KARAPATAN 2012 YEAR-END REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES Contents 2012 Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines 5 From Ampatuan to Arakan, to Tampakan: Continuing Impunity in Mindanao 38 Imprints of Violence: Shattered Lives and Disrupted Childhood 52 The CCT Con 59 2012 Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines PLAN Bayanihan, Noynoy Aquinos counterinsurgency program, a blueprint for fascism, proceeded on its second year of implementation Owith less sugarcoating and with evident terror, in an attempt to silence the people who are made more restive and increasingly militant by the unsolved problem of poverty, unemployment, economic dislocation and displacement. The fascist attacks of the Aquino government against the people is not accidental but by design. Oplan Bayanihan nears its self-imposed target of 2013 for its rst phase, i.e., to end its identi ed armed threats and their so-called supporters or mass base. Thus, military aggression is directed against members of peoples organizations and those in communities who are vocal against military atrocities and unabated plunder of the countrys resources by multinational corporations. 2012 saw the intensi cation of military operations and heavy deployment of troops in areas believed to be strongholds of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA). This has resulted in the forced evacuation and displacement of thousands of indigenous peoples and farmers from their lands, and scores of cases of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, torture and arbitrary detention and military occupation of schools, chapels, barangay halls and clinics in the community. Killings are again becoming gruesome as in martial law years. Genesis Ambason, a tribal leader in Agusan del Sur, who was shot and tortured to death, his head had shrunk due to heavy beatings; and Ely Oguis, a village council member in Albay who was shot and beheaded. Attacks against the people are marked with contemptuous boldness as in the case of the massacre of the Capion family where witnesses heard the AFP ground commander order his men to nish off the two children who survived the shooting, so there will be no witnesses left. The Capion massacre typi es the collusion of the civilian bureaucracy, the military and big business interest and, at the same time, an example of how the AFP turns its gun against the unarmed civilians when they fail to get their targets. 6 2012 Year-end Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines Oplan Bayanihans hurried rst phase is not accidental but by design. The Aquino regime remains ever faithful to the interests of U.S. imperialism, which is now geared towards its pivot to Asia-Paci c. It is no coincidence that the Philippines version of the US Counterinsurgency Guide aims to nish its phase one so it can shift the Armed Forces of the Philippines to external threats and defense of the Philippine territory. It is no coincidence that as the Aquino government plays the warmonger in the Scarborough Shoal con ict with China, there is a slow but steady increase in the number of American troops and their nuclear-armed and-powered ships entering Philippine territory. Riding on his cultivated image as a reformist president and a graft-buster, Pres. Aquinos two-pronged attack on the Filipino massesthrough his economic program, the Public- Private Partnership and through Oplan Bayanihanis unabated. But no amount of tangled tales and denials can mask the human rights violations and impunity that the regime continues to carry out to push its economic programs and its puppetry to the U.S. THE US-Aquino regimes cornerstone economic program, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), continues the neoliberal economic policies imposed by imperialist globalization led by the US. This opens up, even more, the countrys resources to plunder by giant foreign corporations, resulting in the displacement and further impoverishment of the Filipino masses, Foreign agribusiness companies are taking over vast agricultural lands and turning them into plantations for oil palm, bananas, pineapples and other agricultural products that are mainly for export, and not for local consumption. This year, Aquino signed Executive Order 79, supposedly to correct the aws of the Mining Act of 1995. In truth, it does nothing to stop large-scale, destructive mining by big business, for a measly increase of 3% in the governments share of income from the extractive operations. Urban poor communities are treated like dregs of society and removed through forced eviction and violent demolitions, to make way for the beautiful malls, condominium, commercial complex of mega businessmen and investors. There is no relief in sight for the working class and ordinary Filipinos who deal with the continuously rising cost of fuel, electricity, water and prices of basic commodities. Added to these are the rising cost of health services and education, as the government pushes the privatization of hospitals and the corporatization of state universities. Spinmasters of the regime may be quick, but nd it hard to deodorize the stench of corruption in the Aquino bureaucracy, such as: the acquisition of overpriced guns by Local Government Undersecretary and Aquinos shooting buddy Rico Puno; the case of the missing Php 3.77 billion funds for the Conditional Cash Transfer program being investigated 7 by the Commission on Audit, and the misspending by Phil. Charity Sweepstakes Of ce head Margie Juico of the Php 40 million out of the controversial Php 325M intelligence funds of the agency. THE second year of Oplan Bayanihan is marked with 45 extrajudicial killings, to bring the death toll to 129 (as of October 30) under Aquino. Several attacks were directed at indigenous peoples who took a stand against the entry of large and destructive mining in their ancestral domain. Children suffer hardships during evacuations and demolitions, when they are driven from their homes. But this year, 12 children were victims of extrajudicial killings, and at least 3, of frustrated killings due to indiscriminate ring by soldiers, slay try on an adult companion, or at a violent demolition. Several children were also arrested during violent demolitions or accosted during military operations. At least four children and youths were tagged as NPA child rebels, while one was charged with violation to the Human Security Act or the Anti-Terror Law. Tribal communities are forcibly TABLE 1 evacuated in the countryside, as they Violation of Civil and Political Rights sought shelter, either from bombings under the Noynoy Aquino Government and aerial strikes, or from combat- July 2010 to October 31, 2012 geared peace and development Violations Number of Victims teams and military-sanctioned paramilitary units that swoop down on Extrajudicial Killing 129 their communities. Enforced Disappearance 12 Torture 72 With surprising dispatch, the military Rape 3* announced the relief of soldiers who Frustrated Extrajudicial Killing 150 killed the Capion family in the October Illegal Arrest without Detention 228 18 Davao del Sur massacre purportedly Illegal Arrest and Detention 239 to face court martial. However, as of Illegal Search and Seizure 201 this writing, the soldiers are contained Physical Assault and Injury 205 only in their barracks. And, military Demolition 8,336 courts have the reputation to let the Violation of Domicile 369 cases drag, only to eventually acquit Destruction of Properties 7,711 the accused. This was the case Divestment of Property 280 for the 14th IB soldiers who were eventually acquitted of the 1987 Forced Evacuation 30,259 Lupao Massacre, and redeployed to Threat/Harassment/Intimidation 27,281** different units. Indiscriminate Firing 6,743 Forced/Fake Surrender 47 Asked about the Philippine human Forced Labor/Involuntary Servitude 162 rights situation at a media conference Use of Civilians in Police and/or Military in New Zealand, Noynoy Aquino 296 Operations as Guides and/or Shield brushed aside the escalating cases Use of Schools, Medical, Religious and Other of human rights violations under his 23,792 Public Places for Military Purpose regime as Leftist propaganda. Restriction or Violent Dispersal of Mass Ac- 2,481 tions, Public Assemblies and Gatherings 8 2012 Year-end Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines How can one depend on this president to solve the problem of gross human rights violations when he is the rst to deny such occurrence? Aquino added that state agents even face life-threatening situation such as getting hit by human waste, referring to the defensive actions by informal settlers who tried to stop government wrecking teams from reducing their homes to rubble. In many international forum, the government would maintain that human rights violations under Aquino are simply aberrations. Through their PR spins, the Aquino government intends to get the unreleased $13 million of US military assistance to the Philippines, which was blocked since 2008 when Philippine solidarity groups lobbied against its release because of the unabated extrajudicial killings. In reality, the Aquino regime is under increasing pressure because of its inaction to punish perpetrators of human rights violations, from the time of Gloria Arroyo to the present. The New York-based Human Rights Watch pointed out that Aquino has not lived up to his promises to bring those responsible for serious abuses to justice, including the violations committed under his regime. The Aquino regime was also put to task at the TABLE 2 Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Victims of Extrajudicial Killing and Enforced Disappearance Human Rights Council, where at least 22 out of under the Noynoy Aquino Government 69 countries called attention to the continuing July 2010 to October 31, 2012 extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture. By Region Several countries called for the prosecution of fugitive ex-Maj.