Pesante-USA slams Philippine CHR for Clearing the AFP on Mellisa Roxas Case (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA), human rights group based in the United States today vehemently condemned the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) report that cleared the AFP on the abduction and torture of a US-based activist. The report, signed by CHR chair Loretta Rosales in February but released over the weekend, concluded Melissa Roxas was indeed abducted and apparently subjected to cruel treatment. But the Commission said it did not have enough evidence to put the blame on the military. The CHR also refused to use the word “torture” for the abuse Roxas suffered because “state actors” could not be pinpointed. Pesante is disappointed that Rosales a former political detainee and a victim of torture herself will clear the AFP of torture and wrongdoing. Pesante stated that: “ Rosales will join all traitors like Tayag,Tiglao, Barican, Morales and Olivar all former activist who have sold the Filipinos down the river.”
Amnesty Int’l warns of resurgence in extrajudicial killings (tags)
Amnesty International (AI) warned Wednesday that killings and abductions of left-wing activists in the country could surge again this year unless the government seriously prosecutes perpetrators. In its 2008 report on worldwide human rights, AI noted that extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances across the country dipped last year due to international pressure.
FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FILIPINO DIGNITY (tags)
Massive human rights violations--extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, torture, massacres, dislocation of millions of peasants and rural folk--characterize the current Arroyo regime in the Philippines. US taxdollars are paying the Arroyo military and police to carry out such barbaric practices. US citizens, concerned with human rights, ought to protest Bush/Pentagon's aid to the corrupt Arroyo administration, and demand an end to US mililtary intervention in suppressing the Moro and National Democratic Front insurgents. In the following article, Prof. E. San Juan re-affirms the necessity of upholding human rights embodied in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which is an integral part of contemporary international law, to which every nation should adhere as member nation-states. The article pays tribute to the self-sacrificing work of thousands of Filipino activists fighting for national democracy, social justice, and genuine sovereignty, in particular the staff of KARAPATAN and its secretary-general, Marie Hilao Enriquez.
PHILIPPINES: 2 desaparecidos escape from military captors (tags)
Two farm workers who claim to have been detained and tortured for a year-and-a-half by military men before managing to escape have petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) for protection. Represented by lawyers from the civil rights group Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag), the two brothers in their 13-page petition yesterday also asked the high tribunal to designate either an incumbent or retired SC justice to act as a commissioner and verify the allegations. The two brothers, Raymond, 26, and Reynaldo Manalo, 38, filed the suit for prohibition, injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) through Flag lawyers Jose Manuel Diokno, Theodore Te and Ricardo Sunga.