Military Terrorizes Batangas Community, Forcibly Recruits Minors to Join Paramilitary

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
A minor’s refusal to join the CAFGU resulted in him being beaten up and threatened by soldiers. And he is not alone in his ordeal.
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By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
A minor’s refusal to join the CAFGU resulted in him being beaten up and threatened by soldiers. And he is not alone in his ordeal.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“They wasted two years of my life,” Lita Mahilum, a political prisoner who was in jail for two years before being cleared by the Court of Appeals of the charges filed against her by the military, said.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
“A glaring proof that Filipino women are still living in oppressive conditions – even though the country ranks high in gender-based indexes – is the increasing number of victims of violence against women, most notably, gang rape,” said Lana Linaban, secretary general of Gabriela.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
“We have been detained for so long. There is no evidence against us and the President has acknowledged that, why not set us free?” said Mercy Castro, who just gave birth to her second child.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether, this time, the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and opposition... Running parallel is whether the peace process is really a problem solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did.” – MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Who would continue their tasks? The dead could no longer speak. It is us, the ones they left behind, who must carry on what they had started,” said Evangeline Hernandez, mother of slain human rights defender Benjaline “Beng” Hernandez and chairwoman of Hustisya!

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“I had hoped that my father’s case would be the first and the last case of extrajudicial killing but the culture of impunity is still here. There has been no effort from the President to stop the killings. His inaction has allowed the killings to go on,” Ernan, son of Fernando Baldomero, first victim of extrajudicial killing under the Aquino government, said.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
The Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which often dismiss accusations that soldiers are involved in extrajudicial killings, admitted that the suspected perpetrators in the extra judicial killing of Bayan Muna Negros member Benjamin Bayles are members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP). But this happened, Karapatan said, only after their own investigation revealed the true identities of the suspects.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“He mentioned about the poison tree. He knew the arrest was wrong from the start. What else is the President waiting for? Release the Morong 43 now,” Evelyn Montes, wife of Dr. Alexis Montes, said.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
After President Benigno S. Aquino III granted amnesty to rebel soldiers, relatives and supporters pressed anew for the release of the Morong 43 and other political prisoners in the Philippines.
The ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Human Security Act of 2007 is the latest in a series of negative decisions the Supreme Court made with regard to human rights, lawyer Edre U. Olalia said.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Why wait for an actual injury when you have the singular opportunity to slay the dragon at first sight?” said Edre U. Olalia, legal counsel of the petitioners against the Human Security Act of 2007 in an interview with Bulatlat.
Sidebar: Recent SC Decisions Detrimental to Human Rights -– Rights Lawyer
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