NDF CONDEMNS PITAO MURDER IN MINDANAO (tags)
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines condemns in the strongest terms the abduction and brutal murder of 20-year-old Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of Lencio Pitao, Commander of the New People's Army. We hold Mrs. Gloria Arroyo and Executive Secretary, General Eduardo Ermita responsible for this dastardly violation of Rebelyn Pitao's right to life. It is likewise a blatant violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
MILF doubts gov't can keep vow to UN rights body (tags)
An official of the Muslim secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed doubts that the government would be able to keep its promise to a United Nations body to put a stop to the string of killings of local journalists and activists as well as to protect the rights of all Filipinos, even those who express dissent against the state. Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on information, doubted the government vow, saying the head of the Philippine delegation to the recent conference by United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, �has blood in his hands� with the deaths of a number of members of activist groups in the Philippines. Musa hinted that Ermita may not be serious in making the vow as he has been a key government official during the country�s most darkest periods for those who spoke against the state. He noted that Ermita not only is one of the most influential officials in the present administration, being President Arroyo�s alter-ego, but also had held various key roles during the martial law times under the leadership of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
Ermita, 2 Cabinet men ‘spoilers’ of talks — MILF (tags)
he Moro Islamic Libe-ration Front (MILF) has accused the Arroyo administration of being a “spoiler” of the peace negotiations, noting that three Cabinet officials are “steering the talks to an unknown direction,” saying like before the MILF is being tricked. MILF secretariat chair-man Muhammad Ameen, in a statement posted on the group’s Web site, yesterday also doubted President Arroyo’s sincerity in signing a peace agreement before she steps down in 2010. “There are many spoilers of the peace process espe-cially in Mindanao, but all those are secondary, and the main or worst spoilers are those in the govern-ment itself,” he noted.
Ermita raises possibility of political pardon to Honasan, Trillanes (tags)
Malacañang yesterday floated the possibility of Presi-dent Arroyo granting senators-elect Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV political amnesty in the spirit of reconciliation, good governance and national progress, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as saying yesterday. In his regular media briefing this afternoon in Malacañang, Ermita was said to have cited the President’s policy of extending her hand of reconciliation to detractors of her administration, including armed rebels and political leaders.
No ‘deal’ behind Jalosjos’ commutation — Malacañang (tags)
Malacañang yesterday assured the commutation extended to convicted rapist Romeo Jalosjos was not a result of a “deal” between the former Zamboanga del Norte congressman and President Arroyo. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, during a press conference, confirmed the President cut the jail term of Jalosjos from a double life sentence, which is equivalent to 40 to 60 years, to just 16 years, meaning he could be released from prison as early as 2010.
RP Accepts US offer to help solve killings (tags)
The Philippines police will accept technical assistance from the United States to help solve a wave of political murders targeting mostly leftist dissidents, a senior police official said Wednesday. Malacañang, however, was more guarded on the issue. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the government wants to be “more deliberate.” Ermita said Philippine and US officials are “in contact with each other” but that no decision has been made. A special United Nations Human Rights Commission rapporteur last week alleged that that some in the Armed Forces—one of the most powerful institutions in the country—were behind the unsolved killings, which human-rights groups have said numbered in the hundreds since 2001.
RP wants US help in routing communists (tags)
The Philippine government will welcome US counterinsurgency assistance against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Thursday. Ermita hinted at growing US involvement in the Philippines’ internal security affairs while discussing the coming joint Balikatan war games in Jolo. Interviewed after his sendoff of President Arroyo, who left Thursday morning for Davos, Switzerland, Ermita said the Chief Executive is glad that both counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns are “moving forward, very smoothly.”
US-Arroyo Regime Beat a Retreat : Stop Con-ass now (tags)
President Macapagal-Arroyo, sensing grave political fall-out from her manuverings, had instructed her political affairs adviser Gabriel Claudio on Friday to “order” the lawmakers allied with her to drop the constituent assembly (Con-ass) as a means of changing the Constitution, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.
PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT REJECTS MILF DEMANDS (tags)
The Philippine government (GRP) on Wednesday rejected demands by Muslim rebels for control over vast swaths of land as peace talks remained at a standstill. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita conceded that the talks with the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) “are at a stalemate right now on the issue of territory.”
Esperon’s marching orders: Crush Reds (tags)
President Arroyo has given incoming Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon his marching orders: Crush the 37-year-old communist rebellion and the groups plotting to destabilize the administration.
Sison expulsion easier with death repeal - Palace (tags)
The true intentions of the US-Arroyo regime is coming out. Executve Secretary Ermita has let the cat out of the bag--WITH the abolition of the death penalty Malacañang sees better chances of persuading The Netherlands to deport exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison. Executive Eduardo Ermita made the statement as communist guerrillas urged the government to respect the civil rights of their comrades targeted by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's revitalized two-year counter-insurgency campaign. Citing conversations with an official of the Dutch embassy here, who he did not name, Ermita said the only real stumbling block to Sison’s expulsion from The Netherlands was the death penalty. Meanwhile, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the National Democratic Front peace panel, called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and “all organizations which uphold human rights and international humanitarian law” to “hold the Arroyo regime accountable” for the alleged abduction by government troops of an NDF consultant and his son earlier this month. Jalandoni accused the government of “crimes against humanity,” claiming it was responsible for “more than 180 enforced disappearances, more than 690 extra-judicial killings of unarmed civilians and frustrated killings of more than 200 civilian victims.”
2 leftists killed in wake (tags)
The blood of leftist militants just won’t stop flowing. A week after men on a motorcycle gunned down former New People’s Army leader Sotero Llamas in Albay province, a lone assassin wearing a bonnet over his head shot dead a Bayan Muna member and a leader of a farmers’ group during a wake on Sunday night here. Bayan Muna’s David Costuna, 48, and Arcadio Macale, 60, president of the local Barangay Agrarian Reform Council, were the 19th and 20th militants murdered around the country in the past two months. Their deaths brought to 228 the total number of activists assassinated since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001, according to an Inquirer tally.