The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National
Capital Region (CIDG-NCR) of the Philippine National Police transferred detained
National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Rey Claro
Casambre from Camp Crame in Quezon City to the Bacoor City Jail in Cavite
province last Wednesday, April 3, without informing his family and lawyers, his
family complained.
“Tatay Rey was clandestinely whisked away by the CIDG-NCR
Crame police custodian to the dark and cramped Bacoor City Jail without a word,
not even to his legal counsels,” Casambre’s daughter Xandra said.
While he slept in a wooden bench inside a cramped jail cell in Camp Crame, Casambre is now jailed in an even more crowded and dark cell with too many fellow inmates, Xandra said.
“He is the 163rd inmate in a ‘dorm’ designed for
only 60 people. (It is) Terrible!” she told Kodao.
According to Casambre’s wife Patricia, the Bacoor jail is
very noisy and long-time inmates are allowed to sing karaoke in high volume
even when it is visiting time.
“People (inmates) just do their thing right then and there,”
Patricia reportedly told Xandra in her first visit to her husband’s new jail.
Xandra said Bacoor jail facility is much less accessible to
family, lawyers, co-advocates and doctors.
Casambre is known to suffer many ailments connected with
advancing age.
The BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) administrator reportedly tried to give a positive impression during Casambre’s family’s first visit but Patricia was broken-hearted to note of the “intolerable noise and the oppressive heat that she would not wish on others.”
Casambre’s transfer came after the public prosecutors found
probable cause to charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
A hearing on Casambre’s motion for reconsideration is being
conducted as of press time. # (Raymund B.
Villanueva)
MANJUYOD/CANLAON CITY – “Sige na, sige na!” (Go ahead, go ahead!)
These words, followed by three shots – all she managed to count in her panic – and Angenate Acabal knew her husband Valentin, 47, was dead inside their home in Manjuyod town, Negros Oriental.
Some 125 kilometers north of there, around the same time, in Canlaon City, ordered out of her home at gunpoint, Carmela Avelino heard a shout in a mix of Tagalog and Bisaya: “Merong kalaban, nagsukol!” (There’s an enemy, he’s fighting back!)
Again, three shots and she knew Edgardo, 59, her husband, was gone.
Next door, Ismael, Edgardo’s 53-year old brother, uttered his last words, addressed to his 10-year old child, as his wife Leonora and two youngest children, the other 5, were herded out their house by armed men: “Indi pagpabay-i si Mama kag utod nimo.” (Don’t leave your mother and sister alone!)
As Leonora stepped outside their smashed door, she heard a burst of gunfire.
As dawn broke on March 30, 14 men in all had died during pre-dawn raids by police commandos – eight in Canlaon, four in Manjuyod, two more in Sta. Catalina town – during what authorities initially called an “anti-crime operation” but later acknowledged was targeted against suspected communist rebels.
Even on an island beset by outbreaks of violence from an insurgency fueled by the vast gulf between the hacienderos, the planters, who own and control the vast sugarcane plantations that are Negros’ lifeblood and the landless farmers and laborers who toil for them, the single day’s toll came as a bad enough shock that Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo demanded police explain why so many needed to die.
Police claimed all the dead were rebel assassins, members of the New People’s Army Special Partisan Unit or SPARU, all supposedly wanted for carrying out attacks on government forces, who were killed when they chose to shoot it out against officers serving arrest or search warrants.
Malacanang stood by the police, insisting the operation was legitimate.
Never mind that many of the dead were in their 50s to late 60s, way too old to be the communist hitmen, who tend to be young, quick and agile, police claim they were, and two of those slain in Manjuyod were elected village chieftains – Valentin Acabal and Sonny Palactiw.Of the eight men killed in Canlaon, one was a Catholic lay minister and two – one of two father-and-son pairs – volunteer church workers.
As far as can be ascertained, only four of the dead – the Avelino brothers of Canlaon, Franklin Lariosa of Sta. Catalina, and Steve Arapoc of Manjuyod – belonged to peasant groups openly accused by state security forces of supporting or being “legal fronts” of the rebels.
And only the Avelinos appear to have been engaged in any recent activity that might have earned them the ire of authorities – the local farmers’ organization chaired by Edgardo hosted a forum about residents of neighboring Guihulngan City who had been displaced in December last year by a police operation similar to that of March 30.
Incidentally, police gave both operations the same code name – Sauron, the “dark lord” of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – with the March operation dubbed “2.0”.
And both operations involved not local police forces but units under the Central Visayas command based in Cebu City.
Aside from this, the warrants were also issued by courts in Cebu City, not in Negros Oriental. The separate but almost uniform accounts of Angenate Acabal and the Avelino widows, who do not know each other – as well as the stories the families of other victims told human rights organizations – not only belied the police accounts but, according to human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, who visited the wakes of the three victims, showed “the most evil intentions,” the carefully coordinated “state-sponsored killings” of activists and others deemed “enemies of the state.”
All the stories begin in the dark before dawn – between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. – with the sound of doors being smashed in and then armed men in tactical gear, their faces covered in balaclavas and even dark glasses, storming in, assault rifles aimed at stunned residents.
Around 20 armed men burst into the Acabal household and roused the 17-year old son who slept on a couch in the living room, ordering him to kneel, his hands clasped behind his neck. It was a position he would keep for more than two hours.
Other policemen then barged into the room where Valentin, who was sick with the flu, and Angenate slept with their 7-year old daughter, ordering them to kneel on the floor with their hands up.
“All three of us were praying and our daughter begged them not to hurt us,” Angenate said after sending the girl to another room so she would not have to listen to the retelling.
“Then they grabbed and my daughter and forced us out of the room.”The last thing she heard Valentin say was a prayer: “Gino-o, gitugyan nako kanimo ang tanan.” (Lord, I leave everything up to you.)
For two hours, Angenate said she and her children were kept under guard in the living room, not allowed near the room where her husband lay dead, and accompanied even on trips to the toilet.
It was only around 6 a.m., as curious villagers began to gather, that the policemen summoned two councilmen. Only then did they show a search warrant and the .45 caliber pistol the village chief was supposedly armed with.
Angenate said one of the policemen who guarded them asked her what her husband’s name was. When she told him, “he shook his head and said, ‘But in the blotter it was Eric’.”
A copy of the warrant, which she obtained later, did show it was for Eric, not Avelino, Acabal. Colmenares said even if Acabal used to be called by his old nickname Eric, “the warrant should reflect his real name, Avelino. This already makes it irregular.”
Shortly after, Angenate said, policemen from the town arrived “but only to take away my husband’s body to the hospital even though it was clear he was already dead” from at least seven gunshots, including one that shattered his femur and genitals.
“There was no attempt to investigate the scene of the crime. The (police) Scene of Crime Operatives only inspected his body at the hospital.”
Worse, said Arcabal’s son Argie, a Qatar Airways cabin crew who flew home on learning of his father’s fate, “they took P30,000 I had just sent home for home repairs and even P7,000 that my mother was keeping for our church, of which she was treasurer.”
Meanwhile in Canlaon, Carmela Avelino was awakened by her 16-year old daughter’s shout for help and rushed out thinking a snake had crawled into their house.
As she got out of bed, “the curtains of our window parted and I saw five rifle barrels aimed at us and a voice ordered us out of the room.”
In the dirt-floor front room, “five policemen stood in line, blocking me from my husband, while others ordered me and the children outside and to go to the community center next door.”
On their way out, they heard three shots from their house and, moments later, more gunshots from Ismael’s house.
Leonora said she and her two young children were awakened by the commotion from Edgardo’s house and stepped out of their room to see their door burst open as six hooded men in black entered and ordered them to lie on the floor at gunpoint.
They were then ordered out of their home and to crawl toward another house where they were kept under guard for the next three hours.
Another Avelino brother, Efraim, rushed out of his nearby house only to be grabbed by his neck and pushed back inside by a gunman in a uniform of the police Special Action Force who ordered him back inside or “you might be the first.”
Like Valentin Acabal, the bodies of the Avelino brothers would be taken from their homes hours later, after daybreak, and taken to the local hospital even though they had already been dead for hours.
Edgardo had been shot in the forehead and right arm. Ismael suffered at least five gunshot wounds.
But unlike Acabal, who has not been autopsied, the Avelino brothers underwent a post-mortem examination and had their deaths classified as “homicide” by the Canlaon civil registrar. Only after the ambulance had left were village officials summoned and shown warrants.
Carmela said the warrant for Edgardo gave his family name as “Marquez,” which is his middle name, and not Avelino.
She said the policemen then asked her to accompany them inside the house and showed her a .45 caliber pistol lying in the pool of blood where her husband had fallen and an M16 rifle they supposedly found by a closet.
A policeman also “returned” money taken from their home, only to find out that P2,000 was missing from the original P5,000.
A sister of the Avelinos, Azucena Garubat, was arrested for allegedly possessing a .38 caliber revolver and remains detained at the Canlaon police station, together with Corazon Javier, a coordinator of activist women’s group Gabriela, who was allegedly found in possession of a rifle grenade.
The two were among 12 persons nabbed in the course of the March 30 operation.
Reacting to the accounts of the widows, Colmenares said it was “clear the operations were irregular. The fact alone that they wore masks to serve supposed warrants proves this. And there is also the total lack of an investigation after the deaths, which indicates that the police have no intention whatsoever to tell the truth about what happened.”
But while confident about the chances of successfully prosecuting the police personnel involved in the bloody operation, Colmenares said this would not be enough.
“Public uproar is crucial to send the message that enough is enough.”He also said that ultimate responsibility for the March 30 deaths, as for the December deaths, lay with President Rodrigo Duterte, who last year issued Memorandum Order No. 32, which ordered more police and military personnel to the Bicol region, Samar island and Negros to “quell lawless violence.”
Colmenares said the actions of Duterte and the police fell into the “three patterns of evidence” he said were the bases for successful prosecutions involving extrajudicial killings:
· “Public vilification, which establishes motive”;
· “The brazenness with which the crime is committed”; and
· “The complete lack of interest to investigate o prosecute”
COVER PHOTO:Leonora Avelino (partly hidden, top) talks to visitors at the wake of her husband, Ismael, and his brother, Edgardo in Barangay Panubigan, Canlaon City.
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President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to suspend the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus has no legal basis and is an illogical reaction to
criticism and opposition, a human rights lawyer said.
“First of all, there is absolutely no legal, constitutional, and
factual basis to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,” National
Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia said.
Reacting to Duterte’s speech before prosecutors in Puerto Princesa
City Thursday, Olalia said that Duterte only validated accusations of his
whimsical and vindictive exercise of power.
“[H]is threat smacks of authoritarian reactions of a leader
intolerant of dissenting or divergent opinions,” Olalia said.
Outraged at widespread criticisms of his policies, Duterte said he
may arrest all his critics.
“Pero ‘pag ako ang pinaabot niyo ng sagad, I will declare a suspension of
writ of habeas corpus and I will arrest all of you. Isama
ko kayo sa mga rebelde, kriminal, pati durogista,”
Duterte said. (If you push me to my limit, I will declare a suspension of writ
of habeas corpus and I will arrest all of you. I will put you together with the
criminals, rebels, and drug lords.)
Duterte also threatened to declare “revolutionary war.”
“Pahirapan mo ako, I will declare a revolutionary war until the end
of my term. Pasensiyahan tayo,” he said. (If you make things difficult for me,
I will declare a revolutionary war until the end of my term. We test each other’s
patience.)
Olalia however the president’s reaction to
cautionary criticisms to his policies by the opposition is illogical.
“[H]is threat smacks of authoritarian reactions of a
leader intolerant of dissenting or divergent opinions,” Olalia said.
“[T]here is no other appropriate people’s reaction but to fight and fight we must against brute despotism clothed in legal garb,” he added.
Other criticisms
Former solicitor general and candidate for the Senate Florin Hilbay cautioned Duterte, saying the last president who did so was ousted.
“Ser, remind lang kita: nung last time na ginawa ‘yan, may diktador na nasipa sa pwesto,” Hilbay posted on his Facebook wall. (Sir, may I remind you: the last time that was done, a dictator was ousted.)
Fellow senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares for his part called President Rodrigo’s threat “baseless” and “senseless.”
Colmenares, a human rights lawyer, said criticism of the president does not meet the constitutional or legal requirements to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.
He said Duterte’s “inordinate reaction to so innocuous a statement from Senator Drilon” led him to suspect the president’s anger stemmed from recently released videos accusing him and his son Paolo, who is running for congressman in Davao City, to the illegal drug trade.
“If so, the charges in the videos can only gain traction,” Colmenares said.
“This is the first time I’ve heard a government threatening revolutionary war,” Colmenares said.
National Democratic Front of the Philippines chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison also said Duterte cannot engage in a revolutionary war “because he is a counterrevolutionary agent of foreign monopoly capitalists, big compradors and big landlords.”
“He is a bureaucrat capitalist of the worst kind,” Sison wrote in his quick reaction to Duterte’s speech.
Sison added Duterte “should not misappropriate and besmirch the
noble calling of revolutionary.”
“He is a tyrant, traitor, plunderer and mass murderer hell-bent on
imposing a fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people through charter change
to a bogus kind of federalism,” Sison added.
Sison said Duterte is already engaged in de facto martial law
nationwide and in the de facto suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
Duterte is increasingly engaged in mass intimidation, mass arrests
and mass murders, the president’s former political science professor said.
Sison added that if Duterte formally proclaims the suspension of
the writ of habeas corpus or even martial law nationwide, he will only succeed
in further enraging the people and inciting them to wage all forms of
revolutionary resistance.
“The real revolutionary war is against his ongoing counterrevolutionary war,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva, with JJ Espina)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/dus-1.jpg562960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-04-05 09:23:332019-04-05 11:28:57Lawyer: No reason for Duterte to suspend privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
The alleged safehouse in Marikina raided by the police Saturday is a family home, a lawyer of detained National Democratic Front of the Philippine (NDFP) peace consultants said.
Public Interest Law Center managing counsel
Rachel Pastores said police claims that the house located at 34-A Chrysanthemum St., Loyola Residents, Barangay Barangka was
a safehouse where guns grenades were kept is “preposterous”.
“How utterly preposterous. Gamara was found staying
above a coffee shop in the sentro of Imus City, with the police station a
stone’s throw away. The house in Marikina, which the police claimed was another
hideout, is a family home,” Pastores in a statement said.
Earlier, National Capital Region Police
Office director P/Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the police
applied for another search warrant to conduct the raid in Marikina after they recovered
a suspected fake identification card on Gamara bearing the address.
Eleazar said that several
documents, a seafarer’s identification and a record book, two hand grenades and
a 9mm pistol were confiscated during the operation conducted Friday morning.
“We are now looking for the caretaker of the house identified as Ryan Dizon. He was not around when the search warrant was implemented on Friday,” Eleazar said.
Pastores, however, said acquaintances, old friends,
and family of peace consultants are now clear targets of police and military,
who have come together in a crackdown against peace consultants and advocates.
“Planting
firearms and explosives is the police grasping at straws, because there is no
legitimate reason to arrest or investigate the persons found therein, nor the
peace consultants themselves,” Pastores said.
The lawyer recalled that retired priest Arturo
Balagat arrested with Gamara in Imus was later found by the prosecutor general
to have no criminal intent and ties with the peace consultant other than
graciously giving him shelter and food.
But the police has threatened to have Balagat’s cooperative’s
licenses and registration cancelled, Pastores said.
“Both army and police officials must temper their
braggadocio, not until their competence and intelligence catch up,” Pastores
said.
The lawyer also criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s
Executive Order No. 70 and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed
Conflict it created for being very busy in picking up “sick, defenseless, and
unarmed” NDFP peace consultants.
“When Francisco Fernandez and Cleofe Lagtapon,
likewise peace consultants, were arrested in Laguna a week ago, the army claimed
to have also found them with pistols and grenades – and then, paradoxically,
crowed over how weak and vulnerable they were,” Pastores said.
“Executive Order No. 70 wants to put an end to the
roots of the insurgency and reclaim the peace, but why do its implementors
spawn more injustice along the way? Long-drawn vendetta, disbalance of power
and inequities, as demonstrated in the illegal arrests and detention of peace
consultants, only pose more reasons to resist,” she added.
Pastores said they are confident that charges against Gamara, Fernandez, Lagtapon, as well as the others victims of planted evidence and perjured testimonies, will be eventually dismissed and disposed of. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
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Tourists in Bauko,
Mountain Province are advised from visiting spots in some areas in the
municipality following recent fighting between Leftist guerrillas and the
Cordillera police.
The Bauko Municipal
Government through its municipal tourism officer Arsenia Addon announced that
all booked tourism activities have been cancelled as the Regional Police Safety
Battalion (RPSB) of the Cordillera Police are pursuing fighters of the Leonardo
Pacsi Command-New People’s Army (LPC-NPA).
“We appreciate your
understanding for the inconvenience,” Addon said.
The Cordillera police
have reportedly launched operations in the are to “flush out” NPA fighters/
The LPC-NPA in a
statement Sunday said it ambushed operating troops of the RPSB at around 1:00 o’clock
in the afternoon in Mt. Makilakilat of the adjacent northern barangays of the
municipality of Tadian.
The NPA said the ambush
frustrated Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) operations in the area following an earlier encounter that killed a
police officer and wounded another.
Last Saturday, in time
for the NPA’s 50th founding anniversary, the LPC-NPA engaged in a fire fight
with an RPSB unit at around 9:45 AM in Mt. Gunggung-o in Barangay Bagnen,
Bauko.
LPC spokesperson Magno
Udyaw said the fire fight lasted for 15 minutes.
The ongoing police operation
in Tadian is a bid to save their face from its loss, Udyaw said.
Cordillera People’s
Democratic Front (CDPF) spokesperson Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan for his part said
the AFP and PNPs claim that the ongoing operations is to simply flush out the
NPA in Mountain Province is preposterous.
“In its frantic scramble
to claim that they are having the upper hand in their counter-revolutionary campaign,
PNP and AFP mouthpieces and spin masters resort to crying in the media and
blabbering gibberish in social media to cover up their losses,” Naogsan said.
The NPA said it launched
the March 29 attack to punish the RPSB as well as the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) for protecting plunderous large-scale mines,
logging and energy businesses.
Udyaw said numerous cases
of human rights violations are being committed such as harassments,
indiscriminate pointing and firing of rifles, and confiscation of lumber
intended for housing and community use during government troops operations.
He added that corruption
is also rampant as DENR and police officials sell or take for personal use whatever
they have sequestered from locals. #
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President Rodrigo Duterte’s Memorandum
Order No. 32 in November 22 deploying more soldiers and police officers
in Negros Island has seen its bloodiest result last weekend in the killing of
14 farmers in three locations.
Philippine National Police operatives killed eight peasants in
Canlaon City, four in Manjuyod, and two in Sta. Catalina town in separate but
near simultaneous operations in Negros Oriental Province Saturday.
The Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
identified the eight Canlaon victims as Edgardo Avelino, 59, farmer and
resident of Sitio Carmen, Brgy. Panubigan, Chairperson of Hukom (Hugpong Kusog
Mag-uuma sa Canlaon); Ismael Avelino, 53 habal-habal (utility motorcycle)
driver a resident of Sitio Carmen, Brgy. Panubigan and a member of Hukom; Melchor
Pañares, 67, farmer, a resident of Sitio Tigbahi, Brgy. Bayog; Mario Pañares,
46, farmer (son of Melchor Pañares); Rogelio Ricomuno, 52, farmer, a resident
of Sitio Manggata, Brgy. Masulog -1; Ricky Ricomuno, 28, farmer; Gonzalo
Rosales, 47, farmer and a resident of Proper Brgy. Pula; and Genes Palmares,
54, farmer, a resident of Proper Brgy. Aquino.
In Sta. Catalina, habal-habal driver and peasant leader Franklen
Lariosa and Anoj Enojo Rapada were reportedly killed.
In Manjuyod, among those killed were Velentin Acabal of Brgy.
Kandabong and Sonny Palagtiw of Brgy. Pansiao, both barangay captains in their
villages; Steve Arapoc and Manulo Martin.
Reports said 15 others were arrested, including local Gabriela
leader Corazon Javier, who are now detained at the Canlaon City provincial
police headquarters.
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay cited Duterte’s Memorandum
Order No. 32 that placed Negros Island as well as Eastern Visayas and Bicol
under a state of emergency for the continuing militarization of communities as
well as the Synchronized Enhanced Managing of Police Operations (SEMPO) or
Oplan Sauron of the PNP in the region.
Palabay said Oplan Sauron is being implemented alongside the
government’s counterinsurgency program.
‘Tokhang-style’
Negros police director P/Col. Raul Tacaca said the victims were suspected
communist rebels linked to alleged assassination plots against government
soldiers and police officers.
Tacaca claimed those slain fought back against arresting teams
from the PNP Regional Public Safety Battalion, the PNP Special Action Force, regular
police officers from various stations, and the Philippine Army.
In a press conference in Camp Crame Monday, PNP spokesperson
P/Col. Bernard Banac echoed Tacaca’s claims and added the killings started as
an implementation of search warrant for possible possession of firearms and
explosive materials.
“We are sure that they really tried to shoot it out because our policemen
will not use force if there is no threat to their lives,” Banac said.
“These were done by following the rules of engagement, respect on human
rights and presumption of regularity,” he added,
But survivors of the police assault in Canlaon said the police arrived
at about 2:30 in the morning, knocked once and kicked the doors open.
Victim Ismael Avelino’s wife, Leonora told human rights workers that all six police officers who assaulted their home “wore facemasks and others wore shades to cover their eyes.”
Victims’ survivors also said the nameplates on the police officers’
uniforms were covered.
Leonora said she and their four young children were ordered to lie face down and then later dragged outside of the house.
Next door, Edgardo Avelino’s household members were similarly
forced to lie face down and were also dragged outside of the house.
Near simultaneously, they heard gunshots inside both houses. Nearly
five hours later, at about seven o’clock in the morning, an ambulance came and Leonora’s
husband was brought out of the house in a stretcher.
She found out later at the Canlaon District Hospital that they her
husband Ismael was dead.
Edgardo, Hukom chairperson, was shot on his forehead, right cheek
and upper torso.
In Manjuyog, survivors of Arupoc told human rights responders that
the police planted a .38 caliber revolver beside his cadaver after he was
killed by the police officers.
Calls for
investigation
Various groups called for an immediate investigation on the
incidents.
“This is unconscionable. We strongly demand an immediate and
independent investigation on the incident…[W]e join our voices in the call for
justice and accountability for these heinous crimes perpetrated by the
government,” Karapatan’s Palabay said.
San Carlos
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, whose diocese covers the affected towns, also demanded
an investigation.
“We demand a quick investigation on this and appeal to our
government authorities to restore peace and order,” Alminaza said.
The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) for its part said March 30
was a dark day in the country’s history.
“[F]armers who feed the nation have become helpless targets of bullets
from the police and military, in tokhang-style operations, forcibly entering
the homes and playing the ‘nanlaban’ (fought back) scenario to justify the
riddling of bullets to victims,” the group said.
“As the nation grieves, we add our voices to the call for justice
for our farmers and all Filipinos who have suffered under the culture of impunity
and fascism in our lands,” CPA added.
Members of the Makabayan bloc in Congress also condemned the killings
and vowed to seek justice for the victims.
“State forces are on a rampage and activists and critics are in their
crosshairs. We will not take this sitting down and we will seek justice for the
victims and file charges against the policemen and their superiors who
perpetrated this massacre,” Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate said.
Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao called for the scrapping of Duterte’s
Memorandum No. 32, saying it is a death warrant on civilians.
The Commission on Human Rights said
it has already ordered the regional sub-office of CHR-Region VII to investigate
the killings. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
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The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) in Mindanao published an open letter to President Rodrigo Duterte asking him to stop ongoing harassment against their clergy in the island.
Gathering
in Cagayan de Oro City last March 25 and 26 for a conferential meeting with the
Church’s Supreme Bishop, the Most Reverend
Rhee M. Timbang, the 14 IFI bishops they have been attacked through red tagging, vilification, surveillance,
harassment and intimidation and worse, killings they suspect are the handiwork
of government security forces.
“We saw at the highways and even walls of our churches desecrated with graffiti maligning the IFI and its leaders, Bishop Antonio Ablon of Pagadian and Bishop Felixberto Calang of Cagayan de Oro,” their letter said.
The
bishops said the most recent attack against their Church happened last February
22 where leaflets or hit list bearing names of the bishops including that of
Fr. Chris Ablon, Fr. Rolando Abejo, Fr. Khen Apus and their friends openly
identified these people as members of underground revolutionary groups.
“This
baseless and malicious accusation strongly believed to be orchestrated by state
forces has openly identified these people as members of the CPP-NPA-NDFP
(Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front
of the Philippines).
“We
as episcopal leaders of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Mindanao are very
much alarmed that wanton extra judicial killings may fall on our church
leaders. God forbid!” they said.
The bishops blame Duterte’s martial law in Mindanao
for causing the “evil acts” as well as the refusal of the police to investigate
their complaints.
“Worse,
illegal arrest and detention, trump up charges and forced NPA surrenderees of
peasants and lumad who are partners of our church in our community work and
mission are conveniently presented to the public as prima facie evidence of the
IFI’s and bishops’ affiliation to the rebel group,” they said.
The church leaders also complained that several active church lay leaders now fear for their lives and
security as they are constantly under surveillance and are possible subject to
warrantless arrest.
The
bishops asked Duterte to end the attacks against peasant and labor leaders,
against lumad and their communities, against defenders of lumad schools,
lawyers, media and the Church.
The
letter was signed by Timbang, Ablon, Calang, Cabadbaran Bishop Delfin Callao
Jr., Davao Bishop Denny Dapitan, Libertad Bishop Rudy Juliada, Surigao Bishop
Noel Lorente, Dinagat Bishop Mervin Jose Elimanco, Siargao Bishop Romeo Tagud,
Koronadal Bishop Redeemer Yañez, Tubod Bishop Raul Amorcillo, Cortez Bishop
Julius Dacera, Ozamiz Bishop Carlo Morales, Oroquieta Bishop Victor Batoy, and
Malaybalay Bishop Gil Dinapo. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ifi.jpg480960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-03-28 17:01:242019-03-28 17:05:12Mindanao Bishops ask Duterte to stop attacks against IFI
A lawyer assisting arrested National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Frank Fernandez complained of being repeatedly barred from visiting and consulting with her client at the Philippine Army General Hospital in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Atty.
Kristina Conti of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers said that she has
twice been refused from seeing Fernandez and his fellow detainees at the
hospital even if she is allowed by law to do so.
“For the second time at Gate 6 of Fort Bonifacio, I have been
denied access by MPBn (Military Police Battalion) chief Capt. Andres B. Ramirez
upon instructions of his ‘higher-ups,’” Conti said on her Facebook account late
Tuesday night.
Conti said that Captain Ramirez in fact told her she can visit Fernandez, his wife Cleofe Lagtapon and Geann Perez, who are all confined in the said hospital.
“Yesterday (Monday), he denied that a
Frank or Francisco Fernandez was confined in the Army General Hospital. Today
he reverses, but tells me that I can visit ‘anytime’ but only between 11am-4pm,”
Conti said.
The lawyer
said the military is violating Republic Act 7438, the Rights of Persons
Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation Law.
The law says lawyers, doctors, priests or spiritual adviser cannot be denied access any time, which Conti said Ramirez is disregarding.
“What’s roundly dissonant for me as a lawyer is the police
posturing that this was a legitimate law enforcement operation, specifically
arrest due to a lawful warrant. Yet, when I asked either Calabarzon Police
Regional Director Edward Carranza or Laguna Police Provincial Chief Eleazar
Matta for access they defer to the military,” Conti said.
Conti asked the military to be upfront if the three detainees are
being treated as prisoners of war and under military custody instead of the
police.
If the three are POWs, they should be treated as hors de combat, or out of action due to injury or damage, the lawyer explained.
“’Wag nyo na kami paikut-ikutin,
literally and figuratively,” she said. (Do not try to fool us and make us run
around.)
Conti said she wonders what excuses the military will use the next
time she tries to visit her clients.
“Kelangan naka-sapatos?
Naka-white? May strip search? Walang cellphone? Anong patakaran sa kampo na naman ang mangingibabaw sa civilian
law enforcement/judicial orders?” she
asked (Do I need to wear shoes? Wear white? Will they conduct a strip-search?
What camp policies will they say lords over civilian law enforcement/judicial
orders?)
“Martial law ba ulit?”
she asked. (Is it Martial Law all over again?)
Doctor
also turned away
Conti also revealed that an unnamed doctor sent to check on the
three detainees was turned away.
“Earlier we sent a doctor, who came within the time stated by
Capt. Ramirez, to check (on) the three. He was rebuffed, even if the inquest
prosecutor’s resolution specified that Fr. Frank should see his doctor of
choice,” Conti revealed.
Conti said Fernandez reported to the Sta. Cruz, Laguna inquest
fiscal Monday evening that he is suffering from incessant interrogation by
military agents, depriving him of sleep and affecting his general health.
Fernandez
is reported to having heart and lung ailments the lawyer said need special
attention.
“His condition, fluctuating BP (blood pressure) and all, is very worrisome. The military even had to pull into
Asian Hospital on March 24 while they were taking him to Manila from Laguna
because he was slurring his speech a bit,” Conti said.
The lawyer said it is suspected
the former Roman Catholic priest and long-time NDFP spokesperson in Negros
suffered a mild stroke or heart attack.
“[Y]et he has not been allowed to choose a
doctor or specialist. I am not too sure the Army General Hospital can take care
of his needs – and in the first place, if it is in their interest (to do so),”
the lawyer said.
Lagtapon
is reported to be suffering from frail health while Perez is being treated for
Hansen’s Disease.
Conti
recalled previous clients who were sick while in prison and eventually died
under detention.
“My experience with sick political prisoners is marred by deaths. Diona Andrea Rosal, stillborn, because his mother was under too much stress. Eduardo Serrano, Bernabe Ocasla, Alex Arias who suffered heart attacks in jail. My fervent hope is he does not join this mater dolorosa list,” she said.
She cautioned the military to treat the three detainees humanely.
“I understand the context is war – and two sides are at odds. Pero bawal bang maging makatao ‘pag
magkaaway? Kung kaya ng isa, kaya din naman ng kabila, di ba?” she asked.
(Isn’t it possible that both sides treat each other humanely? If one side can
do it, the other side also can.)
Conti said that killing Fernandez while under government custody
would not be killing the Communist Party-led revolution but is actually killing
the peace. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/fff.jpg370750Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-03-27 15:03:052019-03-27 15:06:33Lawyer, doctor refused from seeing Frank Fernandez
Nag-rali at nagdasal ang daan-daang
taong simbahan sa Liwasang Rajah Sulayman noong hapon ng Enero 25 sa Maynila sa
aktibidad na tinawag nilang “One Faith, One Nation, One Voice Prayer
Rally” na may panawagang “katotohan, hustisya, kalayaan at kapayapaan.” Dumalo
ang mga Obispo, pari, madre’t layko, gayundin ang mga mag-aaral ng mga
eskwelahang pinapatakbo ng mga Simbahan, mapa-Katoliko o Protestante.
Matapos ang walang patid na atake ni
Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa mga relihiyon at maging kanilang batayang
paniniwala sa tatlong katauhan ng Diyos, hudyat na ba ang pagtitipong iyon sa
harapang komprontasyon sa pagitan ni Duterte at mga Simbaha’t kanilang mananampalataya?
Siyempre, naririyan na naman ang
makitid na interpretasyon na “separation of Church and the State” na naggigiit
na sana’y huwag nang makialam ang Simbahan sa politika. Makitid at mali dahil
ang prinsipiyong ito patungkol lamang sa tuwirang pagbabawal sa mga Simbahan na
lumahok sa aktuwal na pagpapatakbo ng pamahalaan. Hindi nito pinagbabawalan ang
mga Simbahan na mag-komento sa politika at kalagayan ng lipunan. Ayon mismo sa
turo ng mga mayor na relihiyon dito sa Pilipinas, tungkulin nilang magsalita sa
mga isyung panlipunan bilang bahagi ng kanilang misyon na ituwid sa aspetong
moralidad ang mga temporal na usapin ng mamamayan. Kasali rito ang mga usaping
politikal.
Ang Simbahang Katolika, ang
dominanteng relihiyon sa bansa, ay nakapag-labas na ng higit-kumulang na
dalawandaang pahimakas sa mga usaping panlipunan, mula sa usapin ng kahirapan,
korupsyon sa pamahalaan, serbisyong panlipunan, at marami pang iba. Gawain na
nila ito bago pa naging pangulo si Duterte noong 2016.
Ngunit kakaibang nilalang ang kanilang
katunggali ngayon: isang taong walang tigil at walang habas na inaatake ang
institusyon ng Simbahan sa bawat pagkakataon. Talaga namang sa maraming
pagkakataon ay “ipokrito” ang maraming taong-simbahan tulad ng madalas na
sabihin ni Duterte. Ngunit kailanma’y hindi itinanggi ng mga taong-Simbahan na
sila ma’y makasalanan.
May pinaghuhugutan si Duterte. Aniya’y minolestiya siya ng kanilang dating
prinsipal sa Ateneo de Davao High School na si Fr Mark Falvey, SJ. “So when I graduated, I was no longer a
Catholic. I was no longer a Catholic at that age. I was not even in politics
then.”
Sa kabilang banda, tama ba ang pang-uupat
ni Duterte sa Simbahan sa kaniyang kakaibang paraan? Sa panahong siya ang
pangulo ng bayang mayorya ay Katoliko, katanggap-tanggap ba na may lider na
tandisang lapastangan sa Diyos na pinaniniwalaan?
Kandidato pa lamang sa pagka-pangulo’y
nagpatikim na si Duterte ng kawalang-tulad na kagaspangan sa pagmumura kay Papa
Francisco. Disyembre 9, 2015 nang sinabi niyang, “From the hotel to the airport, alam mo inabot kami…limang oras.
Sabi ko bakit? Sabi pinasarado daw? “Gusto kong tawagan, ‘Pope p********!”
Sinabi niya ito sa panahong
nagkukunwari pa siyang kasapi ng Simbahang Katolika (dahil nga panahon ng
kampanya). Matapos siyang maihalal, tulad ng ibang sektor, binantayan ng mga
Simbahan kung anong klase presidente si Duterte. Naging “killing fields” na ang
bansa pagkalipas ng ilang buwan dahil sa giyera sa droga ni Duterte. At doon
nagsalita ang Simbahan, kasama ng marami pang grupo. Imbes na makinig,
nagsimula na si Duterte sa kanyang mga atake sa mga alagad ng Simbahan.
Enero 2017 nang puntiryahin ng
bunganga ni Duterte ang retiradong obpispong si Teodoro Bacani Jr na inakusahan
niyang may dalawang asawa. “P***** i**** Bacani,
dalawa pala asawa, pareho ko. Tapos, ‘pag magsalita ang unggoy na ‘to!” ani
Duterte. Hinamon naman ni Bacani si Duterte na patunayan ang sinabi at
babayaran niya raw ito ng milyon-milyong piso kung mayroon siyang pruweba.
Walang ebidensiyang nailabas ang Presidente, kahit pa kalauna’y inulit ang
kanyang paratang na may mga obispong pinapatira sa mga pabahay ng gubyerno ang
kanilang mga kinakasama.
Pebrero 2017, sa isang talumpati
tungkol sa programang pabahay ng kanyang pamahalaan, sinimulan na niyang gawing
biro ang Simbahan at ang mga Sakramento. “‘Sus, ang baho ng bunganga nitong P******** na paring ito.
Sintensiyahan ka na ng 20 Our Fathers, bugahan ka pa ng mabahong bunganga!”
aniya. “Huwag sa pari, ‘yung tubig diyan, kinuha lang sa poso. Maniwala
ka. Totoo. Saan ba nila kinuha iyan, ‘yung holy water?” dagdag
niya.
Patikim pa lang pala
ni Duterte ang kanyang mga atake noong 2015 at 2017. Ibang lebel ang kanyang
pagkamuhi sa Simbahan nitong nakaraang taon kasabay ng kanilang walang tigil na
pagkondena sa pagpatay sa libo-libong sibilyan.
Isang malumanay na
madre ang kanyang buwena-mano sa 2018—si Sr Patricia Anne Fox, NDS, isang
beteranang misyonaryang Australyana. Ani Duterte, walang karapatan ang madre na
kastiguhin ang kanyang pamahalaan. Matabil daw ang dila ng madre, katangiang
kailanma’y hindi masasabi ng sinumang nakadaupang-palad na ng misyonarya. “You come here and insult us, you
trample with our sovereignty. That will never happen,” dagdag pa ni
Duterte. Kalaunan, na-deport ang
madre.
Noon namang napatay si Fr Mark Ventura ng Cagayan
noong Mayo 2018, imbes na kondenahin ang pamamaslang ay binigyang-katuwiran pa
ni Duterte ang krimen. “Paanong hindi ka mapapatay? May asawang bise-mayor, may
asawang pulis, may asawang sundalo, may asawang malaking negosyante. Eh, ‘di patay ka tuloy,”
ani Duterte.
Noon namang Agosto 2018, pinagbantaan
niyang tatadyakan ang sinumang Obispo. “Is there any bishop here? I want to
kick your ass,” ani Duterte sa isang talumpati sa Malakanyang.
Nobyembre ng parehong taon, inakusahan
naman niya si Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David ng pagnanakaw. “Ikaw, David, tumahimik ka ha. Sige ka lang hingi ng kontribusyon
diyan sa mga… Saan ang pera ng mga tao? Sige lang hingi, may second collection pa,” ani Duterte. “Alam
mo, totoo lang, sabihin ko sa inyo, iyong mga offering, iyong mga pinya, mga abokado, saging, saan napupunta
iyan? Gusto ninyong malaman? Gusto ninyo ng video?
Ibigay ko sa inyo. Doon sa pamilya niya,” dagdag ng pangulo. Walang bidyong
nailabas ang pangulo.
Hindi lamang paratang ng korupsyon ang ibinato ni
Duterte sa Obispo. “David! Nagdududa nga
ako bakit ka sige ikot diyan ng gabi. Duda tuloy ako, p********, nasa droga ka,”ani Duterte.
Tumawid na sa kasalukuyang taon ay
hindi pa rin tapos si Duterte sa atake sa Simbahan. Ngayong buwan, inutusan
niya ang mga tambay na patayin ang mga obispo. “Hoy,
kayong mga tambay diyan, ‘pag dumaan ‘yang obispo ninyo, holdapin ‘yan. Maraming
pera ‘yan, p***** i** niya. Patayin mo,” ani Duterte sa Masbate.
Nitong buwan lamang,
tatlong pari at isa pang Obispo ang nagsabing nakakatanggap ng banta sa buhay
dahil sa kanilang kritisismo sa walang tigil na pagpatay sa mga pinaghihinalaang
lulong sa droga. Inamin nina Fr. Albert Alejo, SJ; Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD; at Fr.
Robert Reyes, OFM, gayundin si Lingayan Archbishop Socrates Villegas na
natatakot sila sa kanilang buhay dahil sa mga banta sa kanila. Ang sagot ni
Duterte: Wala siyang pakialam kung mamatay man daw ang mga pari. Maluwag pa ang
mga sementeryo.
Ngunit ang lahat ng ito ay
hindi maihahambing sa pang-aalipusta ni Duterte sa buod ng Kristiyanismo at sa
Diyos mismo. Hunyo 2018 nang
simulan niyang atakihin mismo ang Diyos ng mga Kristiyano.”Kinain ni Adam (ang mansanas),
then malice was born.Who is this stupid God? Istupido
talaga itong p******** kung ganoon,” ani Duterte sa
isang talumpati sa Davao City.
Marami ang natigagal sa kalapastangan ni Duterte. Maging ang mga hindi
relihiyoso ay nabastusan sa kanyang sinabi. Dagdag pa rito, sinabi niyang hindi
siya hihingi ng paumanhin. “No, I will not do that
definitely. Not in the million years,” ni Duterte sa mga mamahayag sa
Panglao, Bohol.
Tahasan na ring
sinabi ni Duterte na walang Diyos. Sinabi niyang kung mayroon mang
makakapagpakita ng kanyang selfie
kasama ang Diyos at kagyat siyang bibitiw sa pagka-pangulo. Maging ang
paniniwala ng mga Kristiyano sa tatlong katauhan ng Diyos ay kanya na ring
nilapastangan“Magdasal ka na sa isang Diyos,
magdasal ka pa dito sa santong yawa. Isa lang ang Diyos. There’s
only one God, period. You cannot divide God into three. That’s silly,” ani niya.
Bago pa niya ito sinabi, idineklara niya ring walang kahanga-hanga
sa pagpapa-pako ni Kristo sa krus. “‘Yong Diyos mo,
pinako sa krus. T******. Nakakawala ng bilib. Ako ang Diyos, tapos ipako mo
ako? P********!”ani Duterte.
Matatandaang nangako
si Duterte kay Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles na magmumulta ng isang libong
piso sa bawat niyang pagmumura. May nagbibilang kaya? Magkano na kaya ang buong
multa? Pareho lang kaya ang halaga ng multa kung ang minura ay ang Diyos na?
= = = = = = =
May nagbanggit sa akin kamakailan na
kapaki-pakinabang sa kanila ang mga bidyo ng Kodao dahil mula sa mga ito nila
nasusubaybayan ang mga kaganapang hindi nila karaniwang napapanood saanpaman. “Ngunit
medyo nahihirapan kaming ibahagi sa mga magsasaka at katutubo ang laman ng
inyong mga balita, kasi Ingles,” ani aking kausap. “Sana mayroon kayong sulatin
sa Filipino para madaling ibahagi sa mga diskusyon dito sa baryo,” dagdag niya.
Madali akong kausap, lalo na kung
medyo may kasamang puri at halong boladas ang mungkahi.
Ito ang simula at sana’y
maipagpatuloy. Sa ngayo’y gamitin ko muna ang titulo ng aking sinaunang blog. (Ito
naman ang orihinal na nauna sa pitak ng isang singer at isang palabas sa
telebisyon na may parehong pamagat.)
Pag-uusapan rito ang mga isyu sa ating
buhay at lipunan sa paraang maigsi at madaling maintindihan. Hindi naman ako
“scholarly” para kayaning mag-tunog matalino’t matalinghaga sa lahat ng
pagkakataon. Bukod pa, nakakapagod din minsan ang ingles ng ingles.
Walang regular na labas ang Ka-Blog.
Kung kailan may isyung nakikita kong dapat komentaryuhan ay saka ako
magsusulat.
Mag-huntahan tayo.
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/kablog.jpg213636Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-03-18 09:57:562019-03-18 09:58:02Ang Simbahan, ang Diyos at si Digong