Defend Negros Island

31/07/2022

“A nation that respects freedoms, and puts justice and peace at the heart of governance, is a nation that will not be blindsided in its pursuit of loftier goals. Without human rights violations hogging the evening news, important questions on the economy, culture and society will take center stage: How can we uplift the livelihoods of our fellow citizens? How can our economy provide decent jobs with livable wages? How can we beat inflation? How can we feed the poorest of the poor?”

- Atty. Neri Colmenares

Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares writes: A nation that respects freedoms, and puts justice and peace at the heart of governance, is a nation that will not be blindsided in its pursuit of loftier goals.

21/06/2022

ICHRP Condemns Judicial Harassment of Karapatan, and other Philippine Human Rights Groups

Press Release
June 20, 2022

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) calls for the vexatious perjury case against Ms. Cristina Palabay and other leading human rights advocates in the Philippines to be withdrawn when Ms. Palabay presents her pleading today in court in Manila,” said Mr. Peter Murphy, Chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council.

“In the Orwellian world of the Philippines security cluster, those who seek court protection from state harassment and murder must be further victimized with trumped up charges designed to paralyze their work. This grave abuse of the judicial system must stop.”

As the brutal Duterte administration comes to its end, Karapatan Alliance for Human Rights, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) and Gabriela Women’s Alliance continue to be dragged through the courts on malicious, retaliatory charges of perjury filed by outgoing National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., after they sought legal protection from the Supreme Court through a Petition for the Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data in May 2019.

President Duterte’s Executive Order 70 in December 2018 created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), leading to intensifying red tagging of Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela, and other civil society organizations asserting human rights. There was increased surveillance, death threats, arrests and extrajudicial killings of their members. In this context, Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela filed the petitions. The petitions sought some protection from this increased threat of state repression, and were granted on May 30, 2019, but denied in the Court of Appeal on June 28, 2019. The battle for these petitions is still in the court system.

Two of the Karapatan witnesses listed to give evidence in these court hearings were assassinated before they could appear – Ryan Hubilla in June 2019 and Zara Alvarez in August 2020.

In retaliation for the petition, on July 2, 2019, National Security Adviser Esperon Jr. filed a Complaint-Affidavit for perjury against Cristina Palabay and seven other Karapatan National Council members, as well as Gabriela Chairperson Gertrudes Ranjo Libang, Gabriela Secretary General Joan Mae Salvador, RMP National Coordinator Sr. Elenita Belardo, and RMP Northern Mindanao Region Coordinator Sr. Emma Cupin.

Esperon Jr. alleged that those named committed perjury when they stated in their Petition that the RMP is a “duly registered as a non-stock, non-profit corporation under Philippine laws.” According to Esperon Jr., “the SEC already revoked the Certificate of Registration of RMP on August 20, 2003 for its failure to submit the required General Information Sheets and Financial Statements from 1997 to 2003”. In fact, the SEC has continued to accept RMP’s financial statements. It is this spurious charge that Ms Palabay is facing today.

Karapatan is one of the leading independent voices on human rights in the Philippines. It is widely recognized by the international community for its capable and determined defense of human rights despite the challenges of doing advocacy in the Philippines. In June 2021, the US-based Human Rights First presented Karapatan with the William D. Zabel Human Rights Award for the Advancement of People’s Rights. In December 2021 Germany and France awarded Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay this year’s Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and Rule of Law for her tireless dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.

RMP is a national organization of women and men – religious, priests and lay – who dedicate their lives to educating and working with the rural poor farmers and agricultural workers for genuine agrarian reform, the fisherfolk for genuine aquatic reform, and the indigenous peoples for land and self-determination, towards attainment of the fullness of life, justice, freedom and integrity of creation.

The serious violation of human rights in the Philippines was subsequently exposed by the report of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michelle Bachelet in June 2020, and by the three reports by the Independent International Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines (INVESTIGATE PH) in 2021.

“ICHRP strongly condemns the ongoing harassment and protests at the red tagging of these organizations. ICHRP and its global civil society networks stand with Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela in the face of these lawfare attacks. We call on the Philippine government to stop the attacks on these important independent civil society voices,” concluded Mr. Murphy.

For further comment: Peter Murphy +61 418 312 301

09/05/2022

HOLD COMELEC ACCOUNTABLE! REJECT MARCOS-DUTERTE!

The League of Filipino Students - Bacolod condemns the Commission on Elections' incompetence in the 2022 elections! The numerous reports of fraud, harassment, intimidation, voter disenfranchisement, malfunctioning vote counting machines (VCMs), violence and even death show a complete failure of the Comelec's responsibility in securing our democratic right to a fair and honest election.

The League invites every individual and organization to the Fountain of Justice (old Bacolod City Hall) at 10:00 AM, Tuesday to hold the Comelec accountable. We will not stand for a fraudulent electoral system and the fraudulent votes for greedy, corrupt criminals! Reject the Marcos-Duterte tandem! The integrity of the Filipino vote must be safeguarded! We will not be silenced!

03/05/2022

Sa Mayo 9, samahan n'yo akong suntukin ang buwan at abutin ang ating mga pangarap sa bayan.

27/04/2022

ANTI-TERROR LAW SHOULD NOT BE USED AGAINST THE OPPOSITION IN THE COMING ELECTIONS
By Bayan Muna Chairperson and Senatorial Candidate Neri Colmenares

The dismissal of the appeals filed by the Anti-Terror Law petitioners opens the door to more abuses and human rights violations. There is a risk that the Duterte administration will use the law to instill fear among opposition candidates and campaign volunteers. We definitely push back against such efforts.

The next President and the 19th Congress should fix the glaring flaws of the the Anti-Terror Law. If elected to the Senate, one of my first orders of business is to file the necessary amendments needed to prevent the law from being used against political dissent.

Kayang-kaya magpatupad ng batas para sa seguridad at kapayapaan, pero hindi ito dapat aapak sa ating mga karapatan bilang tao at mamamayan. Mahalaga ang malayang espasyo at ang paghayag ng saloobin ay kailanman hindi magiging krimen dahil ito ay napapaloob na sa ating konstitusyon.

25/04/2022

Our beloved Amaryllis “Marie” Hilao Enriquez - Karapatan’s Chairperson Emeritus, SELDA’s former Chairperson and former convenor of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) - passed away at 12 midnight (PHT) of April 24, 2022.

We extend our condolences and love to Marie’s family and friends as we mourn with them this loss shared by human rights violations victims, their families and communities.

Marie was a scholar at the College of Medicine at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) taking up occupational therapy when she first became involved in activism. She eventually joined the Kamuning chapter of the youth organization Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth).

Tita Marie, as she is fondly called by many, is a stalwart in the anti-Marcos dictatorship struggle and in the relentless advocacy for justice and accountability of the Marcoses, as she and her family endured gross human rights violations during that dark period of our nation’s history. Her sister, student journalist and activist Liliosa, was the first reported case of killing under military detention after Marcos’s martial law was imposed. After Liliosa’s death, Marie went underground and continued her work as community organizer.

In 1974, Marie was arrested and tortured, and was detained for two years. She became part of the Kapisanan para sa Pagpapalaya at Amnestiya ng mga Detenidong Pulitikal sa Pilipinas or Kapatid after she was released from prison and as she campaigned for the release of her detained husband.

After EDSA People Power 1, she joined the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Para sa Amnestiya (SELDA) and helped in the filing of the historic class action suit against Marcos in Hawaii. Marie helped in consolidating the data and finding the lead plaintiffs for the class suit. Her mother and younger sister were two of the ten named plaintiffs in the case. She led campaigns for justice and reparations of human rights violations victims against the Marcoses, including in the advocacy for the enactment of Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013. She led the formation of CARMMA in 2016, having campaigned against the historical lies of the Marcoses throughout decades.

She continued in leading the campaigns for people’s rights as the founding Secretary General of Karapatan in its establishment in 1995 and became its Chairperson in 2009. She worked for the release of political prisoners and the dismissal of trumped up charges against those detained, in pursuing justice for victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture, and in working for the signing and implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Marie mentored numerous activists and human rights workers throughout decades. We are deeply indebted to her brilliant, selfless and passionate work as among the foremost human rights defenders in the Philippines. We vow to strive to honor her legacy of service to the Filipino people in every possible way that we can and as long as tyrants and dictators remain in our midst.

Mahal na Marie, pagpupugay at maraming salamat!

18/04/2022

Press Statement
18 Apr 2022

For Ben & Ben

There is always a time for everything.

We waited several years before Gen. Palparan & his cohorts were sent to jail by a Bulacan court for snatching UP students Sherryln Cadapan and Karen Empeno.

We even waited more than three decades for some of the killers and torturers of labor leader Ka Lando Olalia and unionist Ka Leonor Alay-ay to be convicted by an Antipolo court.

Now we waited more than a decade before two army personnel who killed in 2010 Benjamin Bayles, Bayan Muna coordinator and Iglesia Filipina Independiente member, to be convicted by a Negros court.

These speak volumes. Yet it is not lost on us that justice will come later even if not sooner.

This is for you, Ben Bayles and Ben Ramos, the latter who was with us to see this through before he himself was killed in 2018.

We have to acknowledge the role our partners in the prosecution played too.

This is a clear message and warning to those who think there is immunity for impunity.

But most of all, this is for those still waiting for justice to be served.

Have faith. It will come somehow, sometime. #

Edre U. Olalia
NUPL President
09175113373
For the Private Prosecution

11/04/2022

URGENT ALERT: Himamaylan 3 launches hunger strike in protest of continued military harassment while detained

Political prisoners Himamaylan 3, composed of NDFP peace consultant Ramon Patriarca, and youth activists CJ Matarlo and John Michael Tecson, began a hunger strike starting at 6am earlier today, April 11, to protest the harassment from military and Special Action Force (SAF) agents. Day and night, they are being harassed to "cooperate" with the state forces and, in exchange, they will no longer be detained.

Last April 6 at 2:00am, armed elements of the SAF woke them up and attempted to speak to them, but the three ignored them. The state forces were then heard loudly saying that "these NPA" don't have the right to a lawyer, clearly intending to let the Himamaylan 3 hear them.

This caused the Himamaylan 3 extreme anxiety and lack of sleep as the intimidation and harassment from the military continues despite being under police custody. They are having trouble sleeping because they are being visited by armed state forces in the middle of the night.

Karapatan-Central Visayas condemns the continued harassment of the Himamaylan 3 even in detention. It was not enough for the fascist state forces that they arrested the Himamaylan 3 under trumped-up charges and planted fi****ms on their persons, which are already violations to their rights as individuals, the military also insist on intimidating the political prisoners even in detention and negatively impacting their health.

We further assert that, contrary to the claims of the state forces, the Himamaylan 3 were NOT ARMED and that the fi****ms and explosives found on their persons were planted and fabricated. They were in the area to conduct research that would significantly contribute to th Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER), which is the second substantive agenda of the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP.

Lastly, we enjoin the Filipino people to heighten the call to free the Himamaylan 3 and all political prisoners!

08/04/2022

Since the morning of April 5, 2022, Kadamay education officer Iver Larit remains missing.

Larit is an urban poor community organizer from Bacolod city who dedicated his life serving the people. He fought alongside the toiling masses in the city against threats of demolition, hunger, and state violence.

Because of this, he was target of various state-sanctioned attacks, including red-tagging and death threats. In 2011, he was unjustly imprisoned for trumped-up charges. In 2021, he was proscribed in an alleged Duterte "Kill, Kill, Kill" list.

His family, friends, colleagues, and the communities he served continue to assert our demand to immediately! We shall not stop until the perpetrators and the criminal Duterte regime will be held accountable for its continued attacks on progressive leaders and rights defenders.