MANILA, Jan. 19, 2012—Fisherfolks’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) questioned the motives of President Benigno C. Aquino III of discussing the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona to United States (US) senators visiting the Philippines. Read more
MANILA, November 23, 2011—Two years, ago 58 people, 32 of which are journalists, were massacred and buried in a shallow grave in Sharif Aguak, also known as the Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, a province in the Southern Philippines.
While one of the primary suspects, former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. is now in jail, together with some others, the justice that the media and religious communities, and the family of the victims of the infamous Maguindanao Massacre want, still seems to be elusive. Read more
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today ordered the release from custody of Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, saying it has made “a political decision to suspend the judicial proceedings against the municipal mayor as an affirmative response to his issuance of an apology.” It also said that the release is ordered as well as a “humanitarian consideration to the appeals made by his family and the representations made by well-meaning groups and individuals.”
In a statement, the Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee said that the order is a “unilateral exercise of revolutionary political authority by the CPP as the ruling party of the People’s Democratic Government.”
In announcing the mayor’s release, the CPP said that the People’s Court, who ordered the arrest of Mayor Dano on the strength of the cases filed against him, has correspondingly suspended the legal and judicial processes applied to the mayor. “The legal and judicial proceedings against accused Mayor Dano has been suspended by the People’s Court to correspond to the political decision coursed through the pertinent regional organ of the People’s Democratic Government,” the CPP stated.
The CPP also said that, “However, should he thereafter continue to commit the acts which were the bases for the charges leveled against him and/or should he commit new crimes or that additional evidence and circumstances warrant or supervene, he may again be subjected to arrest and the legal and judicial proceedings shall forthwith resume.”
It further said that the revolutionary movement finds the mayor’s expressions of remorse “as a self-criticism and a constructive desire to be given an opportunity to make amends for and rectify his previous acts for which he was arrested and placed under the judicial custody of the People’s Court.” Prior to his arrest on 6 August 2011, a case was filed against him for building and maintaining a private armed group in connivance with military officers of the 75th Infantry Battalion and in conjunction with the counterrevolutionary intelligence operations of the 4th Infantry Division – Philippine Army – Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Mayor Dano was also charged with specific serious violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, its particular circumstances among others in connivance with the 75th IB-4th ID against victim-peasants of several barangays (villages) in Lingig,
Surigao del Sur and in the adjacent barangays in Boston, Davao Oriental. Dano was likewise charged with particular acts of building a private armed group, murder, intelligence-gathering, harassment, grave threats and coercion as criminal acts, violating the rights and status of the civilian population as provided for in the Bill of Rights in the Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government, the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and of international human rights law.
The Southern Mindanao Regional Committee of the CPP ordered the Merardo Arce Command Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command of the New People’s Army to carry out the safe and orderly release of Mayor Dano. It was also given the responsibility to carry out his expeditious release from custody to his family through the intercession of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the independent humanitarian mission. But it added that the release procedures shall be subject to the NPA custodial unit’s appraisal of security considerations to ensure the safety of Mayor Dano, his family, the custodial unit, and all those participating in the release. (Press Release)
MANILA, September 27, 2011—The Resist Apeco! Defend Aurora Movement appealed for help for the fisherfolks and farmers affected by the typhoon Pedring (International Code: Nestat).Auroraprovince is one of the provinces which were lashed by typhoon Pedring.
In a Facebook message, Resist Apeco! DefendAuroraconveners said that individuals and groups can help by sending canned goods, rice, medicines, mattresses or beddings, and other useful goods. Read more
MANILA, September 13, 2011—Campus journalists cried foul after the Adamson University allegedly barred the members of the Editorial Board of the Adamson Chronicle from enrolling for the first semester of the current school year, withholding the news organ’s funds, and preventing its circulation officer to distribute the printed materials.
Administrators of the Catholic-run Adamson University were accused of "press freedom curtailment" by the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines as it allegedly barred its editors in enrolling this school year. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
Former Trinity Observer editor-in-chief Romina Astudillo and now secretary-general of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines-National Capital Region (CEGP-NCR) said in a statement, the case of Adamson University is just one of the numerous cases of campus press freedom violations recorded by their office early this year.
Astudillo said that the Pamantasang Lungsod ng Muntinlupa plans to close The Warden, the official student publication of the said city-run university, because of its “subversive” contents. Astudillo cited the criticism of the paper against the policies of the current government of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and its stance on the collection of “college development fees.”
The campus organ of the Technological University of the Philippines-Manila, the Artisan, would now be under the direct supervision of the academic personnel of TUP as the university administration had revised its Student Code and amended some other policies being implemented by the Office of Student Affairs, according to Astudillo.
The woman press freedom advocate also said that the Mindanao State University – Institute of Information Technology has been controlling the funds of Silahis, their official student publication.
“Reports from CEGP Mindanao show that the total funds of Silahis amounting from P8 million (US$186,784.96) to P13 million ($303,525.55) alongside the censorship done by the administration,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Pillars of Negros State University and the Collegiate Highlight of the University of Southeastern Philippines are experiencing campus militarization and since Marcos’ Martial Rule, The National—the National University’s official newspaper—had remained padlocked and never was an attempt to reopen it.
“The school administrators are using the flawed provisions of the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 to pacify student publications. Many instances that the school administrators arbitrarily replace the existing members of the editorial board with editors who are under their control and supervision,” the campus press leader said.
Astudillo furthered that campus journalists are also target of extrajudicial and summary executions.
During the administration of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benjaline “Beng” Hernandez, the CEGP national vice-president for Mindanao, had been summarily executed by the alleged elements of the military while doing a research on the state of the peasantry in the Arakan Valley, Mindanao.
Astudillo said that the United Nations had already issued a resolution stating that the Philippines’ state forces should be held accountable for the death of Hernandez, but until now, none of her killers had been arrested or jailed.
At present, CEGP has already gathered more than 320 cases of campus press freedom violations, Astudillo said.
Nonetheless, the CEGP blames the government itself for the continuous violations of the freedom of the press.
Astudillo explains that the exclusion of the Freedom on Information (FOI) Bill from the priority legislations of the current government is a clear sign of neglect of the current administration to human rights, particularly with the freedom of the people to information and to express themselves.
Dr. Edith Burgos still waits for her son, Jonas, who was gone missing four years ago. (Photo by Singapore News Daily blog)
MANILA, August 30, 2011–In the commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared today, people in New Zealand who are in solidarity with the people of the Philippines, urge President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to help ease the pain and agony of the families and friends of the disappeared by surfacing them; or if quite impossible, just make the people responsible in enforced disappearances and abductions in the Philippines accountable.
Murray Hurton, the general secretary of the human rights watchdog, Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA) pleads to the Philippine government to have a political will to stop all atrocities and end the culture of impunity, and let the disappeared and illegally detained safely return to their families’ embrace.
The PSNA, together with Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) and the Wellington Kiwi-Pinoy (WKP) had expressed their dismay over the state of the peace talks between the Reds and the Philippine Government (GPH), which is, again, in danger of deadlock due to allegations of the gross disrespect of the military forces to human rights and the statements of GPH chief negotiator, Atty. Alexander Padilla on Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which he says,”inoperative.” The JASIG, which was signed by the NDFP and GPH in 1995, virtually protects the members and consultants of the NDFP from arrests and detention. Read more
With the world economic crisis still there, the 24/7 piracy attacks in key waterways in the world, and the continued human rights violations on-board, the Filipino mariners and seafarers had no other hope but to stand, struggle and fight for their rights as human beings and as workers.
By: Noel SalesBarcelona
Correspondent, CBCPNews.com
MANILA,Philippines–With the international economic crisis is not yet for an end, as world economists say, the Filipino mariners face not only the issue of salaries and benefits, but also the problem of safety and tenure at work, as they sail the world’s seven seas. Read more
Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once. ~ Cyril Vernon Connolly (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974).
I believe that every journalist must realize that their real role and the primary use of their craft is equip this nation and its people with information and knowledge that they can use to change their society.
