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Karapatan demands prosecution of masterminds on killing of Negros human rights worker
Submitted on Sun, 10/10/2010 - 13:27"Based on witnesses and the statements of the arresting police, we have known all along that Bayles was killed by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, though retracted by the police and being denied by the military" said Fred Caña, Karapatan - Negros Secretary General said. "And here is Gazmin's admission at the budget deliberations on Thursday, straight from the horse's mouth!"
Human rights record of the U.S.-Aquino Regime in its First 100 Days
Submitted on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 12:53Same policy of State Terrorism and Impunity; Persistent Worsening Human Rights Situation
The Filipino People must assert and defend their rights to livelihood, freedom and justice!
Political Killings, abductions, trumped-up charges, illegal arrests, torture, detention and militarization continue with impunity and are getting worse.
We in KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights), together with HUSTISYA!, DESAPARECIDOS, Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP), and SELDA, are crying out for justice with the mass of the Filipino people as we hold President Benigno Simeon Aquino III accountable for the continuing human rights violations under his watch.
We condemn the intensifying wave of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances committed by the state security forces. The first 100 days in office of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III have already claimed the lives of at least 16 victims; the number is about to equal if not surpass the 18 killed in the last six months of the past regime (January-June 2010). Already 2 victims are missing in Surigao del Sur. The manner of the slaying has become even more horrendous -- with houses forcibly entered, victims dragged, tortured and killed right in front of their families and loved ones.
Karapatan condemns the new wave of political killings as another peasant leader is killed in Negros
Submitted on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 16:22
Karapatan strongly condemns the killing of another peasant leader in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental early morning today by the elements of 11th infantry battalion of the Philippine Army. In the initial report from Karapatan Negros, Rene “Toto” Quirante, local chairman of the KAUGMA-ON, a local chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas was shot dead at around two in the morning today in Sitio Amomoyong, Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. Quirante was one of the six peasant leaders of KAUGMA-ON who have been charged with common crimes in 2008.
Karapatan denounces intensifying military harassment
Submitted on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 16:18THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE of human rights organizations in the Philippines, KARAPATAN, denounced the intensifying military offensive against human rights defenders in Southern Mindanao and other parts of the country.
KARAPATAN cited the life-threatening accusations made by BGen. Eduardo Del Rosario and Datu Ruben Labawan last September 21 in a press conference held in Davao City against Kelly Delgado, Secretary General of KARAPATAN in Southern Mindanao Region (SMR).
Remembering the declaration of martial law:
Submitted on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 07:28Karapatan dares P-Noy to indemnify martial law victims, abandon U.S.-instigated counterinsurgency plans to stop human rights violations and end impunity
COMMEMORATING the declaration of martial law on September 21, the national alliance of human rights groups, KARAPATAN, challenged Pres. Benigno Simeon "PNoy" Aquino III to render the long overdue INDEMNIFICATION of the victims of martial law, ABANDON the US-sponsored counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay-Laya and all other counter-insurgency programs, to stop human rights violations and end impunity.
KARAPATAN chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez, who, together with her family and hundreds of thousands of others suffered greatly during martial law, commented that the horrors of martial law, brought back in by the US-Arroyo regime, are not being dispelled by PNoy! “In fact, the Filipino people may be seeing more of these horrors in the coming days. Instead of scrapping the bloody counter-insurgency Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL), which engendered the worst human rights violations under the US-GMA regime, PNoy and his military officers extended this brutal campaign up to the end of this year and announced a new one to be put in place next year,” bewailed Enriquez.
Even as the victims of OBL 1 and 2, like the victims of martial law, are still crying out for justice, the victims under the 83-day-old PNoy administration are increasing. Already, 13 victims of extrajudicial killings under PNoy have been documented by Karapatan; from January-June 2010, there have been 17 victims. Far-flung communities in Negros Oriental, Caraga and Bicol terrorized by AFP troops, have been forced to evacuate for some time because of military operations in their areas.
