Reiterating they are not against the so-called modernization of public utility vehicles, the protesters said the program’s franchise consolidation aspect however is a denial of their right to ownership and livelihood.
The activists decried that the Philippines is next only to India in terms of purchases of armaments from Israel amounting to billions. The groups said such contracts help fund Israel’s genocidal wars against the Palestinian people.
An International People’s Tribunal (IPT) will be held in Brussels, Belgium on May 17 and 18, Friday and Saturday, to try allegations of war crimes in the Philippines by the United States of America and the Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. governments.
CHR may agree to become an observer or a member of the new committee when invited “if only to give the CHR the chance to perform its bridging role” between the government as the main human rights duty bearer and the people as rights holders.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. formed a new special coordination committee on human rights critics quickly dubbed “mere window dressing” that offers “no policy changes” on the dire human rights situations in the Philippines.
“’Invitations’ from security units are always alarming and even dangerous because they are not truly optional. They are in fact coercive and a form of intimidation to compel obedience yet create uncertainty and anxiety for the individual summoned,” Lim said.
“I also demand accountability from the top officials of the NTF-ELCAC. This ruling should lead to the abolition of this (NTF-ELCAC) abomination,” BAYAN chairperson emerita Dr. Carol Araullo said.
“This clearly refutes the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict’s assertion that their rampage of red-tagging of activists is a benign exercise of ‘truth- tagging,’” Deduro said of Supreme Court’s granting of his petition for a writ of amparo.
IAWRT Philippines said Al Jazeera’s closure in Israel undermines press freedom and restricts access to independent journalism, “particularly where providing diverse perspectives and reporting on critical issues such as the ongoing conflict in Palestine.”
Red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security, which may justify the issuance of a writ of amparo, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled.
