Ten-year old Levi Mabanan, the youngest political detainee in the country, was finally released May 15 from the military camp in Catbalogan, Samar, where he was forced to spend four years of his young life. By Bulatlat.com Levi Mabanan was only six years old when placed behind bars in 2000. He spent the last four…
Category: Human Rights
Poetry and Revolution: Behind Bars and Beyond
Jose Maria Sison’s poems are suffused with various kinds of imagery, but in these one thread is common – the voice of a poet not only resolved to write good poetry, but also revolting against oppression in all its forms. He thus shares, in Philippine literary history, a place with the likes of Andres Bonifacio,…
The Role of Jose Maria Sison in the Peace Process
Joma not only laid down the theoretical framework and guidelines for the peace negotiations. As chief political consultant, he has masterfully steered the negotiations to where they are now. We can spend hours, even days, relating those instances where Joma, broke a deadlock or an impasse, or reconciled two seemingly diametrically opposed positions. By Rey…
51 Murder Charges Filed vs AFP
While the nation feasted on the election canvassing in Congress, the offices of the Joint Monitoring Committee of both government and the National Democratic Front were inaugurated in Quezon City June 4. Expect the Macapagal-Arroyo government to face a deluge of criminal charges by families of victims of human rights violations in the next few…
A Pillow for Papa: Forced disappearances under Arroyo: 10 during the May elections
It is appalling, the human rights alliance Karapatan said, that the forced disappearance of political activists and suspected NPA sympathizers – an atrocity that began under Marcos during the 1970s – continues to this day. Under the three years of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at least 30 incidents of disappearances involving 38 individuals were recorded. Ten…
Human Rights Watch: NPA Treats POWs Well ¾ AFP Judge
A ranking official of the Armed Forces’ Judge Advocate General’ s Office (Jago) is singing a tune different from that of the AFP spokesperson with regards allegations of human rights violations by the New People’ s Army (NPA). “Mas liberal pa nga ang mga NPA, inaalagaan nila ang kanilang mga bihag” (The NPAs are more…
Soldiers Maul Journalists, 7 Others in Batangas
Melvin Mamis, 27, a correspondent of the alternative multi-media group Southern Tagalog Exposure, was choked as a soldier of the 20th Special Forces grabbed his camera. He was forcibly brought inside the camp where he was repeatedly punched at the stomach. Willy Solis, a volunteer of the human rights group Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, was slapped, punched…
Soldiers Maul Journalist, 7 Others in Batangas
Melvin Mamis, 27, a correspondent of the alternative multi-media group Southern Tagalog Exposure, was choked as a soldier of the 20th Special Forces grabbed his camera. He was forcibly brought inside the camp where he was repeatedly punched at the stomach. Willy Solis, a volunteer of the human rights group Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, was slapped, punched…
NEWS AT A GLANCE
Court denies mother’s plea for sick child Zenaida Llesis, the 46-year old political detainee who gave birth to a girl at the Bukidnon Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center last year, went on hunger strike last Jan. 20. Llesis, who has been detained since Aug. 2002 for being an New People’s Army (NPA) suspect, took the…
On the 3rd anniversary of People Power 2: Militants Decry Militarization, Arroyo’s ‘Treachery’
Militants who helped sweep Joseph Estrada out of power and install Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo into the presidency marched toward Edsa Shrine to mark the third anniversary of People Power 2 Jan. 20. Blocked by contingents of police, they rallied in front of Camp Aguinaldo to decry the growing fascism and militarization under the present administration. By…
Nestle Workers Condemn Two Years of Injustice and Violence
“Good food, good life”— thus goes the tag line of the food giant Nestlé Philippines Inc. in its advertisements. Apparently, these words are not for the company’s own workers, as more than 300 of them continue to decry making do with “bad food” and suffering a “bad life” since they went on strike two years…