Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 1 February 2 - 8, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
News
at a Glance Torture
against suspected leftists persists in the Philippines - AI Amnesty
International last week released a report on the persistence of torture and
ill-treatment in the Philippines. Although
the Philippines has ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhumane Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other key human rights standards
and has also established the Commission on Human Rights, the AI observed that
torture persists. AI
said those most at risk of torture are alleged members of armed opposition
groups and their suspected sympathizers, ordinary criminal suspects, including
women and children. Techniques
of torture used in recent years and documented by Amnesty International mirror
those used in the 1970s and 1980s. Torture methods include electro-shocks,
the use of plastic bags to suffocate detainees, burning detainees with
cigarettes, beating with fists, metal pipes or gun barrels and placing chili
peppers on the detainees' eyes or genitals. These are used to extract
information and force confessions. The international human rights group urged the Macapagal-Arroyo government to take immediate steps to prevent torture and ill-treatment. *
* * Looming
crackdown on militants hit The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan warned of "a looming crackdown and an open season on the progressive mass movement" following a statement by Palace spokesperson Ignacio Bunye that so-called communist "front organizations" and "militant cells" would be targeted by intelligence saturation drives by 500,000 spies under Col. Romeo Maganto. Teddy Casiño, secretary general of BAYAN, said that Malacañang is obscenely using the killing of Romulo Kintanar, a former head of the New People’s Army, as a pretext for an open season on so-called front organizations to silence the progressive mass movement and cover up its failure in dealing with the armed communist movement. Meanwhile,
Nathanael Santiago, secretary general of Bayan Muna, said that Bunye’s
statement bespeaks ill of the government's intention to conduct surveillance and
repressive acts against legitimate organizations without legal or moral
justification. Santiago said that the violent attacks by the military and police been going on since April 2001 claiming the lives of 30 Bayan Muna members and leaders nationwide; five others remain missing. He expressed grave alarm that with an authorization being given by Malacanang to its armed forces to target legal organizations, the number of casualties among the unarmed ranks of legal groups, including Bayan Muna, will likely increase. *
* * Muslim
families dismayed over GMA’s all-out war Amid
the commemoration of the 4th World Families Meeting, a
Muslim-Christian alliance expressed despair over the extent of discrimination of
the Philippine government’s policies toward Moslem families in the country. Cosain
Naga Jr., spokesperson of Moro-Christian Peoples’ Alliance (MCPA), said that
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s war against terrorism has “undeniably
yielded terror in the communities of Moro civilians. “There
are over a hundred individuals, fathers and mothers and their children who are
now languishing in the jails of Basilan and here in Bicutan. They were arrested
without warrants because the President declared a state-of-lawlessness in Moro
lands,” said Naga. Since
Macapagal-Arroyo’s all-out war campaign, 30 Moslem barangays in Patikul,
Talipno, Indanan, Parang and Sulu municipalities in Basilan have been declared
“hot spot” by the Philippine military. More
than five Moro people were massacred by the Philippine Marines from April 19-23
last year alone, MCPA reported. In
Indanan municipality, 216 homes were either destroyed by bombs, strafed by
gunfire or intentionally torched to the ground. In Barangay Karawan of the same municipality, aerial bombings
have found its mark on 53 houses of the Moro. “In Jolo province, burned houses dot the coast. In Cauayan municipality, 18 houses were also razed. In Danag, 70 refugee families from Bgy. Kabban Takkas are sharing rooms with 682 elementary students of Danag Elementary School. The families fled from their village when the Army started turning the area into a war front,” Naga added. *
* * Filipinos and Canadians carry streamer during an anti-war rally in Vancouver, Canada. Filipino-Canadians
warn Macapagal-Arroyo will be ousted VANCOUVER,
B.C. – Overseas Filipinos in Canada last week condemned the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration for the violent dispersal of a peaceful protest in Manila marking
the second anniversary of the People Power 2. "The
fascist response of the Arroyo regime on the anniversary of EDSA 2 is an insult
to all Filipinos," said Sean Parlan of SIKLAB, an overseas Filipino workers
organization. "As overseas Filipinos, we condemn her actions and remind her that it was the people who ousted President Estrada two years ago for his crimes against the people. If President Arroyo’s regime continues its anti-people policies and puppetry to the U.S. government, the people will oust her from power as well," Parlan warned. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
|
|