Philippines : Ongoing campaign of intimidation against human rights defenders
Event- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2011
- Event Description
Following an ongoing campaign of intimidation against members of its staff Ms Emerita Lor, Ms Gloria Jandayan and Ms Julieta Casinillo. Community-Based Health Services-Northern Mindanao Region (CBHS-NMR) in the Philippines has been forced to close its offices temporarily since 2 June 2011. Further Information CBHS-NMR works to ensure the delivery of basic services in rural areas and advocates the interrelation of health and human rights. It has been focusing its efforts on the militarised indigenous communities in Northern Mindanao over the past months. Emerita Lor is the CBHS-NMR officer in charge of the Research and Education Desk and is responsible for implementing anti-malarial initiatives in three remote villages. Gloria Jandayan and Julieta Casinillo are community health workers who work in Northern Mindanao Medical Centre, which facilitates patients from indigenous communities. On 2 June 2011, CBHS-NMR decided to close its offices and relocate Emerita Lor, Gloria Jandayan and Julieta Casinillo due to the ongoing harassment and intimidation to which they have been subjected. On 1 June 2011, Emerita Lor noticed a man loitering near the offices of CBHS-NMR from around 9am to 1pm. She recognised the man as the same person who had followed her for a long time on 12 May 2011 before she was able to get into a taxi. Gloria Jandayan and Julieta Casinillo identified him as the same man who had approached them as they were working in the Medical Centre. He had asked them about their personal circumstances and those of the patients they were treating. On 31 May 2011 an unidentified caller rang the office of CBHS-NMR and told the Resident Nurse that CBHS-NMR and Emerita Lor should watch out. The caller claimed that CBHS-NMR staff were medics of the New People's Army (NPA), a rebel group. On the same date as the threatening phone call, Emerita Lor reported that she had been trailed by two unidentified men following a community health training. These acts of harassment and intimidation follow a number of phone calls to the offices since April 2011 from unidentified callers inquiring as to the whereabouts of the staff of CBHS-NMR. CBHS-NMR believes that the campaign of intimidation and harassment against its staff is a direct result of its work with the indigenous communities in Northern Mindanao. Over the past months it has been focusing its efforts in delivering services to the Lumad (indigenous peoples) in the Pantaron Range of the provinces of Bukidnon and Agusan del Sur where trauma-related health problems are high. CBHS-NMR have also been promoting peace campaigns in the area and advocating respect for the rights of the indigenous communities who are living under military control in the Pantaron ranges. CBHS-NMR is comprised of health professionals and religious individuals. It works in offering direct services, training programmes and research and education over 5 provinces in Northern Mindanao. It advocates health issues and supports a community-based health approach by integrating and learning from various community health programmes and offering its skills, knowledge and time to improve these progammes. CBHS-NMR has expressed its concern that its staff may suffer the same fate as the 'Morong 43', a group of health professionals who were imprisoned for 10 months on charges that they were NPA medics before those charges were withdrawn by the authorities in December 2010. Front Line believes that the intimidation and harassment of Emerita Lor, Gloria Jandayan and Julieta Casinillo is directly related to their work in defence of human rights and in particular to their health work in Northern Mindanao.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 14.5995
Longitude: 120.9842
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
Following an ongoing campaign of intimidation against members of its staff Ms Emerita Lor, Ms Gloria Jandayan and Ms Julieta Casinillo. Community-Based Health Services-Northern Mindanao Region (CBHS-NMR) in the Philippines has been forced to close its offices temporarily.