Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 28 August 17 - 23, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
news AT A glance
Indigenous Peoples Day marked with protestsBecause
they are mostly found in upland, remote or coastal areas, indigenous peoples (IPs)
in the Philippines continue to bear the brunt of military operations against
armed guerrillas. Counter-insurgency operations aggravate the plight of the IPs
who suffer discrimination under government’s land, mining and development
policies – and they are in fact threatened with ethnocide. Henry
Borreo, a Dumagat leader and spokesperson of the Kalipunan ng Katutubong
Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP), said as much as indigenous communities marked the
UN-declaredld’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day last week. In a statement, Borreo cited the massacre of the Blancos, a Mangyan family in Mindoro Occidental allegedly by government forces last July 21. Furthermore, he said, Lumad communities in Mindanao, Mangyan and Dumagat communities in the Southern Luzon region, are the most heavily-militarized in the country followed by the communities of Aggays, Kalinga and Ifugaos of Cagayan Valley and the Aetas in Central Luzon. *
* * Bishops defend Sison before HouseThe
Ecumenical Bishops Conference led a delegation of activists and peace advocates
in defending the rights of Jose Maria Sison in a public hearing of the House
Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Justice, Aug. 12. The
move came as House Resolution No. 850 was filed urging the Dutch government to
guarantee full respect of the rights of Sison as a recognized political refugee
under international law, the immediate removal of his name and that of the
Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army from the list of
foreign terrorist organizations and the unconditional and complete restoration
of all of Sison’s social benefits. The resolution was authored by Bayan Muna
Rep. Saturnino Ocampo. “Why am I so zealous about defending him? I don't know him personally. But I stand on the principles of human rights, peace and due process. Prof. Sison is now a victim of the unjust listing of ‘terrorists.’ Then it could also be anybody,” said Rev. Julio Labayen, Bishop-Prelate of Infanta. *
* * Akbayan solon, lawyers hit over Marcos victims’ compensationThe
Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA)
lambasted Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales for seeking to water down House Bill 4535. Rosales’s
proposed amendments seek to compensate not only Marcos human rights victims but
also post-Marcos victims and will, in effect, derail the passage of HB 4535
which provides for the immediate compensation of 10,000 torture victims under
martial law. Marie
Hilao-Enriquez, SELDA secretary general, also hit Claimants 1081 lawyers Robert
Swift and Rod Domingo. "The
escrow fund could have gone back to the Marcoses and would not have been
recovered for the Filipino people had the proposed $150 million settlement
agreement which Swift, Rosales and their motley group entered into with the
Marcoses in 1998 prospered. They were the ones who did not like the Swiss Court
to transfer the money to the Philippine government arguing that this is owned by
the Marcoses." Had
not the victims fought hard against this onerous agreement, their historic fight
would have been lost, and there will be no P10 billion compensation to talk
about, she said. Bulatlat.com |
|