Mercy distorted: Executive clemency of Erap, political survival of GMA

By: Most Rev. Arturo M. Bastes, SVD, DD
Bishop of Sorsogon
October 26, 2007

The recent pronouncement of Malacaňang on Erap Pardon is highly suspicious and full of self-vested interests. It is indeed the prerogative of the President of the Philippines to grant clemency to convicted criminals yet there are considerations that should be taken into account. One of which is the fundamental question on justice.

The conviction of Erap on plunder case is a triumph of justice. Last September 12, the Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada of plunder and sentenced him to life in prison. The court also ordered the former leader to return more than 734 million pesos of his ill-gotten wealth. Yet this is overturned by the pardon given by GMA to Erap.

The executive clemency of former president Estrada is not an act of mercy but rather a political survival of the Arroyo Regime. The Arroyo administration has been beleaguered by the massive corruption and anomalous deals. The controversial ZTE-National Broadband Network deal has been disclosed to involve allegedly the First Gentleman, the President and the former COMELEC Chairman Abalos. The $ 329.5 Million worth deal was allegedly overpriced. It must be recalled that the ‘under negotiation’ Cyber Education Project is allegedly overpriced also.

The recent payola scandal or the giving of money to politicians is too scandalous and it undermines the sound economic policies of the national government. With the disclosure of Governor Ed Panlilio regarding the money handed out in Malacaňang, runs contrary to the institutional decency of the Arroyo government. More so the “untraceable origin” of the payola money haunts even the Department of Budget Management (DBM). This must be investigated thoroughly.

The acceptance of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) as the responsible group in giving the cash must be viewed as “shock-absorber” so as to mislead the inquiry from the Office of the President. They must tell the Truth unless truth has been subjected in favor of political patronage and survival.

It must be reiterated that the conviction of former president Estrada is an exercise of retributive or
corrective justice. Retributive justice refers to the extent to which punishments are fair and just. In general, punishments are held to be just to the extent that they take into account relevant criteria such as the seriousness of the crime and the intent of the criminal, and discount irrelevant criteria such as race. Yet Estrada never winked to accept his crimes to the last end. It should be the remorse and decision of the erring individual for personal transformation that must move a president to stroke a pen for absolute pardon. It must be noted that Estrada has not served half of his sentence. It is indeed questionable why the Arroyo administration gave pardon to Erap.

With the corruption controversies, the impeachment complaint rolling in the House of Representatives and crack of alliance between Speaker Jose De Venecia and GMA, Malacaňang executed the final decision that undermines the fundamentals of society, i.e. the absolute dispensation of justice.

This act of Malacaňang sends wrong signal to the people. The accountability and justice will never hold and will always sway for political survival. The growing rift between GMA and JDV drives wedge in favor to the pro-Estrada politicians and Oppositions. The pardon is a tactical move by GMA to clip the pro-Estrada politicians on the looming impeachment and growing clamor of the civil society for the president to resign.

It is lamentable because fundamentals of strong and noble societies like justice have been corrupted beyond reconstruction and recognition.

NUJP Statement: On the Digos slay attempt

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemn in the strongest terms the attempt on the lives of two volunteer radio announcers in Digos City Thursday morning, October 25.

Reports said Marlan Malnegro and Ruben Oliverio had just finished their morning program on Radio Ukay and were riding tandem on a motorcycle and had reached an intersection about a kilometer from the station when the two attackers, on another motorcycle, drove up. One of the suspects drew a handgun and fired but missed. He tried to fire again but fortunately his gun jammed.

While we have yet to ascertain the motive for the attack, this incident is nevertheless another clear example of the culture of impunity nurtured by official apathy and inaction that has emboldened those who wish to silence a critical press to carry out such brazen
attacks as this broad daylight attempt on the lives of Malnegro and Oliverio.

Again and again, government has vowed to put an end to media killings and solve the murders of our colleagues. Again and again, these vows have proven to be lip service.

This time, we hope our demand for a swift resolution to this case will not, as have so many of our calls in the past, fall on deaf ears.

Reference:
Joe Torres Jr., NUJP chairperson
Rowena Paraan, IFJ-NUJP Media Safety Office Coordinator
October 25, 2007

2 radio volunteers escape slay try in Digos City

By Orlando Dinoy
Inquirer

DIGOS CITY, Philippines -- Two volunteer radio announcers narrowly escaped death here when two unidentified men aboard a motorcycle fired on them at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, police and witnesses said.

Marlan Malnegro and Ruben Oliverio had just finished their morning program on Radio Ukay and were riding tandem on a motorcycle when the attack took place.

On reaching Jumao-as corner Rizal Avenue, about a kilometer from the station, one of the two still unidentified men on a red Crypton motorcycle drew a handgun and fired, but missed.

The gunman tried to fire a second time but the gun jammed.

As of this posting, police are still investigating the incident.

Court temporarily stops class suit against president's husband

CMFR/Philippines—The class action suit filed by 40 journalists and three media organizations against presidential spouse Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo for his alleged abuse of right and violation of press freedom, had not even reached the pre-trial stage a year after it was filed. Both sides had been locked in an argument over legal technicalities.

But in a decision dated 24 September 2007, the Court of Appeals (CA) granted Mr. Arroyo's petition asking for a preliminary injunction on the hearing of the affirmative defenses, thus putting the case on hold.

The class action suit was filed against Mr. Arroyo on 28 December 2006 in response to the numerous libel suits – 11 against 46 journalists – he had been filing against media practitioners since 2003. Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines.

"(P)etitioner's application for a writ of preliminary injunction is granted.… enjoining respondents, their agents and anybody acting in their behalf from continuing with the preliminary hearing on the affirmative defenses based on the amended complaint," the decision, signed by CA Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta stated.

The decision also said it would be injurious to Mr. Arroyo if the hearing on the affirmative defense will be continued.

"Based on the pleadings submitted, the possibility of irreparable injury to petitioner (Mr. Arroyo) has been shown, at least tentatively or provisionally, to justify the restraint on the subject hearing on the affirmative defenses based on the amended complaint. Said preliminary hearing or its continuance will unduly expose petitioner to the rigors of trial in the case below even before the jurisdictional issues raised in the present petition are resolved," the decision stated.

Harry Roque, the lawyer of the journalists in the case, however expressed befuddlement over the decision since it was actually Mr. Arroyo who requested presiding judge Zenaida Laguilles of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) for a hearing on the affirmative defenses.

On 6 February 2007, Roque filed an opposition to the RTC to Mr. Arroyo's motion to set the case for preliminary hearing on affirmative defenses. Mr. Arroyo's two points in his affirmative defense state that the RTC has no jurisdiction over the case because the plaintiffs did not pay the correct amount of docket fees, and that the plaintiffs have no cause of action because not all of the complainants were libeled by Mr. Arroyo.

Ruy Rondain, Mr. Arroyo's lawyer, argued that the plaintiffs were not able to post the docket fee of P9 million each. The complainants are asking for P12.5 ($276, 600) in damages, but Rondain noted that the word "each" is written in the final complaint, indicating that each complainant, 36 individual journalists and three media organizations, sought to be given P12.5 each, with total charges amounting to P487.5 million ($10.78 million). There were 36 individual journalists in the complaint filed on 28 December 2006, but four more joined the suit, which was then added in the complaint's amended version. The media organizations include the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), which has been calling for the decriminalization of libel since 1990

Roque had filed a motion to amend the complaint on 6 February 2007 asking the word "each" to be replaced instead with "aggregate" so as "to make the words of the Complaint conform squarely with the intention of the Plaintiffs to claim damages for the Philippine press as a unified institution."

Rondain, however, in his reply filed on 2 March 2007, stated that it is "difficult to believe that plaintiffs, all seasoned journalists who claimed they read the complaint before verifying it, would also miss that suppose 'typo'" Rondain also stated that "the bottom line is that plaintiffs intended to mislead to save on docket fees."

Laguilles, however, on an order dated 16 March 2007, granted Roque's motion to amend the complaint and Rondain's motion to set the case for hearing on the affirmative defenses.

Roque said he is considering whether to just comply with the CA decision, or file a motion for clarification.
The class suit is the first of its kind in the Philippines and hopes to prevent other government officials from harassing journalists and eroding press freedom through the whimsical use of the Philippine libel law.

Court junks Aussie mining firm's suit vs indigenous leaders

Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) yesterday lauded the decision of the Nueva Vizcaya court junking the petition for permanent injunction filed by Oxiana Philippines Incorporated (now owned by Australia's Royalco Resources) against 24 indigenous people's leaders from Kasibu town.

According to Save the Valley Serve the People Movement convenor Abe Almirol, Judge Godofredo Naui on Monday dismissed the petition for permanent injunction sought by the defunct Oxiana Philippines, Incorporated to permanently bar 24 leaders from barricading the roads going to their exploration area in the villages of Pao and Kakidugen of Kasibu town.

The defendants in the case are village chiefs Mariano Maddela of Pao, Felimon Blanco of Paquet, Orlando Binoya of Dine, and 21 other leaders and members of the Kasibu Inter-Tribal Response for Ecological Development (KIRED).

Kalikasan PNE previously condemned Oxiana's action as a SLAPP suit (Strategic Legal Action Against Public Participation), a form of litigation filed by usually powerful entities against less financially-capable critics with the intention of intimidating and silencing them in the course of a lengthy and costly legal battle.

"We laud this decision of the court. This proves that Oxiana's run-of-the-mill SLAPP suit is baseless and only meant to bully the community into inaction and fear," said Clemente Bautista, National Coordinator for Kalikasan PNE.

"This is definitely good news for the Philippine struggle to defend our national patrimony. This development will be brought to the attention of other environmental organizations and advocates from 13 countries here at the Mines and Communities (MAC) strategy conference in London ," Bautista said.

Bautista is currently attending the five-day Conference led by MAC, an international electronic network established in 2001 (website may be accessed at http://www.minesandcommunities.org/).

Kalikasan PNE hopes that the case will mark a precedent for other existing SLAPP suits, Bautista said. "We also hope that other SLAPP cases against environmental advocates will be dismissed. These includes Oxiana's petition to hold Kasibu Mayor Romeo Tayaban in contempt filed last month and the libel case filed by Lafayette Mining against the research NGO Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils) ," Bautista said.

Bayan Muna hits malicious effort to link gov’t critics to Glorietta bombing

Bayan Muna today reiterates its strong condemnation of the Glorietta 2 Mall bombing in Makati City even as it decries efforts to link Administration critics to the terrorist act.

Yesterday, members of the media called up the mobile number of the person calling himself Sheik Omar of the Raja Sulaiman Movement, who has admitted responsibility for the attack. To their surprise, the call was diverted to the mobile phone of Rep. Ruffy Biazon of Muntinlupa.

This morning, members of the media again called up Omar’s alleged number but the call was again diverted, this time to the mobile phone of Mr. Robert de Castro, a Bayan Muna official working in the party’s national headquarters in Quezon City.

It seems that the person calling himself Sheik Omar and his group are maliciously employing high technology deception by diverting calls to them to cellphone numbers of known political personalities and then feeding their numbers to media reporters and, possibly, government investigators.

The people behind this effort may be doing this in vain attempts to mislead the investigation, confuse the public, or worse, set up innocent people like Rep. Biazon or Mr. de Castro.

Again, we ask, who can possibly benefit from this act of violence against innocent civilians? Who has the means, opportunity and motive to commit such a dastardly act? Who are possibly behind efforts to link the incident to the Left and other government critics?

We hope investigators do not ignore the most obvious angle for the bombing, which is that it may have been done to divert public attention away from the current scandals hounding the President and at the same time worsen the political crisis in order to justify some form of strong arm rule.

Once again, we call on the authorities to make sure it is the real perpetrators of the Glorietta bombing that should be caught, prosecuted and punished.

WANTED: for the crime of TERRORISM

Marcos victims, rights groups urge Congress to pass Compensation bill soon

BY Donato Continente
October 17, 2007

At the first meeting of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on the compensation bill for martial law victims at the House of Representatives on 17 October 2007, SELDA members urged the 14th Congress to immediately pass the bill and uphold the group’s viable proposals for the law to realize its objectives.

“We call on Congress to immediately pass an act for the compensation of martial law victims and to uphold the victims’ right to seek justice,” said SELDA member Romy Luneta.

Luneta said “rendering justice to victims includes restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition – this is a basic principle of the rule of law and one of the main pillars of democracy.”

SELDA said that the 14th Congress would make its mark in history if it will enact a law that would acknowledge the State’s moral and legal obligation to render justice to the victims of the worst forms of human rights violations during martial law.

The group said it supports House Bill 1114 but said it is open to a consolidated bill as long as it will not compromise the spirit and intent of the law.

SELDA asserted that the law should reflect an official apology from the State to all victims and give first priority to the 9,539 class suit plaintiffs and the 24 direct action plaintiffs who have won the case against Marcos in the US Federal Court and who have already completed the process of validation.

Many of the victims of human rights violations during martial law are impoverished and worse, many are sick and dying. Fifteen years after a famous judicial decision rendered in their favor, ironically in another country through an international jurisprudence called the Alien Tort Act, no time should be wasted in rendering justice and reparation for victims of crimes against humanity.

Hong Kong network sends mission to probe rights abuses and gov't response in RP

Has justice been given to the victims of human rights violations? Are the moves of the Philippine government to resolve cases of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances enough? What is the current situation and future of human rights in the Philippines?

These are the questions that Hong Kong groups will answer in the Second HK Mission for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines from October 16 to 22 organized by the HK Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP). The first fact finding mission visited the country in July 2006.

According to Rey Asis, co-convenor of the network, the second mission is being sent to the Philippines in order to determine the developments in the human rights situation in the country that have for years earned the ire of the international community.

"International and national pressure have been exerted and promises of the government have been made. Now is the time to collect," he added.

Among the participants of the HK Mission 2 are the Hon. Leung Kwok-Hung, a member of the HK Legislative Council, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese, Asian Monitor Resource Center (AMRC), Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP), Asian Students Associtaion (ASA), Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), and the Hong Kong Federation of Christian Students (HKFCS). Some members of the HK media will also come to document the mission and the human rights issues in the country.

Asis relayed that they have sent requests for meetings with some government agencies, including the Department of Justice, Task Force Usig and the National Commission on Human Rights. They are also hoping to see Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno with whom some fact finding mission members had a meeting this year in Hong Kong.

"More importantly, we shall meet with families of victims of human rights violations to know what has been done to the cases of their loved ones and how they view their situation. We'll meet some of those we interviewed last year in July as well as families of more recent victims," he said.

The group shall release its report soon after the conclusion of the fact finding mission.

"The HK Mission 2 is part of our commitment for justice to be rendered to the victims, for human rights abuses to be stamped out and for the promotion of a just and lasting peace in the country. With this mission, we aim to shed more light on the burning issue of human rights violations in the Philippines," Asis concluded.

Pinoy environmentalist to bare ills of Arroyo's mining projects at London conference

A Filipino environmental activist will be presenting today to an international environmental lobby network the ills of Pres. Gloria Arroyo's mining liberalization programs and projects at a conference in London, United Kingdom.

Clemente Bautista Jr., National Coordinator for Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), will be presenting before the 33-strong editorial board and members from 14 countries of the Mines and Communities (MAC) strategy conference in London an update on critical Philippine mining projects, including the Australian-led mining projects in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya and the Arroyo administration's flagship project by Lafayette in Rapu-Rapu, Albay.

MAC is an international electronic network established in 2001, whose website may be accessed at ttp://www.minesandcommunities.org/. It will be gathering its networks from around the globe from October 15 to 19. The network will also examine and update the LONDON DECLARATION ON MINING signed on September 16, 2001. The London Stock Exchange in total has almost 200 mining companies listed, earning it the monicker the 'mining capital' for the world.

On the part of the South East Asian members, Bautista will share country updates on Philippine communities' struggle for the closure of Polymetallic Mining Project of Australian-owned Lafayette Mining Corporation and a mining moratorium in Rapu-rapu island in Albay Province, Southern Luzon, a halt to the entry and operation of the world's mining giants in the Philippines, particularly BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata, and the opposition of indigenous people's communities to the entry and operation of mining transnational corporations (TNCs) in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya; particularly Australian-owned Oxiana and Royalco in Kasibu.

Bautista will also elaborate on the People's Mining Policy drafted by Defend Patrimony, a national and broad multisectoral network of mining-affected communities, grassroots organizations and alliances united against the globalization of the mining industry, plunder and destruction of natural resources in the country.

Defend Patrimony is currently composed of15 anti-mining alliances representing 4 provinces, 9 regions and 2 sectors (Church and legislators) and 28 sectoral organizations, NGOs and individuals.

"The People's Mining Policy (PMP) is a mining policy framework conceptualized as an alternative to the historically pro-foreign, anti-people and anti-environment mining policy of the Philippine government and formulated through the participation of mining-affected communities, grassroots organizations, environmental organizations and support groups nationwide," Bautista said.

"This document serves as an educational tool, disproving baseless claims of mining liberalization proponents and mining TNCs that anti-mining liberalization advocates in the country are "anti-development" and "anti-mining"," Bautista said.

Bautista will also be meeting up with the Filipino community in London to firm up the international campaign for Lafayette's pull-out from Rapu-Rapu after attending the 'Political Killings Targetting Civil Society Conference' last October 13 in London.

On Administrative Order 197 'What the Supreme Court giveth, Gloria taketh away' - Karapatan

Philippine human rights group Karapatan criticized President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for what it termed "a move to shield the military from its accountability to the people," by issuing Administrative Order 197.

Karapatan likewise said that the writ of amparo and the writ of habeas data that the Supreme Court recently approved will be contradicted by AO 197 that prevents the "disclosure of military secrets."

"What the Supreme Court giveth, Gloria Arroyo taketh away," said Karapatan Public Information Officer Ruth Cervantes.

Cervantes said, "Arroyo's AO 197 will protect perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances by hampering the public's access to vital information that could produce the missing persons or convict the killers."

"Is the president and commander-in-chief trying to make the rules of the AFP Armed Forces of the Philippines superior to the order and rules of a civilian court?" Cervantes asked.

Karapatan said the Supreme Court should not take this sitting down and urged the high court to review AO 197 because it contradicts the constitutional provision on the public's right to know and on the accountability of public officials.

Karapatan also voiced out its opposition to the "acceleration of recruitment, training, equipping and deploying of CAFGU," which is item number three in AO 197.

Cervantes said "Civilian communities are already terrorized with the heavy presence of troops and this is a violation of international humanitarian laws. The government should pull out troops and not deploy more paramilitary forces, which in our country's experience have caused human rights violations in communities."

Give more to education, health and environment protection

Bayan Muna wants Gloria’s huge intel funds, budget for 2 new helicopters scrapped

If you had the money, where would you spend it on? Two brand new helicopters for the President or better schools, hospitals and the protection of the environment?

If Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño would have his way, the P1.3 billion budget for two new helicopters for the Office of the President would be realigned to meet the shortfalls in the education, health and environment budgets. The President's P650M intelligence and confidential funds would likewise be re-channeled to other priorities.

These are just some of the amendments to be pushed by the militant solon today in the proposed 2008 budget.

“Included in the proposed P1.227 trillion national budget for 2008 is the purchase of two new Bell helicopters for the President priced at P1,268,800,000. The Palace already has seven helicopters in its command! Why should the President buy two more?" an incredulous Casiño said.

He also said the President's P650 million confidential and intelligence expenses dwarfed the combined intelligence funds for the PNP and DND-AFP which is at P421 million. "These confidential and intelligence funds are being used by the President against her critics. It funds, for example, the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) that was responsible for the fake rebellion case against the Batasan 6 as well as other trumped up charges against Leftist and opposition personalities," said Casiño.

"Since intelligence and confidential funds are not audited, these are most likely sources of major kickbacks for the President and her allies in the Palace,” Casiño said.

The Bayan Muna solon proposed some “major innovative amendments that would definitely have a positive effect on some sectors of national budget.”

“We will propose the realignment of parts of the P1,290,329,000 line item for Confidential and Intelligence Expenses allotted for the Departments Interior and Local Government, Finance, Transportation and Communication, Justice, and the Presidential Anti-organized Crime Commission (PACC), Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and that these be re-channeled to the budget of the Department of Education and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs). These expenses under Maintenance and other Operating Expenses (MOOE) are not usually subject to government audit,” Casiño said.

“We will also push for the realignment of the DILG’s P3B Kilos Asenso Support Fund and the AFP’s P1B Kalayaan Barangay Fund to the Department of Health, and the realignment of the DENR Confidential and Intelligence Funds to the Environmental Management Bureau,” Casiño added.

The militant solon outlined the following agencies with Confidential and Intelligence Expenses where he would move to be transferred to education and health spending:

AGENCY	2008 Budget for Confidential and Intelligence Funds	TOTALS	To be re-allocated to:
DOFinance Intelligence Funds	4.5 M	137.6 M	Department of Education and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs)
DOTC Intelligence Funds	3.1 M
DOJ Intelligence Funds (excluding NBI and Bureau of Immigration)	95 M
PCGG	5 M
PACC	15 M
PDEA	15 M
Kilos Asenso Support Fund (DILG)	3B	P4 B	Department of Health
Kalayaan Barangay Fund (AFP)	1 B
DENR Intelligence Funds	4.369 M	4.369 M	DENR-EMB

“Confidential and intelligence funds should be re-allocated to education, health and environment protection spending. We must substantially reduce if not totally scrap Gloria Arroyo’s potential sources of potential kickbacks in the 2008 budget,” Casiño said.

Small farmers unlikely to benefit from 'agri export' under JPEPA

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is trying to gain public support for the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) by flaunting that the free-trade pact will secure some US$353 million (P15.6 billion) worth of existing agricultural and fishery exports to Japan . But the benefits, if indeed there will be any, will be cornered by corporate agri-businesses and local rural elites, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

Iligan City radio broadcaster shot

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed its concern after receiving reports from its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) that an Iligan City broadcast journalist was shot three times in the stomach.

According to the NUJP, Jose Cagalawan Pantoja, who worked at radio station dxLS in the southern Philippines, was shot on Monday October 8 near the Mindanao State University at approximately 7am. Authorities have said that two unidentified men on motorcycles carried out the attack.

Pantoja has been described as a hard-hitting political reporter for his controversial broadcasts. He is now recovering from the attack at the Mindanao Sanitorium and Hospital.

IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said, "Political activists and journalists are attacked, persecuted and abducted in the Philippines on a regular basis.

"This latest attack demonstrates the daily challenge journalists in the Philippines face to stay safe while carrying out their work."

The Philippines remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. In 2006, it was the second-most deadly country for journalists after war-torn Iraq.

The IFJ joins its affiliate the NUJP in calling on authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice. (IFJ)

Rights group hit PNP deception on 'solved' cases of killings and disappearances

The announcement of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that 56 cases of extrajudicial killings solved came as no surprise to human rights group Karapatan but criticized the PNP for deception.

"It is simply ridiculous if not totally deceiving that our police force keeps on insisting that cases are solved with the mere identification of suspects and filing of complaints," Jigs Clamor, Karapatan Deputy Secretary said.

"A case is solved when the perpetrators are convicted and put behind bars." Clamor continues.

Karapatan said that with this deception, the most affected are the families of the victims who were led to believe that their cases would finally be brought to justice.

The human rights group reiterated that "a thorough and scientific investigation is a requirement in solving cases and sadly, the the PNP has pathetically failed in many cases." Karapatan cited the case of the extrajudicial execution of Aglipayan Bishop Alberto Ramento who was killed a year ago on October 3.

In the said case, the PNP prematurely adopted and stuck to the theory that the incident was a simple case of robbery with homicide, completely ruling out other possible angles and motives in the commission of the heinous crime of murder. They considered the case solved and closed on 6 October 2006, barely three days after the crime was committed.

"Our police institution has undermined our justice system. The pronouncements made about solved cases are mere propaganda ploy to convince the public and the international community that the Arroyo administration does not tolerate extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance."

Karapatan avers that "justice has not yet been served to victims and raised deep concern that the atrocities are continuing because the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya is still in place and continues to wreak havoc among the Filipino people who criticize the anti-fascist and anti-people policies of the Arroyo administration."

JPEPA undermines RP constitution, shuts door to real economic dev't

The Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) violates provisions of the 1987 Constitution which are vital to the country's future economic development, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

The JPEPA directly undermines the intent of the Constitutional mandate to promote the "preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic materials and locally-produced goods", IBON research head Sonny Africa said. The JPEPA's various provisions on National Treatment in Articles 17 (goods), 73 (services), 89 (investment) , 131 (government procurement) prevent the Philippines from actively supporting Filipino producers.

The JPEPA moreover severely restricts the country to pass laws setting economic policy by prohibiting performance requirements. This effectively prevents Congress from enacting laws that ensure that the country benefits from Japanese investments.

Africa pointed out that under the Agreement, the country would be prohibited from enacting local content requirements, local labor requirements and technology transfer provisions.

The JPEPA's provisions on taxation expropriation also lay the groundwork for legal challenges to future tax measures, effectively protecting the profits of Japanese corporations at the expense of the country's right to tax all economic activity within its jurisdiction.

The country's past experience with free trade validates the wisdom of such economic protections guaranteed in the Constitution, Africa said. Trade as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) has doubled from in recent years. Over that same period, foreign investment quadrupled as a share of GDP, from 4% to some 15 percent. And yet joblessness has soared to historic highs with unemployment rates of 11% and some 11 million Filipinos either jobless or looking for more work. The share of domestic manufacturing to GDP has continued to fall to 23%, as has employment in the sector to 9%, while agricultural deficits have been high and rising since the mid-1990s.

According to Africa , the provisions in the Philippine Constitution are based on solid historical experience of countries that have reached any kind of industrial or agricultural development, including Japan itself. But the JPEPA enshrines a defeatist policy-making and in doing so violates the 1987 Constitution’ s vital economic provisions.

As the Senate holds its final hearing on the JPEPA today, IBON urges the senators to consider the Agreement's future impact on the country's economic development. The free-trade pact, if ratified, would shut the door to any real industrial development and modernization. (Ibon)

Pacquiao wins against Barrera, retains WBC title

The judges scored the fight this way: Jerry Roth, 118-109; Glenn Trowbridge 118-109; and Tom Schreck 115-112.

Related news:
Pacquiao wins, retains WBC title; Barrera off to retirement

Expose SMI-Xstrata’s Lies of Responsible Mining

Sr. Diane Cabasagan, RGS
6 October 2007

Panalipdan! Mindanao, a network of church and sectoral organizations and NGOs, issued a statement in support of the outburst of community resistance taking place in Tampakan, South Cotabato this week. The current community actions center on the refusal of the company to regularize more than two hundred of its workers despite its obligation under Philippine Labor Code.

“Big mining companies storm into local communities promising social and economic development to the residents. Yet, the experience of SMI workers from Tampakan has shown what kind of shallow ‘development’ these large mining companies bring our communities: low-paid work without job security, not to mention the massive environmental destruction,” said Sr. Diane Cabasagan, RGS, spokesperson of Panalipdan! The group chided SMI for steadily doling out money for socio-economic projects to appease local leaders, buying their passive consent to the mining project, promising thousands of jobs and other benefits.

Tampakan is host to the multi-national mining giant Sagittarius Mines, Inc. – Xstrata. SMI-Xstrata is spearheading the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project that is one of the Macapagal-Arroyo government’s priority mining projects and said to be the largest undeveloped copper reserve in Southeast Asia. The project formerly involved the controversial Western Mining Corporation that was the center of the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the Mining Act of 1995 as unconstitutional in January 2004. The Court’s decision was later totally reversed in December 2004.

Workers’ barricades in Tampakan this week shut down SMI’s main office in Tampakan, its core farm, and Competence Center. Gasoline trucks have not been able to pass through to fuel ongoing drilling operations. SMI-Xstrata refuses to engage in dialogue with the workers and the local government while the barricades are ongoing. Meanwhile, the company boasts of a community relations program founded on community dialogue that is the core of its program for sustainable and responsible mining.

“The disrespect SMI-Xstrata has shown the local government of Tampakan, the workers, and land owners by not honoring previous agreements and not engaging in constructive dialogue is an omen of what should be expected if the mine is ever fully operational,” Cabasagan said. “The Mining Act of 1995 has been a wholesale sell out of our environment, farmlands, labor power, and local government authority.”

The group lauded the recent statement of the SMI Workers Association which called on all effected sectors and read: “[The management] of SMI-Xstrata just wants to grab up minerals and get rich while Tampakan will eventually become a ghost city, like a cemetery without life.”

Panalipdan! said that the recent rash of protest actions and incidents around large-scale mining projects throughout the country indicates why the Mining Act of 1995 should be repealed. The group was referring to the blockades set up in Kasibu, Nueva Viscaya in July preventing exploration by Oxiana Philippines, and the killing of Armin R. Marin in Sibuyan Island on October 3 at a protest against Sibuyan Nickel Property Development Corp. “Only concerted action by various sectors can effectively push pro-people and environmentally responsible mining based on a program of national industrialization and mineral use for our people’s benefit.”

Panalipdan also called on communities in Colombio, Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur to join in solidarity protest actions with the people in Tampakan. SMI’s Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement covers areas of these three municipalities. SMI-Xstrata is now in extended exploration despite its permit expiring on August 17, 2007.

Panalipdan! Mindanao was formed at a Mindanao-wide gathering of environmental advocates, church people, and indigenous people in January 2006. Panalipdan! promotes a people’s mining policy that lobbies for a mining industry that benefits the Filipino nation and the industrialization of the country.

Justice for Armin Marin, Justice for all killed anti-mining activists

By Rep. Teddy Casiño
Bayan Muna Party List
Delivered on October 5, 2007
House of Representatives

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.

I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege to express my outrage at the latest case of extrajudicial killing, this time of an environmental advocate and anti-mining activist in Sibuyan Island, Romblon, last Wednesday.

Mr. Speaker. On that fateful morning of October 3, 44 year old Armin Marin was shot dead while leading a rally of Sibuyan residents against a nickel mining project in the island.

The manner in which Armin was killed is especially gruesome and terroristic. Witnesses said he was leading a picket in front of the mining company's office when an owner-type jeep drove up. The armed men in the jeep grabbed Armin, dragged him to a distance, then shot him in the mouth.

According to media reports, the gunman was identified as Mario Chinalpan Kingo, 49, chief security of the Sibuyan Nickel Property Development Corp., a consortium which is known to include BHP Billiton of Australia, one of the world's largest mining companies.

Marin is the 23rd environmental activist killed under the Arroyo government. Of those killed, 17 were anti-mining activists like Armin, as documented by the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) . Others would include human rights lawyer Gil Gujol and League of Filipino Students spokesperson Rei Mon Guran who were killed last year in the midst of their campaign against the Lafayette Mining project in Albay.

Armin was a well respected local leader, being a town councilor and a father of five. He and the Sibuyan residents he represented opposed the SNPDC mining project project because they knew that large-scale mining would spell the end of their island paradise. Having been separated from the mainland since the Ice Age, Sibuyan boasts of the highest endemicity in the country, with flora and fauna that can be seen only in its shores. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WFF), in 1997, as much as 75% of its forest cover was intact and it had among the most beautiful and clean rivers.

The mining industry threatens to destroy all that. Today, says the WWF, there are 13 active mining sites surrounding Mt. Guitin Guitin and its national park. Among the applicants for mining are Altai Mining, Sun Pacific, All Acacia, San Roque Mining and Pelican Resources.

The mining operations in Sibuyan is one of 24 priority mining projects of the Arroyo government. The mine's foreign partner is reported to have recently signed a contract to supply 500,000 tons of nickel over five years to BHP Billiton.

According to the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment, which wrote me a letter on the day that Armin was killed, last Aug. 24, just before leaving the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), then Secretary Angelo Reyes signed five special cutting permits to clear forest lands for mining activity in Sibuyan. These “midnight permits” involve the cutting of 69,709 trees or approximately four million board feet of timber from Sibuyan's forests to give way to DENR-approved mining operations.

No wonder Armin and his neighbors were up in arms. No wonder they fought against the mining companies. No wonder he was killed in cold blood while fighting for his island and its environment.

Last year, some 8,000 residents of Sibuyan held an island-wide caravan to protest the granting of a small-scale mining permit to Philippine, Canadian and Australian companies. Just last June, some 3,000 residents demonstrated to opposed the mining operations of JKL Brothers Mineral Ore Quarrying Enterprises.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in Congress to condemn this latest, brutal attack on an activist and his cause for the environment. We should hold the authorities to task for their failure to protect the life of Armin Marin and others like him who have made the protection of our environment their advocacy.

I call on Congress as well to conduct an inquiry into the killing of Armin and the increasing cases of mining-related extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other human rights violations. Indeed, mining kills not only our forests, mountains, streams, rivers and oceans, but our people as well.

Lastly, I call for a stop to all mining activities in Sibuyan and other mining areas where residents have opposed the operations and where human rights violations have escalated, until this issue is cleared once and for all. These would include not only Sibuyan, Romblon but also Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, various areas in Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, among others.

Thank you Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.

Fleeing refugees crucial to providing eyewitness accounts as junta cuts off communications

Capsule Report - Burma
2 October 2007
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

A looming humanitarian crisis in Burma is being exacerbated by the junta's determination to cut all news and information flowing out of the country.

At a forum on 1 October 2007 in Bangkok, members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, officers of civil society groups and diplomats from various governments monitoring the situation in Burma were equally helpless in updating each other or confirming the meagre news that anybody could offer. With the Internet cut, foreign journalists and diplomats refused entry, rebellious local journalists missing or arrested, and state-controlled media forced to publish government propaganda about recent bloody protests, refugees escaping to neighbouring countries have become the only source of information about the unfolding tragedy in the country. And even the entry of refugees, journalists and Burma advocates say, has no guarantee of being tolerated by neighbouring governments.

Burma's shared borders with Thailand and India are already hosting some 200,000 Burmese refugees that had fled the country over the past two decades. Following the recent violence in Burma, the borders have been relatively quiet, according to the UNHCR on 1 October, but the ongoing crackdown and deteriorating economic conditions which sparked the biggest demonstrations in the dictatorship in two decades are anticipated to trigger a surge of refugees in the weeks and months ahead.

SEAPA joins other civil and aid organisations in urging Burma's neighbouring governments - particularly that of Thailand - to accommodate the Burmese refugees. The need for humanitarian intervention is clear. At the same time, with Burma isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, the refugees are crucial to providing eyewitness accounts of the latest atrocities the junta is committing against the unarmed civilians.

On 2 October, for example, a Norwegian journalist quoted a defecting intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta as saying he had refused orders to massacre thousands of protesting monks rounded up following raids on monasteries. The former intelligence officer also recounted to the journalist how bodies of hundreds of mass-executed monks have supposedly been dumped in the jungles. "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand," he was quoted as saying.

The same day, British tabloid the "Daily Mail" quoted an unnamed Swedish diplomat as saying that "one of the largest embassies in Burma" revealed that 40 monks in the notorious Insein prison "were beaten to death today and subsequently burned".

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that that sources from a government-sponsore d militia said the 4,000-plus monks detained in Rangoon, the main site of the protests, will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country. The monks, disrobed and shackled, are reportedly still protesting by going on a hunger strike.

No outside news agency could independently confirm any of the accounts, but that fact only further heightens the desperation to ensure that information and news can somehow make it out of Burma.

The government claims the death toll from the crackdown is between nine and 15 people. Local journalists said 40 and 50 people have been killed since 26 October. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which keeps track of political detainees in Burma's 43 prisons, estimates that up to 1,500 people have been detained since the crackdown.

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Former political prisoners in the Philippines join demand to release Suu Kyi

Former political prisoners under the banner of SELDA adds their voice to the worldwide call to release Burmese pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and scored the military junta for the violent repression that it is foisting on the people of Burma.

Suu Kyi is among the thousands of political prisoners in Burma and despite the military junta’s announcement to suspend the sentence of the prisoners, only a few hundreds have been freed. In the Philippines, the Arroyo government made a commitment to release 32 political prisoners in 2004 under the Oslo agreement but had so far released only 17.

SELDA said “political prisoners are men and women who, as a consequence of their political work and/or organizational affiliations were charged with criminal charges, arrested, captured or in many cases abducted, tried in criminal courts and sent to prison.”

While trying them as criminals, governments maintained files on them referencing their political activities, designed to make sure they remain in prison.

All over the world, there are thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war, including over a hundred fifty reported in the self-proclaimed bastion of democracy – the United States of America.

Meanwhile SELDA called Arroyo a hypocrite for denouncing rights violations in Burma and demanding for the release of Suu Kyi while in her own backyard human rights violations continue, including the deprivation of liberty of many persons perceived as ‘enemies’ by the state.

According to SELDA, there some 200 people have been imprisoned for their political beliefs under the Arroyo regime, many of them in conditions the same as if not worse than Suu Kyi.

SELDA expressed solidarity with the people of Burma in their quest for freedom and democracy, “As the people of the Philippines deserve to be free from tyranny, so do the people of Burma deserve to be free from the clutches of military rule.” (Reference: Donato Continente)

RP among world's worst in health services

The low priority the Arroyo government places on health has branded the Philippines among the worst in the world when it comes to providing health services to its people, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in its World Health Statistics 2007, gave the Philippines dismal rankings in various health provision indicators.

Among 192 countries the Philippines ranks 153rd in terms of government spending on health as a share of a country's total health spending. Filipinos have increasingly relied on out of pocket expenses on health, as against government allocation.

The country also ranks 156th in terms of the share of the government budget going to health.

In the proposed 2008 national budget, only 1.5% of the total budget will go to health. Total health budget for 2008 is P22.9 billion, equivalent to just 0.31% of GDP. Health budget was marginally better at 0.58% of GDP in 1997 and 0.74% in 1990.

However, health budgets still fall well below the 5% of GDP that should be committed to health spending recommended by the WHO.

IBON points out that the per capita health spending in the proposed 2008 budget is just P253 per Filipino, further highlighting how government is taking the least responsibility to meet its citizens' health needs. (IBON October 3, 2007)

Protection of sources, a cornerstone of press freedom

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines expresses utmost concern over moves by senators to cite a reporter in contempt for refusing to reveal her sources, have a newspaper investigated and, worst, amend or repeal the law protecting confidential news sources.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer last Sunday published a story quoting unnamed sources describing how Sen. Joker Arroyo reportedly blocked the testimony of former Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri during the Senate close-door hearing. Juliet Labog-Javellana wrote the story.

Arroyo filed a resolution yesterday seeking to investigate the Inquirer for publishing the report. Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Benigno Aquino III and Francis Escudero supported Arroyo's resolution. Enrile went further to suggest citing the reporter for contempt unless she revealed her sources.

This is intimidation and a violation of the principles of press freedom. This is unacceptable.

Enrile also urged the repeal or amendment of Republic Act No. 53 or the Sotto Law that protects the publisher, editor, columnist or duly accredited reporter of any newspaper, magazine or periodical of general circulation from being compelled to reveal their sources.

The Sotto Law, also known as the Press Freedom Law, is aimed precisely to protect press freedom and keep irate politicians from intimidating journalists and their sources if they do not like what they read.

Protection of confidential sources of information is also an obligation for journalists and key to getting informants to come forward. This is particularly important in uncovering, among others, corruption in government.

If the Press Freedom Law is repealed or weakened, sources would be deterred from coming forward and the public would remain uninformed about vital matters.

The NUJP supports Ms. Labog-Javellana and the Inquirer in their decision not to reveal the identities of the sources.

The fact that these shameful actions are being initiated by senators, who should know that protection of journalists' sources is an essential part of press freedom, makes it even more reprehensible.

References:
Joe Torres Jr., Chairperson
Rowena Paraan, Secretary-General

Anti-mining activist killed today in Sibuyan

Councilor Marin is 23rd green activist killed under Arroyo, Kalikasan PNE says

Environmental activists from Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) today condemned the murder of a local official opposed to the Romblon Nickel Project of Sibuyan Nickel Properties Development Corporation Limited (SNPDC) in Sibuyan island in Romblon.

According to initial reports from local anti-mining alliance Sibuyan Aton Manggad (SAM), Councilor Armin R. Marin was gunned down at around 9:30 a.m. today at a picket by hundreds of residents in front of the SNPDC's miner's quarters in Sitio Olango in Barangay España, San Fernando, Sibuyan Island.

According to SAM, a heated confrontation happened earlier between the protesters and a certain guard of the company named Mario Kingo. Councilor Marin attempted to pacify Kingo, who was armed with a gun at that time. Marin, however, was felled shortly after by a shot in the mouth in front of the picketers, the bullet exiting at the back of his head. Marin died while en route to the hospital.

Marin has been a staunch anti-mining advocate even before he was elected councilor. He has been with SAM in opposing mining operations and applications in Sibuyan Island.

"Kalikasan PNE condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Councilor Marin and demands immediate and complete justice for his death," Bautista said.

"Councilor Marin is the 23rd environmental advocate to be killed under the Arroyo administration. Of this statistic, Marin is the 20th to be killed in relation to large-scale mining projects by the government," he added. Statistics from human rights group KARAPATAN count over 800 activists who were victims of extrajudicial killings under Arroyo.

"Kalikasan PNE is alarmed at this continuing bloodshed of anti-mining advocates and defenders of national patrimony under the current administration. The kilings are sure to continue if the Arroyo administration insists on pursuing these large-scale mining projects," Bautista said.

The Romblon Nickel Project is being operated by Australian mining firm Pelican Resources Limited (PRL) through its subsidiary Sunshine Gold Pty, in its partnership with SNPDC.

"We reiterate the demand that the mining projecct by SNPDC in Sibuyan be pulled out for causing these human rights violations against community leaders. We demand that the DENR scrap all plans of approving the main Mineral Production and Sharing Agreement (MPSA) mining permit being sought by Pelican for the site," Bautista said.

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IFJ condemned Burma's military rulers on media repression

Photo courtesy of Burma Digest




Military’s Tactics against Burmese Uprising Target Journalism
IFJ 09-28-07

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned Burma's military rulers for the ongoing harassment of foreign journalists and the Burmese media. The media have come under increasing attack since a protest led by monks against the military junta began nearly two weeks ago.

Japanese cameraman, Kenji Nagai, was the latest journalist casualty in the protests, having been tragically shot to death when the military opened fire on a crowd of protesters in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Nagai had been in Burma for only a few days to cover the protests for photo and video agency, APF News.

“We are saddened by the death of Mr. Nagai and others who have lost their lives in this peaceful protest,” IFJ Asia Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said. “This act of aggression from the military to fire on unarmed civilians was completely unprovoked and unjust.”

On Thursday September 27, police intimidated foreign journalists into showing them their IDs after authorities stormed several hotels where journalists were residing, where access to internet and international phone lines remained open.

Military censors threatened reprisals against journalists who challenged the regime by refusing to follow its demands. A local source in Burma has also reported that the Burmese regime yesterday ordered the closure of some privately-owned newspapers that refused to print government propaganda.

“The military junta continues to escalate acts of unprovoked violence,” Park said. “With the protests already resulting in a number of deaths and injuries, the Burmese government has worked tirelessly to prevent journalists reporting the truth.”

The IFJ calls on the Burmese military to respect Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

AFP terror biggest threat in barangay elections–CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said that "widespread military terrorism in the countryside being carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) comprise the biggest threat to the free and peaceful conduct of the Barangay Council and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections slated this October.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said "Like before, the AFP seeks to control the barangay elections in order to forestall the election of pro-people candidates. At the same time, the military is actively working to put into office candidates who will serve as their stooges."

"Democracy is completely lost in barangay and youth council elections under the present rotten, reactionary system as these are being used by the the AFP and the big reactionary political warlords for their reactionary, anti-democratic and anti-people agenda."

"The AFP desperately wants to use the local barangay and youth leaders as adjuncts in its stepped-up campaign of suppression and its drive to recruit more members for its paramilitary forces and barangay intelligence networks," Rosal added.

Such efforts are being coordinated by the US-Arroyo regime’s National Security Council and is in line with its current "counter-insurgency" operational plan dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya II, pointed out Rosal.

Rosal also said that "military interference" in the barangay and youth elections are being carried out in league with local big reactionary political warlords who also seek to control the barangays in their areas.

"These reactionary politicos want the barangays to serve as their ‘base contituencies’ in future local and national elections and as ‘beneficiaries’ for their ‘pork barrel’ and other government fund-milking activities."

Rosal said the interference of the AFP and reactionary political warlords’ in the so-called "non-partisan" elections is highly intense in the countryside, especially in areas perceived to be revolutionary base areas. "We anticipate extrajudicial killings, abductions and other terrorist acts by military hoodlums and private armies to intensify in the next few weeks in the desperate attempt of the military and reactionary politicos to ensure that the outcome of the barangay and youth council elections will be in their favor."

Rosal said that the revolutionary forces regard the forthcoming elections as an exercise meant to deceive the people and give a false democratic garb to the rotten political system. "It is only in areas where the revolutionary government prevail where genuine democracy exists. In these areas, the reactionary government only exists nominally," said Rosal.

"Under the people’s democratic government, it is the people through their organizations and representatives who actually govern. They forge and carry out policies that serve their economic, political and cultural interests."

"The revolutionary movement’s main task in the course of reactionary elections is to expose their farcical and encourage the people to wage revolutionary struggle," Rosal explained. "As always, the revolutionary forces are sought after by the masses in revolutionary areas who seek guidance in dealing with elections as well as all other significant political and socio-economic developments and issues.

"The advise of the revolutionary movement is for them to devise tactics, taking into consideration their particular conditions, to be able to put into office those will take the side of the people and work to promote their rights and welfare," Rosal said.

"In the end, however, it is their collective resistance that will prove crucial in the effort to thwart the anti-democratic and anti-people designs and activities of the AFP and the big reactionary political warlords." (09-29-07)

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GMA's "Green Philippines" claim at UN belied by Filipino environmentalists

"Arroyo turning RP a bloody red with human rights violations and environmental disasters!" -- Kalikasan PNE
Clemente Bautista, Jr. (09-29-07)

Philippine green groups today vehemently belied Pres. Gloria Arroyo's claims to building an environmentally-friendly "Green Philippines" at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying that the Philippines was "turning anything but green under the anti-environment and anti-people Arroyo administration".

"Rather than making the Philippines a greener place, Pres. Arroyo is turning the country a bloody shade of red due to the number of environmental disasters and extrajudicial killings, such as that of environmental advocates," Clemente Bautista Jr., National Coordinator of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) said in a statement.

"It is hypocritical of Pres. Arroyo to deplore the military junta's crackdown in Burma at the international front when her own backyard in the Philippines is a world-class showcase of human rights violations, political repression and corruption," Bautista added.

Human rights groups count more than 800 extrajudicial killings and 200 enforced disappearances of activists under the Arroyo administration. Among the ranks of environmental activists, Kalikasan PNE has documented 21 cases of extrajudicial killings ever since the Arroyo administration's start in 2001.

Bautista also belied Pres. Arroyo's claims at the UN that her administration was striving for environmental protection.

"Under Pres. Arroyo, the Philippines is also turning an sickly grey and a toxic brown color due to the skyrocketing levels of air and water pollution, foreign-owned large-scale mining projects, and environmental disasters such as oil spills and mine tailings spills," Bautista said.

"It's an empty bluff. How can Pres. Arroyo boast to the world that the Philippines is environmentally-friendly, when her administration approved so many large-scale mining projects that will only bring about ecological destruction and plunder of the country's national patrimony? When even reports by the Philippine Environment Monitor, a joint report of the World Bank and the DENR, showed that Manila's poor air quality reuslts in an estimated 4,968 premature deaths annually (accounting for around 12 percent of all deaths in the metropolis) due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases?" Bautista said.

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End Myanmar Violence, Philippine Senate Calls

RESOLUTION ON BURMA CRISIS INTRODUCED BY PHILIPPINE SENATOR AQUILINO PIMENTEL AND ADOPTED BY THE SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES AS

RESOLUTION NO. 19, ADOPTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2007.

RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL (UNSC), THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) AND THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN) TO END THE VIOLENT REPRESSION OF THE RULING MILITARY JUNTA UPON THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

WHEREAS, on August 19, 2007, widespread peaceful mass protests began in Myanmar after the government hiked fuel prices; (which protests) could be traced to the deep-rooted dissatisfaction of the people with the repressive military rule that has gripped the country since 1962;

WHEREAS, despite government warnings banning all public gatherings of more than five people and the imposition of a nighttime curfew, tens of thousands of Buddhist monks, activists and other supporters (of the democratic movement of Burma) marched down the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction and grievances;

WHEREAS, on September 26, 2007, the military junta intensified its crackdown on the biggest pro-democracy demonstrations in twenty years by firing shots over the heads of large crowds in the main city of Myanmar; arresting a great number of protestors many of whom are Buddhist monks and killing and injuring some of them;

WHEREAS, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides under Article 9 that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile and under Article 20 thereof that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;

WHEREAS, the Philippines as a member of the United Nations has an obligation to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the UN charter:

NOW THEREFORE, be it

RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, TO urge:

1. The United Nations Security Council to immediately call upon the ruling junta of Myanmar to cease its repressions of the fundamental rights of the people of Burma and the use of force against the peaceful and unarmed demonstrators;
2. The European Union to use its influence to help bring about democratic governance in Burma to provide in a peaceful manner a democratic solution to the problems the country is facing; and
3. The Association of South East Asian Nations to demand that the ruling junta of Myanmar should immediately end its violent and brutal dispersals of the unarmed and peaceful demonstrators; to suspend Mayanmar from its membership in ASEAN; and if the ruling junta persists in abusing its own people, to expel Myanmar from ASEAN.

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Aussie mining firm's lawsuit against Nueva Vizcaya dad slammed

Kalikasan PNE to mining firms, Arroyo administration: Stop harassing anti-mining LGU officials!
Clemente Bautista, Jr. Kalikasan-PNE National Coordinator

Pro-environment activists today vowed to launch an "international shame campaign" against an Australian-owned mining firm for filing a lawsuit against Romeo Tayaban, Mayor of Kasibu town in Nueva Vizcaya, who supported his constituents in opposing its exploration project.

Atty. Virgil Castrol, legal counsel for Oxiana Philippines Inc. and its foreign partner RoyalCo, Ltd.of Australia, filed a petition at the local court in Nueva Vizcaya Wednesday, asking it to cite Mayor Tayaban in contempt. Mayor Tayaban and the majority of his constituents are opposed to an impending exploration by Oxiana Philippines, Inc. in five barangays of Kasibu (Pa-o, Kakidugen, Paquet, Dine & Katarawan) under Exploration Permit RO2-0014, which was extended by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau up to June 2009 despite the opposition of the affected communities. A barricade set up by Kasibu residents since July 2, 2007 has so far successfully blocked the entry of Oxiana's drilling equipment into Pa-o.

In a statement, Kalikasan Peoples Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) National Coordinator Clemente Bautista, Jr. slammed Oxiana's "latest lawsuit against community leaders opposed to their dirty, damaging and unacceptable exploration project".

"We categorically condemn Oxiana for harassing Mayor Tayaban through this complaint and obstructing his duties as a duly-elected local government official as Mayor of Kasibu. As a responsible government official, Mayor Tayaban has staunchly stood by the wishes of his constituents to reject Oxiana's mining exploration project," Bautista said.

Bautista called attention to the fact that Mayor Tayaban is not the only LGU official who has been pressured to support the Arroyo administration's mining projects.

"DENR Secretary Lito Atienza even had the temerity to tell Palawan Mayor Edward Hagedorn to reverse his declaration of a mining ban in Palawan. Other LGUs have also faced similar pressure but have asserted their constituencies rights to reject large-scale foreign mining. This year, North Cotabato Vice-Governor Manny Pinol declared a 'no mining' policy in his area of responsibility. In January 2002, the provincial government of Mindoro Oriental passed a resolution enforcing a 25-year mining moratorium," Bautista said.

Bautista announced that Kalikasan PNE and its network organizations would be "embarking on an international shame campaign against Oxiana Philppine's Australian partner, RoyalCo Resources of Australia".

"We will be exhorting RoyalCo's financial supporters and business partners to desist from supporting a mining firm which indiscriminately harasses local government officials and grassroots leaders and thereby causing human rights violations and disregarding the principle of free and informed prior consent from mining-affected communities. We will also be reaching out to pro-environment Australians who should be aware of how much environmental destruction and community displacements are being caused by Aussie firms such as RoyalCo," Bautista said.

Bautista described Oxiana's complaint as a "classic case of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP)"

"SLAPPs are lawsuits ranging from libel to conspiracy used by powerful corporate entities against non-governmental individuals or groups defending issues of marginalized sectors, such as human, labor, peasant or consumer rights, environmental protection, national patrimony and the like," Bautista said.

"SLAPPs are a form of litigation filed by usually powerful entities against less financially-capable critics with the intention of intimidating and silencing them in the course of a lengthy and costly legal battle. Environmental groups in other countries have faced SLAPPs by commercial real estate developers, companies, and the like. In the Philippines, these "powerful entities" using SLAPPs are usually foreign-owned mining or logging firms or elite land-owning families who control and extract resources from vast tracts of lands," Bautista explained.

Bautista said that Mayor Tayaban is the 25th victim of a SLAPP suit by Oxiana in Kasibu. Oxiana earlier filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against 24 other indigenous people's leaders representing the Ibaloi, Ifugao, Kalanguya, Bugkalot, Kankaney, and Bontoc communities in Kasibu for holding the anti-exploration barricade, including Lucas Buay, an Ifugao leader and chairperson of the Council of Leaders of the Kasibu Inter-tribal Response Towards Ecological Development.

Other Philippine environmental advocates currently facing SLAPP suits include Frances Quimpo, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils), a non-government organization (NGO) facing a P10 million libel suit from Australian-owned mining company Lafayette Philippines Inc. (LPI) which operates the Arroyo administration's controversial flagship mining project in the environmentally-critical island of Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Bicol. CEC-Phils is one of the NGOs actively involved in the campaign for LPI's closure and a moratorium on mining operations in Rapu-Rapu.

LPI's Philippine partners, represented by Manuel Agcaoili, President of Rapu-Rapu Processing, Inc, and Bayani H. Agabin, Senior Vice-President of Rapu-Rapu Minerals, Inc., filed a complaint before the Pasig City Prosecutor's Office on July 9 against CEC-Phils' trustees, to answer for libel in their publication entitled "Rapu-Rapu A Struggle Against Mining Liberalization And Plunder In the Philippines". The publication was distributed when CEC-Phils visited and lobbied before Lafayette's financial shareholders in Australia last June 8.

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Karapatan's Enriquez reports to UNHRC on the continuing extrajudicial killings in the Philippines

Ruth Cervantes, Public Information Officer

Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday afternoon in Geneva (September 24, 11PM Philippine time), Karapatan Secretary General Marie Hilao-Erniquez reported that the killings have not stopped and that "the measures implemented by the Philippine government did not and will not resolve the killings."

Enriquez said that from January to July 2007, there were 60 cases of extrajudicial executions and that from January to June 2007 there were 17 cases of disappearances, 12 cases of torture, 113 cases of illegal arrests and thousands became victims of forced evacuation.

Karapatan attributes the unabated human rights violations to the two underlying causes already pointed out by Prof. Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajdicial Killings, who visited the Philippines in February this year and issued his initial report in March.

Enriquez said, "The Arroyo government to this day continues with the 'vilification' of most groups on the left of the political spectrum as 'front organizations' for the armed groups thereby rendering such groups to be accordingly considered to be legitimate targets."

The second cause identified by Alston and is still presently in effect are the aspects of the "Government's counter-insurgency strategy that encourage or facilitate the extrajudicial killings of activists and other 'enemies' in certain circumstances."

Enriquez, who spoke on behalf of the entire Philippine NGO delegation, including Mrs. Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, told the UNHRC "Mrs. Burgos and other members of our NGO delegation made the long trip here to Geneva to beseech this Council to prevail upon the Philippine government to make good its commitments in the pledges it made to the General Assembly when it sought reelection to this Council in May of this year."

Enriquez also called to mind the declaration of martial law in the Philippines 35 years ago on September 21 and said that "the impunity by which violations were committed by state security forces at that time continues to this day even as martial law survivors have not been recognized and indemnified by this administration which just made promises to do so."

Calling on the attention of the UNHRC, Enriquez said, "Our country has long been depicted as a democracy in Southeast Asia and as such it must be compelled to adhere to human rights standards and international humanitarian laws. It must resolve cases of human rights violations and render justice to victims. We hope that the Human Rights Council bears this record in mind when the Philippine government is reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review."

The statement made by Enriquez before the UNHRC was supported by the World Council of Churches, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

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NUJP Statement on media harassment and threat

Joe Torres Jr., NUJP chairperson
Rowena Paraan, NUJP secretary-general
September 22, 2007

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is alarmed over reports that no less than the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has prevented a reporter from covering legitimate news events in Mindanao, particularly in the province of Basilan.

The banning of Julie Alipala, a reporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, from covering ongoing military operations in Basilan is a violation of press freedom and the people's right to know as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. She has also repeatedly received threats because of her reports on military operations in Basilan and Sulu that exposed lapses and abuses on the part of the AFP.

The NUJP looks at the military's action against a legitimate media practitioner as pure harassment and an indication of the military's penchant for human rights violations. The NUJP is also deeply concerned for her safety.

What makes this even more alarming are reports that another journalist has received death threats for exposing corruption in the government.

Philippine Star's Jarius Bondoc sought assistance after receiving death threats allegedly due to his exposé on the controversial $330-million contract for the government's national broadband network project with China's ZTE Corp.

Bondoc has been receiving text (SMS) messages warning him that he could be shot or his office bombed anytime for his exposes.

The NUJP calls on the authorities to look into these incidents even as we urge the military to stop harassing media practitioners, especially in the provinces.