Lieutenant General Noel Clement, the newly appointed AFP chief of staff and Central Visayas police chief Brigadier General Debold Sinas have bloody records during their stint in the Visayas region.
Clamor said the attempts to discredit human rights defenders and progressive organisations aim to prevent them from pursuing justice for the victims of rights violations.
In a statement, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) called this proposal as an “excavation of a jurassic idea which has the effect of curtailing freedom of association and political beliefs which are in fact crucial ingredients for democracy to flourish.”
“Anyone who affords legal remedies such as writs of amparo and habeas data will now be subjected to reprisals like this. We deem the accusations by NSA Esperon (not only) as baseless and malicious but also a serious attack on the basic right to access legal mechanisms.”
“We maintain that our petition is urgent amid the spate of intensified red-tagging, illegal arrests, and killings perpetrated against us by this government.”
“It exposes that ‘hit lists’ often translate to killings.”
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.
“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.
“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.”
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.”