July 4, 2012
Duplicity of Oplan Bayanihan: Bondoc Peninsula under siege

The Aquino government boasted that its new counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan is totally different from the infamous Oplan Bantay Laya of the previous administration. However, the mounting cries for justice of the people of Bondoc Peninsula in southern Luzon shows that it is different only in name, but the same in essence.

Counterinsurgency rears ugly head in South Quezon

LOPEZ, Quezon – Since last year, Bernardo (not his real name), 52, a resident of San Francisco-B village in Lopez, has been visited by soldiers three times in his house. He was also asked to go to the detachment of the Army’s 76th Infantry Battalion in Silang village four times.

A former leader of Anakpawis, Bernardo said soldiers were telling him to admit he is a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). “I told them I am not. That’s the truth,” Bernardo said in Filipino in an interview with Bulatlat.com. (Click here to read the entire article)

Humanitarian mission triumphs over attempts of military to sabotage activities

LOPEZ, Quezon – Determined to bring food, medicines and other relief goods to the impoverished and highly militarized communities in South Quezon, the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement overcame one hurdle after another.

The more than 300 delegation of the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement’s mercy mission and peace caravan went to San Andres and Lopez towns in Quezon province, south of Manila from June 25 until July 1. (Click here to read the entire article)

Children traumatized by military presence

LOPEZ, Quezon – From February to April this year, soldiers of the 85th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) transformed the San Francisco Culong Elementary School into their sleeping quarters. Sometimes, the soldiers, holding their high-powered rifles, would enter the classrooms.

In the villages visited by the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement, a network of Church-based groups, human rights advocates and people’s organizations, military presence has become an ordinary occurrence. (Click here to read the entire article)

A meaningful homecoming

LOPEZ, Quezon — On June 26, at 11 am, more than 300 activists from different areas in Luzon came to the town of General Luna, Quezon province, many of them, for the first time. It was also the first time for many to visit the tomb of Eden Marcellana, Karapatan-Southern Tagalog regional secretary general.

It was the first stop on the second day of the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement mercy mission, which is campaigning against the intensified military operations in the two southern district of Quezon province. Eight battalions of state security forces were reportedly deployed in the area, the highest military concentration in the area surpassing even the martial law period. (Click here to read the entire article)