Four Agusanon Lumad, including two minors, were on their way to the local Comelec to register as first-time voters for the upcoming Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) and barangay elections when they were arrested, tortured and detained by members of paramilitary group Bagani forces.
Category: Human Rights
Kin, rights advocates hail junking of bail plea of Palparan’s co-accused
“The prosecution thus far had shown that evidence of guilt against the accused for said crimes is strong.” — Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 14
Rights group decries irregularities in jail transfer of NDF consultant
The CHRA deemed that the transfer “is a ploy to disrupt the hearings of Bangibang’s cases and to lengthen his unjust detention.”
‘I should have remembered what my father wore on the day of his disappearance’
So meeting Samuel felt like meeting a brother whom I shared a similar childhood, having activist parents; and a shared pain of losing them. But more than that, it felt like meeting a comrade from the different side of the world, which I shared the same struggle with –the struggle for justice.
European advocates urge EU to withdraw 10 M euro grant to Aquino government
The resolution passed by the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines cited the “failed justice program” of the Aquino government in calling for the aid’s withdrawal.
44th month of Ampatuan massacre commemorated
Mrs. Salaysay, widow of slain journalist Napoleon Salaysay, expressed hope that the Filipino people would not forget the Ampatuan massacre.
Widows of Ampatuan massacre victims disappointed in Aquino’s speech
“I am sad but also happy to know that many people continue to support our fight for justice.” – widow of Ampatuan massacre victim
9 nabbed, scores wounded in anti-SONA protest
“This simply reeks of fascism to gag legitimate dissent that must be respected by any government that honestly wants to be called even remotely democratic, much less humane or even civilized.” – Edre Olalia, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
Arrests, surveillance of activists precede Aquino’s SONA
Five peasant activists were arrested, a priest and a bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente were put under surveillance.
Foreign delegates in rights confab to probe military abuses
“I was cooking banana when soldiers came. They were in uniform and had long firearms. They talked to Papa and Mama. A few minutes after the soldiers left our house, I heard gunshots.” – 13-year-old victim
Why I am on a 12-day (Jul 11-22) hunger strike
Halfway through his six-year term, there is no doubt that President Aquino has failed miserably in advancing the cause of a just and lasting peace in the country.