NEWS AT A GLANCE

Farmer couple’s bodies torched

The peasant group Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) on March 2 blamed the 16^th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IB PA) for the deaths of a peasant couple in Barangay (village) Ligang, Mamburao, Mindoro Occidental on March 1.

Kasama-TK chairperson Guillermo Bautista said that the couple, Romeo and Linda Pinar, were “brutally murdered” and their remains and house burned afterward. He said 16^th IB PA soldiers, disappointed in their campaign to dismantle the New People’s Army in the province, are turning on hapless civilians whom they wrongly suspect as either sympathizers or NPA members.

The scene of the murder was near the reported encounter site of NPA guerrillas and government troops last Feb. 18. Bulatlat

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NUJP denounces threats vs San Pablo journalists

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines denounced March 2 death threats against Dodie Banzuela, associate publisher of the San Pablo City weekly Deretso Balita, and the paper's reporter and columnist, Iring Maranan. The two journalists have exposed corruption in the city and have themselves sued a local official for corruption.

“The government's failure to effectively fight corruption not only impoverishes the public – it also exposes journalists to danger,” said NUJP secretary general Carlos Conde. “On the other hand, the government's failure to protect journalists and prosecute the killers of many of them will result in a press that is too intimidated to expose corruption.”

Meanwhile, Asian Star Express Balita columnist Arnulfo Villanueva was gunned down in Naic, Cavite on Feb. 28. Villanueva, 43, is the first journalist to be killed in the country this year. Bulatlat

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Lady solon seeks probe into foreign takeover
of gov’t securities
 
In a March 2 privilege speech, Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Liza Largoza Maza said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP)-proposed Third Party Custodianship Rule could result in higher interest rates that could shoot up the country’s domestic debts. The BSP has accredited four foreign banks, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and Citibank, a local bank, the Bank of the Philippine Islands and the Philippine Depository and Trust Corporation as Third Party private custodians of government securities.

Maza said the Third Party Private Custodians accredited by the BSP could extract as much as Php50 million daily in custodian fees from Government Securities Eligible Dealers (GSEDs) who could, in turn, impose higher interest rates during government security auctions.

The government’s virtual surrender of its custody of government securities, the lady solon said, is an abnegation of the government’s sovereign duty. She filed a House resolution seeking an inquiry into the program. Bulatlat

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Arrest of Quezon activists linked to Balikatan - CPP

The March 1 arrest of four women activists in Sampaloc, Quezon province has been condemned by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) saying it is connected with the ongoing US-Philippine Balikatan or joint military exercises in the province and in other areas in southern Luzon. The Philippine Army arrested Ella Manalo, Aileen Ramos, Mira Gamba and Nancy Elle, members of the militant women's group Gabriela, on suspicion of being members of the New People's Army (NPA).

Denying that the arrested women were NPA guerrillas, CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal criticized March 4 the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for fabricating charges and planting evidence against them. He added that "human rights violations by the military and police always escalate in areas where joint military exercises are conducted by the US and Philippine armed forces."

Rosal also called for the end of Balikatan joint military exercises, saying it is a violation of Philippine national sovereignty. Bulatlat

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AFP ignorant of international humanitarian law - NDFP

Fidel Agcaoili, a member of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiating panel, criticized March 1 Lt. Col. Franklin del Prado, spokesperson of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division, for his ignorance on the international humanitarian law (IHL). Prado reportedly said that the New People’s Army’s (NPA) violated the IHL when it used a land mine in an ambush of an Army platoon in Sultan Kudarat, southern Philippines. 

Since the IHL is meant to protect civilians and non-combatants from war, Agcaoili said the use of command-detonated land mines directed at military targets does not violate the IHL.

Agcaoili, also the co-chair of the Government of the Philippines (GRP)-NDFP Joint Monitoring Committee, said that the ban on anti-personnel mines is not contained in the Geneva Conventions but in the Ottawa Treaty signed in Canada. Manually-detonated mines intentionally directed against military targets are not banned under the treaty, he said. 

“The AFP should educate its officers so that their ignorance is not bared for the whole world to see,” Agcaoili said. Bulatlat 

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