November 29th, 2007
Gen. Lim’s Withdrawal of Support Statement.
“Today, we address all decent Filipinos to announce that now is the time to end the sufferings and miseries inflicted upon us by the illegitimate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government and start a new life, a new Philippines. The die is cast pursuant to our constitutional mandate as protector of the people and state.
And by these acts the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police supported by the masses of our people and the various political forces give substance to the constitutional provisions which says the Philippines is a democratic and republican state.
Sovereign peace resides in the people and all government authority emanate from them. That we take the faithful steps of removing Mrs Arroyo from the presidency and undertake the formation of a new government.
Mrs Arroyo had occupied the presidency under a questionable mandate publicly disputed by a vast majority of Filipinos. She stole the presidency from President Estrada through unconstitutional and deceitful means and later manipulated the results of the 2004 elections to perpetuate herself in power.
We have individually and collectively tried all means to resolve this legitimacy issue through the normal electoral, juidicial, and congressional processes but Mrs Arroyo used naked power through the issuance of Executive Order 464 and other executive proclamations and the sheer weight of numbers to paralyze the impeachment process procured at the people’s great expense to fustrate us at every turn.
After all these have failed our people tried to air their grievances in peaceful street assemblies. They thought they were exercising a combination of constitutional right which no official or agency of government may legally abridge but they were stopped and dispersed violently with cannons from firemen and truncheons from the police.
The abuses of our government continue the deliberate the deliberate refusal or failure of the dubious leaders to castigate and prosecute the people responsible for the scandalous Hello, Garci electoral cheating, the Joc-joc Bolante multi million peso fertilizer scam, Impsa bribery, the Jose Pidal and Jueteng scandals involving billions of public funds, the North Rail Project, scandal, the Venable contract scandal, the NBN scandal, the wholesale bribery of congressmen in Malacañang as well as the unabated and unresolved extrajudicial killings of citizens particularly journalists and members of the judiciary and the use of military and police officers for some unlawful mission.
Among others, these are clear proof of her failure for good and decent governance. There are numerous illegal and immoral activities and transactions conducted by these government with impunity that betray the citizens and the state of their pristine right to exist as a people with decency, dignity and integrity.
With all the avenues closed by the use of naked force, no other means remain but for the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to exercise their constitutional mandate and to take the side of the sovereign people against this illegitimate and unjust president.
We take due indulgence and apologize for any untoward disruptions attendant to fighting this righteous cause.
We are confident that the will of the sovereign people will prevail. The end of the corrupt and vicious government and its bogus leaders is long overdue.
We support the political and economic reforms that will be initiated by the new government regardless of the personal cause it may impose on each one of us.
We therefore call on our people and all the government around the world to give the constitutional rescue initiated by our patriotic brothers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police a chance to work.
To the task of organizing a new government and pursuing a program of total and no nonsense reform, we commit our full support.
We shall do whatever we can too to prevent any backsliding to the corruption and abuse of power of the immediate past and advance the cause of truth, freedom and justice, peace and progress for all Filipinos. God bless the Filipino people. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.”
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Saturday, 13 October 2007
October 17th, 2007
Statement from Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danny Lim and the rest of the 28 officers detained in Camp Capinpin on Dolorfino’s statement that he does not think the bribery issue would be a source of grumbling among soldiers:
“Speak for yourself, you sycophant general. It hardly affects you because you have got it so good enjoying all the perquisites dispensed by an illegitimate leadership bereft of mroal scruples which perpetuates itself through bribery and corrupting others.
“You’ve got it made. All for your bling loyalty and myopic sense of professionalism. If pervasive corruption and the strak truth don’t bother you, the soldiers are deeply affected by them.
“Tell that to the Marines who arein harm’s way in Sulu and Basilan who have been promised a pittance increase in their combat pay. No funds for them but Malacañang can afford to give everytoady congressman, governor, and other local officials half a million pesos each.
“He said professionalism should reign regardless of personal and political interest and the AFP neutral at all times.
“We totally agree. But it’s not professionalism and neutrality when your chief of staff cheats in elections and in the process dragging the AFP in partisan politics. He continues to lie up to this time.
“You’re not a professional and neutral when you continue to keep a blind eye. There’s no such thing as being neutral when it comes to the truth.
“Dolorfino cited Tadiar’s professionalism refusing orders to fire at protesters and rebellious soldiers during the events of February 1986. We wholeheartedly agree with him. And being the professional that he claims to be, just like Tadiar, Dolorfino should refuse to obey when ordred by the butchers in Malacañang and Aguinaldo to fire at the crowds and violently disperse them. Even if there’s a lot in it for him from Malacañang.
“He talks of military adventurism. It’s not adventurism to stand up and be counted on the side of the truth. It is a serious duty for those who are not blinded by other considerations especially self-aggrandisement.”
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
AFP 2 desaparecidos escape military from captors.
08/24/07 Daily Tribune By Benjamin B. Pulta
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.
The Flag lawyers also asked the court to issue a TRO and a writ of injunction that would prevent the military and the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) from again taking and detaining their clients.
Whisked to different safehouses and military bases in Luzon and Palawan in the course of their abduction, the brothers claim that, while under detention, former Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. talked to them and asked them to tell their family not to attend the habeas corpus hearings at the Court of Appeals (CA).
The habeas corpus suit had been filed by their families.
Raymond said while at Camp Tecson and again in Limay, Bataan, he allegedly saw abducted University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.
It was also in detention where he saw abducted activist Manuel Mirino.
Raymond said he later learned that Mirino had been killed by his captors.
Respondents in the petition were the offices of the Secretary of National Defense and the offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff.
In their petition, the Manalo brothers alleged that they were forcibly abducted on Feb. 14, 2006 in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, in successive operations by then unidentified men from their house in Barangay Buhol Na Manga.
During their captivity, the brothers claimed they were blindfolded, severely beaten, bathed in their own urine and whipped with a chain with a barbed wire attached at one end.
They alleged that their captors also poured water in their nostrils and were forced to eat rotten food.
The brothers also allege that their captors threatened to harm their families should they later reveal their experience or escape.
Raymond, in an affidavit attached to the petition, said he later learned that he and his brother were taken by members of the Cafgu whom he identified as Michael Dela Cruz, a certain Puti and Pula Dela Cruz, Randy and Rudy Mendoza. He added he and his brother were taken to Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija and were tortured by their captors during the first three months of their captivity.
Raymond said they were later transferred to Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan, and then later to a safehouse in Zambales.
After three weeks, they were again transferred to the camp of the 24th Infantry Battalion in Limay, Bataan.
The families of the brothers, during their captivity, meanwhile, exerted every effort to locate them and even filed a habeas corpus petition with the appellate court.
The brothers, in their petition, however, said the military merely denied having them in their custody.
The appellate court later upheld the military?s claim and ordered the Cafgu to release the Manalos.
Raymond said while in captivity, a certain Rollie Castillo warned them that their families will be killed if they ever try to escape.
The brothers later learned that Rolle Castillo was Army Sgt. Rizal Hilario.
Raymond also said it was at this point in captivity that Palparan talked to him and asked him to tell his family not to attend the habeas corpus hearings at the CA.
He added while at Camp Tecson and again in Limay, he personally talked to Cadapan and Empeno.
Last Aug. 13, the Manalo brothers escaped from their safehouse in Pangasinan after their captors fell drunk asleep.
The brothers said they then walked toward the highway where they boarded a bus going to Cubao, Quezon City.
Diokno said they have decided to ask the protection of the SC for their clients as they could not trust the police, the military and even the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice, which uses agents of the military and the police.
“The brothers Manalo have now surfaced, after having escaped from their captors on Aug. 13, 2007. But they cannot escape the danger to their lives and liberty, which is now at its most critical level. Without the protection of this court, they have every reason to believe that they will be hunted down, abducted again or simply killed outright,” Diokno said.
He added in filing the petition, they are asking for ancillary remedies from the high court such as protective custody orders, the appointment of an inspection commissioner and access orders under Article III, Section 5, of the 1987 Constitution and Rule 135, Section 6, of the Rules of Court. Article III, Section 5, of the Constitution gives the SC the exclusive authority to issue rules concerning the protection and enforcement of human rights.
“There is no government agency or entity that petitioners trust with their physical custody, other than this court. Thus, petitioners now seek this court’s urgent and immediate intervention by the issuance of a protective order to take them under its custody,” the Flag lawyers said.
Diokno told reporters that they could not reveal where their clients are now and for what reasons why they were taken by the Cafgu.
He, however, hinted that they were taken on suspicion of being involved with the communist New People’s Army.
“The best persons to ask that (reasons for detention) would be their captors themselves,” Diokno said.
He also refused to give further details on the Manalo brothers for fear that it would compromise their safety.
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
EU Parliment scolds AFP & PNP
but Praises Puno's High Court
11/21/07 Daily Tribune reported that Jules Maaten, EU parliamentarian from The Netherlands Maaten, praised the Philippine Supreme Court for implementing the writ of amparo that will summon either the military or the Philippine National Police (PNP) to explain its involvement in killing or abduction of a victim. Maaten said the EU is “very pleased” with the move that was taken by the high court. “It was necessary to come up with some sort of a solution. Of course it would have been better if it has come through the democratic process and by Congress and by the President. But what the Supreme Court has done is that it has helped the process,” he said. “It has already had some success. At the end of the day, the responsibility for making sure that this is resolved falls on the political leaders,” Maaten added. Close to 900 cases of extra-judicial killings and 300 forced disappearances in the Philippines have been recorded by local human rights group Karapatan. Since it took effect in Oct. 24, the SC on Friday issued its fifth writ of amparo. Amparo comes from the Spanish word amparar, which literally means “to protect.” The writ of amparo may be availed of by any person whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission by public officials or employees and by private individuals or entities. Meanwhile, the nine visiting European Parliamentarians, who will be in Manila until Nov. 23, will also meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the framework of its regular interparliamentary dialogs. The visiting delegation is led by Nassauer (Germany) and includes Maaten, Ms. Giovanna Corda (Belgium), Mr. Jean-Pierre Audy France), Ms. Barbara Weiler (Germany), Mr. Szabolcs Fazakas (Hungary), Mr. Csaba Ory (Hungary), Mr. Dariusz Grabowski (Poland) and Mr. Glyn Ford (United Kingdom).
collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
Glorietta Mall bombing,
more than meets the eye.
11/24/2007 Daily Tribune
Police are sticking to their claim that the blast at the Glorietta 2 mall, where people were killed and injured, was caused by a gas explosion.
The Ayala management refuses to accept the police conclusion, insisting that the blast couldn’t have been caused by a gas combustion, and called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to provide the management with a copy of the gas blast report, saying no evidence of the gas blast has been mentioned; only reasons the blast couldn’t have been caused by a bomb.
At this point, no one really knows just who has the true version, but what is certain is that the owners of the mall aren’t likely to take the PNP report without a fight, which probably will take the form of the Ayala management probe report, along with Mayor Jojo Binay and his Makati group conducting another independent investigation.
But what was startling about the way the police probe team went about its investigative task was the fact that this team insisted on barring anyone from Ayala management as well as the Binay group from being present when the police took charge and reportedly gathered their evidence.
To this day, from reports, no other group, save for the police, has been into the scene of the so-called gas explosion. And the police keep on saying they won’t allow other groups to conduct their own investigation.
Such behavior is suspicious, to say the least, considering that no matter which investigative unit it is, there is always a need for coordination with several officers in the know, which would be the management and its service people. But in this instance, there was clearly no such coordination, nor even questions asked of the management. The police just went on and did the probing all on their own. But why, if the intent is to get to the right conclusion?
Another strange occurrence was the fact that it took an inordinately long time for the PNP to come up with a final report on the blast, but which report still raises more questions than answers.
As the Ayala management said, if it was a gas combustion, why was there no fire?
Also, the PNP had different versions almost everytime during the probe, even as everyone expected the police to say the blast was not caused by a bomb.
It will be recalled that the bomb data center, just a day or two after the Glorietta blast, and in a press conference, came up with a finding that RDX, a component of C4 which only the military handles, was present. The center was pretty certain about its findings, and even Gloria and her executives in attendance were one in accepting this information from the bomb data center.
It didn’t take too long for the administration ‘particularly the police’ to change its story. No longer was it a blast. Even the traces of RDX finding was suddenly dumped, for a gas combustion blast.
In other words, Gloria and her police stuck to the story that it was no terrorist handiwork.
Then came the Batasan blast, which clearly was caused by a bomb. But even in this, the police insisted that it was not the work of a terrorist, but an assassination plot against one congressman: Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar.
To this end, the police in less than two days, captured the suspected culprits and found all the evidence needed to point to an assassination plot that succeeded. And the charge was not terrorism but murder.
As if that was not enough, they even got the suspects to point to two Akbar rivals, former deputy Speaker from Mindanano, then Basilan Rep. Gerry Salapuddin, then later, Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman and his cousin, Jim. Whether they are involved, what struck one was the fact that the police were pressing on the Hataman and Salapuddin line as brains, even getting a Basilan town mayor to state on television that he was informed by Ikram Indana, one of the suspects, that the brains behind the Batasan bombing meant to kill Akbar. That’s hearsay, clearly. So why isn’t Ikram doing the talking since it was he, as claimed by the Basilan town mayor, who had already told him just who the brains were?
Just yesterday, another bomb blast in a mall in Kidapawan, Cotabato, occurred. Again, even as it was clearly a bomb blast, what is being claimed is that it was (a) an extortion try and (b) a blast intended to disrupt the peace talks between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
In other words, it is not a terrorist act.
What appears clear is that the administration - through the police force does not want anything tagged as an act of terrorism, even when all signs point to it as such.
Yet months ago, every act was tagged as an act of terrorists.
There’s more than meets the eye on this reluctance from the Arroyo government to call a bombing spade a spade.
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
Statement from Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danny Lim and the rest of the 28 officers detained in Camp Capinpin on Dolorfino’s statement that he does not think the bribery issue would be a source of grumbling among soldiers:
“Speak for yourself, you sycophant general. It hardly affects you because you have got it so good enjoying all the perquisites dispensed by an illegitimate leadership bereft of mroal scruples which perpetuates itself through bribery and corrupting others.
“You’ve got it made. All for your bling loyalty and myopic sense of professionalism. If pervasive corruption and the strak truth don’t bother you, the soldiers are deeply affected by them.
“Tell that to the Marines who arein harm’s way in Sulu and Basilan who have been promised a pittance increase in their combat pay. No funds for them but Malacañang can afford to give everytoady congressman, governor, and other local officials half a million pesos each.
“He said professionalism should reign regardless of personal and political interest and the AFP neutral at all times.
“We totally agree. But it’s not professionalism and neutrality when your chief of staff cheats in elections and in the process dragging the AFP in partisan politics. He continues to lie up to this time.
“You’re not a professional and neutral when you continue to keep a blind eye. There’s no such thing as being neutral when it comes to the truth.
“Dolorfino cited Tadiar’s professionalism refusing orders to fire at protesters and rebellious soldiers during the events of February 1986. We wholeheartedly agree with him. And being the professional that he claims to be, just like Tadiar, Dolorfino should refuse to obey when ordred by the butchers in Malacañang and Aguinaldo to fire at the crowds and violently disperse them. Even if there’s a lot in it for him from Malacañang.
“He talks of military adventurism. It’s not adventurism to stand up and be counted on the side of the truth. It is a serious duty for those who are not blinded by other considerations especially self-aggrandisement.”
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
AFP 2 desaparecidos escape military from captors.
08/24/07 Daily Tribune By Benjamin B. Pulta
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.
The Flag lawyers also asked the court to issue a TRO and a writ of injunction that would prevent the military and the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) from again taking and detaining their clients.
Whisked to different safehouses and military bases in Luzon and Palawan in the course of their abduction, the brothers claim that, while under detention, former Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. talked to them and asked them to tell their family not to attend the habeas corpus hearings at the Court of Appeals (CA).
The habeas corpus suit had been filed by their families.
Raymond said while at Camp Tecson and again in Limay, Bataan, he allegedly saw abducted University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.
It was also in detention where he saw abducted activist Manuel Mirino.
Raymond said he later learned that Mirino had been killed by his captors.
Respondents in the petition were the offices of the Secretary of National Defense and the offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff.
In their petition, the Manalo brothers alleged that they were forcibly abducted on Feb. 14, 2006 in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, in successive operations by then unidentified men from their house in Barangay Buhol Na Manga.
During their captivity, the brothers claimed they were blindfolded, severely beaten, bathed in their own urine and whipped with a chain with a barbed wire attached at one end.
They alleged that their captors also poured water in their nostrils and were forced to eat rotten food.
The brothers also allege that their captors threatened to harm their families should they later reveal their experience or escape.
Raymond, in an affidavit attached to the petition, said he later learned that he and his brother were taken by members of the Cafgu whom he identified as Michael Dela Cruz, a certain Puti and Pula Dela Cruz, Randy and Rudy Mendoza. He added he and his brother were taken to Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija and were tortured by their captors during the first three months of their captivity.
Raymond said they were later transferred to Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan, and then later to a safehouse in Zambales.
After three weeks, they were again transferred to the camp of the 24th Infantry Battalion in Limay, Bataan.
The families of the brothers, during their captivity, meanwhile, exerted every effort to locate them and even filed a habeas corpus petition with the appellate court.
The brothers, in their petition, however, said the military merely denied having them in their custody.
The appellate court later upheld the military?s claim and ordered the Cafgu to release the Manalos.
Raymond said while in captivity, a certain Rollie Castillo warned them that their families will be killed if they ever try to escape.
The brothers later learned that Rolle Castillo was Army Sgt. Rizal Hilario.
Raymond also said it was at this point in captivity that Palparan talked to him and asked him to tell his family not to attend the habeas corpus hearings at the CA.
He added while at Camp Tecson and again in Limay, he personally talked to Cadapan and Empeno.
Last Aug. 13, the Manalo brothers escaped from their safehouse in Pangasinan after their captors fell drunk asleep.
The brothers said they then walked toward the highway where they boarded a bus going to Cubao, Quezon City.
Diokno said they have decided to ask the protection of the SC for their clients as they could not trust the police, the military and even the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice, which uses agents of the military and the police.
“The brothers Manalo have now surfaced, after having escaped from their captors on Aug. 13, 2007. But they cannot escape the danger to their lives and liberty, which is now at its most critical level. Without the protection of this court, they have every reason to believe that they will be hunted down, abducted again or simply killed outright,” Diokno said.
He added in filing the petition, they are asking for ancillary remedies from the high court such as protective custody orders, the appointment of an inspection commissioner and access orders under Article III, Section 5, of the 1987 Constitution and Rule 135, Section 6, of the Rules of Court. Article III, Section 5, of the Constitution gives the SC the exclusive authority to issue rules concerning the protection and enforcement of human rights.
“There is no government agency or entity that petitioners trust with their physical custody, other than this court. Thus, petitioners now seek this court’s urgent and immediate intervention by the issuance of a protective order to take them under its custody,” the Flag lawyers said.
Diokno told reporters that they could not reveal where their clients are now and for what reasons why they were taken by the Cafgu.
He, however, hinted that they were taken on suspicion of being involved with the communist New People’s Army.
“The best persons to ask that (reasons for detention) would be their captors themselves,” Diokno said.
He also refused to give further details on the Manalo brothers for fear that it would compromise their safety.
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
EU Parliment scolds AFP & PNP
but Praises Puno's High Court
11/21/07 Daily Tribune reported that Jules Maaten, EU parliamentarian from The Netherlands Maaten, praised the Philippine Supreme Court for implementing the writ of amparo that will summon either the military or the Philippine National Police (PNP) to explain its involvement in killing or abduction of a victim. Maaten said the EU is “very pleased” with the move that was taken by the high court. “It was necessary to come up with some sort of a solution. Of course it would have been better if it has come through the democratic process and by Congress and by the President. But what the Supreme Court has done is that it has helped the process,” he said. “It has already had some success. At the end of the day, the responsibility for making sure that this is resolved falls on the political leaders,” Maaten added. Close to 900 cases of extra-judicial killings and 300 forced disappearances in the Philippines have been recorded by local human rights group Karapatan. Since it took effect in Oct. 24, the SC on Friday issued its fifth writ of amparo. Amparo comes from the Spanish word amparar, which literally means “to protect.” The writ of amparo may be availed of by any person whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission by public officials or employees and by private individuals or entities. Meanwhile, the nine visiting European Parliamentarians, who will be in Manila until Nov. 23, will also meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the framework of its regular interparliamentary dialogs. The visiting delegation is led by Nassauer (Germany) and includes Maaten, Ms. Giovanna Corda (Belgium), Mr. Jean-Pierre Audy France), Ms. Barbara Weiler (Germany), Mr. Szabolcs Fazakas (Hungary), Mr. Csaba Ory (Hungary), Mr. Dariusz Grabowski (Poland) and Mr. Glyn Ford (United Kingdom).
collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
AFP systematically slay leftists — UN
11/28/2007 Daily Tribune
Michaela P. del Callar
The United Nations yesterday affirmed another national embarrassment under President Arroyo after it released yesterday an updated report stating that the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been executing leftist activists in recent years.
Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the UN, lamented in the report that not a single soldier has been convicted for extra-judicial killings.
The new report released at the UN on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), said leftist militants have been the targets of operations of the military.
“A significant number of the hundreds of extra-judicial executions of leftist activists in the Philippines that have taken place over the past six years are the result of deliberate targeting by the military as part of counter-insurgency operations against the communist rebels,” Alston said.
While he welcomed the Arroyo government’s initiative to address the problem, the UN official stressed the need to end impunity through prosecution and punishment.
In a statement, Alston said he was “encouraged” by various measures adopted recently by the government and by the fact that he had met with Executive Secretary
he had met with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in New York last October.
But he emphasized that those responsible for killings must be prosecuted and punished to stop them.
“The government has undertaken a range of welcome reforms, but the fact remains that not a single soldier has been convicted in any of the cases involving leftist activists,” Alston said.
In a 10-day fact-finding mission to the Philippines in January, Alston made an in-depth investigation of the killings where he interviewed victims or witnesses to 57 incidents involving 96 extra-judicial executions.
He met with government officials of all ranks, including local military commanders, President Arroyo, with the leaders of the communist rebels’ National Democratic Front (NDF).
“In some parts of the country, the Armed Forces have followed a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down the leaders of leftist organization,” Alston noted. “As commander-in-chief, the President must take concrete steps to end such operations.”
Since 1968, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – which has an armed faction, the New People’s Army (NPA), and a civil society group, the NDF – has aimed to revolutionize what it views as the country’s “semi-feudal” society.
Alston said that the military officers he interviewed “relentlessly pushed” the theory that such extra-judicial executions had in fact been committed by the rebels to simultaneously remove spies while discrediting the government, and he reviewed all of the documentation provided to support this idea.
“The military’s argument that the leftist activists who have been killed are the victims of a ‘purge’ by the rebels is strikingly unconvincing and can only be viewed as a cynical attempt to displace responsibility,” he said.
Alston also criticized the rebels themselves for participating in some extra-judicial executions of civilians who are not directly involved with the hostilities and the death threats they have made against political opponents.
“The death sentences imposed by their ‘people’s courts’ provide only a veneer of legality for what is really vigilantism or murder,” he said.
During his visit to the Philippines, Alston also investigated extra-judicial executions in western Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, which have seen armed conflict involving several insurgent and terrorist groups, including the Moro National Liberation Front, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Since witnesses in the regions live in great fear and it is difficult to ascertain who is responsible for abuses, he said that bolstered human rights monitoring is crucial to protect the civilian population.
The rapporteur also looked into the actions of a death squad in Davao City, interviewing victims and witnesses as well as speaking with local police, military officers and the mayor.
“The mayor’s position that he can do nothing to stop men without masks from routinely killing children for petty crimes in full view of witnesses lacks all credibility,” he said in the report. “Mayor (Rodrigo) Duterte should be stripped of his control over the local police, and the national government should assume responsibility for dismantling the death squad and prosecuting its members,” Alston said.
Glorietta Mall bombing,
more than meets the eye.
11/24/2007 Daily Tribune
Police are sticking to their claim that the blast at the Glorietta 2 mall, where people were killed and injured, was caused by a gas explosion.
The Ayala management refuses to accept the police conclusion, insisting that the blast couldn’t have been caused by a gas combustion, and called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to provide the management with a copy of the gas blast report, saying no evidence of the gas blast has been mentioned; only reasons the blast couldn’t have been caused by a bomb.
At this point, no one really knows just who has the true version, but what is certain is that the owners of the mall aren’t likely to take the PNP report without a fight, which probably will take the form of the Ayala management probe report, along with Mayor Jojo Binay and his Makati group conducting another independent investigation.
But what was startling about the way the police probe team went about its investigative task was the fact that this team insisted on barring anyone from Ayala management as well as the Binay group from being present when the police took charge and reportedly gathered their evidence.
To this day, from reports, no other group, save for the police, has been into the scene of the so-called gas explosion. And the police keep on saying they won’t allow other groups to conduct their own investigation.
Such behavior is suspicious, to say the least, considering that no matter which investigative unit it is, there is always a need for coordination with several officers in the know, which would be the management and its service people. But in this instance, there was clearly no such coordination, nor even questions asked of the management. The police just went on and did the probing all on their own. But why, if the intent is to get to the right conclusion?
Another strange occurrence was the fact that it took an inordinately long time for the PNP to come up with a final report on the blast, but which report still raises more questions than answers.
As the Ayala management said, if it was a gas combustion, why was there no fire?
Also, the PNP had different versions almost everytime during the probe, even as everyone expected the police to say the blast was not caused by a bomb.
It will be recalled that the bomb data center, just a day or two after the Glorietta blast, and in a press conference, came up with a finding that RDX, a component of C4 which only the military handles, was present. The center was pretty certain about its findings, and even Gloria and her executives in attendance were one in accepting this information from the bomb data center.
It didn’t take too long for the administration ‘particularly the police’ to change its story. No longer was it a blast. Even the traces of RDX finding was suddenly dumped, for a gas combustion blast.
In other words, Gloria and her police stuck to the story that it was no terrorist handiwork.
Then came the Batasan blast, which clearly was caused by a bomb. But even in this, the police insisted that it was not the work of a terrorist, but an assassination plot against one congressman: Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar.
To this end, the police in less than two days, captured the suspected culprits and found all the evidence needed to point to an assassination plot that succeeded. And the charge was not terrorism but murder.
As if that was not enough, they even got the suspects to point to two Akbar rivals, former deputy Speaker from Mindanano, then Basilan Rep. Gerry Salapuddin, then later, Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman and his cousin, Jim. Whether they are involved, what struck one was the fact that the police were pressing on the Hataman and Salapuddin line as brains, even getting a Basilan town mayor to state on television that he was informed by Ikram Indana, one of the suspects, that the brains behind the Batasan bombing meant to kill Akbar. That’s hearsay, clearly. So why isn’t Ikram doing the talking since it was he, as claimed by the Basilan town mayor, who had already told him just who the brains were?
Just yesterday, another bomb blast in a mall in Kidapawan, Cotabato, occurred. Again, even as it was clearly a bomb blast, what is being claimed is that it was (a) an extortion try and (b) a blast intended to disrupt the peace talks between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
In other words, it is not a terrorist act.
What appears clear is that the administration - through the police force does not want anything tagged as an act of terrorism, even when all signs point to it as such.
Yet months ago, every act was tagged as an act of terrorists.
There’s more than meets the eye on this reluctance from the Arroyo government to call a bombing spade a spade.
Email: collator.peedee@yahoo.co.uk
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