International groups launch probe on human rights violations in PH
“This is most definitely a global issue...We must not allow the call for human rights to be hijacked. Accountability must be part of the justice and democratic system.”
Anne Marxze D. Umil was Bulatlat’s first intern turned into its investigative reporter. She takes most things seriously, except praises about her. Sometimes, she cracks jokes that make everyone in the newsroom giggly.
Anne Marxze D. Umil was Bulatlat’s first intern turned into its investigative reporter. She takes most things seriously, except praises about her. Sometimes, she cracks jokes that make everyone in the newsroom giggly.
“This is most definitely a global issue...We must not allow the call for human rights to be hijacked. Accountability must be part of the justice and democratic system.”
“How many more people need to suffer the fate of the dozens of individuals killed – red-tagged as terrorists and then end up dead? Health frontliners like them who rendered invaluable service and sacrifice especially during the pandemic were not only exposed to a deadly virus but to a dangerous political environment."
“This heartbreaking predicament of having babies separated from their detained mothers, and of being denied of their basic human right to their mother's breastmilk, that is justified by rules issued by jail authorities, is what Reina Mae brings before the Supreme Court for its review and resolution.”
“There is no doubt that the policies and operations under the Duterte administration are responsible for the onslaught of extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations under the ‘war on drugs.’ State officials and police forces were both brazen and confident that they would enjoy impunity in their crimes.” -- Rise Up
“Rights are not won through silence, through fence sitting and inaction. Rights are won and claimed through difficult, arduous, beautiful, creative and vibrant struggle.”
"The complainants bring the instant action in order to finally address a continuing wrong, to vindicate their basic rights, and to remind public officials that illegal, improper, unjust and oppressive acts and utterances, especially those vicious and virulent, are not without consequence. We also just want to do our work as lawyers,” the complaint read.
The complaint said the red-tagging of Cristina Palabay, Karapatan and its members and officers by the respondents violates the principle of distinction under international and domestic humanitarian law.
For the Makabayan bloc and other progressive organizations, the recently concluded Senate hearing on red-tagging will be used by state security forces as a justification to declare them as terrorists under the Anti-Terror Law.
“The subtext of our legal submissions is that hers is a case of patent abuse of authority by the state — of a negotiated procurement of defective search warrants; of a crackdown not on crime, but on legitimate dissent; of an oft recycled charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives lodged against activists filed not on the basis of fact and evidence, but on the convenience of the unavailability of posting bail as a matter of right.”
Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL) and lawyer of Wilma Austria said this is “a politically motivated persecution and hardline attack” as it was resurrected out of nowhere after 30 years.
“You think you can kill a movement by persecuting them? You do not know history. If you see the history of the Catholic church, it only grew when there were martyrs whose blood actually watered the seed that was sown by Jesus Christ. So if you think that you will break the movement, you will break dissent by persecuting, you are very much mistaken.”
Human rights lawyers representing Reina Mae Nasino said the Manila judge exhibited manifest bias and partiality against the political prisoner and her co-accused.
This is not the first time that a national minority was charged with terrorism.
"There is something wrong because her 23-year old mother was detained not because she did something wrong, but because she was wrongfully accused." -- Bishop Broderick Pabillo
“Filipino youth’s strike back against Duterte’s criminal negligence today could also be seen as a parallelism to the Czechoslovakian students’ fight against the Nazi occupation."
"National government officials must act now or step down from their positions. No compromises."
Netizens utilized the social media to disseminate posts of families who are in need of help or needed to be rescued.
“What lies ahead for the Filipino people with Sinas’s appointment is a bloody party of human rights violations where Duterte’s most rabid and murderous lapdogs are given freer rein to merrily kill, kill, and kill with wanton impunity.”
"Imelda Marcos was allowed to post bail two years ago, citing health reasons, even though she was able to attend and host parties since that time. Meanwhile, we have sickly and elderly political prisoners who were wrongly accused or convicted of crimes they have not committed, but are still unjustly suffering behind prison bars."
“The multitude of problems plaguing distance learning since its conception to its implementation has not been addressed by Secretary Briones and the rest of this administration. It's enraging to hear her gloat now about some survey while our calls and cries have been largely ignored."
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