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Groups slam media security chief for red-tagging ahead of UN expert’s visit

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Media groups and rights defenders condemned government’s top media security official, calling his allegation that a jailed journalist is active in terrorist groups a classic example of red-tagging.

Altermidya and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) executive director Paulino Gutierrez’s attack against journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio also proves the absurdity of his agency’s continued existence.

In his January 4 “Paul’s Alarm” column on JournalnewsOnline, Gutierrez wrote, “Nais din niyang (United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan) malaman ang sitwasyon ni Franchie (sic) Mae Cumpio, na kasalukuyang naka-detine sa Palo Provincial Jail sa Leyte dahil sa aktibo nitong papel sa lokal na teroristang grupo ng mga komunista.” (She also wants to know about Franchie (sic) Mae Cumpio’s situation, who is currently detained at the Palo Provincial Jail in Leyte because of her active role in the local terrorist group of communists.)

Altermidya said the official’s allegation is exactly what they mean about red-tagging: government officials linking civilians to alleged communist groups without proof.

“May we remind Mr. Gutierrez that Ms. Cumpio is contesting the charges filed against her in court and has yet to be convicted. There is absolutely no point for anyone, more so a high government official, to forget that ‘everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,’” Altermidya said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the NUJP said Gutierrez’s accusation highlights precisely how red-tagging has become institutionalized in the Philippines and has become undeclared policy.

“It also shows the absurdity of having a body created for media security in a government task force that actively puts journalists’ security at risk by accusing them of being enemies of the state,” NUJP said.

The group added that Gutierrez’s allegation violates not just the constitutional presumption of innocence but also the Journalist’s Code of Ethics.

Human rights group Karapatan also slammed Gutierrez, saying the official’s red-tagging of Cumpio is hypocritical.

“Here is a big example of the government’s so-called ‘promotion of human rights,’ and yet, the Philippine government is already vilifying human rights defenders and press freedom defenders because they have tagged them as enemies of the state,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

Braggadocio gone wrong

Ironically, Gutierrez wrote about Khan’s official 10-day visit to the Philippines starting next week in his column, disclosing he is ready to meet with the UN expert on press freedom and freedom of expression.

Gutierrez added it is a significant personal honor for him to lead the country’s preparations for Khan’s visit as chief of the only government agency in the world dedicated to media worker’s rights.

Altermidya however said Gutierrez’s attack against Cumpio is emblematic of their complaints to the UN expert.

“It is exactly this kind of information that we wish Ms. Khan would closely look into in her investigation into the Philippine situation,” Altermidya said.

“The statement of USec Guiterrez highlights the urgency of our appeal to Ms Khan to conduct a thorough investigation on the continued vilification of journalists, affecting the exercise of press freedom and the people’s right to know,” Altermidya said.

Karapatan said that government agencies involved in the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur are the same agencies engaged in red-tagging, terrorist-labelling, filing of trumped up charges, and other forms of violations.

Special jail visit to Frenchie Mae

In his column, Gutierrez revealed that Khan wishes to visit Cumpio in jail.

The youngest journalist in prison in the world today, Cumpio was arrested in February 2020 when she was 20 years old.

A former editor of the student publication University of the Philippines Vista in Tacloban, Cumpio was a broadcaster with Manila Broadcasting Company’s Aksiyon Radyo station in Leyte at the time of her arrest.

She was also the executive director of alternative media outfit Eastern Vista and manager-in-training of Radyo Taclobanon, a women-led disaster resiliency community radio station project in Supertyphoon Yolanda-hit Eastern Visayas.

“Indeed, she is the very Frenchie Mae Cumpio mentioned in laureate Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize speech,” Altermidya said. # (Raymund B. tVillanueva)

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DISCLOSURE: Altermidya’s statement was issued with the author as reference, being the group’s chairperson. He is also a former NUJP officer. Kodao and the author were Cumpio’s trainers for the Radyo Taclobanon project.

Rights workers reveal AFP desecration of slain NPA fighters’ corpses

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Human rights groups accused the Armed Forces of the Philippines of desecrating the remains of seven alleged New People’s Army (NPA) members killed in a firefight in Balayan, Batangas last Sunday.

In a series of alerts, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog and Tanggol Batangan said the faces of some of the casualties could no longer be identified by family members at a funeral parlor.

“A grieving mother, in between sobs, identified her daughter only by her distinct stitch marks from a previous caesarean delivery. Half of her daughter’s face was broken as if smashed and banged,” Karapatan said.

The groups also accused the AFP and the Philippine National Police of violating International Humanitarian Law and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines by not allowing the corpses to be put inside freezers or embalmed.

They said the corpses already started to rot as these were made to lie on the floor of Romy’s Funeral Parlor for two days.

The groups said the government troopers did not only violate the IHL but the Department of Health’s sanitary protocols.

“Kitang kita sa mga labi ng biktima ang mga bakas ng pambababoy, na hindi gagawin ng sinuman na may makataong pag-iisip,” Karapatan said.

(Signs of desecration are clear, an act that will not be committed by someone humane.)

The seven still unidentified alleged NPA members were slain after soldiers from the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, augmented by Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force troopers, attacked their encampment last December 17.

A government trooper, reportedly the commanding officer of a light reaction company of the Philippine Army, was also killed in the firefight, Kodao sources said.

Lt. Col. Hector Estolas, 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office chief, said three other army troopers were wounded in the clash, The Manila Times reported.

Karapatan and Tanggol Batangan also accused the military and police for harassing family members and paralegals who tried to recover the corpses from the funeral parlor.

The wake of one of the casualties was also visited by the military to interrogate the family Karapatan said was an act of intimidation.

The groups said some of the NPA corpses are schedules for autopsy by experts. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Marcos government no better than Duterte’s, rights defenders say

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Like previous governments, the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration is failing to comply with its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a human rights group said.

On the 75th anniversary of the signing of the international treaty last Sunday, December 10, human rights alliance Karapatan said the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government, much like the preceding Rodrigo Duterte regime, is committing various violations of human rights and the international humanitarian law amid widespread and intensifying poverty of Filipinos.

“Among the most violated is the right to life. As of November 2023, (we have) documented 87 extrajudicial killings in the course of the Marcos Jr. regime’s brutal counter- insurgency war since he began his term in July 2022,” the group said.

Among those killed by government personnel was a nine-year old girl to a mentally ill farmer,” Karapatan revealed.

The group also said there have been 12 victims of enforced disappearance; 316 victims of illegal and arbitrary arrest; 22,391 victims of bombing; 39,769 victims of indiscriminate firing; 24,670 victims of forced evacuation; 552 victims of forced surrender; and 1,609,49 6 victims of threats, harassment and intimidation, including red-tagging.

Karapatan added hundreds are facing “trumped up charges,” including 795 political detainees in the country’s notoriously overcrowded prisons.

At least seventeen of political prisoners are peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in its peace process with the Manila government.

Rights defenders pelt effigies of Marcos Jr., Duterte-Carpio and US imperialism with red paint and eggs in Manila on International Human Rights Day 2023. (Karlo Manalansan/Bulatlat)

Violations in the name of counter-insurgency

The country’s most active human rights alliance said the Marcos government has continued to implement repressive laws such as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to suppress dissent as well as derail development and humanitarian work.

“The wrongful designation of peace consultants and negotiators, as well as community and indigenous people’s leaders, and the baseless charges against human rights defenders have exposed the weaponization of these laws to violate the people’s constitutional rights,” Karapatan said.

The group also condemned the government’s counter-insurgency program and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as a “militarist whole-of-nation approach” that go after human rights defenders, instead of addressing the roots of the civil wars in the country.

Karapatan, which co-organized the 2023 International Human Rights Day protests in Manila with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan last Sunday, said killings under the government’s anti-drug programs continue.

It revealed that the Dahas Project of the Third World Studies Program of the University of the Philippines has documented at least 474 drug-war related killings under Marcos.

This belies Marcos government’s claims that its version of the drug war is “bloodless”, the group said.

“Despite Marcos Jr.’s cultivated facade, the sordid figures on rights violations prove that he is his dictator-father’s son and his regime, a continuation of that of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte himself is accountable for up to 30,000 deaths in his bloody war on drugs and the killings of 422 activists, on top of other grave violations of human rights,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

Rights defenders elsewhere in the Philippines also held protest rallies in Baguio, Southern Tagalog, Naga, Legazpi, Bacolod, Iloilo, Roxas, Kalibo and Davao while Filipino activists at the Climate Change Summit in Dubai also attended international human rights day in the emirate. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Danah Marie Marcellana’s walk to freedom and justice  

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By Nuel M. Bacarra

A daughter of a human rights martyr is now a human rights defender herself two months after being released from jail. She is Danah Marie Marcellana, daughter of the martyred Eden and veteran peasant leader Orly.

Like many political prisoners who have regained freedom, Dana is now a member of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainess Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA). She was released on bail last October 6 this year after more than two years in jail on trumped up charges. At 1 AM on June 25, 2021, elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the military swooped down on Marcellana’s home in Barangay San Gabriel, San Pablo, Laguna and arrested her and her husband Christian Relao without presenting any warrant. The two were accused of the standard kidnapping, murder, rebellion and illegal possession of firearms charges against activists. Realo is still in jail however.

Danah’s story is not a simple one. She was only in her day care years when her mother, then secretary general KARAPATAN-Southern Tagalog was killed with peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy, then chairperson of peasant group Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK). Eden and Eddie led an 11-person fact finding mission to look into a report of a human rights violation case in Gloria town in Mindoro, Occidental. After the mission, they were waylaid by soldiers along the road and took Gumanoy and Marcellana and three others separately on April 21. The next day, the bodies of Gumanoy and Marcellana were found in a ditch in Bansud, Mindoro Oriental. General Jovito Palparan was then the commanding officer of the 204th Brigade of the Philippine Army in Mindoro.

Danah’s family is from Quezon that boasts of an active peasant movement that, in turn, is fueled by landlessness and the cruelty of the landlords. Her father Orly is a fierce farmer leader of Tanggol Magsasaka-Timog Katagalugan. Because of her mother’s assassination and the incessant harassments to their family, Danah grew up militant, herself becoming a peasant organizer of KASAMA-TK when arrested.

A young wife and mother at the time of their arrest, Danah experienced depression and other mental anguish in jail. These were compounded by the deplorable situation in prison facilities and the violent and unjust manner of their arrest. When a warrant was finally shown her in prison, she found out that she was charged with alleged crimes that happened in 2008 when she was only 12 years old.

Danah speaking at a rally. (Supplied photo)

At a protest rally at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Padre Faura last December 5, Danah narrated how angry she was at the time. “After twenty years of seeking justice for the death of my mother here at DOJ, the government now focused its attacks on me,” she said.

Like fellow political prisoners Amanda Echanis and Reina Mae Nasino who both had their child in prison, Danah was still nursing her one year old baby when she was arrested. She also narrated that that National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) personnel can barge into PNP lock up cells to intimidate, threat with death of arbitrarily or include anybody in its list of fake surrenderees.

In her two years in jail, she learned that elderly and sickly women political prisoners are subjected to harsh treatment, as in the case of Virginia Villamor, 67, who was forced to lay prostrate by the police resulting to a crack in her knees and pelvic bones. There were others, like Cleofe Lagtapon who at 68 is now in the Correctional Institute for Women for alleged illegal possession of firearms; Evangeline Rapanot, 71, from Cagayan from who suffers multiple health problems; and Fe Serrano, 65, from Southern Tagalog who is facing more than 35 different criminal cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Dana said that elderly women political prisoners are particularly vulnerable to the inhumane treatment in inmates, the over-congestion of jails, the inadequate prison food, woeful state of medical services and the slow-paced trial of trumped-up charges against them.

As it had been when she decided to become a peasant organizer like her father, it was as easy for Danah to agree to join SELDA and become a human rights defender like her late mother. “These injustices that I, my family and other political prisoners  have suffered are enough reasons to continue fighting,” she said.

“There are no high enough walls, no cyclone wires, no isolation that women political prisoners cannot handle in our quest for freedom,” she added. #

Rights groups laud UN expert recommendation to abolish NTF-ELCAC, repeal anti-terror law

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Environmental and human rights groups hailed a United Nations (UN) expert’s recommendations to abolish the government’s anti-insurgency task force and the country’s anti-terrorism law after a 10-day investigation in the Philippines.

In a joint statement, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) and the Philippines UPR (Universal Periodic Review) Watch said they welcome the statement made by UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights Dr. Ian Fry recommending the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the repeal of Republic Act No. 11479, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020.

In his exit statement last Wednesday, November 15, Fry said he listened to complaints by indigenous peoples groups, environmental rights defenders and other civil society organizations  who were abducted, bombed and killed for opposing reclamation projects, hydro-electric dams, destructive mining and deforestation.

“They told me horrific stories on how they have been treated. I have listed in my recommendations to disband the NTF-ELCAC because it is clear that it’s operating beyond its original mandate,” Fry said.

“It is evident that the NTF-ELCAC is using its powers to protect key economic interests in the country. This has nothing to do with anti-terrorism or anti-communism. The military’s gross overreaction to people trying to defend their right to a safe, clean health and sustainable environment is totally unacceptable. The NTF-ELCAC should be disbanded,” Fry added.

The expert also said he would recommend ATA’s repeal after hearing stories of “totally unreasonable” designation of church and humanitarian workers as so-called terrorists whose funds are being held by the government.

Kalikasan PNE and the Philippine UPR Watch said Fry’s findings are welcome as they “(make) it clear that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s posturing as a climate change advocate” are merely for show.”

Rights group Karapatan also lauded Fry’s exit statement, saying it puts on center stage “the sinister role played by the NTF-ELCAC and the dangerous impact of the terror law on the lives and safety of environmental human rights defenders in the country.

The group noted that the Philippines is one of the world’s deadliest countries and Asia’s worst for environmental defenders in the past 10 years.

“Killings of environmental defenders peaked during the Duterte regime, which accounted for 205 or 73% of the 281 extra-judicially from 2012 to 2022,” Karapatan revealed.

The group added that the Marcos Jr. government is not doing better, citing the case of anti-Manila Bay reclamation campaigners who revealed being abducted by the NTF-ELCAC and the Philippine Army last September.

Bato, Task Force take exception

Reacting to the UN expert’s recommendations, Senator Ronald dela Rosa said Fry is “one of the most misinformed foreigners.”

In a budget hearing at the Senate Wednesday night, dela Rosa said Fry’s views might have changed if he only involved NTF-ELCAC in his investigations.

National security adviser and NTF-ELCAC vice chairperson Eduardo Año also said Fry should have met with the task force “to ensure that he has a full appreciation of the body’s mandate, operations, and overall directions.”

The NTF-ELCAC said it will seek a dialogue with Fry in the future.

Move to defund

But Karapatan said NTF-ELCAC’s “boilerplate responses” to Fry’s observations “further expose its propensity to disregard and distort human rights.”

“NTF-ELCAC’s statement that it is a ‘working and effective human rights mechanism’ is a ludicrous claim, considering its track record of propagating lies and its long list of crimes against the Filipino people,” Karapatan said.

The group said Fry should instead be commended for lending his voice to the growing call for an end to the NTF-ELCAC and ATA menace on people’s rights.

Karapatan added it anticipates Fry’s full report on his official visit to the Philippines to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2024.

“We hope that he can also look further into the militarist approach in the counterinsurgency policy of the Marcos Jr. – Duterte administration that drives NTF-ELCAC and the use of the terror law against environmental defenders and communities, as well as the neoliberal policies that spur destructive big reclamation, dam and mining projects that displace and violate rights of the people,” Karapatan said.

Meanwhile, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said that in line with Fry’s recommendations, Congress should immediately move to defund NTF-ELCAC to prevent more human rights abuses in the country. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Activists welcome de Lima’s release from prison

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Progressive groups welcomed former senator Leila de Lima temporary release from prison Monday, November 13, saying her nearly seven years imprisonment by the Rodrigo Duterte government was unjust and vindictive.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan president Renato Reyes said said de Lima’s release was long overdue, adding the former senator deserves the dismissal of all remaining cases against her.

“We wish her the best on her temporary release and look forward to having her back at the physical frontlines of the defense of human rights,” Reyes said.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Judge Gener Gito’s decision to grant de Lima temporary release is welcome, wishing the same fortune is granted to all other political prisoners in the country.

“As in the situation of the nearly 800 political prisoners in the Philippines, the charges against de Lima were driven by officials and State forces acting to persecute the political opposition and critics. Many if not all of these charges against political prisoners are based on perjured testimonies and planted evidence,” Palabay said.

“Former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte along with those who conspired to bring such patently false charges against de Lima should be held accountable,” Palabay added.

In granting de Lima’s Motion for Reconsideration to be granted bail, Gito said the prosecution was unable to discharge its burden of establishing that the guilt of the accused is strong.

De Lima was allowed to post a Php300,000 bail, along with co-accused Franklin Bucayu, Jose Adrian Dera, Ronnie Dayan and Jonnel Sanchez.

The accused have been charged with three cases related to drug-trafficking, two of which have already been dismissed.

In a statement, the Movement Against Disinformation, Inc. (MAD) said it is grateful and relieved at the decision.

“This long-awaited decision not only reaffirms our confidence in the legal system but also underscores the fundamental principles of fairness, equity, and the Rule of Law,” the group said.

“Looking ahead, we eagerly anticipate the complete resolution of the remaining case against Senator De Lima, fervently hoping for her full exoneration. We remain steadfast in our call for the release of Senator Leila De Lima and all political prisoners,” MAD added.

De Lima meanwhile said that while the petition for bail took too long, she never lost faith that her “inevitable freedom” will come.

“…[I]t is one of my greatest achievements in my career and in my life to say that, not only did I survive all these years of persecution and unjust detention, I came out stronger than ever, with an even stronger commitment to Truth, Justice, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law,” de Lima said in a statement Monday. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Not defeat, but a resolve to seek justice

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By Nuel M. Bacarra

I interviewed Raymond Manalo early in the morning of the promulgation of his and brother Reynaldo’s kidnapping and illegal detention with serious physical injuries case against retired Major General Jovito Palparan last Friday, October 6. He was excited and, as was the mark of his 16-year narrative against “The Butcher” and cohorts, he was straightforward and hopeful. “GUILTY!” Raymond blurted when I asked him what he thought the verdict would be.

Raymond was justifiably confident as he presented generally the same testimony he provided in the case that convicted Palparan of the same charges involving missing University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2018. He added that his testimony was even stronger this time as he was no longer a simple witness but he was testifying on his and his brother’s own abduction and torture in the hands of Palparan’s men.

Meeting the general and other victims

Raymond had always been consistent in his revelations against the accused. He and Reynaldo were abducted on February 14, 2006 from their home in San Ildefonso, Bulacan by the paramilitary under the 7th Infantry Division then commanded by Palparan. They were brought to various military camps throughout Central Luzon for 18 months but eventually escaped from a chicken farm somewhere in Pangasinan province where they suffered forced labor in the hands of their captors.

Raymond told the Court that after their abduction Palparan himself ordered the brothers brought to the barangay hall in Sapang, San Miguel, Bulacan where the most notorious general of the Gloria Arroyo regime personally gave him P1,500 to give to his parents. Palparan instructed Raymond to give the amount to his parents and tell them it was “his income from his new boss.” Palparan also told Raymond to tell his parents not to “attend hearings or join rallies and that he already joined Palparan.” In addition, The Butcher also told Raymond that, “If he attempted to escape, his family will be massacred and he and Reynaldo will also be killed.”

In a Philippine Army camp in Limay, Bataan, Raymond testified that he witnessed the torture of Karen and Sherlyn, as well as the the murder of farmer Manuel Merino who was kidnapped with the students. Merino was stabbed and his remains were burned. Raymond added that he saw the fire burning in the distance the entire night. Afterwards, Raymond and Reynaldo were brought to a resort in Iba, Zambales. But when they were brought back to Limay, Karen and Sherlyn weren’t there anymore.

READ: Abandoned Mount Samat Military Camp Yields Bones, Evidence; Quest for Justice Continues

Raymond’s testimony in Karen and Sherlyn’s case was so strong that the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court upheld Palparan’s conviction.

Raymond himself was severely manhandled by the soldiers. He still sports a scar on his forehead that came from a blow with the butt of a gun. His back became an ashtray of the troopers during a drinking spree and he also became their punching bag. He also underwent sessions of “water cure” from his captors.

Unacceptable verdict

But the Malolos Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 under Judge Francisco P. Felizmenio acquitted Palparan last Friday afternoon.

We saw Raymond rushing down the courthouse after the promulgation to join his supporters gathered by the curb. Crying, he shouted: “Walang katarungan dito! Ang katarungan ay para lang sa mayayaman, hindi para sa mahihirap! (There’s no justice here! Justice are only for the rich, not for the poor!)

Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay immediately embraced Raymond to console him and asked water for the crying victim. Edith Burgos, mother of involuntary disappearance victim Jonas Burgos, also embraced and comforted him. It was Atty. Julian Oliva Jr. who fielded the reporters’ questions about what happened inside the courtroom. I hardly understood the questions and answers as I could not take my eyes of Raymond. He was heaving with grief as he covered his face with a towel.

Raymond Manalo being consoled by Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. (Nuel M. Bacarra/Kodao)

What followed were indignant speeches about the Court’s decision. When Raymond had somewhat recovered, the group decided to go back to Manila. At six in the evening of the same day, a rally was held at the Boy Scout Rotunda in Quezon City for more indignant speeches against the verdict. Human rights and progressive groups said they could not reconcile Felizmenio’s decision with the fact that Raymond’s testimony that convicted Palparan earlier—one that was upheld by superior Courts—was junked. They agreed with the victim when he shouted, Takot ka, Judge!” (You’re scared, Judge!)

Raymond was himself the last speaker at the indignation rally. Composed this time, he said the pursuit for justice in his and his brother’s case will continue. He assured the media and his supporters that a new round of battle in the courts and in the streets will soon commence. Palparan would not escape accountability, he said.

Covering the promulgation had been one of the longest for me since I became a reporter for Kodao. My advancing age tells me there should be few of this kind of coverage, but my tiredness was overshadowed by Raymond’s determination and strength. What could a reporter do when he has compelling stories and strong subjects like Raymond Manalo but accompany him (and others like him) in their journey?

Yes, I was sad for Raymond and his brother last Friday. But I ended my coverage with the same hope that he asked everyone who accompanied him that day: “Justice will be served as long as we don’t give up.” #

Rights defenders ask UN: ‘Probe alarming record of Marcos gov’t’

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A group of Filipino human rights advocates are in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the ongoing 54th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and seek an evaluation of the United Nations Joint Program (UNJP) being implemented in the Philippines.

A delegation of the Philippine UPR (Universal Periodic Review) Watch said the UN must conduct a comprehensive, relevant and participatory evaluation of the program as it is failing to improve the human rights situation in the country.

The UNJP is also unable to significantly address continuing human rights violations in the Philippines with the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presidency virtually indistinguishable from the Rodrigo Duterte regime in terms of red-tagging, weaponization of laws and the people’s worsening poverty.

“PH UPR Watch calls on the UNHRC to seriously look at the alarming human rights record of the Marcos Jr. administration and the harmful policies perpetuating it,” the PH UPR Watch in a statement said.

The delegation said the Marcos government is abusing the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the anti-terrorism financing law in persecuting critics even as the UNJP is being implemented by the UN, the Philippine government and private sector stakeholders.

Launched in 2021, the UNJP is an attempt to help the Philippine government in realizing its responsibilities in recognizing and upholding human rights.

The program conducts trainings and dialogues with the military, police and various government agencies on human rights and international humanitarian law in partnership with the Commission on Human Rights and civil society groups.

The Duterte government agreed to the program in place of a full investigation as recommended by the UNHRC following an Iceland-sponsored resolution in 2019 to probe into thousands of deaths resulting from the so-called drug war in the Philippines.

PH UPR Watch however said that there had been no significant improvement on the human rights situation in the Philippines even after three years of UNJP implementation, evidenced by the worsening weaponization of laws and incessant red-tagging by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict of critics and political dissenters.

The delegation also complains of an ongoing wholesale violation of the Filipino people’s economic rights as shown by uncontrolled rise in the prices of oil products and basic food items.

The PH UPR Watch delegation at the UNHRC’s 54th Session is composed of representatives from Karapatan, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Rise Up for Life and for Rights, and the KATRIBU – Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas.

The group will engage in dialogues with various UN special rapporteurs and country representatives as well as present their findings before the UNHRC to shed light on widespread human rights violations. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

BAYAN: More red-tagging, rights violations under BBM’s security program

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Global groups condemn judicial harassments of rights defenders

The government’s National Security Program (NSP) has the problem of poverty and underdevelopment backwards, seeing it as product of armed conflict and not the other way around, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said.

BAYAN in a statement said there is nothing new in Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s NSP for 2023 to 2028, adding the program does not frame the civil war in the country as a consequence of underdevelopment, exploitation and foreign domination in the country’s economy and politics.

“It looks at ‘peace’ only as a necessary condition for development but does not see peace as the result of social justice and genuine development,” BAYAN president Renato Reyes said.

Marcos Jr. last week issued Executive Order 37 (EO37) adopting NSP 2023-2028 that critics said is a continuation of security programs implemented under the Benigno Aquino and Rodrigo Duterte governments.

Reyes said the new NSP also simply reaffirmed the role of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in counter-insurgency and praised its supposed achievements despite its bloody human rights record.

“This alone is telling as it signals the continuation of the government’s campaign of repression against the people and against all forms of dissent,” Reyes said.

The new NSP likewise pays lip-service to human rights and international humanitarian law, Reyes added, almost to a laughable extent because of the continuing human rights violations in the Philippines.

READ: BBM’s new security policy alarms farm workers

“Indeed, how can the Philippine government claim with a straight face that it deals with security threats ‘in strict observance of civil and human rights, and the international humanitarian law (IHL)’ when activists and revolutionaries are being abducted or executed and civilians are forced to ‘surrender’ as armed rebels?” Reyes asked.

The activist leader said the Marcos Jr. government appears oblivious to the local and international condemnation of red-tagging, doubling down on the policy by saying that “the Government shall strengthen its action against the legal fronts of the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) to stop recruitment, cut financial sources, and debunk their propaganda.”

Dozens of European, North American and African countries have repeatedly called out the Philippine government on its dangerous practice of red-tagging, a policy alternately denied and confirmed by government officials in local and international forums such as the United Nations.

The NSP does not seek to achieve a just peace, a condition that is the result of genuine pro-people development and the full realization of human rights and democracy, BAYAN said.

Judicial harassment against rights defenders

Meanwhile, 42 global organizations expressed solidarity with 10 human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Philippines and condemned the filing of petitions to overturn their acquittal from charges of perjury last January 9.

In a statement, the organizations said both the original charge and the additional petition filed by former Armed Forces of the Philippines general and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. is a reprisal for the defenders’ actions seeking legal protection from state harassment.

Acquitted were Karapatan National Council members Elisa Tita Lubi, Cristina Palabay, and Roneo Clamor;  Gabriela leaders Joan May Salvador and Gertrudes Libang; as well as fellow rights defenders Gabriela Krista Dalena, Dr. Edita Burgos, Jose Mari Callueng, Fr. Wilfredo Ruazol, and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines coordinator Sr. Elenita Belardo.

The global organizations said the “weaponization” of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to suppress and persecute HRDs is alarming.

Karapatan has earlier reported that at least 13 defenders in the Southern Tagalog region currently face trumped-up criminal complaints, citing alleged violations under the ATA.

“Using the ATA to criminalise human rights workers adds to the long list of harassment orchestrated by the Philippine Government to delegitimise the work of HRDs and human rights organizations,” the global organizations said.

“Such aggressive crackdown on defenders not only violates their fundamental freedoms but also hinders their crucial work in protecting and promoting human rights for all,” they added.

Aside from judicial harassment, the organizations added that enduring red-tagging and other forms of harassment violate the Philippine government’s commitment in the Universal Periodic Review in 2022 to protect HRDs in the country. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Autopsy: Ericson Acosta injured way before fatal shots, after he already died

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant and celebrated poet Ericson Acosta was shot both on his front and back, bolstering claims by various activist groups he and peasant leader Joseph Jimenez were actually killed execution-style by the military.

In a press conference Saturday, July 29, forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun said Acosta died from hemorrhagic shock resulting from chest wounds that lacerated his lungs.

But Fortun added that Acosta may have been shot way before his fatal wounds and after he died, based on the wound on his right hand that had severe hematoma as well as a back wound that lacerated the aorta at his lumbar area but did not bleed.

“It seemed the shots were fired at different times…On his hand, that was way before the fatal shots,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Fortun underscored that Acosta’s wound from the left side of the torso was probably fired when he was already dead.

“He should have bled profusely (from that laceration of the aorta). He was probably dead by then,” the expert explained of the wound that also shattered two thick vertebrae.

“He had so many wounds and these were in clusters,” she said, adding that Acosta also had edema on his right thigh.

Fortun also explained that Acosta’s wounds on his upper right arm that was earlier reported as stab and hack wounds resulted from exiting bullet wounds.

“He must have had his right arm close to his chest,” she said.

READ: NDF-Negros: Military murdered peace consultant-poet Ericson Acosta

Fortun and University of the Philippines College of Medicine colleague Patricia Ann Franco conducted the autopsy on Acosta’s remains last December 5, five days after he and Jimenez were killed in Kabankalan City, Negros Oriental in what the military claimed was a firefight with the New People’s Army (NPA).

Acknowledging the limitations imposed on an autopsy procedure after embalming, Fortun bewailed that they examined Acosta’s remains after his wounds have already been sutured.

She also noted that the white shirt Acosta’s body was wearing when it arrived in Manila was not the blue shirt he was wearing on the photographs the military posted online.

“There is no independent, immediate and scientific investigation conducted at the scene. That is the problem in this country as far as forensic pathology is concerned,” Fortun complained.

Photo of the poet by the Free Ericson Acosta campaign.

Execution

In their announcement of Acosta and Jimenez’s deaths last November 30, National Democratic Front-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said the victims were killed by the 94th and 47th infantry battalions of the Philippine Army.

The government troopers first strafed the house where the victims were sleeping in and later killed them outside, Obrero said.

Obrero also denied there was a fire fight with the NPA at Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi were the victims were killed.

In a separate statement, human rights group Karapatan said Acosta and Jimenez were actually captured alive by the military at 2 AM last November 30 and were taken 200 meters away from the house to be executed.

The 94th Infantry Battalion is also accused of having massacred the Fausto family last June 14 and having killed farmer Crispin Tingal last May 3 in Kabankalan City.

READ: Mission reports AFP responsible for Fausto massacre, other killings

After the release of the autopsy report on Acosta, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) again called for an independent investigation of the killings.

“The militarization and killings in Negros must stop. We call on human rights defenders and the people to fight the increasing trend of fascist terror in the countryside of Negros that has resulted in the deaths of many peasant organizers and masses,” BAYAN president Renato Reyes Jr. said.

“There is armed conflict in Negros but this cannot be solved by militarist means. The social roots must be addressed for there to be a just peace,” Reyes added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)