“Our call to drop all charges against Frenchie Mae and to immediately release her is now more urgent than ever.”
Judge junks motion filed by lawyers of Tacloban journalist, 2 others
Tags: attacks on human rights defenders
Debunking government’s defense of the anti-terror bill
Who have been declared “communist-terrorists” by state security forces and the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict? Practically all sectoral organizations advocating for reforms and genuine change. They did not spread terror or cause panic among the public but called on the government to act on legitimate demands of ordinary citizens.
What the anti-terror bill means to ordinary citizens
Farmers, indigenous peoples and teachers have been tagged as terrorists and subjected to various forms of attack since Duterte assumed office. The Anti-Terror Bill, if enacted into law, would only escalate what they describe as “state terror” and would target ordinary citizens for merely exercising their constitutional rights.
Cops break into UP Cebu grounds, arrest 7 protesters
Hundreds of students and activists held a protest inside UP-Cebu grounds to call for the junking of Anti-Terror Bill but policemen forcibly entered the campus and arrested seven protesters.
Rizal crackdown vs. urban poor ‘desperate’ – groups
On the same day that Kadamay Secretary General Carlito Badion was killed, members of urban poor groups in Rizal province were summoned by the military to clear their names from the list of alleged communists.
First Person | Si Karletz, ang bundok na di mapapatag
“Basta aksyon, Bad yon” tawa naming lahat. Siguro nga, kung si Ka Bea, bilang chairperson ang ‘nanay’ ng organisasyon, si Ka Inday iyung tita mong makulit, si Karlets naman ang inabutan kong tito na ‘bad boy’ ng kilusan ng maralitang lungsod. Hindi dahil pasaway siya o mahirap pakisamahan, pero dahil may taglay lang siyang swabeng angas na maganda kasama mapakwentuhan, sa init ng pagtuligsa sa bulok na gobyerno, at syempre sa pagharap sa masa.
‘Anti-terror bill to transform PH into a police state’ — groups
“The legislation can be used to violate people rights in the same way the Bayanihan Act was used for mass arrests of ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] violators. Only the anti-terror law is 100x worse.”
Frenchie Mae Cumpio’s brave truth-telling
Frenchie also exposed the terror caused by military encampment in 167 communities in the region under the guise of “community support program.”
Rights group decries ‘planting of evidence’ against Tacloban 5
“The arrest of the Tacloban 5 (us) through the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police tanim ebidensya (planting of evidence) scheme is a manifestation that President Duterte’s administration and his cronies in the AFP in Eastern Visayas are trembling in fear because the legal activists, despite our young age and short experience just like what the AFP would say, did not fail to reach the grassroots.”
‘Ridiculous’ | Groups belie military’s claims over the arrest of journalist, 4 others
“The arrests of Cumpio and, before her, Krueger, the red-tagging of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and other press freedom groups and advocates, the continued attempts to shut down Rappler, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, are all part of this government’s efforts to silence the free exchange of ideas and coopt media into mouthing only what it allows.”
From defending the environment to defending human rights
“We need to keep the fire burning especially now that Duterte has utilized the entire machinery of government against the people.”