Media Releases

“The United States government’s rhetoric on human rights puts them at a pedestal for hypocrites. Its overt and covert attacks on oppressed peoples of the world and in the Philippines, mostly exposed through its military funding and poison-laced aid for governments and State fascist machines such as the military and the police, betray their direct role and complicity in abetting violations on people’s rights,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General, on the recently released 2016 US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices which includes views on the human rights situation in the Philippines. 

Yesterday, March3, 12nn, the 75-person quick reaction mission led by Karapatan Southern Tagalog went to Brgy. Calawis, Antipolo, Rizal and Brgy. Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal, to probe reports on the killing of two Dumagat farmers, in the course of military operations of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army and their reported encounter with the NPA on March in the area. Gloria "Oya" Rodriguez of Karapatan Rizal and Georgelyn Rafael "Gigi" Millizo of Karapatan Southern Tagalog led the QRM.

“As attacks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) intensify against rural communities all over the country, their concoction of make-believe stories and alibis to cover up the rights abuses continue,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

The dehumanizing greyhound operations and raid by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center is the latest of known rights violations against detainees at a detention facility known as the Alcatraz in Cebu. The lining up of detainees, all stripped naked, violates the Anti-Torture Law and all international instruments on torture, cruel or inhuman treatment. The reported involvement of the AFP and PNP in the said operations made it worse. 

“The recent killings of two farmers in Maayon, Capiz, two more farmers in San Andres, Quezon, and another two in Paquibato, Davao City put the number of reported victims of political killings to fourteen (14) in a span of a month, in the onslaught of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ all-out-war and its new counter-insurgency program, Oplan Kapayapaan,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, citing the killings of Ariel Gelbero and Roel Satingasin in Davao City, Ian Borres and Rolendo Borres in Capiz, and Gilbert Bancat and Angel Carabot in Quezon. 

Targeted political killings, the slate of illegal arrests of leaders and members of progressive organizations, intensified military operations in communities, a justice system that favors the rich and powerful, the continuing oppression of peasants and workers and the domination of US interests in the country remain as palpable realities, thirty one years after Edsa 1. Has this country really achieved change when repressive state policies continue? Have we really seen change when farmers remain landless, rights continue to be violated, and the Filipino people’s interest remain subjugated to imperialist powers?" asked Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay on the 31st commemoration of the EDSA people power.

Political persecution through the filing of legal cases is nothing new, especially in a society where the scales of justice tilt against the poor who dare challenge existing norms and who struggle to change the system. Even before the jailing of one's political rivals became a practice among political factions, the most brutal forms of repression were unleashed among progressives and revolutionaries. 

“They should not have been charged with fabricated cases, nor arrested and detained, in the first place,” thus said Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Jigs Clamor, during the hearing at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 on the trumped up charges against NDFP peace consultants Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Adelberto Silva, Vicente Ladlad, Randall Echanis, and Rafael Baylosis. 

Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom (UK) and activists from Hongkong, Canada and Germany expressed their support for the continuation of the Philippine government peacetalks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), as well as their concern on the continuing violations on people’s rights in the Philippines, in the light of reported political killings of farmers and indigenous peoples.  

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has produced numerous butchers, who left pools of blood in their trails, to protect the interests of the elite and rich in the country through counter-insurgency programs. With Lt. General Eduardo Año, a monster with a chilling record of rights abuses, at the helm of the military, the implementation of Oplan Kapayapaan and the military’s all-out war declaration, fascist attacks against the people have intensified,’ said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay during today’s protest action at the Gate 3 of the Ateneo de Manila University in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City.