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“Whether De la Cruz joined the NPA after his release or not is his personal choice. That does not in any way change the facts of the case. The military illegally arrested, detained and tortured the 43 health workers, period.” -- Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general
A known anti-mining activist has been missing since August 21. The victim was last seen being forced into a police patrol car but authorities denied having custody of him.
“Why do the military insist that the reasons we are so determined to stop the foreign mining companies are the NPAs, who are supposedly pushing us to do so? Don’t we, lowly people, also have the right to unite to protect our lands?”
Nida and Solomon Naños were farmworkers in Bicol who were forced to migrate to the city after falling victims to a defective agrarian reform program. They now live along Dario Creek in Quezon City where they face constant threat of demolition.
The “current practice and implementation of demolition of urban poor communities is gravely inhuman, unjust and oppressive in the eyes of God and civil society.” – Church People – Urban Poor Solidarity
"The army's redeployment of troops is just a change of guards but the orientation of troops does not change." -- Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
"His[Van Beersum] blacklisting is more a resounding indictment of the government and its claims to democracy than it is of his zealous yet moral outrage over issues that should make us and our society more fair and human." -- National Union of Peoples' Lawyers
"While notorious human rights violators and corrupt officials can freely go in and out of the Philippines, Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum was detained by the Bureau of Immigration today. Clearly, he is being persecuted by the Aquino government for exercising his freedom of expression…” – Karapatan
Four Agusanon Lumad, including two minors, were on their way to the local Comelec to register as first-time voters for the upcoming Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) and barangay elections when they were arrested, tortured and detained by members of paramilitary group Bagani forces.
"The prosecution thus far had shown that evidence of guilt against the accused for said crimes is strong." -- Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 14
The CHRA deemed that the transfer "is a ploy to disrupt the hearings of Bangibang's cases and to lengthen his unjust detention.”
So meeting Samuel felt like meeting a brother whom I shared a similar childhood, having activist parents; and a shared pain of losing them. But more than that, it felt like meeting a comrade from the different side of the world, which I shared the same struggle with --the struggle for justice.
The resolution passed by the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines cited the “failed justice program” of the Aquino government in calling for the aid’s withdrawal.
Mrs. Salaysay, widow of slain journalist Napoleon Salaysay, expressed hope that the Filipino people would not forget the Ampatuan massacre.
“I am sad but also happy to know that many people continue to support our fight for justice.” – widow of Ampatuan massacre victim
“This simply reeks of fascism to gag legitimate dissent that must be respected by any government that honestly wants to be called even remotely democratic, much less humane or even civilized.” – Edre Olalia, National Union of Peoples' Lawyers
Five peasant activists were arrested, a priest and a bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente were put under surveillance.
“I was cooking banana when soldiers came. They were in uniform and had long firearms. They talked to Papa and Mama. A few minutes after the soldiers left our house, I heard gunshots.” – 13-year-old victim
Halfway through his six-year term, there is no doubt that President Aquino has failed miserably in advancing the cause of a just and lasting peace in the country.
“This statement from a top military official is dangerous and betrays what various organizations and concerned groups have said all along, that the present counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan is no different from the deadly Oplan Bantay Laya.” – National Union of People’s Lawyers
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