Political prisoners go on fasting until Aquino’s SONA

Nestor Corrales | Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines- Hundreds of political prisoners in the country started fasting on Friday until the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Benigno Aquino III on Monday.

“Political prisoners will start their fast today that will last until Aquino’s SONA on Monday to show their disgust to the government,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan said.

On Friday, militant groups from Karapatan and Selda staged a protest rally at the Philippine National Police Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, to demand the release of all political prisoners in the country.

Members of the militant groups held prison bars with photos of political prisoners demanding for their release and to jail lawmakers who pocketed billions of money through the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Palabay said Camp Crame has 12 political prisoners, including National Democratic Front leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon.

She said 400 political prisoners were detained across the country.

She condemned the special treatment accorded to rich and influential prisoners while political prisoners continue to languish in jails for years.

“The detention of activists and those perceived as enemies of the state and their condition inside jail poses a stark contrast with how Aquino treats the plunderers,” she said.

In a joint statement, political prisoners said, ” In our four-day fast, we want our voices be heard in condemning President Aquino for his sins against the people, especially his brutal counter-insurgency campaign, Oplan Bayanihan, his economic program the Public-Private Partnership and the DAP, his way of siphoning off the nation’s coffer.”

The militant groups said they would also stage protests on Monday when Aquino reports to the Filipinos his fourth Sona.

Humanitarian release of seriously ill political prisoner urged

Political prisoner Alison Alcantara on a respirator at the Philippine General Hospital (photo courtesy of SELDA)

Lira Dalangin-Fernandez | InterAksyon.com

MANILA, Philippines — A human rights organization urged government to release on humanitarian grounds a political prisoner fighting for his life at the Philippine General Hospital.

The Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto or SELDA said Alison Alcantara, 55, was transferred to the PGH from the New Blilibid Prison after he went into a coma on September 9.

Diagnosed with severe sepsis due to pneumonia and diabetes type 2, Alcantara is now breathing through a respirator.

“We knew this would happen to Alcantara and all the political prisoners who are in the same situation as his. The harsh condition inside the jail definitely worsens the ailments of the detainees,” Angie Ipong, SELDA secretary general, said.

Ipong said she could not help comparing Alcantara’s condition to that of Janet Lim-Napoles, who allegedly engineered the P10-billion pork barrel scam queen, who is detained at a police training facility in Laguna.

“It is enraging to see that multi-billion plunderer Napoles, also a diabetic, enjoys the privilege of full medical attention, nutritious and proper diet and, spacious bungalow while political prisoners like Alcantara hangs on to his life as his family and friends tries to find money to buy much needed medicine,” she said.

Alcantara was admitted to the PGH as a charity patient, “but his family still needs money to buy his medicines, pay for some laboratory fees and for the use of respirator. The respirator alone costs P2,400 for every 24-hour use,” Ipong said.

Alcantara’s fellow political prisoners at the NBP had requested his transfer to PGH as early as September 3 but they were refused by jail authorities.

He had been suffering from uncontrolled diabetes complicated by hypertension and an infected wound on his left foot, and had been in and out of the NBP hospital for his condition.

He was last admitted there on September 4, when his blood sugar and blood pressure rose.

Alcantara is one of the 48 ailing political prisoners that SELDA said need proper and adequate medical attention.

He was detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in 1996 for charges of murder, double frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms.

He was released in 2004 with two others as part of the confidence-building measures for peace talks between the government and National Democratic Front.

However, he was rearrested on November 5, 2010 on what SELDA calls the same trumped up charges and transferred to the NBP maximum security compound March 10 this year.

• Other political prisoners who are with serious health condition are: Alvin Lauglaug who is paralyzed from the waist down because of a brain injury prior to his arrest in Poblacion Lianga, Surigao Sur on May 2, 2011. Lauglaug is detained at the Surigao City District Jail.

• Hors d’ Combat Vanessa de los Reyes, a 28-year old woman paralyzed from the neck down after she was seriously wounded in a 2011 encounter between the military and New People’s Army in Davao Oriental. Charged with four counts of frustrated murder, she is currently under hospital arrest and heavily guarded by members of the Philippine Army.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY: CA orders release of security guard accused of being ‘CPP officer’

File photo of security guard Rolly Panesa, who the military claimed is a ranking communist rebel but who the Court of Appeals said is a victim of ‘mistaken identity’ and ordered released, showing his badly battered face, the result human rights groups have said of being tortured after his arrest in Quezon City October last year.

Interaksyon.com

August 29, 2013

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals has ordered the release of a security guard who the military arrested last year and accused of being a ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

In its August 27 decision, the CA’s Fifth Division said it was “convinced that this is a case of mistaken identity” as it granted the writ of habeas corpus sought by the family of Rolly Panesa and ordered the warden of the Security Intensive Care Area of the Metro Manila District Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa to free him.

The decision could open the military to countercharges by Rolly Panesa, who was arrested by the military and police in Quezon City on October 5 last year and who the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been insisting is Benjamin Mendoza, the alleged CPP leader in the Southern Tagalog region.

The National Union of People’s Lawyers, which has been representing Panesa, said it would “support our client’s longstanding plan to file countercharges against those who have practically destroyed his life beyond repair as impunity shall simply continue if there is no accountability.”

“The arrested and detained person, Rolly Mira Panesa, is not the same person as ‘Danilo Benjamin Mendoza’,” the CA said.

It said Panesa, a native of Negros Occidental who is in his 40s, “is not and does not look like 61 years old,” which is Mendoza’s age, the decision said. “He is a simple security guard and not a high-ranking officer of the CPP-NPA (New People’s Army).”

“This Court will not further want to hold in detention a person who is not Danilo Benjamin Mendoza, accused of rebellion, murder, frustrated murder, etc.,” it added.

(Click here to view the CA decision)

The CA decision came about two weeks after the AFP handed out rewards for the capture of rebel leaders, including P5.6 million for “Mendoza,” which prompted the human rights organization Karapatan to accuse the military of running an “organized racket” of bounties for fake rebels.

Karapatan and the NUPL also accused the military of torturing Panesa severely, releasing photos soon after his arrest showing the security guard’s badly battered face and other injuries.

The 23-page decision indicated that most of the evidence presented by the military actually helped demolish its claims against Panesa.

Aside from this, the appellate court also said the police had lied when it claimed that the informants who had identified Panesa as Mendoza “were with them before and during the arrest” of the security guard.

The only time the informants saw Panesa, said the court, was in a room at Camp Vicente Lim where the security guard was placed by himself.

This, said the CA,“corrupted the identification procedure with impermissible suggestion,” an “illegal procedure,” that “suggested and implanted on the minds” of its “informants” that the man they were asked to identify was “Mendoza.”

On the other hand, it said that the operations manager of the security agency Megaforce “was straightforward in testifying that he personally knows Rolly Panesa as a pro-guard/pioneer guard of Megaforce, having been in their employ since 1995” and also submitted records of Panesa’s Social Security and Pag-IBIG contributions.

In its statement, the NUPL, while welcoming the decision, lamented “the long drawn-out and tedious legal proceedings that Panesa had to undergo just to simply prove that he is not what the military says he was and despite overwhelming evidence to establish his identity.”

“If there is any classic example of justice delayed and justice denied, this no doubt fits the bill,” it said. “Nothing indeed will bring him back all those times lost and the damage wrought on his reputation, not to mention the agony and ordeal he and his family went through.”

The NUPL also reiterated its demand for government to do away with the list of “terrorist personalities and communist leaders” used by the Departments of National Defense and of Interior and Local Government, which it had been used as “the basis to arrest, detain and torture people on false charges or, worse, disappeared or killed.”

It also called for the prosecution of those responsible for handing out the reward for the capture of what the CA has now ruled was the wrong person.

Artists’ group slams arrest of Red-tagged couple

Kristine Felisse Mangunay | Philippine Daily Inquirer

A group of young artists has  slammed the arrest in Marikina City last week of a former University of the Philippines (UP) student and his wife who, according to the police,   were high-ranking officials of the New People’s Army.

In a statement, Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan (Karatula) said the manner in which Juan Pablo Versoza, a member of the group’s UP Diliman-based chapter Alay Sining, and his wife Grace were arrested was illegal, because the warrant served by the police was defective.

Authorities earlier said the two were arrested in Barangay Parang last Friday based on the arrest warrant issued by a court in Samar province where the couple had been charged with robbery with homicide and illegal possession of firearms.

According to the group, the warrant contained just aliases and the real names of the couple were listed only when they were detained at the Eastern Police District  headquarters.

“How can an alias legitimately be used in an arrest? That alias could be anybody yet they choose to target two innocent people. There is no basis for the arrest,” said Jay del Rosario, Karatula vice chair.

The group also added the police did not inform the couple of the reason for their arrest nor were they shown the warrant issued by the court.

“[The authorities] obviously didn’t show them the warrant in order to rig the official reports later on,” Del Rosario claimed.

The group added that the couple’s “basic rights to due process” were violated, saying the “trumped-up charges”  were “politically motivated.”

“It is clear that the actions of the 8th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces are politically motivated under the Aquino regime’s Oplan Bayanihan counterinsurgency campaign,” the group said.

“These ridiculous charges are attempts of the military to repress progressive artists and individuals critical of the administration,” it said as it added that there has been an additional 293 political prisoners since 2010.

According to the group, it will conduct a “fervent campaign” for the release of the couple from the Samar provincial jail in Catbalogan, where they were transferred following their arrest.

Protest fast to press for the release of NDF consultants to the peace negotiation

Two years ago today, the Aquino government signed the OSLO- Joint Declaration with the NDF providing for, among other things, the release of -most if not all- detained to better facilitate the GPH-NDF formal peace negotiations.

Ramon Patriarca

Until now, the Aquino government has yet to fulfill the commitment, effectively stalling the peace talk’s regular course, and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER).

Once again, by reneging on yet another of its many commitments, the Aquino government has ensured the prolonged fate of the GPH-NDF peace talks.

Mean while, it continues to violate with impunity the 1998 GRP-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law ( CARHRIHL), the first substantive document of the GPH- NDF peace talks.

Proof of this is its intensification of Oplan Bayanihan counter revolutionary campaign which has been steadily building up the ranks of among other human rights victims, the unjustly arrested and salvaged, already the KARAPATAN human rights group has documented no less than 430 political prisoner nationwide, of whom 148 has been arrested under the Aquino administration, 129 other activist have been extra judicially killed under this regime oplan bayanihan.

I am holding this protest fast from February 20-26, once again call on the Aquino government to fulfill its commitments it free most if not all of the detained NDF consultants as a matter of obligation relative to the GPH-NDF peace negotiations and our people’s yearning for a just and lasting peace.

(Sgd) Ramon Patriarca

February 19, 2013

 

Pahayag ng Batangas 9 : Kalayaan ni Ericson Acosta, Kalayaan ng Lahat ng Bilanggong Pulitikal ng Pilipinas, ipagpatuloy ang laban !

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February 10, 2013

Halos isang linggo na mula ngayon nang pinalaya si Ericson Acosta. Tulad ng maraming uhaw sa hustisya, walang  pagsidlan ang tuwang aming nadarama at bumuhos ang aming luha sa nakamit na tagumpay. Sa wakas, natapos na ang dalawang taon ng kanyang ipinagdusa sa loob ng piitan. Dalawang taon ng matatag  at masikhay na pakikibaka laban sa mapaniil na estado.

Isang positibong hakbang ng Department of Justice o DOJ  ang isinagawang imbestigasyon at rebyu sa kaso ni Acosta. Lumabas ang katototohanan na iligal ang pang-aaresto ng 34th Infantry Batallion ng Philippine Army sa kanya noon sa bayan ng San Jorge, Western Samar; na malaking paglabag sa karapatang pantao ang tortyur; ang kanyang pagkadetine sa kampo; ang pagkakait na makontak ang pamilya at abogado; at ang mga plantang ebidensya ang lalong nagpatibay upang ipinal ng DOJ ang kanyang desisyon na ipawalang bisa ang anumang bintang na kaso. Inosente si Acosta!

Tulad ni Ericson Acosta, kami ang mga bilanggong pulitikal ng Batangas o Batangas 9 ay naninindigan sa pagiging inosente sa mga bintang na kasong  isinasakdal sa amin.  Kami sina Charity Dino, Sonny Rogelio, Billie Batrina , Maricon Montajes, Ronilo Baes, Rommiel Cañete, Alberto Custodio, Felipe Mendoza at Junver Tirasol ay naninindigan na ang aming  pampulitikang kamulatan at pagkilos kailanman ay hindi magiging isang batayan upang ituring kaming kriminal at ibilanggo!

Taon na rin ang binibilang namin sa piitan ng Batangas Provincail Jail . Ang  detachment ng 740th Philippine Airforce sa loob nito, ang mga rehas, ang mataas na pader na naliligiran ng mga barbwire ay  saksi kung paanong tuloy-tuloy ang panunupil sa aming mga pampulitikang karapatan at ang hustisya ay halos di- masilip sa kitid ng iniikutang piitan. Ang aming kalagayan ngayon ay tiyak na naranasan din ni Acosta at ng lahat ng bilanggong pulitikal ng ating bansa.

Ang parerekognisa sa kalagayan ni Acosta ay nagpapatunay lamang na may malalang paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa ating bansa. Hindi ito simpleng propaganda lamang. Umiral ito sa panahon ng administrasyon Aquino na ang mga senaryo ay halos walang pinagkaiba sa Martial Law.  Na sa balangkas  ng Oplan Bayanihan, tila hayok na hayok ang pasistang  Armed  Forces of the Philippines at Philippine National Police na maghasik ng karahasan  na wala nang sinisino at wala nang pinipiling lugar, mapa-kanayunan man o kalunsuran man.  Kinokondena ito ng Batangas 9 !

Umaapela kami ngayon kay Pangulong Noynoy Aquino na may 430 pa sa kabuoang bilang ng mga bilanggong pulitikal sa ating bansa at 123 dito ay sa panahon niya iligal na inaresto. Umaapela kami sa mabilisang pag-rebyu at pag-dismiss ng aming kaso tulad ni Acosta. Umaapela na tahakin ang tunay na matuwid na daan sa pamamagitan ng pagpapapalaya sa lahat ng mga bilanggong pulitikal sa pamamagitan ng general, unconditional at omnibus amnesty !

Tuloy ang laban ….. Palayain ang Batangas 9!

Palayain ang lahat ng bilanggong pulitikal ng Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng General, Unconditional at Omnibus Amnesty!

Maricon Montajes, 22 years old, a film student of the University of the Philippines Diliman, has been imprisoned for more than two years at the Batangas Provincial Jail, along with two other political detainees, Ronilo Baes and Rommiel Cañete. They were arrested by the 740TH Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force at Brgy. Mabayabas, Taysan, Batangas while conducting a community integration with the peasant sector. They were charged with trumped-up cases of Illegal Possession of Firearms and Ammunition, Illegal Possession of Explosives and Violation of Omnibus Election Code Category P and Q.

Maricon’s incarceration is clearly a violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) especially the Hernandez Doctrine which states that a person who works for a political purpose must not be treated as a criminal and must therefore be released. It is a clear violation of Maricon’s academic and political freedom.

After the Aquino government moved for the release of Ericson Acosta, poet, cultural activist, and fellow isko, Maricon Montajes and the Batangas 9 strongly pushes for the intensification of the call for their urgent release and the freedom of all political prisoners in the counrty through a GENERAL, UNCONDITIONAL, AND OMNIBUS AMNESTY.

We must not stop at the release of one political prisoner. We must not forget that these 430 political prisoners from different sectors, who experienced pain, suffering and repression in different places at different times all deserve freedom and justice.

FREE MARICON MONTAJES!
FREE THE BATANGAS 9!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS THROUGH A GENERAL UNCONDITIONAL AND OMNIBUS AMNESTY!

Karapatan calls on govt to immediately release Acosta, file charges vs. 34th IB

With DOJ’s Resolution to withdraw information 

With the recent findings and resolution of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to withdraw information against detained poet-artist Ericson Acosta,  “it is in incumbent upon the Aquino government to file charges against the members of the 34th IB for violations of RA 7438, rights of persons arrested, detained or under custodial investigation,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan.

Karapatan said Ericson Acosta’s case shows the all-too-familiar violations committed by Aquino’s Armed Forces of the Philippines against activists and ordinary folks they encounter in the course of their “counterinsurgency” campaign: warrantless arrest; the right to be informed why he was arrested; denial of the right to counsel and to inform his family; prolonged interrogation and torture; planted evidence; detention in a military camp, among other violations.

“Acosta’s experience and plight showcase the situation of the 430 political prisoners in the country who were falsely accused of committing various criminal acts.  In December 2012 alone, 28 people were arbitrarily arrested by the AFP based on trumped up criminal charges,” Palabay noted.

Maricon Montajes

Karapatan cited the case of Maricon Montajes, a UP student, who was arrested in June 3, 2010 by elements of the 743rd Squadron of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) while photo-documenting the plight of the peasantry at Brgy. Mabayabas, Taysan, Batangas. Montajes was charged with Illegal Possession of Firearms and Ammunitions and Illegal Possession of Explosives. She is currently detained at the Batangas Provincial Jail.

On Dec. 7, 2012, lay churchworker Anecita Rojo, 48, was arrested in Bago City, Negros Occidental by members of PNP Regional Intelligence Unit on December 7. She was arrested for murder charges for an alleged NPA ambush in Negros. Rojo remains in detention at Cadiz City-BJMP.

In Isabela, Negros Occidental, 19 indigenous peoples, including three minors, were illegally arrested on December 13 by members of the 11th Infantry Battalion of the Phil. Army for allegedly supporting the NPA.  Of the 19 arrested, eight are still detained and charged with murder and multiple frustrated murder. They are currently detained at the La Carlota-BJMP jail.

An operative of the Regional Intelligence Unit of the National Police covers his face as he accompanies suspected NPA member Aniceta Rojo who was presented to the Regional Trial Court Branch 60 in Cadiz City where she and 24 others have been charged for the death of an Army lieutenant.

“Lies were concocted by the AFP to arrest Ericson and to keep him in jail for almost two years. The 430 political prisoners are on the same boat and should be released immediately. It was done in the case of Acosta, it could be done for the other political prisoners who went through the same harrowing experience as Acosta,” added Palabay.

She reiterated Karapatan’s observation that there is an uptrend in the cases of people who are falsely charged with criminal offenses “in the course of the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan”, adding that “Ericson Acosta was among the first victims of OpBay when he was illegally arrested and detained on the 2nd month of the implementation of the counter-insurgency policy.”

“The Aquino government should stop its malicious and dangerous policy of filing trumped up charges against persons they perceive as rebels,” said Palabay, stressing Karapatan’s call to junk OpBay.

DOJ to drop case vs poet Ericson Acosta

Tetch Torres | INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Justice (DOJ) has granted the two-year old request of cultural worker and poet Ericson Acosta to drop the criminal case filed against him.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano confirmed on Wednesday that they have granted the petition for review filed by Acosta.

Acosta, 40, was arrested in San Jorge Town in Samar in 2011 while conducting human rights research. He was suspected of being a member of the communist movement.

He is facing a case for illegal possession of explosives before the Samar Regional Trial Court.

He is currently at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City. The Samar Court granted him a medical furlough after a medical team from the Public Attorney’s Office confirmed that he was suffering from nephritis, a condition characterized by blood in the urine (hematuria), lower back pains, high fever and painful urination (dysuria).

Free Rolly Panesa! Defend the Sanctity of Life!

Church workers from Promotion of Church People’s Response, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Iglesia Filipina Independiente held a liturgical service outside the Court of Appeals

The Task Force Free Rolly Panesa composed of different religious and faith based group and individuals deplore the continuous illegal detention and violation of basic rights of Rolly Panesa and other political detainees under Aquino’s watch.   These violations, despite serious protests from victims, families and various human rights advocates, continue to perpetuate under Oplan Bayanihan.  Such violations disregard his dignity as a human being, as one created in the image of God.

It will be remembered that on October 5, 2012, Rolly and 3 other members of his family including his wife were abducted by elements of 2^nd Infantry Division, Philippine Army and Philippine National Police along Aurora Blvd. Cubao, Quezon City.  They were handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated.  Rolly suffered torment and inhumane treatment at the hands of his military captors.  To this day, they insist that he is Benjamin Mendoza, a high ranking communist leader who has a P5.6M bounty upon his capture. They are detaining an innocent man who must be released immediately.

Based on the documents and testimonies presented by the Panesa family, Rolly, 48 years old, who hails from Cadiz City,  Negros Occidental and working as a security guard since 1995 bore no semblance to Benjamin Mendoza except a mole at the nape of his neck.

Under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan, the target to render communist’s insurgency irrelevant poses grave threat to the general public as more and more civilians are accounted victims.  There are more than 300 political detainees, 137 victims of extra-judicial killings, and tens of thousands of forced evacuees among many other violations. On his third year in office, Aquino’s score on human rights unveils what he truly meant by  “peace and development”.

The Voice of God is Calling, Do You Hear His Cry? In the face of this threat to life and dignity, church people are called to speak out and defend the rights, to be a neighbour especially to the least and marginalized. One with conviction, we commit  to the continuing aspirations of many other human rights and peace advocates –  Free Rolly Panesa and other political detainees; Stop human rights violations!

AFP should show proof that security guard Rolly Panesa is CPP’s “Benjamin Mendoza”—Karapatan

Press Statement

January 25, 2013

Karapatan dared the Philippine Army of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prove before the Court of Appeals that the man they arrested illegally and tortured is indeed who they claim to be in their press releases as CPP’s high ranking official ‘Benjamin Mendoza’ “because clearly, they picked the wrong man,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan said at today’s hearing at the Court of Appeals for detained Rolly Panesa’s Petition for Habeas Corpus.

“Panesa has been in jail for three months since his abduction on October 5, 2012, yet the government has not presented any document to prove their claim. The man should be immediately released and indemnified,” Palabay said.

Marites Chioco, Panesa’s common-law wife and petitioner to the habeas corpus case, submitted to the court Panesa’s birth certificate, baptismal certificate, school records, records of his employment, Social Security System Identification Card, Philhealth Card, driver’s license, NBI clearance and a certificate that he has gone through a training for the CAFGU.

“These are all government-issued documents and not one government agency has come out to say that these are fake documents. The AFP should admit its error because of arbitrariness on arresting Panesa,” added Palabay.

Panesa is currently detained in Security Intensive Care Area (SICA), Metro Manila District Jail. According to Palabay, Panesa has been in jail for 100 days now for “mistaken identity.” Panesa, a security guard of Megaforce Security, was tortured to force him to admit that he is “Benjamin Mendoza” whom the military alleged as a high-ranking CPP official with a 5.6 million peso bounty.

Panesa was abducted by joint elements of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, led by Southern Luzon Commander Maj. General Alan Luga, and the Philippine National Police.

“This is exactly how Noynoy Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan works—arbitrary, anti-people, anti-human rights.” Palabay said. “Unfortunately, Panesa is one of its many victims,” Palabay added, saying that the Aquino government is “bingeing on arrests of activists, leaders of people’s organizations and anyone on false charges the past months as it attempts to meet Oplan Bayanihan’s self-imposed target by year-end,”concluded Palabay. ###

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