“The police and military are subjecting Ritual’s family to harassment and psychological torture. They are forcing an undue process and adding unusual requirements to prove their identities as kin.”
Rosenda Lemita and Liezel Asuncion filed a case at the United Nations Human Rights Committee against the murder of their loved ones. The decision to file a case was not made lightly – it took three years of delays and disappointment from the justice system to push them to seek an international avenue.
The Bloody Sunday massacre refers to the series of police and military operations in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal provinces on March 7, 2021 that left nine activists killed and seven more arrested. Defend ST said that despite the DOJ’s investigation under Administrative Order 35, cases filed against the perpetrators “were either junked or dismissed.”
When confronted by KASAMA-LR officials, the police and military eventually admitted that they plan on establishing a “permanent camp” within Lupang Ramos.
Roberto Mendoza is the father of Lieshel, a farmer who was charged by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 85 th Infantry Battalion last January 2024 with violating Section 12 of the Anti- Terrorism Law and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.
“There is nothing new for workers in Bongbong Marcos’ ‘Bagong Pilipinas’. Workers still face repression, illegal retrenchment, and other forms of exploitation.”
Fatima Banjawan, 19, is a member of Gabriela Southern Tagalog. She was investigating the conditions of peasant communities in Barangay Bulala, Santa Elena, Camarines Norte province when she was arrested by the state forces.
Tensions in the peasant community of Lupang Tartaria flared up starting April 16 when armed security forces from Jarton Security Agency, Inc. began threatening to erect a barricade around the vicinity. In response, the farmers erected their own fence and set up a protest camp.
The lay-offs are set to begin while Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations are underway.
Bayan Muna Southern Tagalog is in the area to conduct an investigation on the effects of the El Niño drought in peasant communities in Quezon. According to the group, the drought is affecting farming communities all over the country, particularly rice farmers.
For Danah, the struggle is far from over.