National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates - Youth Sector

nnarayouth — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:07:28 CST

1. Kasi mapagpalaya dito... 2. Hindi mapagkunwari... 3. Hindi nagdudunung-dunungan... 4. Sadyang magagaling lang... 5. at cute pa!

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Pablo Neruda Collections

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 06:23:26 CST

Don't Go Far Off

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because --
because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

Twenty Love Poems and a
Song of Despair

XX
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write for example, 'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to a pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.
Her voice. Her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

3. The Case of Nicole

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 06:09:44 CST

By Flon Faurillo / Bulatlat

Nicole’s Fight is the Nation’s Battle

The rape of “Nicole” by four U.S. Marines in Subic, Zambales last year is not an issue confined to her. It has implications on the much-ballyhooed RP-U.S. “special relations.”

The RP-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), one of the highlights of these “special relations,” serves as the basis of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) which grant extra-territorial and extra-judicial “rights” and provide basing arrangements to U.S. troops visiting the country for joint military “exercises.”

These agreements violate constitutional provisions barring the presence of foreign troops on Philippine soil – which are among the portions to be affected by the charter change drive being pushed by the Arroyo administration – and, in the final analysis, are what pave the way for atrocities against the likes of “Nicole.” Nicole’s fight is, then, ultimately the nation’s battle.

3 Anakpawis Members Abducted in Malolos

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 05:51:53 CST

BY BULATLAT
Posted 6:24 p.m. , Sept. 16, 2006

Three members of the progressive partylist group Anakpawis (literally, toiling masses) were abducted anew in Malolos, the city capital of the province of Bulacan, a report from the provincial chapter of the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights) said.

At around 10 p.m. of Sept. 15, Karapatan said Francisco Nicodemus, Emmanuel Maceda and Sony Rodante Cabague were seized by nine unidentified armed men in civilian clothes. The three, who are all residents of Sitio Sabitan, Sto. Rosario village in Malolos City, were initially brought to a military detachment at Desta Subdivision.
They were transferred to another military detachment in the neighboring village of Sevilla early morning Sept. 16.

No charges have been filed against the three but they remain in detention as of press time.

Meanwhile, Central Luzon Aeta Association (CLAA) secretary general Nelson Mallari and his two companions have been released yesterday from Camp Magsaysay in Castillejos town, province of Zambales. The three were arrested without warrant on Sept. 15 as they passed a checkpoint along San Marcelino town in Zambales.

© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.

2a. TOFI inaprubahan ng BOR: 7-0 vote

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 05:48:25 CST

Posted on: Dec 16, 2006

UP Increases Tuition by 300 percent “And UP will have really lost its character, and soul, as a State University,” said Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan in his dissenting vote to the tuition increase. And lost it did. BY REYNA MAE TABBADA

“And UP will have really lost its character, and soul, as a State University,” said Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan in his dissenting vote to the tuition increase. And lost it did.

The Board of Regents (BOR), the highest policy-making body of the University of the Philippines (UP), approved unanimously to raise the cost per unit by 300 percent as well as its miscellaneous fees. The BOR voted 7-0 in favor of the tuition increase, even though the Student Regent and Faculty Regent were not included in the deliberations.

The said regents are the only BOR members elected by their respective constituents, while the others are Malacañang appointees.

PHOTO BY REYNA MAE TABBADA
UP students, faculty and non-academic personnel block the entrances to Quezon Hall, the university’s admini9strative building, in the Dec. 15 protest against the 300-percent tuition increase

The increases will cover incoming freshmen and transferees in 2007. The cost per unit in the Diliman, Manila, and Los Baños campuses will be P 1,000 ($20.257 at an exchange rate of $1=P49.365) while for UP Baguio, Visayas, and Mindanao will be P 600 ($12.15). Moreover, the miscellaneous fees would climb from P 600 ($12.15) to P 2000 ($40.51) in Diliman, Manila, and Los Banos. As for UP Baguio and Visayas it would increase from P 595 ($10.02) to P 1405 ($28.46), and UP Mindanao miscellaneous fees will increase from P 830 ($16.81) to P 1640 ($33.22).

Student Barricade

The BOR was set to vote on the tuition hike proposal yesterday (December 15) at the Quezon Hall in UP Diliman. Students gathered around the said venue and barricaded the doors to prevent the participants from getting inside, insisting that the deliberations be held in public. A table and several chairs were then set at the center of the lobby outside, where Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan and Student Regent Raffy Sanchez waited for the other members to arrive.

“I suggested that we defer the discussion of the proposed increases to next year in order to diffuse the tension surrounding the issue. And also to open up discussion,” Simbulan shared to Bulatlat. An open letter to the UP community from UP President Emerlinda Roman about the proposed tuition hike was circulated only last December 5.

When the appointed time of the meeting arrived, a letter from the Office of the Secretary of the University and of the Board of Regents was sent to Simbulan and Sanchez informing them that the BOR was “constrained to meet at the College of Law” in order “to prevent possible escalation of violence.” Also, the annual Lantern Parade was cancelled by UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao but some colleges still went ahead in displaying their lanterns.

Students from the Diliman, Manila, Los Banos, and Pampanga campuses as well as members from other sectors in the university hooted in disagreement over the BOR decision. “Hindi po namin layunin ang manggulo dito,” (We are not here to create trouble) a student protester shouted.

“Railroaded” decision

In an interview with Bulatlat, Simbulan said that he will not attend the meeting at the College of Law since he wanted to open the discussion to the public. “Hindi kami magpapagamit doon,” (We would not allow them to use us) he said, referring to the fact that only he and Sanchez opposed the proposal.

The rest of the BOR offered to fetch Simbulan and Sanchez but they refused and stood their ground. Simbulan stayed at the Quezon Hall for a while with the students who were still barricading the doors. Sanchez led another convoy to the College of Law where the BOR meeting was taking place.

However, Sanchez was not allowed to participate. When he again faced the crowd massing up outside the said college, he announced that the BOR “railroaded” the decision by unanimously approving the implementation of the tuition hike. The protesters booed and attempted to storm the venue, but the rest of the BOR who voted 7-0 in favor of the increase had already left. “Hindi nila tayo kayang harapin! “ (They cannot bring themselves to face us) Sanchez criticized his fellow regents who left in haste after the voting.

Expression of outrage

As the group from the Quezon Hall congregated with the protesters in front of the College of Law, Sanchez stood on top of a van announcing over the loud speaker the BOR’s decision.

The students and other members of the academic and employee unions then marched back to Quezon Hall, disseminating information on the approved increase. The protesters stopped twice to encourage other students to join their ranks and be part of the “expression of outrage” over the BOR’s verdict.

The protesters redirected traffic as they burned an effigy of Roman being manipulated by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Students carrying their organization’s flags circled the bonfire as the rest of the group rendered songs of nationalism and ended with the university’s official song, “UP Naming Mahal” (UP Our Beloved), with clenched fists raised high in defiance.

Series of protests

When asked what the members of the BOR who voted for the increase should expect, Sanchez said, “Dapat maghanda na sila sa serye ng mga protesta lalo na sa pagsisimula ng bagong taon.” (They should be ready to face a series of protest actions especially at the beginning of the new year.) An invitation was extended to join in the prayer rally on December 17 to show defiance and anger over the tuition increases.

Even though Roman stated in her Open Letter that “one very important detail which protesting students often ignore is that the new fees will affect only new students, i.e., freshmen and transferees, who will enter UP in 2007,” Sanchez said that should not be the case.

He then highlighted three points why UP students oppose the tuition increase namely, social injustice, economic burden, and that it will change the character of the university. “The message is clear. Kailangan na nating makilahok,” (We need to now do our part) Sanchez said.

2. No to Tuition and Other Fee Increase!

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 05:00:27 CST

Students Oppose Tuition Increase, Demand Refund Last November 24, as the people of Manila went out of their houses, schools and offices to welcome boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, students from various colleges and universities also took to the streets for a different reason: to call for a stop to tuition and other fee increases and for a refund in previous increases.

BY ZOFI LEAL

Bulatlat

The program started at 2 p.m. There were songs, dances and even a dramatization of the plight of the youth and students under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime.

The nation’s scholars at the Nov. 24 rally in Diliman PHOTO BY ARKIBONG BAYAN

Last November 24, as the people of Manila went out of their houses, schools and offices to congratulate boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, students from various colleges and universities also took to the streets for a different reason: to call for a stop to tuition and other fee increases and for a refund in previous increases.

At around 1 p.m. the students assembled in front of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) despite the drizzle and heat of the sun. They marched toward Morayta but had a brief stand off with the police. The students were able to assemble in front of the Far Eastern University (FEU) along Morayta.

The street served as the stage for the program. There was a broken toilet bowl in the middle of the stage. As the dramatization progressed, broken chairs, a wooden window, a dirty sink and other items were shown symbolizing the condition of school facilities due to the government’s low budgetary allocation. Musicians for Peace, a cultural group, used these props as percussion instruments during the program.

The dramatization showed that colleges and universities are profit-oriented and does not serve the students. Three clowns also performed with bow ties carrying tags that say TFI (tuition fee increase), lab (laboratory) fee increase and campus repression. They were accompanied by a character depicting Arroyo and a fire-breathing military official.

Even the speakers had their own performances before delivering their message. Paolo Alfonso, University Student Council (USC) chair of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman sang before explaining the plight of UP students. UP is set to have a 300 percent increase in its tuition. Alfonso added that the UP administration is withholding the release of the printing funds of the Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP.

Hiyas Garduce explained the plight of the high school students through a poem. She was accompanied by Rael, another high school student who called on the youth to fight for their rights and to create their own future. He said that the hope for a better future under the current regime is dim and that the youth must not rely on the empty promises of Macapagal-Arroyo.

The students mobilized to call for the full refund of the increase in tuition and other school fees, citing that CHED Memorandum Order No. 14 is illegal as declared by the House of Representatives Committee on Technical and Higher Education (CTHE) as it goes against the very mandate of CHED to regulate tuition.

Since the ruling of CTHE, the Refund Now alliance was created by the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and Kabataan Party to monitor the tuition and other fee increases in schools.

Raymond Palatino of Kabataan Party stressed the need for the youth and students to unite and fight for their right to quality education.

In the University of the East (UE) in Recto and Caloocan, a partial refund is already being availed by students. The refund is due to the 8.5 percent increase in tuition, which is more than the 7.6 percent set by CHED. However, the Kapit Bisig Party Alliance in UE stressed that UE students are still calling for the full refund.

By 4 p.m., the police ordered the students to stop the program. However, the students continued until the program was finished. After the closing messages and closing song, the students marched toward España for an organized dispersal.

1a. Cha-cha is About Political Survival

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:11:26 CST

Analysis

The political crisis now cannot be solved by the shift to a parliamentary system with Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies imposing themselves upon the Filipino people. The Filipino people need less of them, not more.
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat

Against all odds, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and its allies in the House of Representatives are ramming through their charter change initiative. After being stopped by the Supreme Court in its track of making a mockery of the people’s initiative provision in the 1987 Constitution, they are now using once again the tyranny of numbers in the House. Speaker Jose De Venecia’s boys have shown once again that they are bereft of logic and reason, bringing back memories of their handling of the two impeachment complaints.

But of course, there is a similarity and connection in their desperation then and now.

Not for economic progress
In spite of the bold pronouncements by President Arroyo that charter change will bring the nation at par with First World countries, there is nothing substantial in the proposed amendments in the economic provisions that have not been implemented yet through legal machinations. The Macapagal-Arroyo administration plans to further liberalize the economy by removing the restrictions on foreign investments especially in the ownership of land, exploitation of the country’s natural resources, and operation of basic utilities and other protected industries such as insurance and brokerage firms. It’s as if the economy has not been liberalized enough.

Through the Foreign Technical Assistance Agreement, foreign mining companies such as Lafayette, Western Mining Corporation, among others, have been extracting the country’s mineral resources and contaminating its rivers and irrigation systems with mine tailings. In terms of basic utilities, a closer look at the company profiles of Manila Water and Maynilad reveals that United Utilities of Britain, Mitsubishi of Japan, and Odeo of France, respectively, are major stockholders of these water companies.

There is still a limit on the number of branches offshore banks can establish and in the controlling shares foreign companies can hold in insurance, investment, and brokerage firms. But the major players in portfolio investments are foreign finance and investment firms anyway. And the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMF-WB) has been dictating how the country’s finances should be managed and how the economy should be run.

The globalization thrusts of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization are already in full swing; the government has been going around the restrictions on foreign investments provided by the Constitution; and is following the impositions of the IMF-WB to the letter. The removal of restrictions on foreign capital in the Constitution is mere icing on the cake of poverty that the Filipino people are being made to swallow.

But still the country is nowhere near the level of First World countries. In fact, the economy and the Filipino people are worse off with globalization.

It’s about political survival
The shift to a parliamentary system would not mend the political divisions, and put an end to “destabilization” efforts and coups d’etat as claimed by Malacanang and Speaker de Venecia. In the first place, political divisions and political instability happen even in parliamentary systems. Secondly and the more important point is that the cause of all these is the crisis of legitimacy of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

What President Arroyo and De Venecia’s ilk are trying to solve through charter change is the crisis of legitimacy of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and their impending defeat in the May 2007 elections. Their impending defeat is confirmed by the continuing dissatisfaction rating of President Arroyo and the Pulse Asia survey showing the administration bets being wiped out in the senatorial race. The same results may be expected in elections for the House.

If they succeed in ramming through charter change, they hope to stave off the crisis and legitimize Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s continued stay in Malacanang; strengthen her power, by giving her the powers of both president and prime minister and make it easier for her to declare Martial Law, to crush opposition to her rule; prevent her impeachment especially because of the high probability that the opposition would win the majority in both Houses; extend the tenure of the administration-dominated Congress to buy time to prepare to cheat in the next elections; and remove limits to their terms so that they can continue perpetuating themselves in power.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her executive secretary cum mentor on the workings of Martial Law, Eduardo Ermita, are planning to do ala Marcos when the latter appropriated the 1971 Constitutional Convention to ensure a shift to a unicameral parliamentary system. The parliamentary system then did not lead to political stability. It gave birth to a rubber-stamp parliament called Batasang Pambansa. It also gave a semblance of legitimacy to Marcos’ continued rule. However, it deepened the political divisions in the country which eventually led to his ouster.

The political crisis now cannot be solved by the shift to a parliamentary system with Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies imposing themselves upon the Filipino people. The Filipino people need less of them, not more.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo is right when he said that graft and corruption is not committed by the Constitution but in the application of it. He further said that it is the people who commit graft and corruption who need to change. Perhaps Archbishop Lagdameo is just being polite. The people who commit graft and corruption need to change and be changed. Bulatlat

1. On Constituent Assembly

nnarayouth — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:08:44 CST

Philippine Lower House Approves Constituent Assembly

Thursday December 7, 2:18 PM

(Kyodo) _ The lower house of Congress approved Thursday a resolution on establishing a constituent assembly tasked with drafting a new charter to pave the way to a parliamentary form of government.

The resolution to formally start amending the 1987 Constitution was passed in the early hours of Thursday following a marathon overnight session.

House Majority Floor Leader Prospero Nograles said the lower house will be sending invitations to all members of Congress to sit as a joint assembly from Tuesday next week to amend the 19-year-old Constitution.

The proposed constitutional shift met fierce opposition in the Senate, since their chamber would be abolished in the move from a U.S.-style bicameral Congress to a unicameral one.

However, on Wednesday the House of Representatives deleted a rule that any proposal to amend or revise the Constitution should have a concurrence of the opposition-led Senate, eliminating a major obstacle for administration lawmakers.

"In their shameless bid to perpetuate themselves in power, the House leadership is pushing the entire nation on the brink of a constitutional crisis and political turmoil," Sen. Pia Cayetano said.

Cayetano said senators will challenge the resolution at the Supreme Court.

Critics accuse President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies of using constitution change, dubbed "Charter Change," to extend their terms in office and get rid of the Senate, which has blocked many of Arroyo's policies.

Arroyo, who has survived two impeachment attempts and at least one attempted coup, is due to finish her current term in 2010.

Under the plan, the president and a newly created prime minister would share power from 2007-2010, with the latter becoming head of a British-style parliament.

Advocates of the parliamentary system said the presidential system is inherently unstable while lawmakers can vote out a sitting government in a parliament, a relief for a country that has seen two "people power" uprisings in less than two decades and at least a dozen coup attempts.

The Case of Nicole

nnarayouth — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:08:01 CST

Pumili ng video sa kaliwang bahagi (navigation) ng site)

Batang Pilipino (Pinikpikan Band)

nnarayouth — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:12:35 CST

Batang Pilipino

Pinikpikan Band

‘Extra-judicial Killing, Not Robbery,’ Says Solon on Bishop's Slay

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:50:37 CST

By Abner Bolos
Gitnang Luzon News Service
Bulatlat
Posted 6:20 p.m., Oct. 5, 2006

TARLAC CITY- Bayan Muna party representative Satur Ocampo said on Wednesday that the killing of Bishop Alberto Ramento is part of the long string of extra-judicial executions sanctioned by Malacanang and not a simple robbery case as claimed by the police.

“We are not satisfied with the police investigations. We will look deeper into the circumstances of the death of Bishop Ramento. We have reason to believe that because the bishop is a consistent critic of [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] he may have suffered the fate of many others who became victims of extra-judicial executions,” Ocampo said.

Partylist representatives Satur Ocampo and Rafael Mariano at Bp. Alberto Ramento's wake in Tarlac, Oct. 4 GLNS PHOTO

Ocampo, along with Anak Pawis representative Rafael Mariano, Gabriela party representative Liza Maza and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chairperson Carol Araullo visited the wake of the slain Aglipayan prelate in Tarlac City last October 4.

Ramento, 70, died of multiple stab wounds at dawn of October 3 at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente church in Tarlac City in what police described as a robbery and homicide case.

Ramento suffered three stab wounds on the chest and another three stab wounds at the back, along with lacerations on his arms, according to an autopsy report issued by Dr. Saturnino Ferrer.

Ocampo said Ramento led in denouncing the long spate of extra-judicial killing of leaders and members of progressive organizations allegedly perpetrated by agents of the military and the police.

He said the slain bishop also opposed the government’s plan to amend the constitution and was among the key leaders who have asked Mrs. Arroyo to step down from Malacanang.

“The pattern speaks for itself. Bishop Ramento is one of the hundreds of critics of the administration who have died because of their convictions and their opposition to the policies [of Mrs. Arroyo],” Ocampo said.

Meanwhile, Karapatan-Central Luzon pointed to the so-called “death squads” as responsible to the killing.

“We fear that the death squads of the [Arroyo government], like chameleons, have changed their mode of attack after they have been vilified and denounced in public and are now masquerading as robbers and common criminals,” Sr. Sister Ruiz, Karapatan-CL coordinator said.

“We fear that Malacanang’s Cabinet oversight committee on internal security composed of Norberto Gonzales, Raul Gonzales, Eduardo Ermita along with others, is hell-bent on continuing the policy of extra-judicial executions to eliminate civilians and leaders of the people they brand as “enemies of state,” Ruiz said.

Bishop Ramento was appointed by both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front as a member of the Third Party repository in the peace talks.

He was the Obispo Maxima IX [Supreme Bishop] or the highest ranking IFI clergy in the country from 1993 to 1999. He was also a former chairman of the National Council Churches of the Philippines.

At the time of his death he was the chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops, co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishop’s Forum and the diocesan bishop of Tarlac. GLNS/Posted by Bulatlat

■ PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■

© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.

Witnesses to Fertilizer Scam: Killed, Hunted

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:50:10 CST

Witnesses to Fertilizer Scam: Killed, Hunted

For testifying against a fund that never reached them, witnesses to the P728-million fertilizer scam reportedly engineered by former Agriculture Undersecretary and now U.S. immigration detainee Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, are now being chased by suspicious burly men believed to be military and police agents. One of them, a 61-year old woman, has been silenced to death.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

Farmer witnesses to the P728-million fertilizer scam that had allegedly been used to fund the presidential campaign of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the May 2004 elections are being hunted down by men believed to be military and police forces.

One of them, Ofelia Rodriguez, was killed early this year. Two others, Paul Simbulan and Danilo Ramos, secretary general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Movement of Peasants in the Philippines), claim to have been tailed over the past few months.

Presented as evidence in two impeachment complaints against President Macapagal-Arroyo filed in 2005 and this year, the fertilizer scam has led to the detention by U.S. immigration authorities of former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante. Bolante is being sought by the Philippine Senate which is investigating the scam.

The free fertilizer was purportedly released to farmers February 2004 or three months before the presidential race.

Rodriguez, a 61-year farmer from Barangay Divisoria, Mexico town, Pampanga was shot in the head by a lone gunman who entered her family home just after dinner on Jan. 16. The old woman died on the spot in front of her grandchildren and her 95-year old ailing mother, a report from the human rights watchdog Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) said.

“Marked” after TV appearance
A source, who asked anonymity for security reasons, told Bulatlat that Rodriguez’s family already knew the military had “marked” their Nanay Perla after she appeared on ABS-CBN’s TV public affairs show The Probe Team. The show’s first telecast on Aug. 25, 2005 featured farmers who testified that they did not receive fertilizer from the supposed fertilizer fund released by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Joseph Canlas, chair of the Central Luzon regional peasant alliance Alyansa ng mga Magbbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL or Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon), KMPs regional chpater in Central Luzon, said in a previous interview that Rodriguez had spearheaded the campaign against the fertilizer scam in her village. She was the most vocal in demanding that Bolante be made responsible for the scam, Canlas said.

Karapatan says it has written testimonies by Rodriguez about alleged military harassment before she was killed. The testimonies revealed she had been invited to go to the Army detachment in their village for “questioning” on Oct. 25 last year. During interrogation, 2Lt. John Paul Nicolas of the 69th Infantry Battalion (IB) stationed in Barangay Divisoria, pressured Rodriguez to admit she was a top-ranking leader of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Karapatan also recorded that an unidentified neighbor had approached Rodriguez to warn her that the said neighbor had been ordered by Nicolas to kill her. The neighbor refused the order, the rights group said. The murder of Rodriguez remains unsolved.

Simbulan

Another fertilizer scam witness, Paul Simbulan, said he had been tailed by men believed to be military elements after he was interviewed by broadcast journalist Maki Pulido on GMA-7’s public affairs program “Imbestigador.”

“When I was interviewed by Channel 7, I had no malicious intent I was only telling the truth), he said in an exclusive interview with Bulatlat this week. “Telling the truth only brought harm to me, he said.

In the TV interview, Simbulan said he did not receive any fertilizer supposed to have been distributed to farmers for free and was taken from the controversial P728 million fertilizer fund.

A week after his TV appearance, Simbulan said, unidentified motorcycle-riding men began frequenting his house in Porac, Pampanga. Although the situation sent shivers to him and his family, Simbulan said he stayed at home and tended his farm, “so my family could eat.

He said he even joined a campaign against a demolition plan by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP) that destroyed their farms.

Simbulan felt the situation was becoming untenable when the unidentified men believed to be military agents stayed in front of their house from midnight till early morning. Sometimes, he said, the men would ask neighbors if he was around.

Sensing danger and knowledgeable about the experiences of victims of extra-judicial killings in Central Luzon, Simbulan decided to leave his home, his farm and his family sometime in July. He left for an undisclosed place and has not gone home since. He said his family had also gone into hiding.

While life for Simbulan and his family was that of the farmers’ common hand-to-mouth existence, it had never occurred to him that he would become a marked man now that he is a year away from retirement.

A farmer since the age of 16, Paul Simbulan lived a simple life in the municipality of Porac (92 kms north of Manila). At that tender age he had worked in his family’s two-hectare rice farm in the province until their quiet life was disrupted by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo volcano in 1991. The eruption buried parts of Porac including Simbulan’s home and farm.

Two years later, Simbulan joined some 200 farmers who cleared parts of Clark Airbase which was carpeted with lahar or mudflows unleashed by Mt. Pinatubo. (The airbase, the largest U.S. air facility in the Far East, had been abandoned by the U.S. in 1992 following the Philippine Senate’s rejection of a bases renewal treaty.) The farmers, including Simbulan, were acknowledged as tenants of a 1,000-ha farm there.

Senate witness

Ramos, as the principal witness of the Senate inquiry on the fertilizer scam, has also been a primary target of political persecution. In an interview, he said police and military elements have been hounding him since March.

“They’ve killed Nanay Perla, now they also want me silenced", the KMP leader said.

Ramos said he has not returned home since Feb. 26, a day after Macapagal-Arroyo declared Presidential Proclamation 1017 placing the nation in a state of emergency.

Even while away from home, family and neighbors said several unidentified men have been looking for him in their village in Malolos, the city capital of the province of Bulacan (44 kms north of Manila).

One of the men who have been hunting him down is a policeman whom former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Arturo Lomibao acknowledged as an agent of the Central Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Ramos said KMP, which has the biggest number of farmer-members with 65 provincial chapters in 15 regions nationwide, has demanded for Bolante’s immediate repatriation to the Philippines. “He should face the investigation and account for the fund scam".

Bolante is charged as the “architect” and “brains” behind the scam in Senate Resolution No. 327, filed by the Committee on Agriculture and Food and the Blue Ribbon Committee on March 1, 2006.

The Senate report read: “It was he (Bolante) who worked with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) for the immediate release of the fund. It was him who prepared and submitted names who would become the fertilizer fund’s proponents. It was Undersecretary Bolante who sent letters to various congressmen and local officials informing them of the availability of funds under the DA’s GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Project. It was him who directed these officials to coordinate with his office to discuss all the requirements to facilitate the said project fund.”

Ramos told the Senate committee inquiry that the fertilizer funds were most probably used for the presidential campaign of Macapagal-Arroyo as it was released just three months before the elections. The release of the fund may have been “a perfect time” for the elections, he said, but it was definitely “untimely” for the farmers. February is a harvest month and there is no need for fertilizers until November when planting begins.

Ramos arrived last week from Geneva where he, along with Karapatan and a few others, filed human rights complaints against Macapagal-Arroyo and Maj. Gen. (ret.) Jovito Palparan with the United Nations Human Rights Council. Bulatlat

====================

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 35, Oct. 8-14, 2006

What kind of truth?

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:49:43 CST

By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer
Last updated 00:16am (Mla time) 08/31/2006

Published on Page A12 of the August 31, 2006
issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THAT was an awesome thing the University of the
Philippines (UP) students did last Monday in
answer to Raul Gonzalez's remarks about what UP
had become. It was the perfect response to it. No,
more than that, it was the most poetic response to
it.

Last weekend, Gonzalez derided UP for having
become the breeding ground of destabilizers and
the lacking-in-breeding ground of exhibitionists.
Well, he didn't say the latter, he doesn't have the
imagination for it, what he said was that it was a
place where naked people ran around. He said UP
students should really be thankful their government
was spending to educate them.

The kids responded by having 15 of their fellows
run around the campus in their pristine state in a
special edition of the Oblation Run, traditionally
done around Christmas. Who says you can't have
Christmas in August? The Run wasn't just meant
to regale the audience, many of whom were
women, with the truth about the body electric, it
meant to expose to them the truth about the body
politic.

At the very least, the kids did bring out some
naked truths the justice secretary can no longer
see. Chief of them is whom they owed for their
education. As University Student Council chair
Juan Paolo Alfonso pointed out, it was the people
who were paying for their education, not
government. Taxpayers' money is money that
belongs to the people, not to Raul Gonzalez or his
boss, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Tyrants, petty or
otherwise, do have a way of forgetting that pristine
truth. Tyrants, petty or otherwise, have a way of
thinking that money entrusted to them by the
people to be used for the people is theirs to
dispense with as they like, or keep for themselves.

At the very most, the kids did bring out some
naked truths their so-called elders-and-betters --
no, pretty nearly the rest of their countrymen -- can
no longer see. Chief of them is that we have been
plunged back right into martial law and are
compelled to fight with the same weapons the
previous generation used to fight martial law. The
Oblation Run arose in much the same
circumstances as today, the kids protesting epic
fakeness. It began one fine day in 1977 when five
students ran naked in the campus to promote the
play, "Hubad na Bayani" ("Naked Hero"), satirizing
Ferdinand Marcos. "Hubad na Bayani," of course,
sounds like "Huwad na Bayani" ("Fake Hero"),
which was what Marcos was. We had a fake hero
then, we have a fake president now, both without a
mandate to rule. The kids stripped the fakeness
from Marcos' medals then, the kids are stripping
the fakeness from Arroyo's votes now.

If I recall right, UP went on to become a beacon of
light in a time of darkness during martial law. The
student paper UP Collegian in particular rushed in
where the national newspapers feared to tread, and
the UP Law Center went boldly on where others
had not gone before. If the UP people can resurrect
that role in these new times of darkness and
despair, may all my prayers to the God of (Poetic)
Justice go with them.

Nakedness is the perfect metaphor, or to borrow a
phrase from T.S. Eliot, the perfect "objective
correlative," to draw attention to our condition
today. Democracy is transparent, tyranny is
opaque. Democracy is plain to see, tyranny hides
behind subterfuges. Democracy is naked, tyranny
wraps itself up in folds of deception.

Democracy is beautiful in all its nakedness,
tyranny is ugly in all its cover-ups.

The guardians of Filipino morals, who bristle at the
sight of nakedness in movies and elsewhere,
including real life, will of course rail against this as
an affront to Good Manners and Right Conduct.
They are probably the same people who railed
against Theresa Pangilinan for heckling her
school's guest of honor, who happened to be
Arroyo, during their graduation. Well, I've said my
piece about Pangilinan. She at least was a
genuine graduate, the speaker was a fake
president. She at least had earned her degree by
hard work, the speaker had won her title by Garci.

The Oblation Run may very well be the shock
treatment this country needs to strip it of the
indifference and cynicism that now cover its heart
like calluses and its soul like barnacles. At the
very least, it shows up a justice secretary who
finds shocking the sight of kids displaying their
formidable assets to a giggling world, but finds
perfectly just and
respectable the sight, or sound, of a candidate
plotting with "a Comelec official" to kidnap a poll
watcher who is protesting fraud. It shows up a
justice secretary who finds outrageous the sight of
kids parading before the world the things they
ought to be covering up, but finds perfectly lawful
and godly the sight of Virgilio Garcillano, Joc-joc
Bolante, and all the other officials the Senate has
been trying to summon in vain, covering up the
things they ought to be parading before the world.

But never mind the justice secretary. He doesn't
need help from outside to show himself up, he
does a good job of it himself every time he opens
his mouth. Mind only ourselves or what we have
become, a people who have lost the capacity to
weep and gnash our teeth at the sight of so much
death and dying. What is truly indecent, the sight
of naked bodies traipsing gleefully in the groves of
academe or the sight of bodies caked in blood and
being eaten by the worms in the paddies of Nueva
Ecija and Bulacan provinces, courtesy of one
Jovito Palparan? What is truly reprehensible, the
spectacle of kids shedding off clothes in protest of
iniquity to the laughter and titillation of the world, or
the spectacle of a usurper's mindless minions
shedding blood in protest of sheer life to build a
garrison state from a mountain of bleached bone?

Democracy is resplendently robed in all its

nakedness. Tyranny is obscenely naked in all its

finery.

Victims Urge Gov't Monitoring Committee: Implement CARHRIHL, Investigate Cases

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:49:17 CST

Posted 2:30 p.m., Sept. 18, 2006
BY DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat

Families of victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration are urging the government's monitoring committee on the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human
Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIHL) to do its work and investigate the increasing cases of political killings and disappearances.

In a forum at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City this morning, Evangeline Hernandez, spokesperson of the group HUSTISYA lamented that the joint monitoring committee on the implementation of CARHRIHL has not investigated any of the 967 complaints of human rights violations filed with its secretariat, including the case of Hernandez's daughter Benjaline, who was slain by the military in Davao
in 2002.

The CARHRIHL was signed in 1998, one of the fruits of the peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front. Part of the agreement's implementation was the operationalization of
the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), which is composed of representatives of the monitoring committees of the government and NDF.

As of today, there were 850 complaints filed against the government, while 117 cases have been filed againt the NDF.

Erlinda Cadapan, mother of missing student Sherlyn Cadapan, also called on the JMC to prioritize the cases of the disappeared who might be undergoing torture.

The two women expressed frustration with how the courts are proceeding on the cases of their daughters. Hernandez said the court has already freed the soldiers and paramalitia man who were accused in the killing
of Benjaline, while Cadapan said she fears the habeas corpus petition at Court of Appeals for her missing daughter will be for naught.

In a statement read at the forum, Fidel Agcaoili, NDF representative in the joint monitoring committee, said the NDF "stands firm by its commitment" to the CARHHRIHL, and blamed the Arroyo administration for
the non-working JMC.

Agcaoili said the JMC has had only one meeting since its operationalization in 2004, and the government section of the JMC refused to convene after the unilateral suspension of the peace talks by the Arroyo administration.

"JMC takes its mandate from the CARHRIHL, and is not dependent on the formal talks. There is no reason why the JMC could not do its work and investigate cases," said Agacaoili.

Agcaoili said the government has not responded to the proposal by the NDF section to form an ad hoc joint investigating committee of the NDF and the government to investigate the disappearances since May this
year. He added that the NDF also agreed to investigate with the government the supposed killings of 10 activists which the Armed Forces of the Philippines had blamed on the New People's Army (NPA).

Addressing the victims's families in his statement, Agcaoili said the NDF is committed in its quest for justice and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law "whether jointly within the frame of the JMC, or separately within the frame of the revolutionary principles." Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria, chair of the government's section of the JMC was invited but failed to make it to the forum.

In another statement, Agacaoili accused National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales of "jumping the gun" on the proposed mission by a Europe-based international body to investigate the political killings
and abductions in the country.

Gonzales last week said the international mission should look into the supposed mass graves of NPA victims which the AFP claimed to have discovered. "It is the same tactic that Gonzales and hissuperiors
in the reactionary government are using to make the Melo commission concentrate on investigating alleged NPA atrocities in a bid to pin the blame on the NPA and wash the bloody hands of government and its
armed forces of the assasinations and abductions of activists." Bulatlat BACK TO TOP ■ PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■ COMMENT

© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.

TRIBUTE TO BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:48:58 CST

TRIBUTE TO BISHOP ALBERTO RAMENTO

THE BISHOP OF THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee

International League of Peoples' Struggle

6 October 2006

On behalf of the participating organizations of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) in scores of countries, I hereby express deepest condolences to the family of Most Reverend Bishop Alberto Ramento, to all the clergy and members of the Philippine Independent Church and to all his colleagues in the people's movement for national freedom, democracy, social justice and a just and lasting peace.

All of us are in grief and feel a deep sense of loss over the murder of Bishop Ramento. But we are all comforted by the fact that he has lived a full and meaningful life in the service of his faith and the oppressed and exploited people. His contributions to the people's struggle for a better life constitute a vital legacy and will continue to shine. His martyrdom inspires us to struggle ever harder for the people's rights.

May I mention that I had the good fortune of knowing Bishop Ramento personally. We worked together with others in 1994 to persuade the president of the reactionary government to release from prison a revolutionary cadre, whose arrest by the military was prejudicing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. Since then, we had fruitful relations in pushing forward said negotiations, especially after his visit to the NDFP Negotiating Panel.

We of the ILPS condemn in the most vigorous terms the brutal murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento last October 3, 2006 in his parish in San Sebastian , Tarlac City , Philippines . We are informed by his immediate relatives and colleagues in his church and in the people's movement that before his murder he was categorized as an "enemy of the state" and listed in the "order of battle" of the military and that he received death threats by text messages for opposing the charter change campaign of the Arroyo regime, condemning the extrajudicial killings and supporting the workers and peasants in Hacienda Luisita.

But Bishop Ramento could never be cowed. He was firm with his principles and was an experienced fighter for justice. Since the time of the struggle against the Marcos fascist dictatorship, many people have come to know him as a staunch and fearless fighter for the people's rights. He was always conscious of adhering to and promoting the revolutionary heritage and the continuing patriotic and progressive character of the Philippine Independent Church.

The ILPS is well informed that the Philippine Independent Church was a product of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonialism and then against US imperialism. It is the largest church alternative to the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines . It has millions of church members. At the same time, it respects the principle of the separation of the church and the state. It has concordat relations with the Anglican provinces and the old Catholic Church abroad.

Bishop Ramento was ever conscious of bringing to the defense of the Filipino people the strength and influence of his church in the Philippines and abroad. But he was always personally a humble and hardworking priest even as he rose to the highest positions in his church and in the ecumenical movement. He served as the Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), chairperson of the National Council of Churches and co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum.

He upheld the revolutionary legacy of his church by word and by deed. He stood and fought for the rights of the poor, the exploited and the oppressed. He was on the side of the workers and peasants of the vast plantation Hacienda Luisita when they launched a strike for the implementation of land reform, higher wages and the return to work of dismissed union officials. Together with the workers and peasants, he faced the attacks of the military against the striking workers. Loved and respected by the masses, his clergy and the faithful he served, he was honored as the "bishop of the poor workers and peasants."

Bishop Ramento was an outspoken critic of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, questioning the legitimacyof her rule and asking her to step down. He also denounced the US-backed Arroyo regime and her repressive instruments, the Armed Forces of the Philippines , the Philippine National Police and the paramilitary. He condemned the rampant acts of state terrorism. In the strongest terms, he denounced the Arroyo regime for its culpability for the extra-judicial killings, abductions, torture and other human right violations.

Bishop Ramento was a strong advocate of just peace. He was indefatigable in pointing out that the civil war in the Philippines can be resolved through peace negotiations only by addressing the fundamental problems of the people through economic, social and political reforms guided by the principles of national independence, democracy and social justice. He was outstanding in spearheading associations and actions for a just and lasting peace.

Bishop Ramento's parish in Tarlac is a parish of the poor and his church is simple with no treasures of holy icons or golden tapestry. That is why no one believes the precipitate claim of the police that robbery was the cause of his murder. His wealth is his pro-people principles as manifested in all his efforts to uphold, defend and promote the rights and interests of the people, especially the toiling masses.

In the last pastoral letter that he signed as Chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops, he called on the people to "find courage and confront the darkness that is engulfing the very soul of the nation and continue to tread the path towards the establishment of a just society under a government that genuinely serves the interest and welfare of the Filipinos."

His moral leadership and his active participation in the people's struggle have earned the ire of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime. Arroyo, her cabinet oversight committee on internal security and her minions in the military, police and its paramilitary and death squads are all responsible for the dastardly murder of Bishop Ramento. It is within the framework of the Bush-directed war of terror and Arroyo's Oplan Bantay Laya that our beloved Bishop Ramento has been taken away from us, like the hundreds of other victims of extra-judicial killings.

The extra-judicial killings by the Arroyo regime's cabal of assassins have failed and will fail again to intimidate and stop the Filipino people from fighting this puppet, corrupt, brutal, illegitimate and immoral regime. The murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento brings to a new and higher level the outrage of the people. His martyrdom arouses us to heighten our fighting will and capabilities in order to get rid of the Arroyo regime as soon as possible. It also inspires us for a long time to come to fight for national liberation, democracy, social justice and peace.

The US Military Commission Act (Torture Law)

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:48:35 CST

This article is adapted from the official website of the
US Revolutionary Communist Party

Revolution #64, October 8, 2006

As we go to press the “Military Commissions Act of 2006” (MCA) has been been passed by both houses of Congress—and rushed to the White House for Bush to sign into law.

The MCA legitimizes and legalizes the global CIA program of torture. It bans certain forms of torture, while leaving other techniques unmentioned and legal. Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin points out, ‘‘The MCA continues to recognize that certain conduct is illegal, but attempts to eliminate all judicial remedies for such violations.”
The MCA rewrites the 1996 War Crimes Act to create a loophole for the torture they have been carrying out. Previously the War Crimes Act made it a felony to commit ‘‘violations” of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 (a major international agreement forbidding cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners). After the MCA changes, the War Crimes Act will only forbid ‘‘grave breaches’’ of Common Article 3. And this change is effective retroactively back to 1997. This in effect will allow the Bush administration to violate the Geneva Conventions while asserting its torture methods (like half-drowning prisoners, ‘‘stress positions,’’ and grotesque degradation) are not ‘‘grave breaches.’’ This will protect its CIA torturers from prosecution for war crimes.
The MCA authorizes a new system of military courts for U.S. captives which the President has labeled “alien unlawful enemy combatants.” After holding and torturing these prisoners, the government can drag them in front of a military commission for a so-called ‘‘trial’’ to be sentenced to execution or more imprisonment.

Video captures torture of Abu Ghraib inmates
In the military commissions, U.S. military officers serve as both judge and jury. Defendants will only be allowed to have lawyers who have government security clearances.
In the military commission trials, defendants have no right to see all the evidence against them. Statements forced out of defendants or other prisoners by torture can be entered as evidence (if the torture took place before Dec. 30, 2005). Trials can be carried out without the defendants present.
The MCA authorizes the use of evidence seized without legal warrants both outside the U.S. and within the U.S.
The MCA forbids prisoners to invoke the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights during military commission trials.
The MCA rewrites current federal habeas corpus law to forbid federal courts from considering a writ of habeas corpus (a petition for release from unlawful detention) by an “alien” detained as an “enemy combatant.”
The MCA redefines “unlawful enemy combatant” so that it can be applied to U.S. citizens and to people who have never engaged in combat against the U.S.
The MCA definition of unlawful enemy combatant is someone who ‘‘has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant (including a person who is part of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces)…” Senator Lindsey Graham said: ‘‘We’re making sure that an enemy combatant could be defined as something other than a front-line troop.”
The definition of ‘‘unlawful enemy combatant’’ in the MCA is not limited to jihadist forces like Al Qaeda. The MCA can quickly become the legal basis for government roundups of other forces the government chooses to target.
Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman writes that the MCA, “which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.” (L.A. Times, Sept. 28, 2006)
The Center for Constitutional Rights says the MCA could allow the U.S. government to detain the attorneys of prisoners in Guantanamo as “enemy combatants.”
Under the MCA, legal immigrants in the U.S. labeled ‘‘alien unlawful enemy combatants” can be imprisoned, tortured, denied all legal rights, and sentenced by a military commission. U.S. citizens labelled ‘‘unlawful enemy combatants’’ can be imprisoned and tortured—but the MCA does not make citizens subject to military commissions. The creation of different legal standards for citizens and non-citizens living in the U.S. reverses the long-standing principle that everyone living in the U.S. is governed by the same courts, laws and rights.
Under the MCA, people can be labeled ‘‘unlawful combatants’’ for supporting hostilities against brutal regimes considered ‘‘co-belligerents”—i.e., U.S. allies in the so-called ‘‘war against terror.’’ Could someone who protested against or exposed the government of Israel, Turkey, or Saudi Arabia disappear into a CIA torture camp? Under the MCA, the definition of “purposefully and materially supported hostilities” is up to Bush to define.

Service rather than power

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:48:13 CST

By Juan Mercado Inquirer

Last updated 00:57am (Mla time) 09/19/2006

Published on Page A12 of the September 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

DUMAGUETE CITY -- In this placid university town by the sea, you strain to recall the night, 34 years ago this week, when Ferdinand Marcos appeared on grainy black-and-white TV screens to justify Proclamation 1081 that clamped on martial law.

Freedoms must be shackled to save the nation, the man said. He jailed opposition leaders and padlocked the press “to defend democracy.” And he handcuffed the country, for 14 years, to a bleak dictatorship.

Journalists in Cagayan de Oro and Dumaguete mark Press Freedom Week on the date of this tragic crossroads. Cebu’s rites include seminars on Cyberspace media’s impact on governance, the Asean summit coverage, a documentary on newsmen’s murders and a book on local journalism’s history.

“Come, let us remember so our grandchildren won’t go through the same wringer,” said Negros Chronicle editor Ely Dejaresco. Below is a note I presented before Dumaguete colleagues:

Was it George Santayana who wrote that “remembering the past gives power to the present”? Recalling past tragedy can empower us today to grapple with tomorrow.

Proclamation 1081 made us realize how brittle constitutional guarantees can sometimes be. In gagged newsrooms, Justice Learned Hand’s words re-reechoed: “The spirit of liberty lies in the hearts of men. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no decree, can save it.”

Through window slats of detention camps, we glimpsed how the loudest defenders of pre-1081 press freedom morphed into the most repressive of censors. They resumed the libertarian’s mantle, when the dictator fled. They did that with ease, given people’s short memories.

Women journalists proved tougher than many thought. “To a man,” a group stood up to martial law press overlords. Among these were Magsaysay Awardees Eugenia Duran Apostol and Sheila Coronel, Lourdes Fernandez, June Keithley of Edsa I’s “Radyo Bandido,” Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, Ma. Ceres Doyo and Lorna Kalaw Tirol, now of Inquirer, Melinda de Jesus, Arlene Babst.

Their grit dulled the sting of David Rosenberg’s comment in “Liberty Versus Loyalty”: “Whenever freedom of the press has been permitted, Filipinos defended it with passion. Whenever it has been prohibited, they complied with government regulations with obsequiousness.”

Unshackled by People Power I, the press stripped away the cover-up on massive corruption, desaparecidos and torture victims. We sensed the extortionate penalty exacted from a nation, when propagandists masqueraded as journalists.

In ratifying the 1987 Constitution, the Filipino people re-entrusted press freedom to us. But their gift has strings attached. It is not a constitutional blank check for those who flash a press card. Journalists may not crassly dispense unbridled commentary based on superficial reporting.

We are, first and foremost, trustees of this gift. As stewards, we’re tasked to use this freedom for the service of what is just. Media must do this in a country where an avaricious oligarchy rules while “the poor are sold for a pair of sandals.” The poor have the single most urgent claim on this nation’s resources.

Press Freedom Week will rise beyond ritual if today’s temporary stewards of Edsa’s gift work by “values that endure even after the sun goes out”: fairness, accuracy, balance, respect for privacy, avoidance of conflict of interest -- and old-fashioned integrity.

“These values anchor the social contract between the credible journalist and the public he or she serves,” says the 2006 Press Freedom Week pooled editorial of Cebu newspapers. “Journalism should consider itself a service, rather than a power.”

Some journalists do this task brilliantly. A growing number probe what the European Union’s founding father, Jean Monet, called “deep running currents” -- developments underfoot that recast lives and communities.

And self-regulation mechanisms, including press councils, are taking root in some capitals. They tackle issues of accuracy, fairness and the right of reply.

But far too many of us muddle along. “Pack reporting” prevails in major beats. In the Department of Justice, a “ponente” scribbles a bland common report for other reporters, says the Philippine Journalism Review. But fat cats do not ask tough questions. Who challenges the official lines?

“Pack reporting is insidiously convenient...with its comforting blanket of conformity,” an International Press Institute paper notes. A government-smothered press betrays readers. “Truth telling is the loneliest of businesses.”

Other newsmen bog down in the superficial. This makes us vulnerable to “special pleaders,” politicians, spinmeisters or radical-left commissars. They’d chisel our pages and programs into their graven images.

And there are the corrupt. Broadcast has yet to decisively resolve the issue of “block timers.” Some broadcasters turn into “electronic gunslingers” offering services to the highest bidder, especially during elections. Print grapples with blurry conflict-of-interest issues.

Press freedom compels us to throw light on “what would otherwise be the dark recesses of people behaving at their worst.” And journalism becomes a barricade that triggers opposition, confusion, sometimes assassins. Since 1986, more than 54 journalists have been murdered. Their killers and masterminds have not been convicted.

In these raw confrontations with reality, the outstanding, the mediocre and the sloppy among us become “prisoners of a necessary cause,” in the words of the Guardian’s Peter Preston. “But we all have to be on the side of (freedom) because there is no other side to be on.”

October 20, 2006 Malawakang Mobilisasyon

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:47:50 CST

On Political Killings

nnarayouth — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:45:51 CST

Primer on the killings of activists
Prepared by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

Since 2005, there has been a drastic leap in the number of activists killed under the Arroyo regime. Many questions have been raised on the nature, pattern, reasons and perpetrators of the killings. We are releasing this short primer based on frequently asked questions regarding the issue of political or extra-judicial killings.

Is there a national trend or pattern in the killing of activists under the Arroyo regime?
Yes. It is now beyond question that there is indeed a trend in the killing of activists. There have been 607 victims of extrajudicial killings documented by Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights from January 2001 to May 30, 2006.

From January to May of this year alone, 75 have already been killed. There are also 25 victims of enforced disappearance.

Extrajudicial killings are politically-motivated killings perpetrated by state agents without the sanction of any law or court. This will include summary executions, assassinations, deaths due to strafing or indiscriminate firing and massacre. Summary execution is used when the victim is held passive before being killed (i.e. abducted then found dead). Assassination is used when the victim is killed at once. Massacre is the term used when there are three or more dead.

The killings do not happen in one area or region alone. A total of 136 victims of extrajudicial killings in Southern Tagalog region have been documented by human rights groups from 2001 to May 19, 2006.

From 2005 to May of this year alone, Karapatan-Central Luzon documented 98 victims of extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances. Twenty-three have been killed this year.

In the Bicol region, there were 71 victims of extrajudicial killings from January 2001 to December 2005. For the first five months of this year, five activist leaders have been killed. Sotero Llamas, former high-ranking leader of the New People�??s Army (NPA) was also assassinated on May 29.

From 2002 to May 2006, the Southern Mindanao region has recorded 67 victims. Fifty-three have been killed in the Eastern Visayas region. The highest death toll was registered in 2005 with 36 victims of extrajudicial killings.

These regions, except for the Eastern Visayas, are listed as priority areas in the AFP�??s Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL), an internal security plan of the government. The OBL aims to destroy the Communist Party of the Philippines�?? (CPP) alleged political infrastructure and its alleged legal fronts. Under the said military campaign, the AFP targets the leaders and members of legal organizations.
Who exactly are the victims of extra-judicial killings?
The victims are civilians, unarmed, who had either pursued or supported political causes. Many are ordinary people.

Of the 601 victims of extrajudicial killings, 257 have been identified as activist leaders, members and supporters of cause-oriented groups. They belong to various people�??s organizations and partylist groups who are struggling for genuine freedom and democracy. They are workers, farmers, lawyers, teachers, students, pastors, priests and even human rights advocates.

Human rights workers themselves are victims of extrajudicial killings. There have been 24 human rights advocates killed in the line of duty. One of them is Eden Marcellana, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog secretary general. She was abducted, along with her companions, on their way to a fact-finding mission on April 22, 2002. Her body was found a day after in Naujan, Mindoro Oriental. Signs of torture were apparent.

Another is Benjaline Hernandez, deputy secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region. She was killed on April 5, 2002 in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato due to indiscriminate firing.

Thirteen Church leaders and members have also been assassinated. Among them is Fr. William Tadena, of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Tarlac. He was shot dead on March 13, 2005. Fr. Tadena was a supporter of Hacienda Luisita workers. Another victim was Rev. Edison Lapuz, Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. He was shot inside his home in Brgy. Crossing, San Isidro, Leyte on May 12, 2005.

The rest of the victims have no known political affiliation but have been killed in the course of military operations such as in the cases of indiscriminate firing and massacres. These often occur in communities that are labeled as �??NPA supporters.�?�

Due to massive military operations in the countryside, peasants are the usual victims of extra-judicial killings, torture, forced evacuation and looting. At least 200 peasants have been killed in the course of these operations.

There were at least 60 women killed, based on Karapatan�??s list. Even more alarming is the number of children who had been victims �?? 43, two of whom were unborn. Most of them were killed in massacres like Rey Corpin, 13 in the Kananga Massacre in Leyte. The Golloso siblings, Maylene, 13 and Raymund, 6 of Bgy. Recto, Bulan, Sorsogon were killed due to strafing. Elvin John Abilon, 5, son of an Anakpawis leader in San Marcelino, Zambales, died when armed men fired at their house.

Moreover, there were 59 workers who had been victims of extrajudicial killings. They were killed due to labor-related disputes. Eight of them were workers and supporters of the Hacienda Luisita including Ricardo Ramos, president of Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) and Tirso Cruz. Another is Diosdado Fortuna, president of Nestle-Cabuyao labor union.
Who are the perpetrators?
A study on the means, motives and opportunity behind such killings points to the elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and/or their agents like the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) and death squads.

The AFP, being the biggest armed group in the country, has the means of launching such offensives on a nationwide scale. It has enough resources and manpower to undertake a systematic attack on the progressive movement. Death squads are motorcycle-riding men wearing masks and armed with high caliber pistols or rifles. Karapatan records show that there were 41 killings that involved this kind of operation, and were implemented nationwide.

Pronouncements by the regime�??s Cabinet Oversight Committee for Internal Security (COC-IS) reveal the motives behind the killings. Its members include General Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga, and PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao.

As early as 2004, Norberto Gonzales named the progressive party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Anak ng Bayan, Suara Bangsa Moro and Migrante as communist fronts.

In a Powerpoint presentation Knowing the Enemy released by the AFP in the first quarter of 2005, more legal organizations, including church groups and journalists' groups, were branded as communist fronts. In the book trilogy Trinity of War, the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) further identifies alleged front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA.

The state security forces' motives for undertaking extrajudicial killings is summed up in its widely circulated view that progressive legal organizations and mere "communist fronts" and are thus enemies of the state.

In many incidents, state armed forces and agents also have the opportunity to carry out the "neutralization" of their targets. Neutralization is the euphemism used by the military for physical elimination of killing. Pieces of circumstantial evidence to the killings prove this.

Adelina Golloso, mother of Maylene and Raymund, saw how elements of the 2nd Infantry Battalion and the 902nd Infantry Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army fired at their house on May 7, 2004.

Reaching home from some errands, Adelina shouted at the soldiers to stop. She saw her daughter Maylene, 13 and her son Raymund, 6, lying on the ground, bathed in blood.

She asked for the soldiers'help but the latter just walked away. The next day, military officials claim the incident at Bgy. Recto was a legitimate encounter with the NPA.

Eyewitnesses testified before the court that the twin killing of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy is the handiwork of then Col. Jovito Palparan Jr. Witnesses, who were abducted along with the two, point to the "Bonnet Gang", a paramilitary group linked with the Philippine Army's 204th Infantry Battalion of which Palparan was the commanding officer.

The cases of murder of Eden Marcellana, Eddie Gumanoy, Benjaline Hernandez and Edilberto "Choy" Napoles Jr. have been filed in the local courts. Napoles, Bayan Muna member in Mindoro Oriental was killed by the "Bonnet Gang" on May 28, 2002. There are witnesses and enough evidence that point to the elements of the military as perpetrators but justice has not been served. Their cases have been elevated by Karapatan to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Many received death threats from the military before they got killed.

Bayan Muna member Ricardo Uy, was killed on Nov. 18, 2005 at about 11 a.m. inside his own rice mill in Barangay Basud, Sorsogon City. Two Saturdays before Ding's death, a radio program run by the Philippine Army in dzMS Sorsogon City, "Ugnayan sa Kapayapaan" (linking for peace), maliciously tagged him as an "emerging leader" of the NPA.

Another victim, Marcelino Fabula of Anakpawis-Pagsanjan in Laguna, was interrogated by a certain Lt. Andy Veneracion of Camp Lusiana. On Dec. 4, 2005, Fabula was shot dead by Jacinto Losano, a CAFGU member closely linked with Veneracion.Before his death, Marcelino Beltran's house was frequented by soldiers based in Tarlac. Ka Marcing, an eyewitness to the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, was killed on Dec. 8, 2004, days before he could have testified before the Senate.

Victor "Ka Ben" Concepcion, Anakpawis coordinator for Mexico, Pampanga and chair of provincial peasant organization, experienced the same. Before being killed on March 17, 2005 inside his home in Angeles City, Ka Ben noted increased military surveillance. He reported to his colleagues how suspected agents of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) surrounded his home in Anao, Mexico.

Fact sheets, eyewitness accounts, direct and circumstantial evidence (as strong as the former) point to the elements of the AFP and their death squads as perpetrators.
Who must account for these killings?
Mrs. Arroyo, being the commander in chief, is liable for the extrajudicial killings. It took her almost five years and more than 500 victims before she ordered an investigation through the formation of the Task Force Usig. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it correctly that the State should be responsible in protecting its people. The Arroyo administration is at the very least liable for its failure to protect its people. At the most, the Arroyo administration is liable for the killings through its tacit approval or direct involvement in these crimes.

The PNP task force, which has not even started its job, has already embarked on the propaganda line that these killings are the product of a communist purge. The creation of the task force only means to reinforce the lie being peddled by the COC-IS. Thus, it has become apparent that the government is more interested in spreading intrigues of a purge rather than going after the perpetrators of the killings.

The regime's COC-IS should be made directly accountable for the killings. The cabinet security cluster formulates and implements such repressive measures as the calibrated preemptive response, the Marcosian PP 1017 declaring a state of national emergency, and even the order for the arrests and detention of known progressive leaders such as the Batasan 6. Batasan 6 is composed of six progressive party-list representatives.

With the scale and magnitude of the killings, it is clear that there is a national policy at work which could only emanate from a very high and powerful cabinet cluster.

It is interesting to note that during the term of General Ermita as the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, motorcycle riding assassins were used to destroy then Partido ng Bayan, a progressive political party. Today, many of the killings have been done by the same death squads.

In the 1960s, Ermita was in Vietnam and worked with John Negroponte, the current director of the U.S. National Intelligence. Negroponte was notorious for human rights abuses in Honduras in the 1980s. Records show that Negroponte sanctioned the use of death squads, euphemized as a "special intelligence unit" of Battalion 3-16 of the Honduran armed forces, which kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people.

Negroponte also served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005, the same time Gen. Palparan served as the head of the Philippines' humanitarian mission to Iraq.

Early this year, Negroponte went to the Philippines and met with National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Ermita. One raises the question if the Negroponte visit affirmed U.S. support for the repressive measures employed by the Arroyo administration.
Why are the activists being killed?
The Arroyo regime is waging all-out war against people'smovement. The progressive movement is the most organized and most determined among the many forces fighting the regime. Weakening the progressive movement will also weaken the broad anti-Arroyo united front.

The extrajudicial killings complement other forms of political persecution aimed at the national leaders of progressive party-list groups and people's organizations. The regime thinks that by killing and harassing the activists and their leaders, it could terrorize the Filipino people and prevent any popular uprising.

US imperialism, for its part, considers the progressive movement as a threat to its economic and political interests in the country. It is in the strategic interests of the U.S. to eliminate anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and anti-fascist resistance in the Philippines.
What can we do?
There is a need to step up protests to condemn these killings. All forms of protests must be undertaken to expose the state policy of repression.

Intensify protest actions against political repression. Launch widespread protests and information drives. Whenever there is a reported killing, a quick reaction team (QRT) must be mobilized to hold an indignation protest. A picket rally in front of the Department of National Defense (DND) or of the camp where the alleged AFP unit is based may follow days after the incident.

Hold fora and other forms of educational discussion in schools, offices and communities. Discuss the current state of human rights and the Oplan Bantay Laya.

Write letters to the editor, leaflets. Create stickers, button pins and other visual propaganda and multi-media presentations that will articulate our call for justice and an end to these killings.

Get the support of institutions (i.e. Church, local government unit), organizations, personalities and individuals. Link up with other victims of repression. Encourage them to speak against these killings. Launch joint activities with them whenever possible.

Appeals before international human rights watchdogs is also important to exert pressure on the regime. Write letters to as many international organizations as possible.

More importantly, we must struggle for the immediate removal of the fascist US-Arroyo regime. It is her desperation to stay in power that incites this slaughter of political dissenters.

Stop the killings!
Justice for all the victims of state repression!
Uphold human rights!
End the fascist US-Arroyo regime!

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