AUGUST 21 LESSONS: Ninoy’s heroism, due process and rule of law, and upholding human rights

By: InterAksyon.com
August 21, 2012 5:48 PM

 

MANILA, Philippines – As his only son Benigno III stood on another tarmac, in Bicol, grimly awaiting the remains of friend and trusted aide Jesse Robredo on Tuesday, the late senator Ninoy Aquino’s friends, relatives and companions in the anti-dictatorship movement gathered at the international airport bearing his name, to recall his heroism as he was killed on the tarmac on August 21, 1983.

Leading the speakers was Ninoy Aquino’s nephew Bam Aquino, who exhorted the crowd at the NAIA to emulate the martyred senator’s example. He said the nation’s sense of loss in August 1983 found echoes in its mourning over the sudden death of Robredo, whose body was fished out of the Masbate Sea early Tuesday, four days after his plane crashed enroute to Naga City.

President Benigno Aquino III was unable to grace the annual commemoration of his father’s heroism, as he personally supervised the transfer of Robredo’s remains from Masbate to his hometown of Naga City.

 

Other Aug. 21 messages: Rule of law, human rights

On the 29th death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino, other messages resounded from various quarters, besides Bam Aquino’s exhortation at the airport.

The Kabataan party-list called on President Aquino III to “honor” his father by granting “general, unconditional omnibus amnesty” to political prisoners in the country.

And in a separate statement, former three-term Manila mayor Lito Atienza, one of the few opposition MPs in the Batasang Pambansa, said August 21 is significant to the nation in two ways: for Plaza Miranda bombing which gave then President Marcos the context to crack down on critics and eventually declare martial law; and the Ninoy assassination which provided the final spark for ending that dictatorship.

He said that while the government’s move to raise the bounty on high-profile fugitives from justice like retired general Jovito Palparan is laudable, Filipinos should never forget that August 21 stands for a commitment to uphold the rule of law and due process, at all times. He found it ironic that the “real brains” behind the two dastardly crimes– the Plaza bombing and the airport murder, were never found.

Atienza, then seeking a post as Liberal Party councilor for Manila, was among those onstage when two grenades were hurled at the LP stage at Plaza Miranda on August 21, 1971.

On human rights, Kabataan party-list Representative Raymond Palatino urged Noynoy Aquino: “Mr. President, there is no more fitting way to honor your father’s death than by granting a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty to all political prisoners and swiftly address the growing number of human rights violations in the country.”

“The president must remember that his very own father was a political prisoner, a victim of  human rights violation during the Marcos dictatorship. It is appalling that Ninoy’s own son is not only ignoring the worsening human rights situation in the country, but is even denying the very existence of political prisoners in the Philippines,” he added.

Palatino was reacting to a statement by Palace Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda who earlier denied the existence of political prisoners.

Despite the government’s denial, there are around 385 political prisoners in the country, 107 of them incarcerated under Aquino’s term as president, according to the group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights.)

Political prisoners are defined as citizens incarcerated for their political beliefs, who are usually arrested due to fabricated cases. Such cases include the arbitrary arrest of cultural activist Ericson Acosta and the recent case of Agnes Tadeo-Mesina, a former member of Migrante Australia who returned to the Philippines to work as a community worker, Palatino said.

“Every year, Aquino promises to resolve human rights violations, to no avail. His promises ring hollow, as his very regime continues human rights abuses by promoting the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan,” he said.

Quoting Karapatan, Palatino said there are now over a hundred cases of extrajudicial killings and 11 cases of enforced disappearances recorded under Aquino’s term as president. Majority of victims are farmers, indigenous peoples, and activists, including Italian priest Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio and Dutch missionary Wilhelmus Lutz Geertman.

 

Bam: Bad things happen to good people, but . . .

In Manila, Bam Aquino said: “If we are going to ask ourselves, why must bad things happen to good people . . . but then if you look on Tito Ninoy’s life you will see that because of his death many of us found our heart, many of us found our bravery and many of us found bigger things to fight for than ourselves.

“Maraming tumayo nung nahulog si Ninoy Aquino maraming naging bayani pagkatapos niyang ipakita ang pagkabayani niya and maybe hopefully with Secretary Robredo passing away, maybe again many of us will stand up and say, ‘well he lived a good life; he was a good person, he did his best for what is good for our country. Maybe it’s time we do our share for doing good things for the country,” Bam Aquino added.

The Manila International Airport Authority hosted the celebration of Ninoy Aquino day in commemoration of his 29th death anniversary at the NAIA Terminal 3.

A wreath and flower offering at the foot of Ninoy Aquino’s bust sculpture and the awarding of the First Ninoy Aquino Medal for freedom fighters was held by program organizers.

The celebration was attended by program participants and visitors headed by Yellow Ribbon Movement, Chino Roces Foundation, Spirit of EDSA, LABAN, Fil-Canadians for Ninoy and Cory, Cory Veterans, MMDA, Mindanao People’s Causus, Balay Rehabilitation Center, UNESCO Dream Center, Seoul Institute of the Arts and MIAA authorities headed by Senior Assistant General Manager Vicente Guerzon.

MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado missed the celebration, as he joined President Aquino on board an air force C-130 aircraft to Masbate to personally witness the retrieval of the body of Robredo.

The celebration started with a wreath laying and a song from former Senator Joey Lina, “Impossible Dream.”

Bam Aquino said that at their prime, Ninoy and Jesse served the Filipino people, who were abruptly deprived of such services.

He said many people found their voice and courage as Ninoy fell on the tarmac, and he hoped that with Robredo’s passing, many Filipinos will be inspired to do their best for their country.

A silent prayer was made in memory of the passing of Precious Bello Lotilla, the wife of anti-dictatorship martyr Evelio Javier. Reports from Lira Dalangin Fernandez and Eric B. Apolonio, InterAksyon.com 

Group of ex-political prisoners hit Arroyo bail

Group of ex-political prisoners SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto) condemned the court’s decision to grant bail to former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Pres. Aquino was right, the Philippines is not a joke. Indeed, it’s not a joke to allow electoral saboteurs to be freed, while political dissenters are the ones imprisoned,” SELDA secretary general Angelina Ipong said.

Ipong said that the Aquino government doesn’t the nerve to push through with charges against Arroyo, saying it has always been “a lip service” when it comes to holding the former president accountable.

“This government has no real sense of justice. It cannot even arrest Palparan. Worse, it cannot own up to its own human rights record. In fact, Malacañang has to deny on the existence of political prisoners to claim it is a defender of human rights,” Ipong said.

The group successfully ended the week-long fasting and hunger strike of political prisoners in the country. Almost 700 prisoners nationwide participated in the fasting and hunger strike from July 16-23, and ended on the day of Pres. Aquino’s State of the Nation Address.

Leading the hunger strike and fasting are political prisoners from the Special Intesive Care Area (SICA) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, National Bilibid Prisons Muntinlupa, Camp Crame, Manila City Jail, Nueva Ecija Provincial Jail, Isabela Provincial Jail, and Aurora Provincial Jail.

In the Visayas, inmates in Calbayog Sub-Provincial Jail, Iloilo City Jail, Danao City Jail in Cebu led the strike. Artist Ericson Acosta, who continuously face charges of illegal possession of explosives, lambasted Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s statement that there are no political prisoners as “a highly ingenious and studies performance which, for all its supposed terseness and indifference, still managed to come across as a perversely powerful warning – that as a matter of state principle, political dissenters shall invariably treated in no other context except in relation to common, even heinous crimes.”

“The unabated incidence over the last couple of years of government critics, activists, and revolutionaries being arbitrarily arrested or abducted, tortured and slapped with fantastic non-bailable criminal charges, attest to how seriously such policy of political persecution has so far been put to actual practice by the present dispensation,” Acosta said in a statement.

Solidarity fasting activities in Danao City Jail, where political prisoner Ramon Patriarca was previously detained. Patriarca is now at the Camp Lapu-Lapu in Cebu, where he continues to protest his illegal detention in the stockade of the AFP-Central Command.

Outside the jails, activists who participated in the solidarity fast in Iloilo City wore the orange prison uniform and acted like political detainees in a make-shift prison jail along Plazoleta Gay in Iloilo City.

In Mindanao, inmates simultaneously held noise barrages alongside their hunger strike, to dramatize their protest, including the Compostela Valley Provincial Rehabilitation Center, Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail, Agusan Sur Provincial Jail.

Ipong said that particularly in Compostela Valley, more than 500 inmates who participated in the hunger strike are non-political prisoners who supported the plight of the political prisoners for their freedom.

“We thank the non-political prisoners who participated in the hunger strike, believing that political prisoners should not be in jail because of their political beliefs,” Ipong said.

SELDA criticized Pres. Aquino of his silence on the plight of the political prisoners or human rights in his SONA, saying that the government is blatantly covering up the existence of political prisoners.

“He has the gall to tell the nation that he is a victim of Martial Law, but repeats the same fault of criminalizing political dissent. That could only mean that Malacañang is really sweeping under the carper the issue of political prisoners,” said Ipong.

The blatant disregard on the plight of political prisoners will not, however, tire them to continue with the call for freedom.

We shall continue to demand for their freedom, and jail those who wronged the people,” Ipong ended. ###

Reference: Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general 0949-9587373

SONA 2012 Hunger Strike Statement

by Ericson Acosta

Last September, just as a week-long hunger strike of political prisoners was nearing yet another frustrating ending, some unconfirmed and cryptic piece of news had filtered out of the Palace, alleging to the effect that Philippine jails were now being divested of political prisoners. But the President had not in fact made any announcement acceding finally to the strikers’ call for a general, unconditional and omnibus declaration of amnesty to free all political prisoners in the country – it turned out that it was just the Presidential Spokesperson giving official word that in the first place, as far as the administration was concerned, political prisoners simply did not exist.

Ericson Acosta

It was not however your usual fare of Malacanang farce; Edwin Lacierda this time was not at all the stammering, choking bureaucrat screwing up on an otherwise perfect lie. It was, rather, a highly ingenious and studied performance which, for all its supposed terseness and indifference, still managed to come across as a perversely powerful warning – that as a matter of state principle, political dissenters shall invariably treated in no other context except in relation to common, even heinous crimes. Instead of general amnesty, what government had in essence declared was general policy.

The unabated incidence over the last couple of years of government critics, activists and revolutionaries being arbitrarily arrested or abducted, tortured and slapped with fantastic non-bailable criminal charges, attest to how seriously such policy of political persecution has so far been put to actual practice by the present dispensation. Indeed with the full repressive force of existing laws and state machinery thoroughly committed to the purposes and methods of the current Pentagon-designed counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, the US-Aquino regime is building its own legacy of human rights violations and state terror – now with a record 99 documented cases of extra-judicial killings, 10 enforced disappearances, and 107 political prisoners arrested under its watch. The military, police and prison systems have likewise recently conspired in a number of separate attempts to carry out the transfer of certain political prisoners from civilian jails to military camps to further punish and break their militant response to the debilitating conditions of their incarceration.

Hundreds of political prisoners nationwide including myself, are once again on a hunger strike to condemn the continued prevalence of illegal arrests and detention, and the heightened repression and “custodial militarization” of political prisoners. Under the US-Aquino regime, the call for a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for political prisoners can be granted only through the strength of people’s clamor and widespread support. Freedom can only be achieved through unrelenting struggle.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

 

Ericson L. Acosta
Political Prisoner
Calbayog City
Sub-provincial jail
Western Samar

Please sign the ONLINE PETITION for Ericson Acosta's immediate release
http://www.change.org/petitions/release-detained-filipino-artist-ericson-acosta-now

FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

Please visit these links:

FEAC Facebook page

JAILHOUSE BLOG: Ericson Acosta’s Prison Diary

Free Ericson Acosta Campaign Blog

Remove the Yoke of Injustice for Political Prisoners Bishops Support Fasting/Hunger Strike

July 19, 2012

PRESS STATEMENT

Remove the Yoke of Injustice for Political Prisoners
Bishops Support Fasting/Hunger Strike

The kind of fasting that I want is this:  remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice,
and let the oppressed go free.     (Isaiah 58:6, Good News)

We, Bishops of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, express our appreciation and support for the on-going fasting/hunger strike by political prisoners in the Philippines.  In solidarity with the Filipino people who hunger and thirst for justice and righteousness in our nation, we urge President Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III to consider the plight of political detainees under his administration and their call for a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.

We find it deplorable that presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda has even been published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (8 October 2011) saying, “we have no political prisoners.”  A mere glance at the list of 385 political prisoners in the Philippines as provided by the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) makes it clear that scores of people assert themselves as political prisoners in the Philippines.  In fact, 107 of these were newly detained during the Aquino Administration.  In the face of such callous dismissal by the Aquino Administration, we are compelled to amplify the on-going hunger strike of political prisoners.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights-Article 7 declares, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law;” yet, these political prisoners uphold that they have been illegally arrested, detained, and slapped with trumped-up criminal charges.  Some have executed affidavits of torture, inhumane treatment, and of being forced to sign confessions under duress.

We challenge President Aquino to consider the release of political prisoners in the Philippines, especially those with conspicuously trumped-up charges, those with health ailments requiring medical care, and the elderly.  All of these may be accomplished through a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.  Then, it could truly be said that there are no political prisoners in the Philippines.

Likewise, we appeal for President Aquino to consider the release of 14 National Democratic Front Consultants, covered by JASIG.  Their release was also agreed upon by both the GPH and NDFP peace panels during the resumption of talks in February 2011.  As Church advocates committed to the peace process, we view such action as a significant step in bringing forward and revitalizing the GPH-NDFP peace talks.

We hunger and thirst for righteousness and we pray that the world will hear the plight of Filipino political prisoners through their nation-wide fasting/hunger strike. ###

Signed:

Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza, General Secretary, ** for interview  0915-380-4349

Bishop Elorde M. Sambat, North Luzon Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Roel P. Mendoza, Middle Luzon Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Arturo R. Asi, South Luzon Jurisdictional Area, **for interview 0947-303-7728

Bishop Jaime M. Moriles, West Visayas Juridictional Area

Bishop Dulce Pia-Rose, East Visayas Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Melzar D. Labuntog, Northwest Mindanao Jurisdictional Area

Bishop Modesto D. Villasanta, Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area

Media Liaison: 
Becca Lawson, 0919-828-9514

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

877 EDSA West Triangle, Quezon City, Philippines
 P.O. Box 718, Manila Central Post Office, 1099 Ermita, Manila

E-mail: nationaloffice@uccp.org.ph

 Website:  www.uccp.org.ph

 877 EDSA West Triangle, Quezon City, Philippines
 P.O. Box 718, Manila Central Post Office, 1099 Ermita, Manila

Telephone:  (632)536-8005 * 536-7110 * 536-7310
Fax:  (632)536-8114

E-mail: nationaloffice@uccp.org.ph

Website:  www.uccp.org.ph

Mensahe ng Pakikiisa mula sa Medium Security Compound-New Bilibid Prison sa Muntinlupa City

Mensahe ng Pakikiisa

Medium Security Compound

New Bilibid Prison

Muntinlupa City

Sa ngalan ng lahat ng bilanggong pulitikal sa Medium Security Compound, kinukundina namin ang pahayag ni Edwin Lacierda, tagapagsalita ng Malacañang, sa inihayag niyang walang mga bilanggong pulitikal o political prisoners sa ating bansa. Gayong sa tala ng Karapatan ay umaabot ang na ang bilang sa 363 na mga bilanggong pulitkal sa buong bansa. Maaari pang lumobo ang bilang ng mga bilanggong pulitikal sa karahasang dala ng operasyong militar dahil sa programang kontra insurhensya ng rehimeng US-Aquino na Oplan Bayanihan. Higit niya itong pinalalakas para supilin at sikilin ang mga karapatan ng mamamayan.

Pinatutunayan ito ng aming karanasan dahil kaming mga bilanggong pulitikal ang mga buhay na halimbawa sa panunupil ng reaksyunaryong estado. Inaresto, ikinulong at sinampahan ng kasong kriminal para ituring na simpleng kriminal at maitago ang pulitikal na katangian ng mga isinampang kaso. Malinaw itong paglabag sa isinasaad ng Amado Hernandez Doctrine. Inilalatag ng Hernandez Doctrine ang malayong pagkakaiba ng pulitikal at simpleng kriminal na opensa.

Ngayong SONA 2012 ng Hulyo 23, ang rehimeng Aquino ay ipinangangalandakan sa mamamayan at sa buong mundo ang kanyang husay at galing sa pamumuno sa bansa sa larangan ng pulitika, ekonomya, militar, pambansang hukuman at mga tulong na nanggagaling sa mga amo niyang dayuhansubalit ito’y malinaw na panlilinlang sa mga mamamayan. Sa dahilang lalong nalugmok sa matinding kahirapan ang mamamayang Pilipino, sa pamamagitan ng butas-butas na programa saan mang ahensya sa ilalim ng kanyang pamumuno at sa ngayo’y tumungo ito sa higit pang pagkabangkarote sa ekonomya ng ating bansa. Sa SONAng ito ng rehimeng Aquino, ito’y paglalagom sa kanyang mga nagawa at para pagkaisahing muli ang mga reaksyunaryo na susugan ng mga programang muli nilang itatakda, ang SUMA ay bilyon-bilyong kita na nagmula sa pawis at dugo ng mamamayan.

Sa ngayon ay marami pa ring bilanggong pulitikal na matagal nang nakakulong ngunit bingi ang reaksyunaryong estado na kami ay palayain. Hindi kami titigil at magpapatuloy ang aming kampanya at panawagan sa pagpapalaya sa lahat ng bilanggong pulitikal sa pamamagitan ng General, Unconditional at Omnibus Amnesty. Mananatiling determinadong maninindigan kami sa loob ng bilangguan, taas kamao kaming makikibaka  para sa tunay na demokrasya at kasarinlan ng ating bansa.

Nilagdaan ng mga Bilanggong Pulitikal sa Medium Security Compound, New Bilibid Prison