ADVERTISEMENT
In his reinvestigation report dated May 24, Prosecution Attorney James Noel V. Morente stated, “After a careful perusal of the records of this case, this office is constrained to dismiss the instant complaint for lack of probable cause against the aforementioned accused-movants.”
“We shall continue to work in all possible venues to seek justice, make this regime accountable for its crimes, and put a stop to the killings or else, this will go on and on as long as Duterte remains in power and beyond."
Human rights group Karapatan said that this would only lead to more human rights violations in the context of the numerous reported cases of extrajudicial killings especially with the police and military’s repeated use of the ‘nanlaban’ (fought back) narrative, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and other grave violations.
FARDEC denounces to the highest degree this series of attacks that harks back to Negros Island's Synchronized Enhanced Managing of Police Operations (SEMPO) that massacred innocent farmers in 2018 and 2019. Tabada is a barangay councilor and leader of esteemed commitment that greatly helped (in the) implementation of our projects for peasant communities in Bohol.
“With his death, Jesus Alegre is now free at last from worldly greed, oppression and injustice. But his widow and son, both unjustly convicted and imprisoned for the last 16 years, continue to languish and suffer in separate jails.” -- Bishop Gerardo Alminaza
In a statement, Karapatan said at least 22 families in sitios Panukmoan and Manluy-a of barangay Diatagon in Lianga left their village on June 23 because they “no longer feel safe staying in their communities due to the constant harassment and threats made by troops of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion.”
“He was not only a senior citizen but (he was) gravely sick long before he died. The repeated call for his and his wife Moreta’s immediate release based on humanitarian grounds along with other elderly and sick political prisoners were also ignored."
With the death of another political prisoner in jail, Kapatid reiterated their call for the promulgation of the writ of kalayaan – a legal remedy proposed by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen in his separate opinion to the SC ruling on political prisoners' petition.
This is the second massacre in Diatagon, Surigao del Sur.
“I was so elated that I could barely sleep. I’m thinking that ‘this is it!’ Our long wait for justice is finally coming to light.”
“...[t]here is a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed on the territory of the Philippines between 1 July 2016 and 16 March 2019 in the context of the Government of Philippines ‘war on drugs’ campaign.”
“What kind of government jails a family for 16 years and ignores all appeals for their freedom although the elderly Alegre couple are eligible for pardon and humanitarian release especially at this time of pandemic?”
Gomez’s arrest is a “serious attack to the Church, grave insult to the Christian faith and sacrilegious assault against our God.”
Zenaida Soriano, Amihan national chairperson, denounced the freeze order saying that it was arbitrary and they were not given a chance to answer the allegations against them.
Vicente Ladlad's wife, Fides said that his accounts are not from the money laundering or terrorism financing but resulted from Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.
"This award also comes at a crucial time, against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating human rights crisis and alarming democratic backsliding in the Philippines, and this award is a recognition of the tremendous challenges we currently face amid worsening attacks on human rights defenders, police brutality, militarization, and the narrowing of civic and democratic spaces in the country."
Contrary to the news reports that there are only three casualties, investigation by the group revealed that there were actually four. The fourth turned out to be Cometa, who, according to the witnesses, was wounded.
“The soldiers forcibly grabbed MJ who was crying and resisting all the while. His foster parents were held at gunpoint while they were wrestling with the soldiers to get the child back. The soldiers forced the boy into the SUV, and the foster parents were almost run over by the SUV as it sped away with the boy."
State agents have killed and arrested several JASIG-protected peace process participants, especially after formal NDFP-GRP peace negotiations were cancelled by GRP President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.
Save as PDF