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ifi bishop slain - 10/02/2006
IFI Bishop Ramento Killed
rp slays and operation phoenix - 10/02/2006
Focus on the Extrajudicial Killings in RP: Operation Phoenix's Long Shadow
In the Phoenix terror, the US saw the shape of gore and mayhem to come. In the twisted mindset of the US military establishment, Phoenix did right and well. It thus became the foil for future US-directed so-called counter-insurgency schemes against national liberation movements elsewhere in Asia and Latin America. Military operation plans supervised by the US military in its neocolonies thereafter would systematically include as a key component Phoenix's "non-traditional" approach of recruiting, training and unleashing death squads to prey on impoverished unarmed civilians residing in militarized countrysides. Thus did the spectre of Phoenix stalk the Philippines, Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and other US-oppressed countries.
This infamous US covert program may well have been the forerunner of all the so-called counter-insurgency programs launched by the Philippine reactionary state since the Marcos dictatorship. The various Orwellian-labeled "oplans"—from Marcos' "Katatagan" to Macapagal-Arroyo's "Bantay-Laya"—aimed to coordinate the state's US-directed counterrevolutionary efforts for every administration, just like Phoenix sought to do.
As in Phoenix, all these Philippine oplans seem to have been laid down in tight coordination with the US military establishment, from the US-RP Mutual Defense Board during Marcos' heyday to the US-RP Defense Policy Board and the current US-RP Security Engagement Board, though the newly-formed security engagement board stands on shaky legal grounds as the agreement that formed it has not gone through the constitutionally-mandated approval of both the US and Philippine Senates.
FULL ARTICLE HERE
climate of fear - 09/28/2006
Philippines: Climate of Fear Impedes Probe into Killings
(New York, September 28, 2006) – As a Philippine government task force nears its October 7 deadline to solve a number of high-profile killings, it has made little visible progress amid a climate of fear and a lack of cooperation by military authorities, Human Rights Watch said today.
Since February, dozens of killings, many widely thought to be politically motivated, have taken place. None of the recent cases have been brought to trial yet and only a handful of cases have been filed.
The special 10-week investigation, headed by Task Force Usig, began August 1 when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo instructed the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police to jail suspects in at least 10 killings before the October deadline. At the time, President Arroyo said, “I continue to condemn media and leftist killings in the strongest terms, and I have ordered law enforcement to dig deeper into the motives involved.” No updates on Task Force Usig’s or other authorities’ efforts have been made public, however.
“The government’s special investigation in the killings must be effective. Otherwise, justice is in jeopardy in the Philippines,” said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Prompt and thorough investigations, credible prosecutions and public access to justice should be the norm, not the exception.”
FULL TEXT HERE
muddling issues, exonerating afp - 9/25/2006
A Media Plan to Muddle Issues and Exonerate AFP
CODAL is seriously concerned that people without any track record for human rights advocacy, such as Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Justice Melo and Rep. Bienvinido Abante, are heading human rights bodies tasked with investigating human rights violations of Arroyo government.
CODAL condemns the shameless lack of remorse and sensitivity of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile for his role as the implementor of martial law. He misses the point when he justified his role by using the ‘constitutionality’ of martial law, since the issue is not merely whether Pres. Ferdinand Marcos had the power to declare martial law but whether he had the power to close Congress, to conduct political killings, illegally arrest and detain the opposition and enrich his family through graft and corruption. Surely, many of the acts Hitler may have constitutional basis in Germany, but they were crimes against humanity under international law just the same.
CODAL is seriously concerned that the Melo Commission is contributing to the military’s media counter offensive when it allowed the AFP to explain why they are not guilty of the political killings rather than asking the victims what actually happened. Any serious, competent and genuine fact finding body or court for that matter must first establish the facts of the incident before interviewing the suspects. The prosecutor must first lay the basis of the case before the accused or the respondent is allowed to present his or her defense. This major mistake of the Melo Commission is a serious blow to its already tattered credibility, from which the Commission may not be able to recover. From the conduct and composition of the Melo Commission, it is no longer surprising to expect that it will come out with a decision declaring that there is no evidence proving government involvement in the killings, using the killing of journalists as a basis. It may sacrifice an individual soldier or two as perpetrators but will point to the NPAs and criminal syndicates as the main perpetrators of the killings.
The sinister inclusion of the Committee on Defense and the Public Order Committee headed by former military officers in the House of Representatives’ investigation of the political killings is one more proof of the malicious effort by government to derail the ongoing investigation and discourage witnesses from testifying. Rep. Abante, who chairs the human rights committee, shows his lack of human rights advocacy and sensitivity by inviting former military officers to join in his committee’s investigation.
FULL TEXT HERE
unhrc - 09/24/2006
UN Rights Body Hears Raps vs Arroyo Government The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva has been in session to receive and deliberate on complaints filed by several people’s organizations in the Philippines against the Arroyo government for the string of extra-judicial killings, abductions and other human rights violations.
Although the complaints focus on major unsolved killings and enforced disappearances, latest reports show that the number of summary executions allegedly perpetrated by Arroyo military, police and paramilitary forces has reached 755 and 184 for enforced disappearances. The figures do not include other types of crimes against humanity reportedly perpetrated by the Arroyo security forces including torture, forcible evacuation of villages, illegal arrests and others.
The complaints could go all the way to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and thereafter for appropriate action. As an organ of the UN General Assembly, the 47-member UNHRC may vote to suspend the membership of the Philippines in the said council for gross and systematic violations of human rights.
FULL STORY HERE
vs slays intl - 09/24/2006
Political Killings in RP Draw Int’l Condemnation From Europe to the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received relentless criticisms for the unabated extrajudicial killings under her regime.
During her recent trip to Europe, leaders of various countries expressed concern over the Arroyo government’s bad human rights record.
From Europe, Arroyo flew to Hawaii. Again, she was confronted with protests. Members of Anakbayan at the University of Hawaii and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-United States chapter led a picket outside the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu.
Other international groups who have expressed alarm over the human rights situation in the Philippines include the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, London-based Amnesty International, the Asian Human Rights Council in Hong Kong, the Fact-Finding Mission of Dutch and Belgian judges and lawyers, the United Church of Canada, and the Uniting Church of Australia, among others.
Condemnation from other countries did not end with Arroyo’s arrival in Manila on Sept. 18.
Murphy also called on the Australian government to review its $4.2 million annual aid to the Philippine military.
Moreover, an Australian senator said that the continuing detention of Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran is a sign of the Philippines’ “dying democracy.”
In an article published in Socialist Objective (v.18 n.2), Senator Gavin Marshall, Labor Senator for Victoria, wrote, "Most of us assume that democracy is alive and well in the Philippines, yet there are some very worrying signs that the Philippines is becoming once more a nation where the government can and will abuse its power and citizens.”
Marshall expressed concern over the mounting repression of progressive Philippine lawmakers such as Beltran, saying that "If the Parliamentarians cannot even feel safe in the Philippines, then what hope for ordinary citizens?"
FULL STORY HERE
PHOTOS OF ACTIONS ABROAD
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