ADVERTISEMENT
Under the Geneva Conventions, persons rendered hors de combat (unable to fight), through surrender, capture, or injury, must be spared from attack and treated humanely. If proven, Domingo’s killing constitutes a war crime.
Had it not been the court’s proactive questioning, the critical documents would not have been submitted as evidence at all.
The witness said that the passengers were taken at gunpoint by armed men, proving what the Court said was suspiciously concealed and misrepresented.
“To be honest, I don’t want August to come. It is the worst month of the year. The gravity of my father’s disappearance is a lot."
The mission was conducted in response to the reports of militarization in rural and ancestral lands, and to document violations of International Humanitarian Law. Instead, the mission team were subjected to surveillance, intimidation, and threats.
“Not one of them, students, activists, rights defenders, currently detained political prisoners, deserve these violations to their life, safety and security."
The court said that the prosecution's own witnesses denied knowing the accused or naming her as a suspect in the 2007 Cagayan ambush.
“The Ombudsman may have dismissed the cases, but it cannot dismiss the truth.”
Jaime Paglinawan, one of the complainants said “…some of the accused had long died before the case was filed.” The resolution, filed by the sued DOJ prosecutors, indicted the deceased Geraldin Labradores and Merlin Logronio, among CERNET 27, for alleged terrorist financing.
The court affirmed on July 31 that IP defender Niezel Velasco was not the same person as the accused, Mary Jane Velasco or Mary Jane Someja, and did not use those aliases, and vice versa.
“He talks about corruption, but refuses to hold the most corrupt accountable. Look at Vice President Sara Duterte—clear evidence of fund misuse, yet nothing has happened.”
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas assailed Marcos’s claim of success of his administration’s P20/kilo rice program, saying that it is artificial, limited, and only resulted in farmers' difficulty.
The Commission reminded the state of its obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol, which require humane treatment of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and safeguard against inhumane or degrading conditions.
The Court found that the Philippine National Police (PNP) failed to properly investigate the case and did not exercise the required extraordinary diligence, making them responsible and accountable for Salaveria's continuing disappearance.
“What’s in place is essentially a de facto martial law, with bombings, forced evacuations, harassment, and intimidation. This is not mere military presence; it is systematic repression.”
Three years into the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the human rights situation in the Philippines is still bad.
In a statement, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said that the bill is “thoroughly self-serving and is a slap in the face of the tens of thousands of victims of Duterte's drug war as well as those who suffered other injustices committed under his regime.”
“Kapatid expresses grave concern over mounting reports of neglect, discrimination, and abuses against political prisoners Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, and other inmates at TCJFD under Warden Eva Naputo and Senior Jail Officer 1 Dalmacio Canayong."
“Unlike prisons in some other countries, food is delivered to our PDLs inside their crowded cells, forcing them to eat on their beds and making their surroundings stink. Our jails smell really bad, itself a form of torture."
Activists and community organizers like the Banjawan sisters are no longer just “arrested” or “disappeared”. They end up experiencing torture to break their spirit before returning them to the land of the living, denied of their liberty for the crime of finding a cause worthy of their life and dignity.
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.