Activist Recounts Abduction, Torture

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Noriel Rodriguez, a member of Anakbayan, was tortured for 10 days by people he claimed to be soldiers. The soldiers, he said, threatened to harm his family and mutilate his genitals. He was released only after he was forced to sign papers stating that he was a rebel returnee. Related video: Noriel Rodriguez recounts his ordeal

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Human-rights advocate welcome the signing into law of Republic Act 9745, which penalizes acts of torture in the Philippines. The challenge now, they say, is for the Arroyo administration to effectively implement it, given its sordid human-rights record.

By HENRY A. GIROUX
Truthout
International
Posted by Bulatlat.com
This article is drawn from Henry A. Giroux’s forthcoming book, “Hearts of Darkness: Torturing Children in the War on Terror” (Paradigm Publishers, 2010).
For the last decade, we have lived through a historical period in which the United States relinquished its tenuous claim to democracy. The frames through [...]

Remembering the Disappeared

By JASON LEOPOLD
Truthout/Perspective
International
Posted by (Bulatlat.com)
Among the treasure trove of documents released on Monday related to the CIA’s detention and torture program is a 20-page background paper that, for the first time, describes in extraordinary detail the process of “rendition” and the torture prisoners are then subjected to when they are flown to [...]

Sherlyn and Karen — Desaparecidos

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Under the bill, no justification can be offered that would allow torture and other inhuman punishments. Those who torture will be penalized as principals, as well as their superiors in the military, police or law enforcement establishments who ordered it.

Freedom from torture is a non-derogable right, meaning that states cannot violate this right under any circumstances, even in a state of emergency or martial law. By insisting that Melissa Roxas is a communist guerrilla, the Arroyo regime not only practically admits that it tortured her — it seeks to justify the atrocity, thus violating the very international instruments that it had earlier agreed on.

Dukot’s fearlessness emanates from its depiction of the truth about the worsening human-rights situation in the Philippines today. As Bonifacio Ilagan, the scriptwriter, put it: “It minces no words in pointing out the real perpetrators” of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Video: “This Is For All of Us!” — Melissa Roxas