Human rights group Defend Southern Tagalog hopes that the latest Petition for Review could be granted, “to show that the Department of Justice actually understands the meaning of justice.”
Activists assert that red-tagging or terror tagging made by government officials and other state agents endangers the lives of their colleagues, lawyers and all those who are critical of the government. Many reports have also shown that red-tagged activists were slapped with trumped-up charges, or worse get killed or disappeared.
“To indict the 16 individuals merely on the basis of unvetted or still to be clarified statements, without strong documentary or object proof, is to act on rumors. No less than the Department of Justice is expected to heed the principles of justice, truth and fairness in the conduct of its duty to the public which it has sworn to serve.”
“Given Remulla’s atrocious track record of shameless apologia for red-tagging, human rights violations, and attacks on press freedom, we express grave concern over his impending appointment as DOJ secretary, especially when his appointment also means that he will get to sit as a member the Anti-Terrorism Council.”
“Why are only .8% of the 6,151 reported deaths by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency being investigated and reviewed?”
The mañanita general’s notion of despedida proved to be a series of raids and arrests in Southern Tagalog and Bicol, according to human rights groups.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay lamented that the justice department’s task force is not doing enough to resolve the extrajudicial killings in Calabarzon.
However, doubts have been raised over whether the investigating body can truly undertake an impartial investigation into the two latest EJKs and other cases. You’ll find the reasonable ground for these doubts after looking into the nature, composition and apparent inertia of the investigating body.
“Where was this ‘human compassion’ when the homeless and the urban poor were subjected to warrantless arrests, inhumane detention in dog cages, or being made to sit under the sun as punishment for simply being outside their homes for the need to earn living or for simply having no home at all?”
If there’s any consolation in this protracted resistance to injustice, it’s that I am just one among the many Filipinos who continue to believe in upholding the freedoms and rights we have won.
In the PILC motion’s prefatory statement, Ocampo said, “I am Saturnino Ocampo. Journalist. I am NOT a terrorist.”