca stood-up from their Enforced or Involuntary hiding place, approached Sonny and insisted that they Disappearance Law of were after NPA rebels. 2012. The existence of After arguing with the soldiers for a few minutes, Sonny the law has not deterred told the children to ride on his motorcycle; with Janjan

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of the crimes committed by his military, Noynoy Aquino as early as 2012 by Prosecutor General Claro promoted even those with pending cases before the court. Arellano only recommended (Other child victims...) the filing of charges against In July, Army Colonel Aurelio Baladad was promoted to the rank of Brigadier Major Harry Baliaga Jr, supporting Roque’s limp body. Sonny drove quickly but General. Baladad headed the PA 202nd Brigade when the 43 health workers absolving all the top generals. Roque died shortly after they arrived home. were illegally arrested in Morong, Rizal in 2010. He faces charges filed in The Court however, allowed court by some members of the Morong 43. Baladad is now commander of the A bullet entered Roque’s left armpit and exited through Maj. Baliaga to post bail of his chest, damaging his left lung. Joshua was admitted 3rd Infantry Division, PA that covers Western Visayas. PhP 40,000, a sum paid by the to the hospital; his chin and left shoulder were barely Phil. Army supposedly to assist missed by bullets. Janjan had scratches on the left side In September, the Commission on Appointments (CA) approved Eduardo of his face. Año’s promotion as Chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of Baliaga. Two other children became victims in a bombing in Abra the Philippines (ISAFP). BS Aquino promoted Año in December 2012. During In February, the Office of while Orlan Oblino, 16, was tortured by the military. his confirmation, Año brought with him a resolution from the Department the City Prosecutor in San Two girls, Lala and Girlie, were harassed when they saw of Justice (DOJ) dismissing the charges against him on the case of arbitrary how Lala’s father was abducted by the military. (See full Fernando City, Pampanga account below.) detention, murder, and obstruction of justice. resolved that, based on the The case was filed by Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas preliminary investigation, Burgos. Mrs. Burgos also filed an opposition to Año’s promotion before the the killing of Dutch lay Commission on Appointments. The DOJ resolution that Año brandished worker, Willem Geertman apparently came out a day before the final hearing at the CA. The Burgos was not murder but robbery family did not have a copy. with homicide, consequently Bombings charging respondents Harold Karapatan also scored the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and called L. Dela Cruz, Marvin Marsan, for the resignation of its Chairperson Etta Rosales for the issuance of et al. clearances for the promotion of Brig. Gen. Eduardo Año and Brig. Gen. Had Geertman been the usual Aurelio Baladad, despite standing cases in court against them. On August 30, members of the 1st Division visiting foreigner, the case Strike Wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) Meantime, three years after the issuance of a warrant of arrest, ‘the of robbery with homicide and the Regional Public Safety Battalion of would have been appropriate, the PNP bombed the forests areas of Aguid Butcher’ Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. is still at large. Reports have it and Upland Bontoc in the Demang mountain that Palparan is seen in major military camps such as in in but he was not. Geertman ranges, affecting the municipalities of Sagada, Besao, and in Fort Bonifacio. The same is true with the Reyes brothers was an activist. He fought Sadanga and Bontoc in Mountain Province and in Tubo, who are co-accused in the murder killing of broadcaster-environmentalist against destructive mining, Abra. These areas are the communal hunting grounds, forest area, coffee and swidden farm and watershed of Gerry Ortega. against landgrabbing and the Fidelisan, Dallic and Bontoc tribes. other projects that displaced The courts of injustices the peasants and indigenous As a result, classes in the elementary schools in northern Sagada and upland Bontoc were suspended. peoples in Aurora. He received Along with the dismissal of the charges against Gen. Eduardo Año, the DOJ threats and was a victim of On May 31, 2013, the 503rd Brigade indiscriminately also dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, Lt. Gen. Romeo red-tagging by the military bombed barangays Lat-ey and Duldulao, Malibcong, Tolentino, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Lt. Gen. and Dir. Gen. Abra during a combat operation. The bombs almost hit prior to his death. His killers Avelino Razon Jr. They are respondents in the criminal case filed by the two girls, 14 and 16, who were some 40 meters away. could not have been merely Also nearby was the micro-hydroelectric power plant, Burgos family for arbitrary detention, murder, and obstruction of justice petty criminals. the community’s main source of power. in the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos. The resolution which was reviewed and penned by Assistant Prosecutor Gerard Gaerlan and approved The residents rushed to the children to rescue Less than a year after the them. Expectedly, the girls were traumatized by the

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were demolished. More than 200 demolition personnel, (Bombings...) 200 Bantay Bayan volunteers, around 50 firemen, 200 anti- experience. The statement from Presidential Adviser riot police and members of the on the Peace Process Teresita Deles made the PNP, and SWAT arrived and situation worse by insinuating that the two minors were “child soldiers”, to support an earlier statement began tearing down the houses of Malibcong Mayor Benito Bacuyag. and dispersed the community’s barricade. During the dispersal, In Brgy. Maalo, Juban, Sorsogon, 16 soldiers of the 36th IBPA arrived early morning of September 22 Gagap was arbitrarily arrested and stayed in the houses of some of the residents. Nixon Tungao was killed and was charged with serious Later, they moved to the barangay hall and two physical injuries and alarm/ other residences. At around 9 a.m. two helicopters during a demolition in Lugait, were seen flying around Maalo, where those on Misamis Oriental. The image scandal. He was detained for board dropped fliers that prod NPA members to is reminiscent of the Hacienda five days at the Valenzuela City surrender, with their firearms. A reward, the fliers Luisita massacre in 2004. Police station and was later said, awaits them. released on bail. Five hours later, at around 2 p.m. residents heard gunshots from the side of the mountains as two Gagap’s situation embodies the helicopters were sighted. Residents saw one of the gruesome massacre of Blaan family Juvy Capion and his two sons in situation of the poor majority helicopters strafing the village of Alolocot, Brgy. who are deprived of their rights Maalo and Brgy. Calmayon in Juban, Sorsogon. The Kiblawan, North Cotabato, the Office of the Provincial Prosecution in Digos residents of Brgy. Calmayon, a nearby village, were City, Davao del Sur, in a resolution, found no probable cause against the to decent housing, jobs, and scared upon hearing the series of gunshots. soldiers led by Lt. Col. Alexis Bravo, Lt. Dante Jimenez and 14 other members humane working condition. A number of residents of Brgy. Maalo evacuated of the 27th IBPA for the massacre of the Capions. On December 4, Nixon Tungao, to the nearby barangays of Bacolod, Tublijon, Catanusan and in the town center of Juban. Some The Office of the Provincial Prosecutor disregarded the statements of several 36, was hit by a bullet in the residents of Brgy. Calamayon prepared to leave but witnesses who were at the site of the massacre shortly after it happened, stomach when police men began were barred by the military. lobbing teargas and shooting which are vital testimonies to establish the liability of the AFP troops. A couple failed to bring their child, who had asthma at the people’s barricade at attacks, to the nearest health center because One of the witnesses even heard the soldiers talk about ‘finishing off’ a child the national highway near the they were prevented by the military to go out of who survived the massacre so no witness remains. Witnesses attested how coastal village of Calangahan, the community. At midnight, three men from the military cordoned off the area, having sole control over the crime scene Brgy. Calmayon were stopped by 15 soldiers at a Lugait, Misamis Oriental. checkpoint in the Brgy. Calmayon-Brgy. Catanosan and the lifeless bodies of the Capions. Tungao was rushing to help his boundary. The men were carrying a nebulizer for 9-month-old son when he was the child. Implying that the nebulizer was for the Demolition, violation of the rights of workers and peasants wounded NPA, soldiers escorted the three men to hit by the bullet. Neighbors the child’s house. The group reached the child’s Ricardo Gagap is among the workers of the Pentagon Steel Corporation who brought him to the Iligan City house longer than the usual because the soldiers are on strike since April 2013. The strike was launched after the Pentagon Hospital, but he was declared ordered the men to walk and just pull along the dead on arrival. motorcycle behind. Upon reaching the child’s management summarily dismissed 10 union members without due process. house, the soldiers again interrogated the family. The picket line was dispersed twice in June, followed by arrests of a number The members of the Alyansa of striking workers. Those who evacuated for fear of another airstrike ng mga Biktima ng Demolisyon came back to their homes after a few days. They sa Calangahan (Albidec) put earlier left behind their farm animals and their In July, while Gagap and his fellow workers were still on strike, the houses coconut and vegetable farms, and fields unattended. of some 216 families in Brgy. Bignay, Valenzuela City where Gagap lives up a barricade to prevent the The children also missed their classes.

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demolition team from destroying their homes, and to be able to negotiate intensified as the struggle with the demolition team. The residents pleaded with authorities to put heightened between the on hold the demolition because the local government has not prepared a Cojuangco-Aquino clan and the real owner-tillers of the land. Enforced Farm worker and a member disappearance of Ambala (Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Asyenda Luisita) Dennis de la Cruz, 39, was found dead at the communal farming lot in Brgy. Despite the “Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012”, peddled as the Balete, Tarlac City, in the early first in Asia, five were abducted in 2013 morning of November 1. His bringing the number of disappeared under head was pinned down under the US-Aquino regime to 19 from last a concrete electrical post. De year’s 14. la Cruz was last seen alive at On January 22, a month after the law was signed by BS 1:00am of November 1 at the Aquino, Muslim scholar Sheikh Bashier Mursalum was abducted by suspected state security agents in Labuan, wake of a neighbor. . August 30 commemoration of the International Day of the Ambala members and farm Witnesses said Mursalum was hit by an Adventure utility Disappeared. Five more persons were abducted and remain workers of Hacienda Luisita vehicle, from which armed men got off and shot him. missing after the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law was enacted. He was then forced inside the vehicle. Mursalum is a strongly believe that there was Modeer (principal) of the Madrasa in Labuan and is well foul play in the death of de la respected by the Muslim community in Zamboanga Cruz. On October 25, there City. The Darul Iftah (the Muslim house of edict) relocation site for the 113 families that will be displaced. were reports that Tarlac Deve- in Zamboanga supports the family in searching for Mursalum, who remains missing to date. lopment Corporation (TADECO) But the police ignored their pleas and started breaking up their barricade, security guards were looking Two weeks later, on February 5, Balangas Anlamit, his forcing some of the residents to throw stones at the police in self defense. for de la Cruz and that his life daughter Lala, 13, and his sister-in-law Girlie, 16, went Many residents took cover, while others began assisting children victims to Sitio Langilan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte to gather was under threat. Earlier, on abaca, the family’s main source of income. The three who collapsed because of the teargas. September 18 and 19 Tadeco were residents of Sitio Salumayag, Brgy. Halapitan. Already there are at least 13,528 documented victims of forced guards also looked for him. Along the way, Anlamit and the two girls rested for eviction and demolition under the BS Aquino regime; while there are Fearing for his life, de la Cruz lunch. While cooking sweet potatoes, two soldiers came 9,329 victims of the restriction or violent dispersal of mass actions, ran away from the guards and aimed their long firearms at them. Girlie and Lala when they tried to accost him. ran away and hid in the bushes. From where they were, public assemblies. the girls saw how the soldiers tied up Balangas and took him with them. The sight of Tungao’s body being carried by his neighbors brought back a The PNP-Scene of the Crime Op- familiar image of one of the slain workers during the massacre at Hacienda eratives (SOCO) that was called With fear, Girlie and Lala proceeded to Sitio Langilan. in to investigate the killing im- When they got there, they saw soldiers in full battle Luisita in Tarlac in 2004. gear, burning at least six houses that belonged to mediately concluded that de la Balangas, Duwarwa Anlamit and other members of the Many years have passed since the massacre. The Supreme Court may have Cruz died accidentally. Tigwahanon (a sub-tribe of Manobo). ruled in favor of the hacienda workers and tillers, but the human rights On December 21, eight farm On February 14, the Balangas family petitioned for a writ violations did not end with the massacre. The violations continued and of habeas corpus at the Misamis Oriental Regional Trial workers were arrested

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because they tried to terror and military might, stop TADECO personnel his incompetence and neglect (Enforced Disappearance...) from bulldozing the rice in responding to the needs fields of farm workers in of the people, especially in Court in Cagayan de Oro City. During the hearing Brgy. Balete in Hacienda crisis situations, are beyond conducted on February 18, the 8th IBPA denied Luisita. Those arrested question. having Balangas in their custody. The soldiers claimed they did not conduct any military operation were: Vicente Sambo, in Sitio Salumayag, despite documented cases of who was also mauled; Rod The clashes between govern- illegal arrests and torture pointing to the 8th IBPA Acosta and his mother ment troops and forces of the as perpetrators. Also, the military objected to the Eufemia Acosta; Ronald Moro National Liberation Front presentation of witnesses, Lala and Girlie, arguing (MNLF) in September resulted that the interpreter of the girls was not officially Sakay; husband and wife assigned by the court. The two girls could only Jose and Elsa Baldiviano; in the destruction of more than speak Tigwahanon. 10,000 houses and the displace- Military and paramilitary groups are used to and Manuel and Mamerto ment of around 100,000 civil- In March, despite their claim they had nothing to prevent farmers from entering Hacienda Luisita. Mandigma. The two do with the disappearance of Balangas, 8th IBPA women were immediately ians in 24 villages in Zambo- commander Lt. Col. Jose Ma. Cuerpo initiated a released, while the six anga City. Residents from the ‘tampuda’ with the family of Balangas. A ‘tampuda’ villages of Arena Blanco, Talon- is a traditional peace pact among tribes to amicably others were detained for two days and released without charges. settle conflicts. The military gave Balangas’s wife talon, Mampang, Sta. Catalina, a pig, a chicken, 15 kilos of rice and 3,000 pesos. The police, armed TADECO guards, and elements of the 3rd Mechanized Sta. Barbara, Rio Hondo, Mari- Some of Balangas’s relatives however, criticized the Battalion, PA set up a camp in the areas where the farmers cultivate and ki, Canelar, San Roque, Guiwan, ‘tampuda’ as an attempt to appease their family; insisting that even with the so-called ‘tampuda’ they plant rice as an act of assertion of their ownership of their piece of land Tugbungan and Tetuan evacu- still hold the military responsible for the abduction inside Hacienda Luisita. On December 12, TADECO personnel started ated to the city’s sports com- of Balangas as witnessed by Lala and Girlie. bulldozing the rice fields in Brgy. Balete. These areas, as contained in the plex, the Western Mindanao Roberto Remegio, 57, went to a lumber store in DAR’s Notice of Coverage, were up for distribution. University gymnasium, and Pantukan, Compostela Valley on September 19 to several public schools in Zam- canvass prices of lumber he needed for his house. The 3rd Mechanized Battalion, paramilitary troops, police, and company boanga City. He was on a motorcycle with a driver. Along the guards in Hacienda Luisita are used by BS Aquino’s land-owning clan highway, they stopped at a store to buy bread for to defy the Supreme Court decision and the Department of Agrarian Conditions in the evacuation their breakfast. While the driver was at the store, a white van with no plate number stopped where the Reform’s Notice of Coverage to redistribute land to the farmer-workers areas were reportedly dismal, motorcycle was parked. of Hacienda Luisita. especially with the shortage of food. Around 86,000 indi- According to a witness who was at a nearby waiting The military and other state forces are used against the people instead shed, two unidentified armed men wearing bonnets viduals stayed at the Joaquin immediately pulled Remegio into the van. Remegio of resolving the long-standing agrarian dispute in Hacienda Luisita, and Memorial Sports Complex in tried to escape but a single gunshot was fired. elsewhere in the country where such conflict is widespread. It is thus not Zamboanga City, with 32,000 Remegio was then forced inside the van, which surprising that the majority of the victims of human rights violations are quickly drove off in the direction of Tagum City, more in the other 35 evacua- Davao del Norte. among the peasantry and indigenous peoples who live where land conflict tion centers. Some evacuees is most intense. died of heat stroke, dehydra- Remegio, a small-scale miner in Pantukan, was among those who opposed the entry of the large- Criminal liability due neglect and ineptitude tion and other illnesses. The scale mining companies such as the US-owned four-day heavy rainfall and St. Augustine Mining and Australia’s One Asia Aquino’s militarist approach was also evident in dealing with the crisis the subsequent flooding wors- Resources. He was an honorary member of the Lubog Farmers Association (LUFA). brought about by the siege of Zamboanga in September and in the Lahad ened the situation in the evac- Datu, Sabah stand-off. While BS Aquino was swift in unleashing state uation centers.

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Kawagib and Balsa Mindanao documented several human rights violations hospital. He was declared dead and violations of international humanitarian law committed largely by on arrival. (Enforced Disappearance...) the PNP and the AFP. The indiscriminate firing and aerial bombardment The residents of Brgy. Arena of communities resulted in injuries and death of a number of civilians. In 2012, the 71st IBPA conducted combat operations The exact number of victims after the almost month-long clashes between Blanco began evacuating on and Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP) government forces and the MNLF could not be ascertained as government September 17, when the skir- in Remegio’s village in Tibagon, Pantukan. Remegio’s mishes between the govern- neighbors recalled that during the military operation, agencies kept relevant information away from public scrutiny. soldiers were looking for Remegio, claiming that he ment troops and rebels reached had been added to the military’s watchlist of suspected Some of the violations observed were forcible evacuation, use of civilians as the neighboring Sta. Barbara NPAs. human shields or hostages, and destruction and divestment of properties, village. Police and military Labor leader Benjamin Villeno was last seen by his threat, harassment and intimidation, and food blockade. Several civilians, forces blocked the main road colleagues on August 27 in Dasmariñas, . On that suspected to be members or sympathizers of the MNLF, were illegally going to the town proper, pre- day, Villeno sent a text message to a fellow organizer arrested and detained. venting the people and vehicles saying that he was being followed by suspected military to pass through. More than men somewhere in Cavite. To date, his whereabouts are still unknown. On September 9, at least 80 residents of Sta. Catalina who tried to flee for 100 residents of Arena Blanco safety were taken by MNLF forces to a nearby church. Government troops opted to take the pump boats Union members from Honda Cars Philippines Inc., with lobbed teargas at the church. Five days after, on September 13, the AFP and travelled along the coast to Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, trooped to several military bombed the church and its surrounding areas with mortars. Rubin Limen camps where officials refused to face them. Military seek safety elsewhere. officials prevented the search team from entering the and Gompyo Lamping, both 20-year-old students, were hit and were premises of the Intelligence Security Group and other instantly killed. At sea, they were apprehended facilities in Fort Bonifacio, where Villeno may be illegally by the Philippine Coast Guard detained. On September 27, the AFP strafed and bombed communities as part of and brought on board a Villeno was coordinator of Bayan Muna Partylist in the clearing operations. Carlos Baldecantos, 43, was in his house in Brgy. Philippine Navy ship. On the 2010. From 1998 to 2000, he was union president of Tugbungan when the Philippine Navy bombarded the village. Shrapnel naval ship, the women and Lakas Manggagawang Nagkakaisa sa Honda, an affiliate hit Carlos in the jaw, and was rushed by neighbors and relatives to the of the Organized Labor Association in Line Industries children were separated from and Agriculture–Kilusang Mayo Uno (OLALIA-KMU). He the men. “Martin,” one of resigned from employment in Honda Cars Philippines, the residents, narrated that Inc. and became national president of the OLALIA-KMU, as well as chairperson of Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa they were held at gun point sa Timog Katagalugan (Pamantik or United Workers of by soldiers and their hands Southern Tagalog). At the time Villeno disappeared, he were cuffed behind their was a full time staff member of the national federation backs. Soldiers took pictures OLALIA-KMU. of at least 40 male civilians The coordinator of Katribu partylist–Nueva Vizcaya while they were handcuffed; chapter, Brian Epa, disappeared on August 21. Epa was among the leaders of the campaign against the operation while a soldier took down of large-scale mining in the province of Nueva Vizcaya. names, addresses and asked for identification cards. As part of the people’s opposition, barricades were set up against the mining exploration of the Royalco The following day, high- Mining Exploration. In communities where there are barricades, military harassment and intimidation, red ranking military officers tagging, surveillance, and sexual harassment of women Zamboanga Siege, a showcase of and members of a national are rampant. TV station arrived on-board. BS Aquino’s militarist approach. On the day of Epa’s disappearance, at around 9 p.m., The media interviewed the village councilor Alfonso Shog-oy dropped off Epa at

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mit human rights violations following the Aquino govern- (Enforced Disappearance...) ment’s pro-Malaysia stance on the Sabah claim. Both the a friend’s house in Brgy. Salvacion, Dumlao Boulevard Aquino and Malaysian govern- to get his bag. Both Epa and Shog-oy noticed three ments refused to engage in a policemen at a street corner nearby. peaceful resolution with the On his way back to pick up Epa, Shog-oy saw six Sultanate of . policemen inside a patrol car; three of them got off the car, approached Epa and tried to take away his BS Aquino’s pronouncement bag. According to Shog-oy, Epa asked the police why they were taking his bag. Later, Shog-oy saw Epa being essentially concurred with pushed by the policemen inside the patrol car. They the position of the Malaysian said they are taking him for questioning because he is government and was viewed by “suspicious-looking”. The police punched Epa on the many, especially the Malaysian stomach and hit him with bats when he tried to resist attempts of police men to handcuff him. government, as a go-signal to military personnel and took photos and video of the captives. The captives attack in Sabah. By The following day, Shog-oy and Atty. Fidel Santos went to the PNP Bayombong station but policemen claimed would later learn that they were reported to the media as “rescued its statements and actions, Epa was already released. However, there was no record victims”. the Aquino government had or police blotter on Epa’s arrest. The person the police become equally responsible for claimed they released was a certain Feliz Bacsa Jr. Epa When the media left and after more than 10 hours on the naval ship, the cap- the human rights violations remains missing as of this writing. tives were allowed to return to their pump boats. The navy official instructed committed by the Malaysian them to head towards the Tigtabon, a small island near Arena Blanco. authorities against Filipinos, especially among the Tausug in Military and local government officials did not allow evacuees to return to Zamboanga, , Sulu and their homes and livelihood, citing the ongoing clearing operations of the Tawi-Tawi. military and police. Evacuees believed that the clearing operations were only a justification to demolish their homes. John Kadil, and his neighbors in Puerto Princesa Drive, Brgy. Talon-talon, found their houses burned due to the operations of state security forces while residents of Brgys. Mariki and Rio Hondo were relocated to other villages. In some communities, such as in Sta. Barbara, residents were allowed to return on the condition that they can present legal documents of land ownership.

Stand-off at Lahad Datu, Sabah In March, forces of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu led by Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram went to Lahad Datu in Sabah, Malaysia to assert symbolically the Sultanate’s claim to Sabah. The act was met with force by the Malaysian government and resulted in a stand-off between Malaysian state security forces and the forces of the Sultanate of Sulu. Malaysian police and authorities appear to be more emboldened, if not vir- tually given license, to intensify crackdowns against the Filipinos and com-

38 3939 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

The human rights situation of Filipinos in Sabah at the time of the stand-off was alarming. The fact-finding mission jointly held by Karapatan, the Moro- Harassment Christian Peoples Alliance, Migrante International and Kawagib confirmed the following: crackdown, arbitrary arrests and detention of Filipinos; the of members of detainees’ lack of access to their families; the use of checkpoints, search and zoning or saturation drives targeting Filipinos, especially Tausug, which international resulted in physical assaults and injuries; and, the physical assaults or solidarity groups injuries inflicted on villagers. When the Malaysian government denied access to Philippine government agencies wanting to check on the numerous cases of human rights violations On August 6, Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials at the Ninoy Aquino International victimizing Filipinos in conflict areas in Sabah, the Aquino government Airport (NAIA) prevented Dutch activist reacted with meek acceptance. It didn’t lift a finger, not even a token Thomas van Beersum from boarding his assertion of sovereignty. By not taking concrete actions to abate the attacks flight, and detained him for 30 hours at the airport. Immigration officials insisted in holding against Filipinos in Sabah, the BS Aquino government totally abandoned its Beersum supposedly because of his participation in a responsibility to its people. protest rally during BS Aquino’s SONA. To the Bureau of Immigration, this was tantamount to participation in a Likewise questionable is the absence of the Commission on Human Rights partisan political activity. in the evacuation-processing centers for returning Filipinos, despite Beersum and his counsels from the National Union widespread news of human rights violations in Sabah. of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), however, contested said charges and countered that they violate the United Both the Philippine government’s incompetence and BS Aquino’s militarist Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) approach had cost the lives of thousands of Filipinos. The criminal liability and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). According to the NUPL, the Philippines of the BS Aquino government due to ineptness, negligence and iron-hand is bound to both covenants being a signatory and party approach will be grossly repeated as typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan strikes to both. The State should respect Beersum’s basic civil the provinces of Eastern Visayas and the islands of Negros and Panay in and political rights such as his freedom of expression November. (See article on page 87.) and of peaceful assembly. On August 7, after a summary deportation order Puppetry to US interests was issued, Beersum flew back to The Netherlands, although he was placed in a BI “blacklist”. Flagrant is BS Aquino’s puppetry to the dictates and interests of the US The Bureau of Immigration arrested Kim Chatillon government and monopoly capital. Meunier, a 24-year old Canadian student on September 13, 2013. As she passed through immigration at the The year opened with the government’s suspiciously prudent stance on Ninoy Aquino International Airport for her 7:10 p.m. the presence of minesweeper USS Guardian inside Philippine territory and flight to Hongkong, she was prevented by immigration its eventual crash into the Tubbataha Reef. The Aquino government had a officials from boarding her flight. She was immediately Thomas van Beersum and brought to the BI detention center at Camp Bagong similar reaction when a BQM-74E target drone was recovered in waters off Kim Chatillon Meunier Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig. San Jacinto town on Ticao Island, Masbate on January 7. According to immigration officer Rosemary Gutierrez, The two incidents would be a preview to the increased presence of US Kim was in a “watchlist” for allegedly participating in the SONA rally. BI OIC Commissioner Siegfred Mison was troops and several US war vessels in the Philippines throughout the year, reported to have ordered the detention. culminating in a so-called humanitarian mission of the US government in November in the typhoon-stricken areas of Samar and Leyte, where it Contrary to BI’s allegations, Kim was not able to join the march of the People’s SONA but later arrived at the rally showed off its might through a parade of its war vessels and materiel. site in time to observe the rally program.

40 4141 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

In the months between January and November, both US and Philippine Already, there are calls to governments worked for the signing of the Increased Rotational Presence unseat Aquino from his (Harassment of members...) Framework Agreement that would allow and guide interoperability of presidency. Sobra na, tama na! personnel, units, equipment and commands under the Visiting Forces (Enough is enough!) was a Kim was primarily in the Philippines for her Agreement (VFA) of 1997 and the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Pact of 1953. slogan that capsulized people’s internship requirement at the Université de hatred against the Marcos Montreal, Canada where she is a regular student. The US, with its ‘Asian pivot’, is building up stronger military presence and She was selected by the Association of Universities dictatorship. It helped mobilize and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) to go into an unofficial military bases in the Philippines. Along with the military build- millions of people that toppled internship program in the Philippines called up, the US, through its State Secretary John Kerry, pledged $40 million US the old regime and catapulted ‘Students for Development’ sponsored and financed military aid purportedly for ‘maritime security assistance and counter- by the Canadian International Development Agency Cory Aquino to power. (CIDA). terrorism’ training in the Philippines. Ironically, it now sums up the people’s sentiments against the While in the Philippines, she was able to attend the Surely, the military aid will be used to beef up American military facilities International Conference on Human Rights in the in the country and to boost the AFP’s implementation of Oplan Bayanihan. US-Aquino regime. Philippines (ICHRPP) in July. She also joined the BS Aquino, for his part, needs the US support and funds to oil his military International Solidarity and Humanitarian Mission As the Filipino people face in Quezon Province, along with other foreign machinery to defeat the people’s movement as the movement advances its greater hardships under the participants, shortly before the Conference. She was fight against corruption, economic slavery, and puppetry to US dictates, and US-Aquino regime, this call also involved in the research and documentation US promotion of social justice and democracy. of the reproductive health conditions of women in may again become a rallying Tondo, . BS Aquino government faces people’s anger point of the people’s rage that may no longer be contained At the detention center, BI agents attempted to search Kim’s bags but were prevented when The ineptness of the BS Aquino government, the widespread corruption in even by Aquino’s military a Karapatan staff and NUPL lawyer Edre Olalia the government bureaucracy coupled with the unabated rise in the prices of campaign of suppression. intervened and asserted that the BI has no search basic commodities, and the lack of social services have fuelled the people’s warrant. anger and fired up protests against the Aquino regime. Kim was released on 15 September 2013 after agreeing, but with reservation and under protest, the summary deportation order of the BI.

42 4343 Budget to kill Reprinted from Karapatan Monitor (May-August 2013)

he call to abolish the presidential and congressional pork, and the worsening human rights situation under the BS Aquino regime direct the public’s eyes to focusT on the 2014 budget appropriations of the various line agencies and how these agencies spend the people’s money.

Going through the proposed budget, of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the government clearly appropriates the the main implementers of BS Aquino’s people’s money to terrorize fellow Fili- counterinsurgency program Oplan Baya- pinos and to suppress dissent and pro- nihan, expectedly get the biggest share. tests against the ills in Philippine society; and, to fill up the bureaucrats’ pockets— The proposed budget of the National In- including those in the military institution. telligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the For one, the people’s money finds its way Peace Process (OPAPP), National Secu- to the implementation of US-Aquino re- rity Council (NSC) and, specific projects gime’s counterinsurgency program Oplan such as PAMANA (Payapa at Masaganang Bayanihan. Karapatan’s research on Pamayanan -- Peaceful and Prosperous the 2014 budget appropriation showed Communities) are included in the overall an Oplan Bayanihan budget of at least budget of Oplan Bayanihan because they PhP162 billion spread in various govern- serve as conduits in the implementation of ment agencies. The Department of Na- Oplan Bayanihan’s components, specifi- tional Defense (DND) and the Department cally the psy-ops and intelligence aspects. 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

Many of these items, including intel- 29, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled corporations. The creation of the SCAA ment and several other States, had called ligence funds and the budget for the positively on Panesa’s petition for writ was given go-signal by BS Aquino on on the Philippine government to immedi- PAMANA program, are discretionary in of habeas corpus, citing it was a case of October 20, 2011. ately disband all paramilitary groups. nature and are exempted from audit by mistaken identity. The Court ordered the the Commission on Audit (COA). immediate release of Panesa from Camp Several extrajudicial killings and human The call to scrap Oplan Bayanihan Bagong Diwa. rights violations since 2010 involved becomes more urgent as mounting The cases of human rights violations paramilitary groups. These groups, cases of human rights violations occur. under the Aquino government which were Sebas, 65, was arrested on December 25, attached to particular commands of It becomes more meaningful as the documented by Karapatan are enough 2012 by the joint forces of the Philippine the AFP, were involved in the killing of Filipino people demand to redirect huge proof that billions of people’s money are Army (PA) and the Philippine National Bukidnon Datu Jimmy Liguyon, Italian amounts of government money to social spent by the BS Aquino government to Police (PNP) in Tubod, Manjuyod, Negros priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio, and the services —instead of ending up either in commit gross human rights violations, Oriental. Sebas was mistaken for alleged massacre of anti-mining activist Juvy the generals’ pockets or used to violate including extrajudicial killings, against its top NPA cadre “Felimon Mendrez”, Capion, and her two children. people’s rights. own people. a subject of four arrest warrants for rebellion. Sebas was detained in the During the United Nation’s Universal Peri- The Filipino people deserve better than a PhP466M reward for ‘communists’ a BJMP District Jail in Bayawan City for odic Review in 2012, the European Parlia- corrupt and repressive government. waste of people’s money three weeks and was released when the court granted his petition for writ of The DND-DILG’s Order of Battle (OB) list habeas corpus. of ‘wanted communists’ and the corre- sponding ‘reward system’ are graphic il- In August, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. lustration of how the government spends Emmanuel Bautista proudly handed people’s money to violate people’s rights, PhP5.25M and PhP5.6M rewards to while bureaucrats dip their fingers in the informants who “identified” Panesa PhP466 million bounty. as “Benjamin Mendoza” and Sebas as “Felimon Mendrez,” respectively. The Joint Memorandum of the DND- DILG allotted PhP466M for theNow that the Courts have ruled, in both arrest of 235 individuals accused as cases, that the military got the wrong “communists” and to reward so-called men, the big question is what happens to informers who provide information that the total PhP10.85M bounty. would lead to the arrest of the so-called communist leaders. Paramilitary groups The scheme is nothing but an “organized Despite widespread and persistent racket” as exemplified by the arrest, clamor to disband paramilitary groups, torture, and detention of security guard civilian volunteer organisations and Rolly Panesa and farmer Olegario Sebas. private armies, the DND budget includes Both were wrongly tagged as leaders of PhP 2 billion for the compensation of the Communist Party of the Philippines members of the Civilian Armed Forces (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). Geographical Units (CAFGUs).

Panesa was arrested on October 5, 2012, The people’s money also goes to the tortured and detained for 11 months operation of the Special CAFGU Active because he was mistaken for “Benjamin Auxiliary (SCAA) units, which are Mendoza”, an alleged high ranking organized and trained by the AFP but are regional officer of the CPP. Last August already financed by transnational mining

46 47 DECLARATION | International Conference for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines | 19 – 21 July 2013

e, representatives of people’s organizations (trade unions, women, peasants and rural communities, migrants and refugees, indigenous peoples, urban poorW and urban communities, health workers, environmental and peace activists), the academe, faith-based institutions, human rights advocates and defenders, people’s lawyers, and victims from 26 countries gathered for the International Conference for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines held on July 19-21, 2013, to examine and unite on the pressing challenges to human rights and peace in the Philippines and the world.

Guided by the theme “Uphold People’s We assert that people’s rights encompass Rights! Work for Peace! Fight for Justice! the economic, social, cultural, civil, and po- Build solidarity and resistance with the litical dimensions, and involve the people people of the Philippines and the world!”, collectively and as individuals. We acknowl- we analyzed the global and Philippine edge norms in upholding, respecting, and situation, and reflected on the conditions promoting people’s rights embodied in vari- that allow human rights violations to ous international instruments and agree- run rampant, make peace elusive, and ments as the fruit of the collective experi- exacerbate the social injustices suffered ences and struggles of the people against by the people. discrimination, exploitation and oppression. 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

However, the imperialists, fascists, and Poverty, hunger, disease, and Our just recourse is to unite, inform 540 of illegal arrests, 76 victims of torture, other reactionary forces do not only unemployment are out of control. ourselves about the ideological and 30,678 of forced evacuations, 31,417 of disregard these norms but also concoct all Workers face depressed wages and political machinations of the oppressors threats/harassment/intimidation, and sorts of dubious justifications to impose erosion of labor rights, peasants are by availing of the same high technology 31,417 affected by the use of schools, or foment aggression and war, including driven from their lands, indigenous which are products of the working people medical, religious and other public places the most unbridled forms of State peoples’ right to self-determination in the long march to civilization, and help for military purposes, on top of the terrorism against all those who oppose are violated, the fisherfolk are losing to arouse, organize and mobilize the thousands more victims of past regimes their oppressive and exploitative order, the riches of the seas, women suffer people in ever greater numbers in the who have yet to see justice for themselves be they nation-states, communities, rampant oppression in all spheres, youth struggle for national and social liberation and their families. organizations or individuals. We stand and children are denied their future, against imperialist domination, plunder firm in upholding and asserting the rights urban poor communities are demolished, and war. We condemn the US-designed counter- of nations, peoples and individuals to residents forcibly evicted from their insurgency plan of the Aquino regime resist these forces of oppression until homes, deprived of livelihood, and even II. The Philippine Experience called ‘Oplan Bayanihan’. It is no differ- we attain the right to determine our own the middle class are driven into poverty. ent from the military operational plans of The current situation of human rights destiny and build a society based on Tens of millions have been forced to previous regimes that use both brutality and peace in the semi-colonial, semi- justice and genuine peace. find work overseas out of desperation and deception to suppress the just and feudal Philippines exemplifies the gravity to support their families, treated as legitimate aspirations of the people. of the violations of the people’s collective I. Neoliberal globalization has commodities and modern-day slaves. exacerbated the exploitation and and individual rights resulting from We deplore the Aquino regime´s oppression of nations and peoples The crisis is equally severe even within imperialist onslaught. withdrawal from the peace negotiations the capitalist countries. Employment has with the National Democratic Front of The Aquino regime’s hype over the coun- The neoliberal policies of liberalization, contracted, and people’s livelihoods have the Philippines (NDFP). We condemn its try’s so-called economic growth cannot deregulation, privatization and been eroded. Austerity and privatization use of Oplan Bayanihan as its framework cover up the stark reality of poverty, denationalization imposed worldwide measures have slashed public for peace negotiations. This regime, like inequality and underdevelopment. The through international multilateral spending for essential social services. its predecessors, continue to block the policy of neoliberal globalization that it institutions such as the International Neoliberalism has favored corporate forging of agreements on basic social, and its predecessors have adopted has Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank profits over social welfare. economic, and political reforms that (WB) and the World Trade Organization worsened the agrarian, non-industrial address the roots of the armed conflict (WTO) have further aggravated the Neoliberal globalization paves the way and backward character of the Philip- for achieving a just and lasting peace. severe impoverishment, exploitation, for unjust wars. Either direct or by pine economy. The policy has meant the displacement, and repression of the proxy, imperialists use their strength of continuing sellout of national patrimony It has not only refused to comply with, but people in the most highly-developed, arms and superior military technology and the complete disregard of the peo- has attempted to undermine, previously onward to the most underdeveloped. to subvert the will of sovereign nations ple’s welfare. signed agreements including The Hague These policies perpetuate and intensify, as they vie for supremacy and compete Joint Declaration – the framework The Aquino regime imposes its rule rather than mitigate, the effects of the for spheres of influence, markets, and agreement in the peace negotiations by suppressing the patriotic and global capitalist crisis on the working dumping grounds of capital. – the Joint Agreement on Safety and democratic opposition of the masses classes and the rest of the people. Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), and the The most systematic violations of through extrajudicial killings, massacres, Comprehensive Agreement on Respect Through neocolonial dictates or outright human rights occur in countries where enforced disappearances, illegal arrests for Human Rights and International coercion, aggression, and war, countries imperialist powers have unleashed wars and detention, torture, surveillance, Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). are pushed to implement neoliberal of aggression and state terrorism. The harassment and intimidation of policies that open their natural and imperialists and their client-states attack political activists, and displacement We condemn the Aquino regime as a human resources to plunder, and the people, killing even women and and dislocation of communities by willing tool of US imperialists to further preclude self-reliant and sustainable children, and commit so many other acts militarization. To date, the Aquino regime entrench themselves in the Philippines in economic development responsive to the that violate people’s rights. has claimed 142 victims of extrajudicial the pivot or strategic shift to Asia aimed people’s interests. killings, 16 of enforced disappearances, at tightening economic and military

50 51 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

dominance and control over the region, status quo in the Philippines. This includes press for resolutions and legislation to We commit to organize and hold the through such schemes as the Trans- making the US-Aquino, US-Macapagal- stop foreign intervention and aggression 2nd International Conference for Hu- Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), Arroyo, as well as the previous regimes in various guises. man Rights and Peace in the Philippines and over the Philippines, through the so- accountable for their crimes against the in 2016. called Partnership for Growth (PFG). Filipino people. We shall take steps to establish broad solidarity formations, and to sustain and We commit to support the struggle We condemn the worsening violations We shall campaign, lobby, and consolidate international networks of of oppressed nations and peoples for of the Filipino people’s rights, and unite support mass actions by Filipino mass individuals, groups, and organizations national and social liberation. in solidarity with the Filipino people in organizations and solidarity networks in supporting the struggle for human upholding and advancing their individual our respective countries that denounce rights and peace in the Philippines, and We commit to campaign for the release and collective rights. human rights violations, Oplan Bayanihan, encourage these to become part of the of political prisoners. the US-backed Aquino regime, and US International Coalition for Human Rights III. Plan of Action military intervention in the Philippines. in the Philippines. We call for national and internationally- We salute the determination of the coordinated actions, including, but not Filipino people in their struggle for limited to, the following red letter days: genuine sovereignty and democracy. Uphold People’s Rights! We agree to further develop international August 30 Work for Peace! cooperation to put a stop to state repres- International Day Against Enforced Fight for Justice! sion that breeds a culture of impunity in Disappearances Build solidarity and resistance with the people of the the Philippines and elsewhere; to pursue Philippines and the world! justice for the countless victims of hu- September 21 man rights violations in the country and Martial Law Commemoration/ Adopted by the International Conference for Human Rights and Peace in the elsewhere; and to build a strong solidarity International Day of Peace Philippines (ICHRPP) attended by 280 delegates coming from 26 countries in five network for human rights, peace, and jus- global regions (Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania). December 3 tice in the Philippines that supports simi- International Day of Solidarity for lar struggles in other countries. Political Prisoners We extend our solidarity to peoples of December 10 other countries and nations resisting International Human Rights Day neoliberal globalization, military expan- sionism, and aggressive wars pushed by the US, its allies and client-states. We commit to campaign for the resumption of the peace talks between We therefore unite on the following the Government of the Republic of the courses of action to further advance the Philippines (GPH) and the NDFP on the people’s struggle in the Philippines and basis of mutually acceptable principles, in the world to uphold the fundamental compliance with previously signed rights of the people, fight for social justice agreements, and the objective of forging and against all forms of inequality, and of agreements on basic social, economic, work for genuine peace within countries and political reforms that address the and in the world. roots of the armed conflict for achieving a just and lasting peace. We shall continue to expose and oppose the state-sponsored terrorism and We shall campaign and call upon the deception that preserve the exploitative people in our respective countries to

52 53 For land & justice: The continuing agrarian struggle in Hacienda Luisita Excerpts from the 40-page National Fact-Finding Mission Report prepared by the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) November 2013

n April 24, 2012, euphoria engulfed residents of all ten villages that make up the Hacienda Luisita estate. The Supreme Court had, on that same day, affirmed its decisionO to effect land distribution in the country’s most controversial and dispute- ridden hacienda. In the face of a very important, even historic legal victory, thousands of Luisita farmworkers — all toughened by decades of struggle — could not have helped feeling as if social justice had at long last been won as well.

Hacienda Luisita is one of the most con- ed legal maneuvers, bureaucratic corrup- troversial landholdings in the history tion, fascist violence and murder to main- of Philippine agrarian reform. It is the tain control of the sugar estate. economic base of the immense political power enjoyed today by the Cojuangco- A Brief Historical Landscape Aquino clan. This landlord family—whose Hacienda Luisita is a 6,453-hectare sugar main figures are ironically touted icons of estate covering 11 villages in three towns democracy in popular history books—has of Tarlac province. Most of the original unleashed every possible devious scheme farmworkers reside in 10 villages – and machination to suppress worker and Barangays Balete, Cutcut (or Sta. Catalina), peasant unrest in Hacienda Luisita. They Lourdes (formerly Texas), Mapalacsiao have used political influence, underhand- 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

(formerly Luisita), Asturias, and Bantog in (GSIS). The BSP approved Cojuangco’s years after the assassination of Ninoy On May 9, 1989, a referendum was held Tarlac City; Barangay Motrico in La Paz loan on condition that “There will be Aquino. A day after this court decision, among Luisita farmworkers to pres- town; and Barangays Parang (formerly San a simultaneous purchase of Hacienda Cory Aquino fielded her candidacy to the ent the SDO. Using force and coercion Sebastian), Mabilog (formerly Pasajes) and Luisita with the purchase of the shares 1986 Snap Elections. through the Cojuangco-Aquino’s “Yellow Pando in Concepcion town. The original (of the CAT) with the view to distributing Army,” armed agents and state forces estate includes the Central Azucarera de this hacienda to small farmers in line with The snap elections in February 1986 was were utilized to push the referendum Tarlac (CAT) sugar mill and a golf course. the (Magsaysay) Administration’s social beset with widespread fraud instigated and subsequent agreement among farm- The 11th village is Barangay Central in justice program.” GSIS likewise approved by the Marcos camp. Only a few months workers. After the referendum, a Memo- Tarlac City which houses the CAT sugar a Php 5.9 million loan on conditions after the MRTC decision on Hacienda randum of Agreement (MOA ) on the mill, the St. Martin de Porres Hospital and that Cojuangco, Sr. himself suggested – Luisita, Cory Aquino was swept into SDO was signed. In the MOA of May 11, the Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Hacienda Luisita would be distributed to power through the historic EDSA People 1989, Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) a spin- farmers after ten years. Power uprising also in February. off corporation of the Cojuangcos, was Today, portions of Hacienda Luisita designated as the second party to which Cory Aquino’s rise to power was have been converted to commercial, Since then, sugar production in Hacienda TADECO transferred control of agricul- instrumental in the Cojuangco-Aquino residential and industrial use. However, Luisita has always been a Cojuangco- tural portions of Hacienda Luisita and clan’s maneuvers to maintain control of these famous Luisita landmarks such as Aquino enterprise. When Hacienda other farm-related property in exchange Hacienda Luisita. Cory issued Presidential the sugar mill, the Luisita Industrial Park Luisita and the CAT went under the for shares of stock of farmworkers. I, the Las Haciendas Subdivision, the control of Jose Cojuangco Sr.’s Tarlac Proclamation 131 and Executive Order Luisita Golf and Country Club and the Development Corporation (TADECO) in No. 229 in July 1987. These issuances The SDO scheme was used by the opulent Alto exclusive residences of the May 11, 1958, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, were the basis for the Comprehensive Cojuangco-Aquino family to maintain its Cojuangco-Aquinos comprise only about Jr., who married Cojuangco, Sr.’s Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), now landlord interests. The HLI was utilized as 8% of the whole estate, a very small daughter Corazon in 1954 with Pres. infamous as the longest-running, most a laundering conduit to hide its earnings section compared to vast areas planted Ramon Magsaysay as principal sponsor expensive bogus land reform program in from farmworkers. At one point, the to sugarcane, and to the burgeoning -- became Luisita’s first administrator. Philippine history. HLI shouldered wages and benefits of ricefields and foodcrop plantations of numerous supervisors, “confidential On March 17, 1988, the Cojuangcos organized farmers under the bungkalan After ten years, in 1967, the Cojuangco- employees” and even member of their elevated their lost Luisita case to the (tillage) initiative of the local farmworkers Aquino clan refused to let go of Hacienda private army, or individuals in other Court of Appeals. On May 18, 1988, the alliance, AMBALA. Luisita, claiming that the estate did Cojuangco corporations who had nothing Court dismissed the case against the not have any tenants. During this time, to do with agricultural production. In Cojuangcos. Hacienda Luisita was originally owned President Ferdinand Marcos was early 1996, the DAR approved a conversion by a Spanish haciendero, Don Antonio into his first term while Ninoy Aquino, However, it was Cory’s land reform law, order for 500 hectares of the estate. The Lopez y Lopez who acquired the estate who later emerged as Marcos’s most Republic Act No. 6657 or the CARP, which HLI and other spin-off corporations of in 1882 and named it after his wife, bitter critic and political rival, won a seat would prove to dash the hopes of peas- the original TADECO of Jose Cojuangco, Luisa Bru y Lassus. The estate was once as the youngest senator of the Republic. ants for genuine land reform, not just in Sr. & Sons such as the Centennary partly a tobacco plantation owing to Holdings, Inc., the Luisita Realty On May 7, 1980, the Marcos government Hacienda Luisita but throughout the rest the nature of Don Antonio’s company, Corporation, Luisita Industrial Park Corp. filed a Civil Case against TADECO before of the Philippine countryside where feu- the Compania General de Tabacos de and possibly others have been used by the Manila Regional Trial Court (MRTC). dal and semi-feudal exploitation persists. Filipinas or TABACALERA. the Cojuangco-Aquino clan like dubious The case compels TADECO and the heirs Under the CARP, the Aquino administra- ghost corporations to push for land use In 1957, Jose Cojuangco Sr. took control of the late Jose Cojuangco, Sr. to turn tion concocted the Stock Distribution conversion and to fraudulently sidestep of the sugar mill and the 6,453-hectare over Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Option or SDO, a shady pro-landlord their obligation to distribute agricultural estate through loans from the New Agrarian Reform for subdivision and sale scheme which allowed landowners to land to farmworkers. York-based Manufacturer’s Trust Co. at cost to small farmers or tenants. The distribute to farmers shares of stock in a corporation instead of land. Essentially, endorsed by the Bangko Sentral ng Cojuangcos lost the case when the MRTC By 2003, unrest was brewing amongst the SDO provided landlords the legal ex- Pilipinas (BSP) or Central Bank, and the under Judge Bernardo P. Pardo rendered farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita. cuse to evade equitable land distribution. Government Systems Insurance Service its decision on December 2, 1985, two Joblessness, low wages and deceitful

56 57 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

benefits plagued farmworkers. Regular state forces opened fire on the strikers. The Hacienda Luisita strike and the Luisita, increased military presence was farmworkers received only P199.50 Seven people were killed and 121 others gruesome massacre compelled the once again felt, as the AFP established a day while seasonal or casual were seriously injured, 32 from gunshot DAR to look into AMBALA’s petition more permanent detachments around the farmworkers, only P194.50. What they wounds. This later became known as the and investigate the implementation of estate. Terror and militarization was once actually receive is a minimum of P9.50 infamous Hacienda Luisita massacre. the SDO scheme. After months of field again utilized by the Cojuangco-Aquino a day, or for many others only P9.50 study, the Presidential Agrarian Reform clan as a way of “consultation” with a week because management only After the massacre, more than a hundred Council (PARC) under President Gloria farmworkers. AMBALA displayed fierce allowed one to two working days a week. farmworkers were arrested and detained Arroyo, who by then became a political opposition and urged the SC to junk the Since the implementation of the SDO in at the PNP Provinicial Headquarters enemy of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, issued compromise deal. 1989, 1,009 farmworker-beneficiaries in Camp Macabulos, Tarlac City. On Resolution No. 2005-32-01 on December lost their jobs. In December 2003, the November 21, the funeral march of the 23, 2005. The PARC resolution revoked On July 5, 2011, the SC promulgated farmworkers’ alliance AMBALA filed massacre victims was joined by more the SDO plan of TADECO and HLI and a decision upholding the earlier PARC a petition before the DAR to revoke than 6,000 people. The marchers’ placed the lands covered by the SDO plan resolutions, but with the option for the SDO scheme and to stop land use streamers proclaimed: “Tuloy ang laban! under the compulsory coverage scheme FWBs to remain stockholders of HLI. conversion in Hacienda Luisita. Tuloy ang welga!” (The fight continues! of the CARP. Clarification to this earlier decision was The strike goes on!) promulgated on November 11, 2011. The next year, a deadlock in the On the first working day of the new year, negotiations for a collective bargaining The strike continued. During its peak, HLI was quick to file a motion for recon- On April 24, 2012, the SC affirmed its agreement (CBA) between the Central more than 10,000 farmworkers, their sideration of the PARC resolution before November 22, 2011 ruling in a final and Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) families, and sympathizers gathered in the DAR. In February 2006, despite the executory decision which ordered the was reached in July when HLI refused to 10 picketlines established all around pendency of their DAR motion, HLI filed DAR to facilitate the total land distribution increase workers’ wages to P225 per day. the sugar estate. State repression a petition for certiorari and prohibition of Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers. Sugar mill workers also lobbied for work and killings continued. The first victim against the PARC before the Supreme From Landmark SC Decision to days to be increased from once a week to of post-massacre killings in Luisita Court (SC). The PARC denied the HLI’s Bogus DAR Implementation 2-3 days per week. On October 1, 2004, was Marcelino Beltran, an armyman motion for reconsideration in May 2006 turned peasant leader of the provincial HLI ordered the illegal dismissal of 327 but by June, the SC issued a Temporary The final and executory resolution of chapter of KMP (Peasant Movement farm workers belonging to United Luisita Restraining Order (TRO) preventing the the SC on the HLI case, in the main, of the Philippines). Beltran was Workers’ Union (ULWU), including its PARC and DAR to implement land distri- instructs the DAR to facilitate the scheduled to attend a Senate hearing President Rene Galang and other leaders. bution. This TRO went down in Philippine transfer of land ownership of agricultural on the massacre to serve as witness judicial history as the longest restraining lands in Hacienda Luisita to qualified These incidents sparked the farmworkers’ on gunshot trajectories. Aside from order ever implemented. farmworkers all within a period of one outrage. The Hacienda Luisita strike was local farmworkers and peasant leaders, year. The landmark resolution further initiated on November 6, 2004 when the other subsequent victims were Ricardo President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino orders the following: 5,000-strong ULWU and 700 sugarmill Ramos, CATLU President and chairman III, a fifth generation Cojuangco scion workers of the CATLU united to hold a of Barangay Mapalacsiao; Tarlac City and co-accused as perpetrator of the 1. The revocation of the 1989 picketline at the CAT’s Gate 1. Councilor Abel Ladera; ULWU leader Hacienda Luisita massacre, was sworn SDO scheme; Tirso Cruz; Fr. William Tadena and into office in June 2010 under the banner On November 16, around 700 Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Filipino of the “daang matuwid” (righteous path) 2. The distribution by the DAR policemen, 17 truckloads of soldiers Independent Church. anti-corruption crusade. A few months of 4,335 hectares, including in full battle gear, two tanks equipped after his installation as President, the other tracts that it would with heavy weapons, a pay loader and During this period, anomalous deals for Cojuangco-Aquino clan maneuvered yet find to be agricultural in four fire trucks with water cannons the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tar- again to maintain control of Hacienda use, to 6,296 FWBs. Each were assembled to break the picketline, lac Expressway (SCTEX) within Hacienda Luisita through their political influence. should receive no less after the Dept of Labor issued an Luisita were pushed by the Cojuangco- than a 6,886 sq. meter “Assumption of Jurisdiction” order to Aquino family in collusion with the Ar- A “compromise deal” was pushed to agricultural lot; disperse the strike. At around 3 pm, royo administration. revive the SDO scheme. Within Hacienda

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3. The issuance, for free, by through the practice of bungkalan, a mass mileage in projecting the line that the victims of the very rights violations the the HLI of 18,804 shares of cultivation movement which the farmers current President, given his rectitude group aims to document. stocks to 4,206 non-quali- themselves and AMBALA have ingenious- and impartiality, shall not in any way fied FWBs who will remain ly initiated during the height of the Haci- intervene with land reform in his erstwhile Such terror tactic more or less as stockholders of HLI; enda Luisita strike in 2005. 6,453-hectare backyard. The pressure characterizes the usual proven mode furthermore in beating the deadline in of the Cojuangco-Aquinos in dealing 4. The accounting by HLI of Third, as direct and active party to the 2014 for the completion of CARPER’s land with the struggling farmworkers through the proceeds of sale of social enterprise of land reform, the reform targets, according to DAR, can every crucial historical juncture where the 500-hectare property organized farmworkers have requested only make land distribution in Hacienda the tillers supposedly held the moral and to RCBC and LIPCO, and that, in the spirit of democratic Luisita more inevitably expeditious. legal upper hand over the unjust and 80.5 hectares used for the consultation, the DAR provide them with oppressive reign of this landlord family. SCTEX amounting to Php corresponding documents, including The findings of the September 2013 1.33 billion; copies of the all-important Luisita land Hacienda Luisita National Fact Toward the end of the 1960s, for survey and subdivision plan. Likewise, Finding Mission confirm that land example, the Cojuangco-Aquino’s private 5. The payment by the DAR of in the interest of transparency, AMBALA distribution in all of the ten villages of army, augmented by military and police just compensation to HLI for has many times asserted that the Hacienda Luisita has indeed been quite forces, went on a rampage to preempt agricultural land at the price farmworkers themselves have the right expeditious. Expeditiously bogus, that is the implementation of the SBP-GSIS loan prevailing in 1989. to appoint an auditing firm that would -- a very unfortunate narrative no doubt condition which should have otherwise review their share of the Php 1.33 billion which however speaks as well of the led to the outright land distribution of Whereas it is the DAR that is principally total sale of HLI assets. continuing life and death struggle for the Luisita lands. Hacienda Luisita would tasked by law to carry out land distribution land and justice of the gallant Luisita experience the same vicious violent in Hacienda Luisita, the organized rank DAR meanwhile, sometime in the second farmworkers. pattern in 1989 when land distribution of the farmworkers has deemed itself half of 2012, confidently declared should have been imposed instead of the likewise duty-bound and to have all the that land reform in Hacienda Luisita This fact-finding mission was capped by SDO; in 2005 when the PARC released its right in fact not to remain passive at this shall push through especially as it has the violent and unlawful arrest of 11 of decision in favor of the farmworkers; in juncture of the agrarian struggle. then already become basically the its delegates: Anakpawis Rep. Fernando 2010 when the Cojuangco-Aquinos tried department’s flagship endeavor. Such Hicap and his Congress and National to push the compromise deal; and at First of all, the farmworkers, especially declaration may have effectively served Headquarters staff members Karl Mae present since the landmark SC decision through AMBALA, have remained firm on to further dispel any popular doubt at San Juan, Rene Blasan, Kerima Acosta and on the Hacienda Luisita case. their stand for free land distribution. that time as to Malacañang’s willingness Danilo Ramos, Anakpawis spokesperson The Cojuangco-Aquinos have been While the SC ruling prescribes that the to abide by the SC and truly subject the and former secretary-general of KMP; consistent in its efforts to sabotage land state pays the HLI for every hectare of ag- vast land of the Presidential family and Tanggol Magsasaka volunteer Sister reform in Hacienda Luisita. Their power ricultural land, it has been the assumption clan to distribution. Patricia Fox, cultural worker Ericson over state institutions such as the DAR, of AMBALA that no single centavo shall Acosta, KARAPATAN volunteer Ronald It may be recalled particularly that the the PNP, AFP, the local and high courts in the process come from the farmwork- Matthew Gustilo, and Luisita residents actions of President Aquino in May of and other branches of government ers’ pockets. This is for the simple reason, Angelina Nunag, Luz Versola of local the same year which led rather speedily has accorded them this blood-stained, AMBALA has long argued, that several youth group SAKDAL, and Florida “Pong” to the impeachment of Chief Justice murderous privilege. times over, the cost of land transfer has Sibayan, acting chairperson of AMBALA. Renato Corona have largely been read already been paid for by the farmworkers’ as the chief executive’s way of getting The arrest was undertaken by elements Conclusions decades of toil and misery. Second, the back at the latter, who was said to have of the Tarlac City police on orders of the farmworkers, at every opportunity, have 1. Luisita sugar farmworkers & been instrumental in the SC decision Cojuangco-Aquino firm TADECO. There also been keen on reminding the DAR of their families are no ordinary detrimental to Hacienda Luisita. is no denying that Hacienda Luisita their particular desire to own and till the “beneficiaries” of land reform. is still under a reign of terror when distributable lands on a collective basis. They possess all the moral, By the middle of 2013, it seemed by all delegates to this fact-finding mission Such desire at any rate has long been es- historical & legal rights to the land indications that the DAR was enjoying – the “Luisita 11” – became the actual tablished as a social and economic fact maximum logistical support and media

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which the Cojuangco-Aquino clan the farmworkers’ demand for beneficiaries disenfranchised, According to DAR reports, 1,877 to has ruthlessly denied them for COLLECTIVE LAND OWNERSHIP. violated and swindled: 2,102 individuals or 30-34% of all decades. Their demand for FREE Concerned agencies must beneficiaries were allocated lots LAND DISTRIBUTION is a just call recognize and study the • inserting questionable names around 10-15 kilometers outside that must be granted. bungkalan land occupation and into the masterlist of beneficiaries their place of residence. This was cultivation program initiated by done through a rather unorthodox Some of the oldest farmworker The Cojuangco-Aquino clan farmworkers during the height of mode – tambiolo (lottery drum) families, most prominent union acquired the estate through the Luisita strike in 2005. raffles. The “tambiolo” system itself and farmworkers’ leaders and ac- loans from the government in is a very crude way of allocating tivists, and kins of victims of the 1957. After so many decades, the The strike and the bungkalan land. It evades the correct process Hacienda Luisita massacre and Cojuangco-Aquino family never demonstrated the people’s of truthfully consulting with the subsequent killings were nowhere fulfilled the government loan enormous capacity to effect FWBs and studying the long to be found in the DAR master list condition to distribute land to change in an environment mired in history of exploitation within of farmworker-beneficiaries of the farmers. Instead, they have oppression and deceit. To simply Luisita so as to exact social its land reform program. Instead, enriched themselves through dismiss or, worse, to actively justice. Land allocation must nearly a thousand questionable the blood, sweat and tears of suppress this emergent movement consider the fact that since 2005, names were included, some be- generations of Hacienda Luisita runs counter to the intentions a considerable number of farmers longing to the Cojuangco-Aqui- sugar farmworkers. They have of dispensing social justice. have already cultivated plots and no’s most rabid agents, supervi- piled hefty earnings from sales Meanwhile, the type of individual positioned themselves in areas sors and so-called “yellow army.” of portions of the property to titling that the DAR has imposed that are naturally near their places private entities, under deals and the complimentary promotion • procuring a dubious and of abode. The “tambiolo” scheme that the government itself of block farming, in the context overpriced land survey unavoidably has not only caused had ironically supported and of the Luisita experience, are confusion and chaos but actual interceded for. More incredibly but modes that serve to reverse The DAR contracted a private displacements as well. ironic is that despite this clan’s the course of land reform. What firm, the FF Cruz & Co. Inc. and unflinching refusal to fulfill must be given full recognition and found only 4,099.92 hectares for • imposition of compulsory signing their loan obligations, it is the support is the organized rank of distribution out of the original of promissory notes to ensure Cojuangco-Aquinos instead the farmworkers in their campaign 6,453-hectare property – leaving amortization payments who have been diligently to increase production and more than a thousand hectares The DAR compelled farmworkers remunerated by the government improve their livelihood through unaccounted for. Survey results to sign the Application to Purchase with the SCTEX right of way mutual aid, cooperativization and show that the DAR excluded and Farmworkers’ Undertaking payment and, most recently, collective farming. hundreds of hectares of land (APFU), a document which states of “just compensation” in the from distribution justified by 3. The DAR land distribution scheme that they are willing to buy the ongoing sham land distribution tagging these areas as new roads, in Hacienda Luisita is the absolute land which is essentially theirs, in Hacienda Luisita. Indeed, the easements, firebreaks, etc. The opposite of a “successful model at a price which is not expressly Cojuangco-Aquino family, with DAR paid the FF Cruz firm Php of land reform.” IT IS A SHAM. stated in the document and can the complicity of or in direct 19 million for this dubious survey Not an inch of land has been be easily manipulated to favor the collusion with government, have, which should have cost only Php physically distributed after all the Cojuangco-Aquino clan. The threat through the years, incurred 12.9 million. serious debt not only to the grand pronouncements of the of the DAR to disqualify FWBs who Luisita farmworkers but to the government that the sufferings • exclusion of hundreds of fail or refuse to sign the AFPU has whole Filipino people. of the farmworkers have already hectares of agricultural land from no basis in fact and in law. ended. The DAR has committed distribution sowing confusion, • grant of overpriced landlord 2. For land distribution to be blatant abuse of discretion in most, dislocation and dispute among compensation to the HLI / equitable and just, state if not all the actual steps it has beneficiaries in lot allocation and Cojuangco-Aquinos entities must seriously heed undertaken, leaving its supposed individual titling

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The DAR paid the HLI a total held at gunpoint. To ensure agricultural lands for a “Luisita signs around these agricultural of Php 471,501,417.98, -- Php participation of defiant Luisita master conversion plan” lots. Last November 1, Dennis 304,033,138.20 of which is the farmworkers, the DAR lottery dela Cruz, an AMBALA leader actual cost of the land property activities were conducted with the A Hacienda Luisita master land who was repeatedly threatened while the remaining amount is heavy presence of the military and use plan commissioned by the by these guards, was found dead the cash equivalent of matured the police. In all villages, combined Cojuangco-Aquino family from near the farm lot in Balete. In 10-year LBP bonds computed forces of the AFP and PNP the SWA Group in 1998 reveals Barangay Cutcut, TADECO filed using the prevailing 91-day T-bill numbered to an average of 200 the family’s long term plan to unlawful detention cases against rates from 1989 to 1999, easily fully-armed personnel including convert the estate into a com- 81 farmers. more than double the value a Special Weapons and Tactics mercial and industrial hub leaving initially prescribed by the SC. (SWAT) team and their intimidating nothing for agricultural use. Their • the violent “Oplan April Spring” With the landlord prerogative to police mobiles, a SWAT vehicle, a aggressive claims on choice agri- repression and “neutralization” actively take part in the valuation jail bus and a fire truck. The same cultural land near the SCTEX and of organized farmers in collusion process (which includes the right force was used when the DAR the newly-opened Tarlac-Pangas- with RCBC and state forces to appeal to the SC) very much concluded its “land distribution” inan-La Union Expressway paves • intimidation, illegal arrest and recognized by the CARPER, “just activities by handing out mere the way for massive dislocation of filing of trumped-up charges compensation” for the Cojuangco- photocopies of the land ownership farmworkers and the wipe-out of against its critics Aquinos will most likely shoot up award document to thousands of whole barangays of Hacienda Lui- sita. With sham land distribution, to the billions. beneficiaries in all barangays. • other state institutions such as farmers’ agricultural lands are un- the PNP, AFP and courts which • inept facilitation of the audit of 4. The Cojuangco-Aquino clan der constant threat of conversion. have shamelessly colluded with HLI and CHI assets has evidently sabotaged land Whole communities are under the Cojuangco-Aquino family are reform through every means threat of eviction and dislocation. also liable for rights violations. • rabid justification of Cojuangco- within its disposal. The Hacienda Aquino claims over agricultural • use of force, with both private Luisita massacre is the family’s The Tarlac City police and local lands in Tarlac City armed personnel and state forces most blatant display of ruthless courts have participated in the impunity. The Cojuangco-Aquino imposing the Cojuangco-Aquino • inaction on the farmworkers’ active arrest and filing of trumped- clan will continue to unleash clan’s illegal authority appeal for revocation of up charges for the Cojuangco- deceit and terror within Hacienda conversion order on 500 hectares TADECO sent eviction letters to Aquino family. Aside from the Luisita to protect its landlord (RCBC/LIPCO) hundreds of farmers and installed RCBC “Oplan April Spring” where interests. This reign of terror is outposts and armed security dozens of farmworkers were hurt brazenly imposed through the • imposition and promotion of guards around agricultural lots by armed guards and then charged immense power enjoyed by the block farming scheme “as support in Barangays Balete and Cutcut. for asserting their rights, the PNP Cojuangco-Aquinos whose scion, service” to serve landlord interest After Typhoon Santi (international arrested 3 farmworkers while the Pres. Noynoy Aquino, is currently name – Nari) devastated farmers’ AMBALA engaged in a dialogue • deceit and coercion of at the helm of government and huts in Balete, these guards with local DAR officials in February beneficiaries through threatening commander-in-chief of the armed threatened and barred residents 2013; in September, a farmwoker press statements and (dis) forces. The Cojuangco-Aquinos from rebuilding their huts. The and his companions was nabbed information campaigns and are liable for: guards, with the help of soldiers for a charge he allegedly committed excessive use of intimidating state when he was only 15 years old; • illegal and arrogant claim of and local police, used force and forces to implement its schemes eleven of this mission’s delegates higher compensation for land intimidation to dismantle other and activities. were illegally arrested and detained; acquisition farm huts and destroy crops in and now, 81 farmers are slapped THE DAR’s flawed, fraudulent the contested area. The guards with charges to coerce them to “tambiolo” land allocation, • the illegal, aggressive & immoral proceeded to install barbed wire vacate lands they tilled since 2005. furthermore, was practically claims of TADECO & LRC over fences and “No Trespassing”

64 65 5. Government policy – massacre and all subsequent killings and institutionalized corruption and rights violations related to this agrarian state terror and repression – has struggle. Harassment, intimidation, illegal made genuine land reform a arrests and filing of trumped-up charges distant reality for the thousands by the Cojuangco-Aquino clan must be of farmworkers in Hacienda put to a stop. Amid repression, indigenous peoples Luisita, and for the millions of other farmers and tillers all over Beneficiaries of land reform are not the country. enemies of the state. The AFP must continue resistance against plunder withdraw all military and paramilitary By Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) The DAR has been recently exposed units deployed in Hacienda Luisita. as a “pork clearing house” for corrupt State security forces must not be used politicians and fake non-government to protect the landlord interests of the organizations (NGOs) to illegally partake Cojuangco-Aquino clan. TADECO, LRC of lump sum public fund allocations. But and representatives of the Cojuangco- even under land reform laws, the DAR Aquino families must withdraw all private has merely served as legal conduit for armed personnel and dismantle their the blatant misuse of public funds for its outposts pending resolution of dispute ineffective land reform schemes and as on their claims on the agricultural lands milking-cow of landlord families entitled excluded by DAR from distribution to the to “just compensation.” Pres. Aquino beneficiaries. TADECO and its specific himself has allocated millions of pesos guilty personnel must be held liable for from his unconstitutional Disbursement abuses, grave threat, damage to property, Acceleration Program (DAP) for landlord forced eviction and the murder of Dennis compensation and for the alleged dela Cruz. bribery of Senator-judges to secure the impeachment of SC Chief Justice Renato We should support the continuing he year 2013 saw the continuation of institutionalized violations of the rights Corona, right after the SC promulgated agrarian struggle of Hacienda Luisita of indigenous peoples. Violations of their collective and economic-civil-political- its final and executory decision on sugar workers for genuine land reform socio-culturalT rights worsened with the continued plunder of the country’s mineral Hacienda Luisita. and social justice. resources and the continuation of Oplan Bayanihan, the Aquino government’s counterinsurgency program which ignores the root causes of the armed conflict in We must act and continue to seek justice the country. for the victims of the Hacienda Luisita

The Aquino presidency is no different Filipino People’, a reworded program from the past regimes. Aquino continues of globalizing local economies to to implement the rotten economic and squeeze dry the country’s resources security policies of the past regimes, for superprofit. Through the Public- albeit dressed up in pro-people and Private Partnership (PPP) program, the anti-corruption slogans fashioned by Aquino government embarked on land his spinmeisters. The adherence to conversion in favor of agri-business neoliberal globalization is embodied plantations, mining, infrastructure, real in the Aquino government’s economic estate, and tourism projects of local big program, a ‘Social Contract with the business and transnational corporations.

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Liberalization of the mining industry 45 of 222 Industrial Sand and Gravel The Free, Prior and Informed Consent real nature of Oplan Bayanihan, the local operations are located within the (FPIC), a provision in the Indigenous version of the US Counter-Insurgency The liberalization of the mining sector, ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), is a mechanism (COIN) Guide. As the US-Aquino regime institutionalized by the Mining Act of available for the indigenous peoples to loses time on its self-imposed deadline 1995 and Aquino’s very own directive, Ex- Dams and other energy-related participate in the discussion of projects to “render insurgency irrelevant” by ecutive Order 79, trample on the rights of projects affecting them. The FPIC, facilitated by the end of 2013, it has abandoned all indigenous peoples. The scourge to in- the National Commission on Indigenous pretense of ‘peace and development’ Energy projects thrive in Aquino’s so- digenous peoples’ rights since its institu- Peoples (NCIP) under the Office of the efforts in indigenous communities and called development programs, as the tionalization two decades ago, the Min- President, supposedly requires investors has revealed its brutality in its full-blown PPP prioritized the privatization of the ing Act is in full swing under the Aquino to obtain permission from the affected combat operations. energy industry. administration, attested by the approval indigenous communities before they can of more than 238,213.58 hectares of land The Aquino government committed Today, there are at least 27 hydroelectric legally operate. for mining activities. EO 79, on the other deception against the indigenous peoples dams which were built, are under hand, subverted the people’s call for en- In practice, this mechanism is either in its use of “socio-civic activities” to cover construction, or are in the pipeline. vironmental protection. The EO glossed ineffective or most of the time violated. up combat operations in indigenous They will inundate numerous indigenous over mining-related issues and reduced it The FPIC is usually acquired through communities considered as ‘rebel hot- communities. to simply an issue of increased revenue manipulation, deceit, and coercion. spots’. At the same time, Aquino used his generation for the government. EO 79 One of the largest is the Pulangi Dam that However, the FPIC provides legitimacy to military, police, and paramilitary groups managed to buttress further the liber- straddles three provinces in Mindanao the entry of big businesses, and adds to to commit torture, killings of adults and alization of the mining industry. In addi- and will affect 23 villages of Lumad and the illusion of democracy and ‘inclusive children, and desecration of remains and tion, it placed the national government Moro peoples. In Iloilo, the Jalaur dam growth’ under the Aquino regime. The sacred grounds of indigenous peoples. in charge of expropriating mineral lands will affect around 17,000 indigenous IPRA and the process of FPIC have been Oplan Bayanihan has gained infamy for mining development, undermining in- peoples in 13 villages. In Kalinga, aside utilized to serve the interest of big business among the indigenous peoples in the digenous peoples’ rights to ancestral ter- from six hydro plants in the pipeline, the and have even been instrumental in the same way as Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya ritories, as well as the authority of local Department of Energy already awarded violation of indigenous peoples’ rights to I and II. government units. five hydro projects and one geothermal land and self-determination. The government dismisses the many project to the Philippine National Oil The outcome of these mining laws and Oplan Bayanihan cases of rights violations against Company-Renewables Corporation policies is the actual operation and indigenous peoples as ‘collateral damage’ (PNOC-RC) and Kalinga Hydropower, Inc. numerous applications of local and Aside from violations of indigenous in its war against “insurgency”. In truth, peoples’ collective rights to land and transnational mining corporations. They Aside from dams, oil palm plantations the US-Aquino regime targets civilians resources, grave violations of their civil now pose the biggest threats to the rights encroach on ancestral territories. In who defend their economic, social and and political rights are committed by the of indigenous peoples to ancestral lands Opol, Bukidnon, the 20,000 hectare political rights. The Aquino government Aquino regime in the implementation of and to self-determination. oil palm plantation owned by A. Brown labels them as ‘rebel supporters’ or Oplan Bayanihan. violates the ancestral land rights of the ‘anti-development’ elements to justify KAMP has accounted for at least military attacks. Because indigenous indigenous Higaonon. In Palawan, an oil In 2011, Aquino’s army of publicists and 251 approved mining applications peoples all over the country resist the palm plantation stretches through seven PR experts coughed up a masterfully covering an estimated 532,368.36 many ‘development projects’ in their towns of Southern Palawan affecting worded security program intended to hectares of ancestral lands in 28 territories, they can easily be put under Palaw’an indigenous communities. bury past bloody counterinsurgency provinces. Nationwide, five of the this category. The Aquino government schemes. But as cases of killings, six Financial Technical Assistance Free, Prior and Informed Consent uses its armed forces to quell the forced evacuations, and enforced Agreements (FTAA), 148 of the 339 (FPIC) resistance of indigenous peoples. disappearances continued under his rule, approved Mineral Production Sharing Leaders and members of organizations it has become increasingly impossible Agreement (MPSA), 23 of the 61 The government violates its own flawed and communities are vilified, threatened, for the Aquino government to mask the Exploration Permit (EP), 30 of the 84 law that presumably protects indigenous harassed and marked for killing. Mineral Processing Permits (MPP), and peoples’ rights.

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Since Aquino assumed presidency in Another focal point in the indigenous and peasants who survived typhoon Executive Order 546, issued by the Gloria June 2010 and until December 3, 2013, people’s struggle is the food protest after Pablo. She and her group criticized the red Macapagal-Arroyo administration, is still there have been 38 documented cases of typhoon Pablo/Bophal hit Davao Oriental baiting that went with the government’s in place. It allows local officials to employ killings of indigenous peoples. and Compostela Valley in December relief distribution. They demanded just Citizen Armed Force Geographical 2012, affecting at least 170,000 people. distribution of relief goods, and the Units (CAFGU) and Civilian Volunteer Resistance and Repression Indigenous peoples, specifically the rehabilitation of their communities. She Organizations (CVO) to beef up the Mandaya and Mansaka, led and was among those who exposed the military. BS Aquino perpetuated the Amid the blows to their socio-economic participated in one of the largest food corruption in the Department of Social reign of terror of paramilitary groups rights and security, the indigenous protests to demand just distribution of Welfare and Development (DSWD), by creating the Special Cafgu Auxiliary peoples are steadfast in defending their relief goods and immediate rehabilitation the agency in-charge of relief and Action (SCAA) to protect the operations rights. The assaults against indigenous of the typhoon-stricken communities. rehabilitation of calamity-stricken areas. of transnational mining firms. Today, 13 peoples’ rights are met with courageous The series of protests also highlighted She also exposed the food blockades paramilitary groups terrorize Lumad and resistance. the disastrous environmental impact of conducted by the military during relief peasant communities in Mindanao. In The people’s barricades in Dupax del mining, logging and agri-business which operations. On March 4, 2013, Cristina northern Luzon, the Cordillera People’s Norte and Kasibu municipalities in Nueva made the communities more vulnerable Jose was shot three times by motorcycle- Liberation Army (CPLA) is the military Vizcaya were examples of how the Igorot to destruction. riding gunmen. She died on the spot. thugs on the AFP’s (Armed Forces of the tribes defended their ancestral land Philippines) payroll. Many other acts of defiance against the Bloodshed in the Tampakan mine site rights. The people’s actions were against onslaught of transnational corporations continued with the killing of Anting Freay, the attempts of Royalco Phils, Inc., an Military operations in indigenous and big business on ancestral lands 60, and his son, Victor, 16. They were Australian mining corporation, to explore communities were conducted by the indigenous from Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, part of 4,796.8 hectares of indigenous people’s peoples through protest actions in the the affected areas by the Tampakan Gold The AFP’s combat operations in territory. Barricades against the entry of communities and in urban centers. They and Copper project. They were killed in indigenous communities resulted in Royalco started in 2007. The indigenous were all met with repression by the August 2013 by suspected members of the forced evacuations. Under the Aquino peoples endured many threats, government through its mercenary army. 39th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine presidency, KAMP recorded 16 incidents harassment, and demolitions and other Army (IBPA) and Task Force KITACO, of forced evacuations of indigenous human rights violations in defense of Extrajudicial killings a paramilitary unit under PA’s 1002nd peoples involving approximately 9,754 their land rights. Infantry Brigade created specifically individuals, including peasant settlers. Since July 2010, most of the 38 recorded This year, the barricaders confronted to protect the mining company against These evacuations happened in several cases of extrajudicial killings of indigenous the Blaan people’s pangayaw. Anting indigenous communities in five provinces military harassment and surveillance and peoples were of leaders and members of trumped-up cases filed in courts. sustained three gunshot wounds in the in Mindanao. organizations or communities who were face, neck, and leg. Victor sustained 18 The pangayaw (literally, tribal war) critical of “development” projects and gunshots in different parts of his body. On August 30, 2013, the Kakanaey people, being waged by the Blaan people in military presence in their communities. The brutal slay of the Freays was the as well as tourists, were shocked and defense of their ancestral lands against Of the 38 killed, four were children of latest in Tampakan, following the Capion appalled when attack helicopters of the the incursion of the SMI-Xstrata (now indigenous peoples’ leaders, and five massacre in November 2012 where a Philippine Air Force (PAF) 1st Division’s Glencore) mining corporation is another were women, one of them pregnant. Blaan woman leader, Juvy Capion, and Strike Wing dropped bombs on Sagada, example. The SMI-Xstrata in Tampakan, her two sons were killed by members of Mountain Province in the Cordillera In 2013, five indigenous peoples leaders region. The bombing was supposedly South Cotabato is currently considered became victims of extrajudicial slays. the 26th IBPA. as the largest foreign mining investment done in pursuit of New People’s Army in the Philippines. Around 30,000 Blaan Barug Katawhan leader, Cristina Morales The continued existence and the US- (NPA) guerrillas. But, the bombs stand to lose their land due to the mining Jose, a Mandaya from Baganga, Davao Aquino regime’s use of these worsen destroyed farms and irrigation facilities project. The pangayaw of the Blaan tribe Oriental was a leader of one of the human rights violations and foster a of the Igorot tribes, and traumatized continues today. biggest protests of indigenous peoples culture of impunity. residents, especially the children. Earlier,

70 71 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

on May 31, airstrikes were also conducted Conclusion framework of imperialist globalization policies and the continued deterioration in Malibcong, Abra by the 503rd Brigade and tries to beat its Oplan Bayanihan’s of the human rights situation will only purportedly to flush out NPA rebels. Behind the smokescreen of “peace deadline to wipe out those considered as result in further political isolation and and development”, the indigenous “enemies of the State”. spreading public hatred of the US-Aquino Legal harassment and filing of peoples suffer under the US-Aquino regime. The US-Aquino regime’s failure trumped-up charges regime’s economic programs and brutal However, Oplan Bayanihan, like all to address the social, economic, and counterinsurgency scheme, which are other counterinsurgency programs political crises in the country will give In the past years, it has become a trend actually a rehash of the programs of the implemented in the past, will fail to quash rise to further discontent and dissent for the government to file trumped- past US-supported regimes. the people’s democratic movement. among the people. And as evidenced in up charges against leaders and Poverty, landlessness, and unemployment its history, the Filipino people will resist The current economic programs and members of organizations campaigning brought about by neo-liberal economic and struggle on to better their situation. against militarization and destructive policies of the Aquino government government projects. are the same programs and policies implemented by the state in the past Members of Mapasu (Pakigbisog Alang 30 years. All are within the framework sa Sumusunod or Struggle for the Next of imperialist globalization, exploiting Generation) were charged in September the country’s resources for the interests 2012 with rebellion, frustrated murder, of powerful countries. The resulting arson, illegal possession of firearms & landlessness, unemployment, poverty, explosives, and malicious mischief. The and human rights violations have meritless case was meant to harass tyrannized the Filipino people but, at the and intimidate Mapasu members, and same time exposed the real character of neutralize their opposition. Those charged the US-Aquino regime, despite all efforts were leaders and active members of the at deception. The well-funded Oplan Manobo campaign ing against mining Bayanihan ensures the continued raking encroachment in their ancestral lands in of super profits by big business, mostly and human rights violations committed foreign-owned. by state security forces in the area. The indigenous peoples are in the bull’s- Similarly, in Mankayan, Benguet, more eye of the Aquino government’s attacks, than 100 community members were economically and militarily. As such they slapped with trumped-up charges when have direct experience of the Aquino they opposed the Lepanto Mining government’s fascist attacks and its Corporation’s pending expansion puppetry to US imperialism. They know of operations. The community has that the government violates even its own consistently raised environmental flawed law, the IPRA, and the FPIC process issues and workers’ rights in relation to which presumably protect indigenous Lepanto’s operations. peoples’ rights. No government lies and public relations campaigns can continue In Nueva Vizcaya, a Temporary to fool them. Restraining Order (TRO) acquired by Royalco Phils., Inc. was served by the But the indigenous peoples will have police and military to the 15 leaders of to brace themselves for more ruthless the barricade, ordering them to desist military operations as the government, from participating in and maintaining now on its midterm, pushes its various the barricades. so-called development projects in the

72 73 Aquino’s PPP: Profits for big business versus people’s rights By Defend Job Philippines & Kadamay - National Capital Region

no ba talaga ang gusto nilang gawin sa amin? Makailang ulit na nila kaming pinalalayas at itinataboy malayo sa pangisdaan. Nandito ang kabuhayan namin.A” (What do they want from us? They have driven us far away from where we can fish. This is where we earn our living.)”

These are bitter questions from Nanay again a threat of eviction to give way to Gemma. She is one of the thousands the city’s reclamation project – another of urban poor residents who eke out a Public Private Partnership project. living in the coastal areas of the . The Parañaque City government Public Private Partnership is President demolished their community at the Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s (BS Aquino) Marina Compound, Tambo, Parañaque flagship program under the Philippine in 2007. In its place now stands the Development Plan of 2011-2016 in line ASEANA Business Park and the Bagong with imperialist globalization and his Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City. The “righteous path” framework. According victims of forcible eviction and violent to his “Social Contract with the Filipino demolition have resorted to a floating People” he envisions “a country that community at the coastal area of San has achieved inclusive growth and is Dionisio, Parañaque, where there is characterized by rapid, sustained, and 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

broad-based economic growth.” In PPP for School Infrastructure Project resolutions and proclamations stopping presently in Phase IV. Phases I-III short, the Aquino government claims Phase 1 awarded to Megawide the planned reclamation. featured the giant Mall of Asia, ASEANA that the PPP can solve the deep and Construction Corp of Andrew Tan Business Park and the Bagong Nayong worsening problem of poverty and Few people know that a series of forced Pilipino Entertainment City (Casino Hub). hunger in the country. PPP for School Infrastructure eviction and demolition were conducted Project Phase 2 awarded to Citicore by the City government and Henry People’s homes and sources of The Public Private Partnership is just a Holdings Investment, Inc. and BF SY before the SM Mall of Asia finished livelihood in Las Piñas and Parañaque new name for the Build Operate Transfer Corp. Riverbanks Development construction. The displaced and affected are in great danger due to the policy of the previous administration. Corporation Consortium of Bayani residents were paid each a measly implementation of Boulevard 2000 It authorizes foreign and local business Fernando P6,000 disturbance fee by the Philippine which includes the reclamation of to invest and make big profits from the Reclamation Authority. more than 850 hectares around the construction, operation, management In the National Capital Region, around coastline of Freedom Islands. According and maintenance of huge infrastructure 457,500 families or 2.7 million people The Manila Bay Reclamation Project is to research of the Save Freedom Island projects in the country. It is in keeping are directly affected by the demolition closely linked with 38 projects which Movement more than 27,000 families with the neo-liberal economic policies campaign under the PPP and other so- include the following: will be directly affected. Reclamation and programs being championed by called development projects, according will be followed by the construction of Manila Bay Coastal Road Project imperialist countries led by the US and to initial documentation. condominiums, malls, hotels, casinos, or Radial Road 1 extension project keenly implemented in the Philippines by private establishments and PPP projects The National Reclamation Project (NRP) which connects to the BS Aquino administration. such as the following: Radial Road1 is one of the biggest, grandiose but also CAVITEX – Talisay, Batangas; extension project; rehabilitation and one of the most destructive projects In reality, in exchange for the “revenues” privatization of the Fisherman’s Wharf of the government, an integrated PPP North Harbor Privatization and and “jobs” that the PPP has promised is (Bulungan Market); LRT1 extension and project. There will be 38,272 hectares Rehabilitation Project; the plunder of the remaining resources the NAIA Expressway project. of coastline for reclamation along the of our country such as public lands, and Manila Bay Financial District/Infinite Manila Bay, Laguna Bay and in Cebu, seawaters; and corporate ownership of hub; “The government allows and encourages social services and public utilities such Davao and other parts of the Visayas the rich to be even richer while they do as water, electricity, transportation and and Southern Mindanao. This is in Manila Solar City; not want to help poor people like us telecommunication. Yet, the “revenues” compliance with Resolution No. 4151 of even though we also contribute to the is very small compared to the billions of the Philippine Reclamation Authority San Miguel City Business Complex; country’s economy”, says Nanay Gemma, profits that foreign corporations and local pursuing a supposed integrated and well a resident of the floating community in Business Park business tycoons get. In the altar of su- coordinated national reclamation plan. Bgy. San Dionisio. which is integrated with the R10 perprofits, the economic, social, cultural, Alongside or following the reclamation Expansion and construction of the civil political rights of the people are sacri- are 102 development projects on the way Reclamation and so-called International Ship and Repair Yard; ficed, trampled upon and grossly violated. for implementation, many of them in the development in the hands of giant framework of PPP. corporations Manila Bay Coastal Road project Currently, there are 47 PPP projects for (Manila to Bataan); immediate implementation, according to In the National Capital Region (NCR), The Aquino government connives with the Manila Bay Reclamation was started giant foreign corporations and local a list obtained. The following are some Circumferential Roads (C5 & C6); of the projects that have been awarded during the Marcos dictatorship under business tycoons in the implementation to bidders: his City of Man concept which was Taguig Reclamation Lakeshore of PPP. The government has valued the enthusiastically taken up by Imelda Project; and reclamation in the Freedom Islands in -SLEX Connector Marcos. It was continued by former Las Piñas and Parañaque at PhP14 billion awarded to Ayala Land Inc. Presidents Cory Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Labart Project. covering more than 635 hectares and Arroyo and now by BS Aquino. PPP king issued an Environmental Compliance NAIA Expressway Project awarded to Aquino chooses to ignore the strong In the South Sector of Manila Bay is the Certificate to All-Tech Contractors. The Vertex Tollways Devt. Inc. (a wholly legal basis, Supreme Court decisions and Manila Cavite Coastal Road Reclamation project manager is Peter Suchianco, owned subsidiaryof San Miguel Corp) even Presidential and Local Government Project (Boulevard 2000) which is a former consultant of San Miguel

76 77 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

Corporation where Ramon Ang is the is being controlled by four giant foreign and food of the people residing in the Pag-asa Cooperative (SAMAKIBAPA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Ang also corporations with their local business Manila Bay area and negatively affect the which is a cooperative under UMSC, there heads Philippine Airlines (PAL) and is a counterparts in the Philippines namely: nearby cities and provinces dependent on are approximately 620 slots in the market director of Cyber City Corporation, which the resources that the bay provides. which are occupied by more than 1,000 owned PEA Amari, developer of the Bloombury Investment Holding vendors. There are also 162 members controversial reclamation project under Inc., owner of Bloomberry Resorts According to Demolition Watch, an of the cooperative who are small fisher- the Ramos Administration. and Hotels Inc. (SOLAIRE MANILA) advocate for the protection of the folk managing what are called saprahan owned by the Chairman and CEO economic, social and cultural rights of the -- fish cages where mussels and oysters SM Land Inc. of Henry Sy, Ayala Land of International Container Terminal people, the reclamation, land conversion, are farmed. Inc. of the Zobel and Ayala families and Services, Inc., (ICTSI) Enrique Razon; maldevelopment and PPP projects in the the GT Capital Holdings Inc. of business Freedom Islands have resulted in gross The Bulungan market had been demolished tycoon George Ty, owner of Metrobank MELCO Crown owned by Australian violations of the people’s rights. They six times to give way to so-called and Toyota Motors Philippines, are billionaire James Pacher and Lawrence run counter to the provisions of the development projects of the government. competing to get the 300-hectare Ho (Macau Gaming tycoon) and Belle International Covenants on Economic, It was first built in the island of Dabu- reclamation project in the boundary of Corporation of Henry Sy Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Dabu but had to give way to reclamation Parañaque and Pasay City. A Notice of Political Rights, which include the right in the area. Residents were relocated to Alliance Global of Andrew Tan Award was issued in November to SM to life, right to work, right to adequate Baclaran. However, when Phase 1 of the (Megaworld) and Genting Hong Land by the Pasay City Government. The standard of living, right to food, equal MCCRRP (Manila Cavite Coastal Road Kong new Parañaque City Council Ordinance rights of men and women, right to genuine Reclamation Project) started, their houses has authorized Mayor Edwin Olivarez Universal Entertainment Corporation development, right to safe and healthy were again demolished and they were to accept the unsolicited proposal of (Tiger Resorts Project) of Japanese environment and the right to freedom of transferred near the Coastal Mall. The SM Land Inc. to reclaim additional 200 tycoon Kazuo Okada and Century association, assembly and expression. area was again reclaimed and they were hectares in the Bay Area of Parañaque. Properties Group Inc. of Jose Antonio transferred to Don Galo, Parañaque; and Right to work Last year the former administration has and First Paramount Holdings 888 Inc. later to the Marina in Tambo, Parañaque, already authorized the reclamation of from where they were once more forcibly Liza has been selling mussels for nine 100 hectares in the Parañaque, Bay Area. According to Forbes Magazine, these evicted. In 1986, they were relocated to years at the Bulungan Market in La tycoons are among those in the Top 40 La Huerta, Parañaque, where the market Huerta, Parañaque City. According to Manila Gold Coast Development Richest People in the Philippines. Velez stands until now. Through collective her, there are various kinds of work and Corporation, a subsidiary of Solar Group added that since BS Aquino’s presidency, action, they were able to obtain a social sources of livelihood which will be lost of Companies headed by William Tieng the net profit of business tycoons have commitment agreement with then Pres. due to the reclamation project: cleaning, of Solar Sports Network, re-acquired increased from $13 billion in 2010 to $47.4 Corazon Aquino. packing and selling fish, mussels and the contract in the reclamation and billion in 2011. This is almost equivalent other aquatic products; small- and development of the 148-hectare project to 76.5% growth in the Gross Domestic Right to adequate housing medium-scale fishing; work as porters where the PhP12 billion Solar City will be Product of the country. Velez added that and stevedores; selling ice, coffee, snacks “We do not want to be relocated to built. It will be the home of Manila’s Finest these tycoons are given all favorable and home-cooked meals; driving sidecar Antipolo, Rizal nor to Trece Martirez, Business District and the first international agreements including tax incentives and and jeepney; and others. Cavite. Our means of livelihood is here cruise ship terminal in the country. cheaper documentation fees. beside the sea. We will have no work, There are more than 10,000 families According to Roy Velez, Chairman of The government’s demolition campaign not enough food and I will not be able whose work and livelihood depend on SAVE Freedom Islands and Sagip Manila in urban poor communities destroys not to send my children to school”, laments the Fisherman’s Wharf and the Bulungan Bay, “Big foreign businesses and the most just houses and structures. They likewise Nanay Gemma. One will remember that market, according to the Unified favoured local business tycoons are the demolish the communities’ economic, she is among the 87 fisher families living Marketing Services Cooperatives (UMSC), ones which will benefit and profit from social and political foundations which the in boat houses in the Freedom Islands. a federation of 16 primary cooperatives. these reclamation and PPP projects.” For people have established and developed. They were driven out of Marina, Tambo, example, the Bagong Nayong Pilipino now the site of the Coastal Mall and The Manila Bay Reclamation project will According to Melva Bacongan, manager Entertainment City in Parañaque City Entertainment City. destroy the main sources of livelihood of Samahan para sa Kinabukasan Bagong

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Demolition Watch, in a communication According to AGHAM, an association of Freedom from political persecution In other communities which also face to the United Nations Special concerned scientists and technologists, forced evictions and demolition due to Rapporteur (UNSR) on adequate about 4.7 million invertebrates and 3.78 Since 2011, at the height of the campaign PPP or other privatization-related proj- housing, noted that the living and trillion of fish, which is equivalent to against the reclamation of the Freedom ects, human rights violations are com- working conditions in relocation areas almost PhP 77 billion per year, will be lost Islands, the Save Freedom Island mon. In Corazon de Jesus, San Juan are far worse especially in terms of jobs, as a result of the reclamation. Movement (SFIM) was founded by 38 City, 10 community leaders face criminal livelihood, access to social services and organizations. It kicked off the campaign charges because of opposition to demo- wellbeing of women and children. It is Right to safe and healthy through petition signing, clean-up drives, lition and privatization of public lands. alleged that relocation sites did not environment filing for a writ of Kalikasan with the In Bignay, Valenzuela, an 800-person meet the seven UN minimum standards Supreme Court, attending Congressional demolition team backed by the PNP mer- In an official statement, the Wild Bird in terms of location, security of tenure, inquiries, information and education cilessly demolished and flattened the Club of the Philippines stressed, “the accessibility, availability of materials, drives and holding of protest actions. community of some 213 families. Resi- coastal lagoon is therefore important, affordability, habitability and cultural dents of San Roque, Bagong Pag-asa, not only for birdwatchers, but to the Last year slapped with fabricated criminal adequacy. Demolition Watch urged Quezon City also face criminal charges rest of . As a mangrove charges were key leaders and organizers the UNSR to visit the Philippines and for opposing the demolition of their wetland, it provides a buffer from storm of the movement. Among them were investigate said violations. It is no houses to give way to the Vertis North surges, nurseries for fish and other Roy Velez, chairman of SFIM, the Sagip wonder that some relocatees have of Ayala Land under the Quezon City coastal wildlife, and a permeable surface Manila Bay Movement and the regional either gone back or plan to return to Central Business District, North Triangle. to absorb and process toxins from both chapter of the labor center, Kilusang Metro Manila. Others have pawned or In July, four leaders were charged with sea and land. And in the past years, it Mayo Uno (KMU) in the National Capital sold their right to the housing unit in indirect assault, obstruction, and illegal has provided Metro Manilans a delightful Region (NCR); Amelita Bravante-Gamara, the relocation areas for PhP60,000 to assembly by the QC-Central Police Dis- break from the incessant assault of a convenor of SFIM and Deputy Secretary 80,000. trict. On December 9, 15 persons includ- concrete wastelands that have become General of KMU-NCR; and Renante ing a minor were illegally arrested when poor substitutes for an authentically Gamara, organizer and education officer Massive displacement due to forced evic- they opposed the closure of the Manila uplifting bayside view. of KMU-NCR, advocate of the Manila tion and demolition in the Manila Bay area Seedling Bank which is also part of the is in the offing. Affected are: about 103,500 Bay Campaign and peace consultant for “May we also mention that if we cut the QC-Central Business District. families directly threatened with demoli- Metro Manila of the National Democratic sea’s access to the islands that form tion in Manila; 21,000 in Parañaque City; Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The government and big business carry the coastal lagoon, we also destroy the 75,000 in Navotas City; 3,000 in Pasay; out political repression to silence and very area that produces the food that Still part of the government-big business and 6,000 in Las Piñas City. This year, more stem the growing and strengthening the birds eat. The invertebrates, shells political harassment is a PhP 5M case than 500 families living along the R10 were people’s unity and opposition to the and other mollusks will disappear. When filed by Andrew Tan of Alliance Global & evicted and relocated in Bulacan. The inte- destructive effects of reclamation, PPP developers create another Mall of Asia- Ocean Park against Roy Velez and Trixie grated reclamation project around Laguna projects, demolition and forced eviction. type of development in the area, we Concepcion, Executive Director of Earth Bay will affect about 1.4 million families would be destroying a very important Island Institute and an SFIM convenor. residing in the National Capital Region, La- Conclusion ‘hotel and restaurant’ stopover for guna and Rizal. migratory birds.” Thus, the club joins the It was only recently that the warrant of With Aquino’s Public Private Partnership, arrest for Roy and Amelita were revoked Right to food call to NO RECLAMATION. people’s lives worsened and their and suspended. The court ordered a rights grossly violated. On the other “The sea should not be reclaimed nor sold According to Pamalakaya, a nationwide reinvestigation. Renante is still detained hand, foreign corporations and local by the government because the ample alliance of fisherfolk organizations, the at the Custodial Center of Camp Crame. big business are being enriched with food there is for everyone,” states Nanay planned reclamation will cause massive superprofits. The government has Meantime, SFIM campaign director Gemma. Every week, her family catches flooding in 37 barangays in , 11 ba- systematically ignored the fact that Glacy Macabale receives death threats at least 20 kilos of fish which they eat rangays in Parañaque and 17 barangays the communities, with their people, and is under constant harassment and and sell in the market. in Las Piñas. Expected are floods with a resources, livelihood, culture and social surveillance by men suspected of being depth of as much as 5.12 meters or equiv- system, being demolished have been alent to a two-storey building. from the military’s intelligence service.

80 81 shaped by history and were developed projects, demolitions and forced evictions through decades of sweat and labor from which all come hand-in-hand. the people. SFIM organizes various activities which It is just and right for the people to invite and inspire many people to collectively assert their economic, social, participate and contribute their time and cultural, civil and political rights and effort. It conducts education drives on continue to expose and fight the Manila the “5 reasons why we should oppose Bay Reclamation project and all forms of the reclamation and the 5 simple ways Stranded OFWs in Saudi anti-poor and anti-people government we can do.” It organizes activities from By Migrante International | November 2013 policies and programs. signature campaigns to protest actions. The network also holds regular clean- The people in the Manila Bay area joins up drives, mangrove, coconut and other the Filipino people in advancing genuine hardwood tree planting. It encourages development (not PPP) based on national bird watching and visits inside Freedom industrialization and agrarian reform. Islands to make the public aware of the beauty and richness of the place. Concrete struggles for people’s rights It works with and tries to reach more Presently, the SFIM has expanded, students, media people, corporate strengthened its ranks and allied with employees, workers, urban poor groups, other broad formations calling for a stop church people and environmentalists. to the Manila Bay Reclamation. Among In conclusion, SFIM convenor Roy Velez them are Sagip Manila Bay, Pamban- affirms, “We believe that the negative sang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya impact of reclamation, demolition and PPP ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), the multisec- is not only measured in the destructive toral alliance Koalisyon Kontra Kumber- impact on marine environment and syon ng Manila Bay (KKK-Manila Bay), verseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including women, and some children, are ecological balance but the glaring impact Save our Sunset and People’s NICHE (a presently camped out of PH posts in Jeddah and Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi of massive displacement on the lives, O nationwide alliance against the National Arabia (KSA), and other parts of the region. livelihood and homes of fishing families Reclamation Plan). and other toiling masses residing in the The network has 38 convenors. As part area. We will fight for our basic rights by of their commitment to the network, the strengthening our ranks, educating and The camp-out in Jeddah, now more All of the stranded OFWs are classified as convenors hold activities based on their organizing the people. We will defend popularly known as the Tent City, started “undocumented” by both the Saudi and advocacies and orientation. Defend our sovereign rights and finally put a on April 6. As of July 2013, the number of Philippine governments. They, however, Job Philippines, as one of the SFIM stop to neo-liberal economic policies stranded OFWs at the Jeddah Tent City entered Saudi as documented OFWs. convenors, plays an important role in the and programs that foreign and local numbered to at least 4,000, while some They became “undocumented” for two documentation of human rights violations big business interests impose on our 2,000 are in Riyadh. Taking cue from main reasons – (i) for having run away and in using international human rights country through a subservient president. the Jeddah Tent City, stranded OFWs in from abusive employers (absconding), mechanisms in exposing and calling We will expose and fight the BS Aquino Riyadh also staged a camp-out inside the and (ii) for working for employers who international attention to the various government’s use of state repression and PH Embassy in Riyadh last May 4. Some are not their official sponsors, hence rights violations, people’s displacement violence against the people to silence and 200 OFWs, including women, and some working without iqama. and environmental destruction brought incapacitate them.” children, are presently living in tents Their number was expected to increase about by BS Aquino’s PPP, reclamation and makeshift quarters outside the PH embassy compound. before the deadline set by the KSA for

82 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

the resumption of martial law-style crack- The number of request for assistance This policy is one of the main reasons To date, the OFWs are resolved to downs on undocumented migrants on July by undocumented Filipinos has already why yearly we see an increasing number maintain their camp-outs and similar 4. The KSA government, however, decided reached 5,769 in Jeddah and 3,390 in of stranded OFWs, OFWs in distress, actions until swift, free and mass to extend the deadline to November 3. Riyadh. Since November 3, there had been jailed OFWs and OFWs on death row in repatriation of stranded/distressed When the crackdowns resumed this No- reports of violent crackdowns, human Saudi. These policies have been in place OFWs are accomplished. The OFWs vember, some 1,700 OFWs remain strand- rights violations and mass arrests of for decades now yet both the Saudi and their families are demanding the ed in Jeddah alone, while around 5,000 OFWs and migrants of other nationalities. and Philippine governments have done following: more are scattered in Riyadh, Al Khobar These reports, however, are being refuted nothing to address its adverse effects. and Dammam. by the Philippine government. • Free, immediate and mass repa- The kafala is one of the main reasons triation of stranded OFWs; Because of their status as undocumented Meanwhile, Migrante International also why there are now thousands of stranded OFWs, the Philippine government is in- echoed fears of some migrant analysts OFWs in Saudi awaiting repatriation. • Sufficient shelter for the strand- voking Saudi labor and immigration laws that around 100,000 are in danger of ed OFWs; as the main reasons for its slow repatria- being arrested and deported when the Shelter not for free • On-site assistance and medical tion process. According to Saudi immigra- crackdowns resume in full force today. According to reports from Migrante-Saudi, aid for ailing OFWs in the camp- tion and labor laws, the OFWs have to go This figure includes not only those who fresh batches of thousands of stranded out sites; back to their employers/sponsors to get are in the Tent City, shelters or presently OFWs trooped anew to the Jeddah Tent their No Objection Certificates (NOCs) hiding in Filipino communities. The City after their employers evicted them in • Medical, shelter and transpor- and pay necessary penalties for having crackdowns are now also said to target the light of the resumption of crackdowns tation assistance for returned breached their employment contracts. even OFWs who are working or employed on undocumented migrants in the OFWs; and, but are working for employers other than Kingdom last November 3. However, for Migrante, the current grow- those indicated in their sponsorship visas. • Financial assistance for strand- ing number of stranded OFWs encamped Because of the manner of the martial ed OFWs and families. in the so-called Tent Cities is a “humani- OFWs bound to their sponsors law-like crackdowns by Saudi authorities, tarian crisis” that requires extra effort, Lack of funds? employers forced OFWs out of their diplomatic negotiations and decisive ac- The sponsorship system or kafala is an homes, offices and factories out of fear tion from the Philippine government. In immigration and labor system imposed “We fear the worst. We expect more wipe- of being sanctioned. As a result, the fact, governments of migrant workers of by the Saudi government on migrant out efforts and drastic measures by the number of OFW stranded in the Tent City other nationalities have been regularly workers. Under the kafala, no migrant Saudi government on and after the actual has exponentially increased. and steadily facilitating the repatriation worker is allowed to enter the country day of the resumption of crackdowns. without an “in-country” sponsor, usually Should anything untoward happen to of their nationals since the crackdowns However, the OFWs are complaining the employer. The sponsor is primarily our OFWs in light of the crackdowns, took place. that the shelter being provided by the responsible for the workers’ visa and we only have the Aquino government to Philippine Consulate in Jeddah cannot Migrante asserts that the Philippine legal status. blame. Government efforts to implement accommodate the huge influx of OFWs. government should facilitate urgent a free, urgent and mass repatriation The shelter can only take in at most 200 repatriation of the OFWs or it would Also under the kafala, migrant worker of the remaining stranded OFWs have OFWs. Worse, the shelters are being mean more threats to the lives and well- residency permits are bound to their been dismal despite the four-month rented out, thus discouraging the OFWs being of the stranded OFWs. “sponsors” whose written consent extension,” said Gary Martinez, Migrante from taking refuge therein. This is in is required for workers to change Chairperson. Since the campouts broke out, at least employers or leave the country. direct conflict with the Department of three OFWs and a baby have already Employers often abuse this power to Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Slow repatriation, lack of supplies and died from serious illnesses and one OFW confiscate passports, withhold wages embassy’s advise to OFWs to “stay in the medical assistance and the absence gave birth inside the Tent City. Even the and force migrant workers into slave-like Tent City’ where “they can be safer from of immediate financial assistance to bodies of the deceased OFWs have not conditions. In effect, the kafala makes the crackdowns”. OFW returnees from Saudi have been been repatriated to date. migrant workers more vulnerable to attributed to the Philippine government’s abuses and modern-day slavery.

84 85 lack of funds. “Tapos malalaman nating Migrante had called for the resignation bilyun-bilyong pondo ng mamamayan and recall of negligent embassy and ang walang-habas na kinurakot at labor officials in Saudi, adding that it will trilyun-trilyon pala ang pondong nasa not hesitate “to call for the resignation of kontrol mismo ng pangulo (Only for us Aquino himself. Dapat siyang managot sa to learn that billions of public funds are kriminal na kapabayaan sa kapakanan being unabashedly squandered, and that ng ating mga OFW (He should be held the President has trillions of pesos under accountable for his criminal negligence of his unilateral control), OFWs and their the wellbeing of our OFWs).” Tales of Yolanda families are outraged.” Diplomatic protest Martinez said that even the supposed P2-billion reintegration fund recently Migrante International and Migrante- allotted by the Aquino government for Middle East urge the Philippine returning OFWs comes too late in the government to file a diplomatic protest game. “Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay against the KSA government for na ang kabayo?(The grass is useless to abuses and human rights violations of a dead horse)” The Aquino government apprehended OFWs. even failed to provide hotline numbers For Migrante International, instead of or urgent guidelines to stranded OFWs in taking measures to prevent further abuses the event of arrests and similar incidents. because of the crackdowns, del Rosario is “At this time when the government making excuses for the Saudi government. should be pro-active, it has again taken What the Philippine government should uper typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) spared no one from its the passive stance and simply requested do is to immediately file a diplomatic fury leaving Samar and Leyte in ruins. But the government’s inefficiency and for an extension of the deadline. What protest to firmly signify that it will not Sincompetence was more disastrous—leaving the dead and the living suffering almost our OFWs need now is on-call legal allow human rights violations of our two months after Yolanda pounded on the Visayas and Southern Tagalog provinces. assistance and protection. What they OFWs whatever their status. Slowly, cases of corruption in the rehabilitation efforts are surfacing, such as the sub- need now is for the Philippine posts to Migrante International calls on the standard and overpriced temporary shelters or bunkhouses. open their doors to the stranded OFWs, international community to condemn to provide them sanctuary. What they human rights violations and abuses of need now is active intervention from the In Tacloban City alone, 1,400 decaying contaminated waters and mangroves in the Saudi government not only against Philippine government to demand that and unidentified bodies remain unburied. several communities. overseas Filipino workers but also the crackdowns be stopped to prevent a Authorities guard the bodies from stray migrants of other nationalities who are humanitarian crisis,” he said. dogs while flies feast over the cadavers. The typhoon also brought immense being targetted by the crackdowns. Residents complain of the stink and their devastation to the indigenous people’s exposure to health hazards. communities in Southern Tagalog Region especially in Region IV-B (Palawan and In Panay, 2.8 million people have been Mindoro). In Palawan, P43.9 million worth severely affected by the typhoon. Crops of corn was destroyed while in Oriental worth PhP10.9 billion, PhP1.5 billion and Occidental Mindoro, the total of which are rice crops, have been devastation of rice and corn amounted to devastated. Health and environmental P156 million. risks are also magnified by the oil spill, brought about by the destroyed Relief and rehabilitation efforts of the power barge of the government, which government remain slow. Most of the

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relief goods come from the private The National Statistical Coordination like small tent cities. The smoke was depended on relief goods from private sector. Rotting relief packs are stocked Board identified Eastern Samar as the from the bonfires made by residents to groups and organizations. in warehouses and some that were third poorest province in the Philippines provide them light and warmth. This was distributed to local governments were in the first six months of 2012, with a the situation of the people of Samar at Volunteer doctors were alarmed by unfit for human consumption. Thepoverty incidence of 59.4% based on night. The picture of hunger and poverty the condition of the elderly, 80% of municipality of Marabut in Western less than PhP5,458.00 income per month become clearer as the day breaks. whom suffered from hypertension. Samar, for example, has no evacuation for a family of five. At least three of the Children had cough and colds. High centers and makeshift hospitals to poorest municipalities in the Philippines Karapatan, along with nurses from the risk pregnancies were also noted. immediately respond to the situation of are in Eastern Samar. Meanwhile, Leyte New York State Nurses Association, Individuals who sustained wounds from the residents. province has a poverty incidence of representatives from Medico the typhoon needed immediate medical 31.4%. Landlessness is widespread even International, members of Samahan attention but hospitals were closed due Typhoon Yolanda brought PhP9 billion if most of the people depend on rice ng mga Litratista sa Rizal (SLR) joined to the typhoon. The devastation by the damage to crops (rice, corn and other planting, copra and fishing for a living. the SOS (Samahang Operasyong Sagip) typhoon indeed worsened the situation crops), PhP2.8 billion to livestock, PhP5.9 mission on November 21-26, 2013 in of the people in Samar who had been billion to fisheries, and PhP19.5 billion to This miserable condition is fuelling Samar and Leyte. The SOS, a network of since deprived of healthcare. infrastructure. The National Disaster Risk people’s protest, making them targets volunteer health workers, professionals Reduction and Management Council also of political repression and various and students, served a total of 1,088 Barangay Palaypay in Basey, Western reported 6, 201 deaths, 28, 626 injured human rights violations by state security patients, and distributed relief goods Samar, which had the most number and 1, 785 missing individuals in all the ty- forces under the government’s counter- to 1, 664 families in three towns and 14 of casualties, also shared the same phoon-affected areas. The total devasta- insurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan barangays in Samar and Leyte. situation. The community only depended tion of Yolanda struck 3.4 million families. (OpBay). At least seven cases of on rainwater; there was no food and extrajudicial killings and 24 persons The relief and medical operations spear- electricity, and no shelter for the With the extent of damage and the clamor illegally arrested and are still detained headed by the SOS further uncovered the residents whose houses were washed of the people for immediate rehabilitation were documented in the region since BS inefficiency of the government. away by the storm surge. Local leaders of typhoon-hit areas as well as their Aquino assumed the presidency. said they requested for equipment to assertion of their right to decent living, Most of the towns in Samar were in dire clear the debris along the roads but their it is not farfetched that the human rights Human rights violations in disaster- need of help. Huge pile of debris still requests were unheeded. Schools were abuses experienced by typhoon Pablo affected areas increasingly cause alarm blocked the roads. Relief goods remained covered with thick mud and books were survivors will be suffered by typhoon in the communities and among human scarce. Residents put up tents while some all washed away by the flood. Yolanda survivors. rights organizations. People’s demands evacuated to nearby towns and provinces. for government accountability and swift, The town of Hernani, Eastern Samar was Village captain Lowie Gacusano of Brgy. Poverty since time immemorial thoroughgoing action usually earn the also among the hardest hit areas by the Panugmonon in Basey, Western Samar, ire of government officials, the military typhoon. One hundred percent of the The typhoon’s wrath exposed not only lamented that their pleas for relief goods and police, as evidenced by cases houses were washed away. Barangay the incompetence of the BS Aquino were unanswered because their village documented by Karapatan in the typhoon Batang in Hernani still reeks of decaying government to respond to disasters but was not considered among the priority Pablo affected areas in Mindanao. remains of humans and animals. also the vulnerability to natural calamities areas since there were no casualties Residents traumatized by the typhoon of underdeveloped and impoverished Criminal incompetence recorded in their barangay. had to go uphill at night. A week after the rural communities. typhoon, residents were still in shock as “Waray man may namatay ha amon, pero Traversing the highway to the far-flung scores of missing persons have yet to be Samar and Leyte are among the most nawash-out an amon mga pananom ug communities of Samar at night was found. Barangay officials were helpless impoverished regions in the Philippines. balay. Kami, kinahanglan gihap namon difficult, with nearly zero visibility. Total in locating their missing constituents, Even before Yolanda wrought havoc kumaon,” (None among us was killed but darkness and heavy smoke from the mostly children and the elderly. in these areas, the economic situation sides of the street covered the entire our crops and houses were washed away. in Eastern Visayas shows how the town until the headlight from vehicles We also need to eat.) said Gacusano. The team met Lola Ester, 73, a resident government has neglected the province. passing through revealed what seemed Residents of Brgy. Panugmonon of Batang who was among the survivors

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of the typhoon. She was standing to the corridor and finally sought refuge Arthur, Hernani and Borongan. One Despite these localized efforts, the by the road to catch a trip to Manila. in a nurse’s station. hundred percent of SELDA members, recovery of the communities in Samar Residents of Batang were leaving their mostly farmers and workers, were is nowhere in sight for the residents communities everyday due to hunger. A Adela said the water that engulfed the negatively affected by Yolanda. and local village chiefs. Village officials number of them had to scavenge dead hospital came from all directions. “It lamented the very slow response, if not, animals to eat. was like a whirlpool,” she said. The water Ka Rene also said that after the typhoon, abandonment of the government after rose up to 15 feet. “I saw people coming international humanitarian organizations the typhoon. “Waray kami malalauman nga kabubu- into the hospital to evacuate. I also saw were the ones seen helping the people wason didi (There is no future for us someone carrying a dead child,” Adela of Tacloban. He also observed that most At the onset, preparation by the govern- here),” said Lola Ester. recalled. At 11 a.m., they looked out the of the relief efforts were concentrated ment and its agencies was lacking even as window and saw the terrible devastation. in Tacloban, leaving the far-flung areas officials bragged on national television on In Basey, Tatay Furing, a farmer, braved of Leyte and Samar in dire need of help. “zero casualty” and assured the people the 33-hour land travel to Manila to seek According to Nerio, they were advised by “We cannot wait and rely on the supply that the relief goods and rescue equip- help from his relatives. He did not have a the local government to evacuate to the of relief goods. We need our jobs and ment were prepositioned. Obviously, the single centavo with him when he hitched Tacloban Convention Center two days houses back,” said Bajen. BS Aquino government was ill-prepared a ride with the SOS team heading back before the typhoon but they did not do to deal with the impact of natural calami- to Philippine General Hospital. Homeless so because it is near the sea. Instead, “If this is the most that the Aquino ties on a vulnerable people. children also hailed vehicles along the they went to their relative’s house. government can do, it will be a long time highway to beg for food and money. before the lives of the people of Tacloban The widespread misuse of the Residents in Tacloban lament the can get back to normal. At this point, Priority Development Assistance SELDA members’ stories of survival government’s very slow response to the immediate reconstruction is needed,” Fund (PDAF) and the expose on the disaster. They received relief goods a Bajen concluded. bigger Disbursement Acceleration In Tacloban, members of the SELDA week after the Yolanda hit. Program (DAP) directly controlled by shared their ordeal during and after the Relief and Rehabilitation the President, thereby defended and typhoon. “There is neither electricity nor livelihood protected by him, stirred the outrage for us now. Most of the houses are totally In Samar, Brgy. Captain Lowie Gacusano of the people. The funds, which were In an interview, SELDA member Nerio wrecked. Other families of SELDA mem- said, “More than relief goods, what supposed to benefit typhoon-ravaged Esperas said that their son, Paul, had bers also suffer the same fate. I hope that we need now are seedlings, palays areas through quick disaster response, to be rushed to Bethany Hospital the everyone will help the people of Samar and materials to build our houses and have gone to the pockets of government night before Yolanda struck Tacloban and Leyte. The government should give rehabilitate our communities.” Similarly, officials and bogus non-government due to high blood pressure. Adela, also what is due us. The victims of the typhoon residents of Brgy. Batang, Eastern Samar organizations. The bureaucratic system a SELDA member and wife of Nerio deserve justice,” Nerio concluded. also said that they cannot depend on of disbursing funds also contributed Esperas, said they felt the strong winds relief goods until their communities have to the delay of assistance to the in the early morning of November 8 and Rene Bajen, SELDA coordinator in Leyte completely recovered. the water came fast inside the hospital. and a barangay council member in Brgy. victims and survivors. Apparently, the “It was 7:00 in the morning but there 53, Tacloban City, said his house was Most of the communities devastated by government’s unpreparedness and lack was total darkness. It felt like night totally damaged by typhoon Yolanda. the typhoon are in coastal areas and of sense of urgency made the disaster time to me. We were trapped inside the He said that they need construction their livelihood includes fishing. Local even more chaotic. hospital,” Adela narrated. materials to rebuild. Bajen has been officials said they need banca (fishing Despite the vulnerability of the Philippines in close contact with SELDA members boats), since planting rice and vegetables especially with the new climate norm, They first locked themselves in a comfort in Marabut, Western Samar who will take months to harvest. as experienced during Typhoon Ondoy room and went out when the water complained of insufficient supply of and Pepeng in 2009 as well as Typhoon started to rise. Adela said that the ceiling relief goods in the area. He said that at Residents of Brgy. Panugmunon started Sendong, Gener and Pablo that all and the lights were falling. They planned least one thousand SELDA members are to collectively rebuild their schools and occurred during BS Aquino’s watch, to go to the roof top but they were all over the towns of Basey, Marabut, houses. Some of the relief goods they Malacañang has obviously not learned stopped by the hospital staff because the Ormoc, San Sebastian, Balangiga, Mac received from the private sector are roof was all blown away. They went back through the “food for work” program. its lesson. After PAGASA issued warnings

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on the extraordinary strength of Yolanda as torture and illegal arrests during the Asked on the impact of American aid on People’s mobilization for disaster and the possible extent of devastation martial law years and during his stint as the negotiations of increased rotational response it can cause, the government did not the chief of Philippine National Police presence (IRP) framework agreement adequately prepare for the evacuation, under Estrada’s presidency. between the Philippines and the US, Various people’s organizations conducted relief and rehabilitation of the areas hit Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary relief and rehabilitation missions to assist by the typhoon. Meanwhile, Bonafos as commander Albert Del Rosario blatantly justified the typhoon victims. The BALSA network of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the the US military assistance in Yolanda- and Karapatan chapters from all over The government’s obvious lack of fore- Philippine Army, a unit of the 802nd stricken central Philippines saying that the country, along with progressive sight and leadership exacerbated the al- Infantry Battalion in Kananga, Leyte, it “accentuates” the need “to make hu- organizations, conducted a series of relief ready desperate situation of the people. was also responsible for the killing manitarian assistance and disaster re- operations. The government-neglected In fact, the President has not done any of botanist Leonard Co and his two lief and response a very major aspect of immediate medical needs of the victims concrete action to address the immediate other companions, Julius Borromeo the agreement.” were responded to by volunteer doctors, needs of the victims and survivors of the and Sofronio Cortez. More than 2,000 nurses and health workers through the typhoon, but instead found time throw- military personnel are deployed in in During the visit of US State Secretary SOS (Operation Help) medical missions. ing tirades on his critics and blaming oth- whole of Eastern Visayas. John Kerry in the Philippines, the US ers for the slow government response. pledged $40 million military aid which In the National Capital Region, Tindog The US is taking advantage of the down- reportedly came from the Global Secu- Katawhan, a network of relatives, Because of the government’s inefficiency, trodden condition of the typhoon victims, rity Contingency Fund, a US program supporters and victims of typhoon the people had to act for their own in the guise of “humanitarian aid,” to justi- which according to the US State Depart- Yolanda – many of whom evacuated from survival and self-preservation, while the fy their increased military presence in var- ment website is an “initiative to incen- the typhoon-affected areas, scored the government and the media labelled them ious parts of the country, thus strength- tivize joint planning and to pool the re- accountability of the Aquino government as “looters.” ening their permanent deployment. sources of the Department of State and for its callousness and negligence of the Defense, along with the expertise of people’s immediate needs. Militarization of aid The US deployed warships in Tacloban other departments to provide security immediately after Yolanda. More than These organizations are gearing to- sector assistance for partner countries The appointment of former Police Gener- ten US warships led by USS George wards the sustained mobilization of re- so they can address emergent challeng- al Panfilo Lacson as “rehabilitation czar” Washington arrived in various parts of building efforts for the communities hit es and opportunities important to US and the promotion of Gen. John Bonafos Samar and Leyte and deployed 5000 by the typhoon. national security.” as commander of Central Command of troops, 90 jet fighters and war helicopters. the Armed Forces of the Philippines are BALSA Mindanao, a Mindanao-wide Kerry’s deceptive pronouncement used proof of the government’s intention to It is important to note that the US like- network formed after typhoon Sendong disasters and “threats” to realize its objec- fully implement his counter-insurgency wise justified its military presence in hit the Philippines and which also tive of sealing the Framework Agreement program Oplan Bayanihan and not to re- Haiti, after it was hit by a strong earth- mobilized and organized survivors of with the Philippine government for its US build the lives and homes of the typhoon quake in January 2010, to purportedly typhoon Pablo that devastated three pivot program by increasing US military victims in the Visayas provinces. “maintain peace and order,” deploying regions in Mindanao, is continuously presence in the country and in the Asia 22,000 U.S. troops with 30 ships and calling for people’s mobilization to meet Pacific region. Both Lacson and Bonafos have notorious 300 aircraft. The massive deployment the urgent needs of the people of the records of human rights abuses. was claimed to be in keeping with the US While there is a much needed aid for Visayas. Since the onslaught of typhoon “humanitarian assistance and disaster Yolanda, BALSA Mindanao has been Lacson was involved in the killing of the rehabilitation of typhoon-stricken relief,” but human rights organizations conducting relief and medical operations publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and areas, the US is obviously taking advan- noted that the US soldiers also under- and psychosocial interventions. his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. tage of the miserable condition of the took measures to curb Haitian people’s He went into hiding in 2010 after the country to trample on its sovereignty, actions and committed human rights People’s organizations continue to appeal court issued a warrant of arrest against rationalizing foreign military intrusion in abuses such as excessive use of force to for pledges of much needed support for him. Lacson was further implicated for Philippine territory. counter demonstrations, threats, physi- various human rights violations such cal harm, sexual exploitation and abuse.

92 93 the people’s self-help and rehabilitation materials, motorized bancas (boats), initiatives. These include cash, rice, dried livestock, hardware and farming tools, fish, medicines, capitalization for small school supplies, padyak tricycles and economic enterprises and ambulant others. The rehabilitation assistance will Surviving typhoon Pablo: vendors, seeds and seedlings, GI sheets be coursed through and managed by or roofing materials, constructionsurvivors’ organizations. The people’s movement to rebuild their

lives a year after Yolanda by the numbers By Juland Suazo, spokesperson of Panalipdan-Southern Mindanao

6,201 Reported dead 1,785 People missing 16 million Affected people 4.1 million Displaced 101, 527 Individuals inside evacuation centers 3,993,753 Outside evacuation centers 95,270 Pregnant women 190,540 Lactating mothers 1.1 million Damaged houses 628 Damaged schools n December 2012, the Southern Mindanao region was devastated by super typhoon 893 Schools serving as evacuation centers Pablo (international name: Bopha). Thousands of people died and hundreds were Imissing. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and jobs, and suffered from hunger and illnesses. (UN OCHA Situation Report as of Jan. 10)

A year after typhoon Pablo, and in the people succeeded through their collective light of the people’s situation in the effort and through the support of thou- Visayas provinces hit by super typhoon sands of others both here and abroad. Yolanda, a lesson or two may be learned. The Noynoy Aquino government is ac- There may be 10,400 displaced farmwork- cused of, at best, being slow and, at ers in banana plantations in Compostela worst, criminal negligence in responding Valley who are still jobless. But, the one to the needs of the victims and survivors most important thing that typhoon Pablo of Yolanda. The same criticisms were showed was the people’s capacity to re- hurled against the Aquino government build not only their homes, but their lives by the survivors of typhoon Pablo: inept as well. Where government failed, the response, slow delivery of relief goods

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and services, corruption, militarist re- Monkayo of PACOMINCO and PMDC; despite the devastation. In fact, the immediate distribution of relief goods. sponse, and failure to address the root in Compostela of Agusan Petroleum government allows commercial loggers However, days passed, but the promise causes of disasters. and Minerals Corporation-San Miguel through IFMA to operate until 2036. proved to be simply an empty promise. Corporation (14,414.42 hectares) and Environmental degradation Black Stone Mining Corporation; and Aquino issued Executive Order No. 23 on Thus, on February 12, more than 5,000 in New Bataan, the US-based Cadan log ban but with exemptions. IFMAs are typhoon survivors entered the warehouse The aftermath of typhoon Pablo once Resources. The survivors allege that exempted and foreign large-scale mining of DSWD-Region 11 to implement relief more bared the state of the environment government will give them shelter companies are also allowed to cut distribution themselves. They distributed in Southern Mindanao, specifically the assistance only if they accept the ‘offer thousands of hectares of forest trees. rice and other relief goods to the provinces of Compostela Valley and to relocate’ to get them out of areas community residents. The protesters also Davao Oriental. Immediately after the Government neglect targeted for open-pit mining. called for the ouster of Sec. Soliman. typhoon, Panalipdan-Mindanao again The much criticized inaction of the called the attention of the government Despite the clear link between large- In a statement, Karlos Trangia, spokesman Aquino government in responding to the to stop large-scale mining and logging scale mining and disaster, the govern- of Barug Katawhan, complained, “The needs of the survivors of Yolanda is but operations, which was responsible for the ment continues to allow foreign and DSWD has already proven itself to be a repeat of its criminal negligence and deaths of thousands of people and the large-scale mining explorations and op- corrupt and inept in implementing the incompetence in the aftermath of Pablo. massive and widespread destruction in erations in Pablo-devastated areas such relief and rehabilitation operations. At Tens of thousands of Pablo victims the communities. Panalipdan-Mindanao as: 1,656 hectares of open-pit mining this point, the Aquino government itself complained about the lack of relief cited “31 mining tenements, application by the US-based St. Augustine Gold- is driving the 6.2 million Pablo victims to assistance, especially to those who live and operation in Davao Oriental and 43 Copper Limited in Pantukan (Kingking); rise up and struggle in order to survive.” in the remote areas and who opted to in Compostela Valley.” 6,000 hectares by Oz Metals and Min- stay on and not move to congested and A year after Pablo ing Corporation in Mawab (Andapon and In a statement, Panalipdan-Mindanao’s ill-equipped evacuation centers. Andili); 5,000 hectares by North Davao Secretary General Sr. Stella Matutina, The DSWD failed to fulfill its promise Mining in New Leyte, Maco; and 7,000 OSB, recalled that even prior to the The victims complained about corruption to give 10,000 sacks of rice to the hectares by the Australia-based One typhoons “there have been many and incompetence in the administration Pablo survivors who joined the Asia Resources in Mabini (Golden Valley, landslide incidents in the past which of calamity funds in the light of millions of barricades. Based on documentation Anitapan and Mascareg). were triggered by these operations but relief funds granted by various local and by Barug Katawhan, only about 1,850 international donors to the government. sacks of rice out of 10,000 sacks specified the government hasn’t done anything to The ninety-nine percent reforestation in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) stop them.” accomplishment report of DENR is a big Almost three months after the typhoon, were given to the affected communities hoax. It is not happening on the ground. A year after, the situation has in fact relief goods were being distributed identified by Barug Katawhan. No evaluation on the growth and survival worsened as the Noynoy Aquino govern- minimally with most kept in warehouses, rates of transplanted seedlings has ment continues to bungle disaster re- according to Barug Katawhan, an Ninety percent of survivors are still been made. In fact, the agency has not sponse in the areas devastated by Pablo. organization of Pablo victims who received homeless despite the fact that the conducted any impact assessment on only two relief packs and rotten rice in the government received billions of pesos Ninety percent of Pablo survivors the ecosystems and biodiversity (both two months after the typhoon. Such a from local and international donors. in Monkayo (Diwalwal and Pasian), terrestrial and marine ecosystems) in situation led to a series of protest actions During SONA, Aquino promised to Compostela (Ngan and Mangayon) and Pablo-affected areas. by the victims and their supporters. give new houses to about 53,000 New Bataan did not receive the shelter Pablo survivors. But, many of them are Sixteen commercial logging permits assistance for partially and totally On January 15, Barug Katawhan put up still homeless. Where’s the fund? The comprising a total of 82,400 hectares damaged houses because they are living a 10-hour road block in Monte Vista to government needs at least P10.6 billion to through Integrated Forest Management in ‘hazard areas’ as assessed by the protest the inefficiency of DSWD in the realize such housing projects but nothing Agreement (IFMA) in Boston, Cateel, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). distribution of relief goods. Confronted by significant happened. We insist, many Manay, Caraga, and Baganga have not Actually, the so-called hazard areas are protest, DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman Pablo survivors are still homeless. been revoked by the Aquino government areas for open pit mining operations in was forced to promise the victims the

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Corruption In fact, part of the delay and discrimination People’s self-help It was Barug Katawhan which organized in the distribution of relief goods could and led the two barricades on January Almost three months after the typhoon, be attributed to the government’s red The devastation caused by the storm, the 15, 2013 in Montevista, Compostela the stench of corruption filled the air. tagging of typhoon victims. The typhoon economic hardships, and the unabated Valley and on February 25-27, 2013 at the Reports had it that P18 billion worth of victims also experienced harassment and militarization failed to dampen the DSWD Regional Office in Davao City. calamity funds and international aid for intimidation from the military. fighting spirit of the survivors. In fact, they victims of Typhoon Pablo in Mindanao empowered themselves by forming into The storm survivors of Maco, Compostela were misused. The organized communities and storm survivors’ collectives and associations, Valley also staged a three-day barricade survivors witnessed how the Aquino and coalesced into a movement of demanding reparation from a giant Formal charges were filed againstregime, through its Armed Forces of typhoon survivors, the Barug Katawhan. mining company for the degradation DSWD-Region 11 Acting Director Priscilla the Philippines (AFP) under its Eastern of forest and river systems. The mass Razon, Human Resources Department Mindanao Command, exploited the Barug Katawhan serves as the survivors’ action shut down the operations of Chief Loreta Anas, Kalahi-CIDSS region- situation to militarize relief distribution voice that demanded efficient and fair Apex Mining, Inc. and has compelled its al financial analyst Annabelle Jabla, and and rehabilitation efforts. distribution of relief goods, rehabilitation, executives to negotiate with the leaders regional community infrastructure spe- and climate justice. It is composed of Indug Kautawan, a movement of storm cialist Santos Eusebio, Jr. for “corruption The survivors know very well the of patriotic and democratic mass survivors among the Mansaka tribe. and mishandling” of relief funds. character and mode of operations of organizations and unions of peasants the Peace and Development Outreach and farmworkers. They led thousands The three-day barricade ended with the The case was filed by June Sanchez-Oben- Program (PDOP), which is part of Oplan of survivors in organizing themselves signing of a MOA which obliged Apex za who was a community development as- Bayanihan. It is designed to protect and and coordinating relief work with the Mining, Inc. to pay P3.6M for the dam- sistant of Kalahi-CIDSS (Kapit Bisig Laban advance the interests of local and foreign help of progressive non-government aged houses, repair bridges and rehabili- sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated large-scale mining, logging and mono- organizations such as Balsa- Mindanao. tate rivers damaged by their operations. Delivery of Social Services). The said crop plantation corporations. They are DSWD officials were all involved in “forging the same big capitalists who plunder The movement emphasized and These are concrete experiences of liquidation documents for the relief funds, the forest and land resources raising the concretized the principles of self-reliance, the people which make us realize that got bribe money from infrastructure proj- disaster vulnerability of the populace to volunteerism, cooperation or masa- organizing survivors into collectives is ects, including ‘ghost-employees’ on the calamities such as landslides and floods. to-masa efforts, accountability, anda must in challenging any incompetent, DSWD payroll, and construction of over- people’s participation. Within a month, corrupt and anti-people government and priced bunkhouses.” Within one year, on March 4, one of the members of Barug Katawhan swelled holding the plunderers—the corporations the leaders of Barug Katawhan, Cristina to tens of thousands. and government—accountable. Balsa-Mindanao cited that each Jose, was brutally killed by the agents of bunkhouse built by the government at the 67th Infantry Battalion in Baganga, P550,000 actually costs P300,000 more Davao Oriental. On September 13, Benjie than those built by the International Planos, a leader of Kasaka (Kahugpungan Organization for Migration (IOM). alang sa Kalambuan, Organization for Development) was killed. Pedro Tinga, a Militarization and red-baiting in aid member of Indug Kautawan was killed on distribution December 6.

The Southern Mindanao Region is Intensified militarization has caused among the top priority areas of Aquino gross human rights violations including regime’s counter-insurgency program, massive displacement of people. The Oplan Bayanihan, because of the strong rehabilitation efforts, mainly of peasants presence of revolutionary forces. The and farm workers, are being disrupted typhoon victims did not only suffer by intensive and extensive military from government’s utter neglect and operations in Pablo-affected areas. corruption, but also from militarization.

98 99 Serious doubts about the present Aquino Regime’s respect for ceasefires and peace agreements By Alan Jazmines | January 4, 2014

ight after the world’s mightiest typhoon in recorded history, Yolanda (or Haiyan, Rby its international name), hit the country in November 8, the revolutionary movement declared and set into practice a unilateral ceasefire in the hardest hit areas of Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Panay regions, and in the islands of Negros, Masbate, Mindoro and Palawan. The revolutionary movement declared and strictly implemented a unilateral ceasefire up to November 24, and then extended this for another month up to December 24.

This declaration and implementation The revolutionary movement has been of a unilateral ceasefire, together with most concerned about the situation of an invitation for the Government of the the masses there, especially as those Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and its areas which had been hardest hit by armed forces to do the same, was made in Supertyphoon Yolanda are among those connection with the revolutionary forces’ where the revolutionary forces principally shift to and concentration of efforts at hold sway and the great majority of organizing and helping the masses in the masses are directly involved and the affected areas with relief, recovery, organized in the revolutionary movement. reconstruction and production work. 2013 KARAPATAN Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines

Under the leadership of the revolutionary into revolutionary areas. In fact, more devastated vast areas in the Visayas and -- the day after the start of a mutually forces, other masses from surrounding than 10,000 elements of the 8th and other nearby islands. declared ceasefire by both the GPH and revolutionary areas and even a great 3rd Infantry Division of the GPH armed NDF. The three (Grego Guevarra, Eliseo number from more distant revolutionary forces continued without let up to launch But, as had always been proven in the Lopez, and Dennis Ortis) were accosted areas not as gravely affected byarmed assaults against the revolutionary past and continues to be proven to date, at about 10 p.m. as they were passing Supertyphoon Yolanda, have also forces and masses in the rural areas most the GPH declarations of ceasefire have by a military checkpoint along a portion very actively been helping directly affected by Supertyphoon Yolanda in just remained on paper and in media of the national highway passing through and indirectly in the relief, recovery, Samar, Leyte, Panay and Negros. releases and have most often been Brgy. Tayuman in Aurora (San Francisco), rehabilitation and production work of the blatantly and callously violated by its Quezon. Grego and Eliseo (both from San revolutionary forces and masses in the In the face of all this, the earlier call own armed forces. Andres, Quezon, one town south) were most affected areas. of the GPH through the Office of the on their way to join a charcoal processing For one, even after the GPH’s unilateral Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process activity in Agdangan, Quezon (some ceasefire was already declared starting In contrast, the GPH’s armed forces (OPAPP) for the National Democratic seven towns northwest), while Dennis December 21, its armed forces have showed sheer hostility in words and Front of the Philippines (NDF) and the was on his way home to Macalelon, continued with their hostile operations actions to the revolutionary forces’ entire revolutionary movement to drop Quezon (some three towns north) after to try to hunt down New Peoples Army declaration and implementation of the armed struggle and openly join in three months of work producing copra in (NPA) regular forces and local elements a unilateral ceasefire and efforts at the concentration of efforts toward relief San Andres, Quezon. organizing and helping the masses in and recovery from the vast damages among the masses whom they could still their relief, recovery, rehabilitation and wrought by Supertyphoon Yolanda is attack in Brgys. Antolan, Patag and Poloan The drunken 74th Infantry Battalion, Phil- production efforts. totally detached from sincerity and in the town of Caramoan, in the province ippine Army (74th IBPA) forces manning reality and contains nothing but sheer of Camarines Sur; in Brgys. Villapaz and the checkpoint suspected that the three Not only did the present Aquino empty bluster. Actually it is nothing but Sinagaran in the town of Jovellar, in Brgys. and all others then passing the check- government ignore the revolutionary another form of the GPH’s unrealistic Mamlad in the town of Pio Duran and point were all NPA forces and arrested movement’s declaration and and totally unacceptable position asking Brgy. Lumacao in the town of Guinobatan, them -- despite the existence then of a implementation of ceasefire right after for an indefinite ceasefire with the all in the province of Albay; and in Brgys. mutually declared ceasefire. All those who Supertyphoon Yolanda struck, the GPH’s revolutionary forces, even if the GPH Marinas and Cabiguhan in the town were able to produce identification cards regional military commander, Major has all along been evasive and, in fact, of Gubat, and Brgys. Manhumlad and (IDs) were later released. But because General Jet Velarmino, even scoffed at indifferent to the NDF’s position that Bolacawe in the town of Matnog, both in the three had no IDs, they continued to the revolutionary movement’s ceasefire, substantive socio-economic and political the province of Sorsogon. be arrested and detained, tortured, later saying “We did not make a declaration agenda be thoroughly discussed and transferred here at the SICA jail, and be- As the NDF said in a Christmas Day of ceasefire even after the typhoon. They comprehensively settled first before latedly swamped with trumped-up charg- statement about these hostile incursions are enemies of the state.” serious military matters, like truce or even es in various courts, including as far away of GPH armed forces into known NPA long-term ceasefire, be taken up at all. as the Bicol region, where the three have The GPH armed forces, in fact, did not enclaves in the Bicol region, “The Armed never been to at all. cease at all their hostile operations even in As the traditional Yuletide season arrived, Forces of the Philippines’ breach of the most affected areas. While some GPH the GPH, through the OPAPP, officially its own ceasefire declaration reveals Aside from the unjust, arbitrary and armed forces were sent to the affected declared a Yuletide ceasefire that on its hypocrisy characteristic of Oplan illegal arrest and detention of the urban areas, like Tacloban, to police paper spanned from December 21 to Bayanihan’s psywar policy.” three having been in violation of the the devastated population and stop the January 15 as supposedly “important for NDF-GPH mutual ceasefire agreement, At the Special Intensive Care Area (SICA) looting of groceries and supermarts the healing and rebuilding process” in the their arrestors, torturers, jailors and Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa, where four (even if they themselves wantonly looted wake of the series of major tragedies that prosecutors have also been committing of us NDF peace consultants and more the foreign and other more sought after hit the country in the last three months, numerous other grave violations of than a score of other NDF-affiliated donations, including packed GI rations), including the earthquake that shook justice, human rights and even a number political prisoners are detained, there bulk of their forces were maintained and Bohol, the 15-day siege of Zamboanga of the ruling state’s own laws. Grego are three political prisoners here who made to continue their armed intrusions City and the Supertyphoon Yolanda that Guevarra, for one, was only a minor (17 were arrested on December 21, 2012 years old) when he was arrested.

102 103 ACRONYMS With the GPH under the present Aquino pretentious gimmick and not at all backed regime recalcitrantly violating ceasefires up by real character and deeds. (including those it itself had declared, as In the meantime, while the NDF peace AFP Armed Forces of the Philippines EDSA Epifaño Delos Santos Avenue well as those mutually declared with the Agham Advocates of Science and EP Exploration Permit NDF in peace negotiations) and other panel and respective NDF committees Technology for the People for socio-economic reforms and for FPIC Free, Prior and Informed Consent important peace agreements, such as the Albidec Alyansa ng mga Biktima ng FTAA Financial Technical Assistance Comprehensive Agreement on Respect political-and-constitutional reforms have Demolisyon sa Calangahan Agreements for Human Rights and International submitted and even several times updated Ambala Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Asyenda FWB Farmworker Beneficiaries Luisita Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) which voluminous documents containing GPH Government of the Republic of the extensive and intensive proposals APFU Application to Purchase and Philippines is supposed to guarantee protection Farmworkers’ Undertaking of the people and of forces on both and studies on comprehensive socio- GSIS Government Service Insurance AUCC Association of Universities and System sides from human rights violations, economic and political-and-constitutional Colleges of Canada HLI Hacienda Luisita Incorporated and the Joint Agreement on Safety and reforms, all these have been ignored Balsa Bulig alang sa Mindanao/Help for IB Infantry Battalion Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which is by the GPH and its negotiating panel, Mindanao IBPA Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army supposed to guarantee the protection of which has not reciprocated with anything BI Bureau of Immigrations ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and peace negotiators, consultants, security much. The GPH negotiating panel has BJMP Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Political Rights and staffers from surveillance, arrest, even refused to proceed with serious Bgy. Barangay (community or village) ICHRPP International Conference on Human detention, torture, prosecution and discussions on the substantive agenda Rights and Peace in the Philippines BSP Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for comprehensive socio-economic and IDF Investment Defence Force other antagonistic acts that would deter CA Court of Appeals political-and-constitutional reforms, ID Infantry Division their effective participation and work in CAFGU Civilian Armed Forces Geographical the peace process … all these have only and has only wanted to simply clinch Unit IDPA Infantry Division, Philippine Army shown that the present Aquino regime a baseless indefinite ceasefire and CARHRIHL Comprehensive Agreement on IFMA Integrated Forest Management cannot be trusted enough to respect thus effect the capitulation of the Respect for Human Rights and Agreement ceasefires, peace agreements and, for revolutionary movement instead of being International Humanitarian Law IMF International Monetary Fund serious about the peace process. CARP Comprehensive Agrarian Reform IOM International Organization for that matter, to seriously go through with Program Migration the peace talks at all. Doubt has thus qualitatively been CARPER Comprehensive Agrarian Reform IPRA Indigenous Peoples Rights Act Program Extension with Reforms It has become more and more obvious heightened all the more if there still IRP Increased rotational presence CATLU Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor IRR Implementing Rules and Regulations that all that the present Aquino regime is remains even an iota of positive prospect Union in still seeking to continue the NDF’s ISAFP Intelligence Service of the Armed interested in is to keep trying to make its CBA Collective Bargaining Agreement Forces of the Philippines peace negotiations with the GPH under “daang matuwid” (“straight road”) slogan CHR Commission on Human Rights JASIG Joint Agreement on Safety and stick, when even that has long been and the present Aquino regime. CIDA Canadian International Development Immunity Guarantees many times been exposed as being only a Agency Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of COA Commission on Audit People’s Rights COIN COunter-INsurgency Kalahi-CIDSS Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Comelec Commission on Elections Social Services CPP Communist Party of the Philippines Kamp Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong DAP Disbursement Acceleration Program Mamamayan ng Pilipinas DAR Department of Agrarian Reform KITACOM Kiblawan, Tampakan, Columbio and DILG Department of Interior and Local Malungon Allan Jazmines is a political prisoner Government KMP Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas presently detained at the SICA, Camp Desaparecidos Families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. He is a peace DND Department of National Defense KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia consultant and member of the NDF’s DOJ Department of Justice LRC Luisita Realty Corp. Reciprocal Working Committee on Socio- DSWD Department of Social Welfare and Economic Reforms. Development LUFA Lubog Farmers Association

104 MCCRRP Manila Cavite Coastal Road PARC Presidential Agrarian Reform Council Reclamation Project PDAF Priority Development Assistance Fund MGB Mines and Geosciences Bureau PDOP Peace and Development Outreach MNLF Moro National Liberation Front Program MOA Memorandum of Agreement PDOT Peace and Development Organizing MPP Mineral Processing Permits Team MPSA Mineral Production Sharing PDT Peace and Development Team Agreement PFG Partnership for Growth MRTC Manila Regional Trial Court PGH Philippine General Hospital NAIA Ninoy Aquino International Airport PNOC-RC Philippine National Oil Company- NBOL New Britain Palm Oil Limited Renewables Corporation NCIP National Commission on Indigenous PNP Philippine National Police Peoples PPP Public-Private Partnership NDFP National Democratic Front of the RNG Royal Norwegian Government Philippines RTC Regional Trial Court NGO Non-government organization SC Supreme Court NICA National Intelligence Coordinating SCAA Special CAFGU Active Auxiliary Agency SCTEX Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway NIPAR New Indigenous People’s Army Reform SDO Stock Distribution Option NPA New People’s Army Selda Society of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and Arrest NRP National Reclamation Project SFIM Save Freedom Island Movement NSC National Security Council SOCO Scene of the Crime Operatives NUPL National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers SONA State of the Nation Address OB Order of Battle SOS Samahang Operasyong Sagip OFW Overseas Filipino Worker SWAT Special Weapons and Tactics Group OLALIA-KMU Organized Labor Association in Line Industries and Agriculture-Kilusang TADECO Tarlac Development Corporation Mayo Uno (May First Movement) TPPA Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement OPAPP Office of the Presidential Adviser on TRO Temporary Restraining Order the Peace Process UDHR Universal Declaration of Human OpBay Oplan Bayanihan Rights PA Philippine Army ULWU United Luisita Worker’s Union PAF Philippine Air Force UMA Ugnayan ng Manggagawa sa Pagasa Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Agrikultura and Astronomical Services UNSR United Nations Special Rapporteur Administration US United States Pamana Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan VFA Visiting Forces Agreement (Peaceful and Prosperous Communities) WB World Bank Pamantik Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa WTO World Trade Organization Timog Katagalugan (United Workers) XStrata-SMI XStrata Sagittarius Mining Inc. www.facebook.com/Karapatan www.facebook.com/karapatan.public.info www.karapatan.org 2/F Erythrina Building, #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., @karapatan Central District, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines (+632) 4354146 | [email protected] 2/F Erythrina Building, #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets, Central District, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines (+632) 4354146 | [email protected] | www.karapatan.org