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Miradel walked out from Camp Bagong Diwa Tuesday afternoon, July 23, no longer wearing an inmate’s orange garb but an aquamarine shirt and a huge smile.
“The systematic series of human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro, Quezon, and the rest of Southern Tagalog all have the same pattern – they are all caused by development aggression carried out by large companies and backed by the Duterte regime.”
“It is infuriating that the Duterte government wrongfully convicts activists and human rights advocates while the government forces behind human rights violations are parading free.”
Human rights group Karapatan documented 250 victims of extrajudicial killings and 10 victims of enforced disappearances from July 2016 until March this year. Moreover, nearly 370,000 civilians were affected by military bombings and 450,000 have evacuated due to military operations, Karapatan data showed.
“What do we have to prove? We were illegally arrested, tortured, incarcerated for more than 10 months but the burden of proof is still on us.”
“When torturers and human rights violators are rewarded with promotions and acquittals for the crimes they have perpetuated against individuals and communities, this means that the infrastructure of impunity has been so ingrained in the justice system in the country."
"From Day 1, the respondents only issued general denials, resorting to technicalities instead of answering our petition."
While rural communities grapple with militarization, Metro Manila and other urban centers have also turned into bloodbaths due to Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs.”
The documentation of the current attacks to peasant farmers and workers, particularly the killings of Negros 14 last March 30, seeks to spread awareness and urge people to stand against the oppression in rural communities.
“I would have wanted to thank the prosecution too for possibly an unexpected small mercy. But the 'Opposition' it filed against Vic's medical motion is only too clear about its high regard for neither the right to health nor the right to life, and its incapacity to appreciate the difference between a tiny prison clinic and a real hospital—unless your name is Imelda or Gloria or Enrile.”
“We are saddened that the government's mandate to recognize and uphold the right of the Lumad to education and self-determination is superseded by a militaristic approach that further marginalizes the Lumad.”
“The audacity in yakking against us to our extreme prejudice outside the courtroom could not be matched by any modicum of fortitude by at least showing up in court."
"We are ready to submit reports. We have all the fact sheets that you can think of, affidavits, and fact-finding reports. But it is best if they can speak to the victims and their relatives of rights abuses themselves."
Mervin Toquero of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) said that barring entry of UN investigators into the country would only prove that “this administration is hiding something.”
During the 41st session of the UN HRC in Geneva, Switzerland, 18 countries voted in favor of the resolution while 14 voted against. Fifteen member-states abstained from voting.
“We hope that the member states and non-member states will support this resolution because this is just one of many initiatives that will address these heinous extrajudicial killings."
Scores of NDFP consultants were killed in police raids. The others were charged with common crimes to hide the political motive behind their arrest and detention and to portray them as ordinary criminals. Their lawyers have maintained that the evidence against them were planted.
Based on Karapatan’s data, there are 532 political prisoners in the country, 209 of whom were arrested under President Duterte’s administration.
“It is a big step in stride with other parallel measures and contemporaneous efforts that merits the full support of an intergovernmental body that is mandated to ensure the promotion, protection and respect for human rights at the global level.”
“Such pronouncement shows the government’s lack of concern and tendency to dismiss deaths relating to the war on drugs.”
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