Uwazi

“But now more than ever, the RMP will live out its commitment to be servant-leaders with the poor farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers, and Indigenous Peoples so that all may truly experience God’s compassion and mercy in the here and now.”

Amid the continuing crackdown on progressives, the Philippine government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council has issued a freeze order on the bank accounts of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, “depriving rural poor of the help and services they deserve, and that the government refuses to provide,” the church group said.

This, the RMP said, is the latest attack against them that “greatly encumbers our mission to collectively witness and act as Christ’s disciples with the rural poor, for them to enjoy the fruits of their labor, to live a life of justice and peace towards fullness of life promised to all God’s children.”

The 50-year-old institution is a national organization of religious men and women, priests, and lay who provide assistance to communities of peasants, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, and agricultural workers.

The RMP said the accounts were created and maintained for completed and on-going projects of RMP, as well as for its internal operations. It added that the donations and funding they have received are used “to help the marginalized and oppressed.”

Compared to the government’s track record, the RMP said it has provided much-needed services to rural communities for the past 50 years.

Series of attacks

This is not the first time that RMP has been subjected to harassment.

Last year, military spokesman Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. went on a vilification-spree against RMP and several progressive organizations. RMP was among those who sought the protection of the Supreme Court as red-tagging often results to graver rights abuses such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and illegal arrests.

The Court of Appeals, however, tasked by the High Court to hear their amparo petition, denied the legal remedy that human rights defenders were seeking.

A perjury case filed by Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. against RMP’s former Chairperson Sr. Elen Belardo instead remains pending before a Quezon City court.

Apart from Belardo, other key RMP leaders and members are also facing trumped-up charges. These include Sr. Emma Cupin and lay worker Angie Ipong who are facing arson, kidnapping, and robbery, and frustrated murder, respectively. Just this morning, another RMP lay worker Mariell Domanquill was arrested along with four others in simultaneous raids in Tacloban City.

The tribals schools that the RMP has helped set up were also forcibly closed, with their two volunteer teachers Melissa Comiso and Nori Torregosa still in jail for trumped up charges.

“Our organization has been vilified and maligned — thru cowardly and baseless anonymous black propaganda materials, and thru equally cowardly and baseless official pronouncements of the government,” the RMP said.

Vague reasons

On Dec. 26, 2019, however, the anti-money laundering body issued Resolution TF-18, ordering for a 20-day freeze for three RMP accounts under the Bank of Philippine Islands, one of the country’s biggest banks.

RMP said the bank was also ordered to submit other bank accounts.

A petition to extend the freeze order up to six months was also filed before the Court of Appeals, despite what the RMP described as “very vague reasoning” that RMP is related to terror financing, which they strongly denied.

“We have our mission and community partners to confirm this,” they said.

On Jan. 9 and 13, the church group received notices from their bank, confirming that their accounts have been suspended, including two for the National Office and nine for Northern Mindanao.

Continue with advocacy

The attack against RMP, the church group said, is proof that living out one’s faith as a Christian and establishing the Church of the Poor, “will put your liberty and life at risk.”

“But now more than ever, the RMP will live out its commitment to be servant-leaders with the poor farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural workers, and Indigenous Peoples so that all may truly experience God’s compassion and mercy in the here and now,” the group said.

Instead of pouring their efforts on RMP, the group called on the government’s anti-money laundering body to instead go after those who are truly involved in crimes of laundering money through corruption and other crimes against the poor.

The secretary-general of human rights group Karapatan received threats of death and rape, among others, during the annual celebration of International Human Rights Day on Tuesday, she said.

Cristina Palabay said she received a phone call and a series of texts from an unknown number. Related Stories How activists respond to being tagged as rebels

“I received a phone call from this number (a call which I took because I thought the caller might be a distressed victim or a journalist), presumably yet another caller from the military intelligence or paid hitman from the government threatening to kill me,” Palabay’s Facebook post on Tuesday read.

“He was asking where I live and said all the worst possible things that he/they will do to me.”

The caller subsequently sent texts containing praises of President Rodrigo Duterte and threats of rape against the Karapatan official. Screen captures of the said texts were included in Palabay’s post.

“Karapatan strongly condemns this verbal assault and series of threats against our secretary-general. Such use of words meant to demean Cristina on the basis of her identity as a woman is precisely indicative of the fascist character and toxic masculinity perpetrated and replicated by President Duterte and his supporters,” the rights group said in a Wednesday release.

Moreover, Karapatan said that aside from attacks targeting female leaders, the incident holds grave implications on the state of human rights in the Philippines considering it happened during a holiday meant to celebrate the observation of human rights.

“This latest attack confirms that as we commemorate human rights day, the Philippines has regressed to an all-time low with regard to its protection and respect for women's and people's rights,” the group said.

Despite the attack taking place through the official mobile number used by Palabay in media lists and press releases distributed during protests, including to police, Karapatan said that it will not be deterred.

Independent think tank Ibon Foundation expressed alarm over a notice of “ocular inspection” from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) in the wake of successive raids of offices of progressive organizations.

In a statement, Ibon Foundation said it received a call from a certain Col. Joaquin Alba of NCRPO at around 4 p.m. informing them that a warrant of arrest will be served on someone supposedly within the office building.

Ibon Foundation told Alba that the person indicated in the warrant does not hold office there but the latter insisted that they will still go to conduct “an ocular inspection.” The research group received information that a police team from Criminal Investigation and Detection Group was preparing to go to Ibon to ‘pick up’ someone (“may kukunin na tao”).

“This is alarming and we believe that it is part of the Duterte government’s worsening crackdown on activists upholding human rights and hence critical of its retrogressive policies and authoritarian governance,” the group said in a statement.

Ibon noted that the incident comes on the heels of a week of consecutive military and police operations against various activists and activist groups in Manila and Negros. “This included using spurious search warrants to raid homes and offices, planting guns and grenades, and arresting activists on bogus charges,” the group said.

Some 60 activists have been illegally arrested and detained in the past week.

Ibon is among many activist organizations and cause-oriented groups that have been red-tagged by the Duterte administration.

“The Duterte administration is attacking IBON because our research, education and advocacy work exposes Philippine economic realities that the government wants to conceal,” the group said.

The group also blamed the so-called task force to end local communist armed conflict for the ongoing crackdown against NGOs and progressive organizations.

As of press time, police forces have not showed up at the premises of Ibon Foundation building at Timog Avenue in Quezon City.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also alerted members of the Philippine media as Altermidya network holds office at the second floor of the building.

In a statement, Altermidya warned the Philippine National Police to stay away from its office. “Make no mistake about it, any breach into our office premises will be construed as a grave violation of press freedom and will be met with widespread condemnation and legal action,” Altermidya said.

MANILA, Philippines – Gabriela Women's Party – which won a seat in the 18th Congress – was red-tagged by both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) in a hearing held inside the Batasang Pambansa.

Facing members of the House committee on national defense and security on Tuesday, November 5, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence Major General Reuben Basiao presented a list of 18 organizations that are alleged communist fronts.

Third on the list was Gabriela, which is currently represented in the House by Arlene Brosas after the party-list group secured more than 446,000 votes during the May 2019 elections.

The congresswoman, however, was not present during Basiao's presentation. When she arrived at the conference hall, she requested to see the list once again.

"Mismo dito sa Kongreso ay tina-tag kami as a communist terrorist group? Ano ba 'yan? Ano bang nangyayari? Bakit ganyan?" asked the second-termer congresswoman.

(We're being tagged as a communist terrorist group even here in Congress? What gives? What's happening? Why are you doing this?)

Brosas lashed out against the AFP and the DND, asking if Gabriela's inclusion in the list is a "prelude" to martial law.

"Familiar naman po kayo sa mga ginagawa namin. Binoto po kami ng taumbayan. Binoto po kami. May mandato po kami. Bakit nakalagay ang pangalan ng Gabriela Women's Party in particular? Ano pong ibig sabihin nito? Prelude ba ito sa martial law na ang mga legal entities at legal organizations in particular ay tina-target ngayon ng AFP?" asked Brosas.

(You're familiar with what we do here. We were voted by the people. We were elected. We have a mandate. Why put the name of Gabriela Women's Party in particular? What does this mean? Is this a prelude to martial law, with legal entities and legal organizations in particular now being targeted by the AFP?)

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana then said that based on documents recovered by the military across the country, Gabriela is a "legal front" for the Communist Party of the Philippines.

But the DND chief said they are "not red-tagging" Gabriela.

"There is no prelude to martial law. We are not red-tagging Gabriela. We are just saying that they are [a] front of the communist movement. We based this conclusion from documents that we captured from our operations all over the country," said Lorenzana.

"Palaging lumalabas 'yung Gabriela tsaka 'yung iba pang mga fronts nila. So what can you conclude there? I'm not saying you are communist. I'm saying that you are fronting, kayo 'yung legal front nila," he added.

(Gabriela's name keeps on popping up along with other fronts. So what can you conclude there? I'm not saying you are a communist. I'm saying that you are fronting, that you are their legal front.)

In a statement released after the hearing, Brosas once again slammed the AFP and the DND for their "attempt to criminalize dissent." (LISTEN: [PODCAST] Dapat bang gawing ilegal ang pagiging komunista?)

"Hindi kami armadong grupo at hindi armado ang mga miyembro namin. Sa ilalim ng kasalukuyang Konstitusyon at mga batas, hindi krimen ang mag-organisa at hindi krimen ang maging aktibista. Gabriela Women's Party strongly condemns this clear attempt to criminalize dissent and weaponize the law," said Brosas.

(We are not an armed group and our members are not armed either. Under the current Constitution and our laws, it is not a crime to organize and become activists. Gabriela Women's Party strongly condemns this clear attempt to criminalize dissent and weaponize the law.)

Gabriela's clash with the AFP and the DND came on the same day the Manila police arrested 3 members of progressive groups during a raid in Tondo past midnight.

On October 31, law enforcers in Bacolod City also arrested 56 persons affiliated with progressive and human rights groups during raids on their offices.

A union leader and community organizer was killed on Monday, November 4, in front of his wife in Cabuyao, Laguna.

Reynaldo Malaborbor, 61, was repeatedly shot in the head by an unidentified man while walking with his wife near their residence at 9:30 pm in Barangay Banay-banay.

Police said the gunman managed to flee the scene of the crime by foot.

Malaborbor was a longtime activist involved in several labor organizations. He served as coordinator of Makabayan Southern Tagalog during the 2019 elections.

He was among the 3 farmers arrested and accused by the military in 2010 of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The case was dismissed in 2015.

Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno (PAMANTIK- KMU) condemned the killing.

“The grizly details of the last moments of Rey Malaborbor goes to show that the de facto martial rule continues to claim victims in the form of its task forces to supposedly end the armed conflict,” the group said.

Malaborbor’s death comes amid what human rights groups call a “massive crackdown” of progressive organizations and dissent under President Rodrigo Duterte.

At least 60 people have been arrested during raids of offices and residences since October 31 in Manila and Bacolod.

A leader of women’s group Gabriela and her husband were arrested by elements of the Manila Police District and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group early this morning, Oct. 31.

According to a statement released by Gabriela, at around 5:00 a.m. today, ten policemen forcibly entered the house of Cora Agovida, spokesperson of Gabriela-Metro Manila and her husband Michael Tan Bartolome in Manila. The couple was instructed to drop to the floor while their two children, aged two and ten years old, and their companion were asked to go outside. A few minutes later, police claimed they recovered a.45 caliber pistol and two grenades from the residence of the couple.

The couple has been brought to the Manila Police District and charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

The search warrant against the couple was issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 89, the same court that issued the search warrant for the simultaneous raids of offices of people’s organizations in Bacolod City, Oct. 31.

Their children had been under the custody of the Manila Rehabilitation Action Center last night. The couple has requested the Children’s Rehabilitation Center to look after their children. As of press time, the transfer of custody is being processed.

Gabriela condemned the arrest and called for the immediate release of Agovida and Bartolome.

Authorities arrested 56 persons they alleged were communist rebels and “rescued” six minors supposedly undergoing “training and “indoctrination” during simultaneous raids on the offices of three activist groups and a private residence in Bacolod City early Friday evening, October 31.

Several firearms and grenades were also reported recovered during the raids on the offices of the Bayan Muna party-list and Gabriela in Barangay Bata, the National Federation of Sugar Workers at Libertad, and the home of Bayan Muna’s Romulo Bito-on and his wife Mermalyn, who were both arrested.

All three organizations have long been openly accused of being “legal fronts” of the communist movement.

Bito-on, on the other hand, has been previously arrested and charged for being an alleged communist.

But human rights group and some of those apprehended denied the accusations they were rebels and said the weapons had been “planted.”

Video taken of the search at the nearby office of Gabriela showed a police officer inspecting a revolver and ammunition taken from a backpack at a corner of the yard.

Local media quoted Captain Cenon Pancito, spokesman of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, as saying 49 persons, including the minors, were taken into custody from the Bayan Muna compound.

Among those arrested there were known activist leaders John Milton Lozande and Danny Tabura of the NFSW, Proceso Quiatchon of the human rights group Karapatan, Nilo Rosales of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, and Aldrin de Cerna of the Kilusang Mayo Uno.

Lozande said the raiders held them for around an hour and then he was called to a house in the compound and showed “an obviously planted” gun supposedly found in his bag.

Nine other persons were arrested at the Gabriela office and two more from the NFSW.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said among those arrested at the Gabriela office was Anne Krueger of the newly established alternative media outfit Paghimutad, which has been covering social issues, including extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses.

They were all taken to the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office.

Interestingly, the raids were covered by search warrants issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of Branch 89 of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City.

Karapatan, in a statement, called this suspicious and said this was reminiscent of the Oplan Sauron 2 operations in Negros Oriental in March, which were covered by search warrants issued in Cebu City.

Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate also condemned the “dastardly Gestapo-like raid … simultaneously conducted by state forces against the offices of Bayan Muna, Gabriela and NFSW in Bacolod, Negros Occidental.”

He noted that the raids were conducted “at night before a long weekend so as to ensure that the courts are closed tomorrow so that the planted pieces evidence and subsequent trumped-up charges filed cannot immediately be challenged.”

Karapatan called the raids part of a “full-blown crackdown on activists and red-tagged legal organizations,” noting that earlier in the day, police arrested Cora Agovida, the Metro Manila chairperson of Gabriela, and her husband Mickael Tan Bartolome of the urban poor group Kadamay, and claimed a .45 caliber pistol and two grenades were seized from their home.

However, Pancito told media the raids, which he described as “part of cutting the source of manpower to Red areas,” or territory were the rebels operate, would prove to be a “big blow to the Red fighters of the New People’s Army” and would “trigger the downfall” of the insurgency on Negros.

An activist doctor and professor received death threats a few hours after joining a protest demanding a bigger budget for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Dr. Gene Nisperos, president of the All UP Academic Employees Union-Manila Chapter (AUPAEU-Manila), received a text message Monday night, October 21, saying he and his family would be killed soon.

“I know where your condominium is. We will get your family one by one…You are dead by…including your children and wife,” the message read.

The message was sent by an unidentified person through mobile phone number +639567955995.

Nisperos blamed the climate of violence created by the Rodrigo Duterte government against those who seek substantial reforms and genuine change in Philippine society for the latest threats against him and his wife, also a doctor.

“In these times, those who do good and stand for what is right are persecuted. It [this administration] is sowing fear because it rules by fear. This must be opposed in whatever form and whenever it occurs,” Nisperos told Kodao.

As he was being interviewed by Kodao, Nisperos received another threat from the same number Tuesday morning.

A graduate of UP College of Medicine’s prestigious Intarmed program, Nisperos and wife, Dr. Julie Caguiat, served as community doctors in Mindanao before returning to Manila to advocate for community-based health programs in the national level.

Nisperos is an assistant professor who teaches Community Medicine in UP Manila.

Duterte government as suspects

The AUPAEU-Manila condemned the most recent death threats against Nisperos and family.

The union said the threat comes at a time when the AUPAEU-Manila is calling on all faculty, administrative staff, and researchers of the university to unite against the impending budget cut for the University of the Philippines, particularly on the UP Manila and Philippine General Hospital (PGH), and to campaign for the regularization of contractual workers, among others.

The union said the threats are attempts to sow fear among teachers and unionists who assert for their rights and to fight for a higher state subsidy for social services such as education and health.

“[O]ur Union will not tremble in the face of vicious repressive measures and increasingly fascist attacks by this administration,” AUPAEU-Manila said.

Different groups assailed the recent arrests of a peasant leader and two Lumad volunteer teachers on Oct. 10 in Mindanao region.

The police arrested 68-year-old Virgilio “Ka Yoyong” Lincuna in Butuan City for alleged attempted murder which happened in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Lincuna is the chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)-Caraga and Unyon sa mga Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Norte (UMAN). He is also a member of the KMP National Council.

On the same day, Melissa Comiso, head of the Literacy and Numeracy Program of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP)-Northern Mindanao, and another teacher were also arrested by police operatives in barangay Limaha, Butuan City. Both are detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group office in Butuan City.

Karapatan denounced their arrest and called for their immediate release. The group said the arrests of Lincuna and Comisa are part of the government’s crackdown against organizers, activists, and progressive leaders in Mindanao.

“These attacks have been aggravated and justified by State policies, foremost of which is the continuing martial law in Mindanao, intensified operations under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and Oplan Kapanatagan,” Karapatan said in a statement.

‘Lincuna, veteran of the progressive farmers’ movement’

The KMP-Caraga region said Lincuna is a veteran of the progressive farmers’ movement in the region. He is a farmer organizer since the 1980s and has led campaigns against plantations and mining operations as well as providing paralegal services to farmers victimized by human rights violations.

Caraga is a resource rich region and has been a constant target of investors for expansion of plantations such as palm and mining operations. The area has been militarized since peasants continue to resist the occupation of their land for business interests.

Danilo Ramos, KMP chairperson, said Lincuna led several peasant struggles in the region and gained victories such as increase in wages of farmworkers, an increase in palay and copra prices, lowering of land rent and interest rates.

Ramos said agrarian reform beneficiaries in Agusan Plantation Inc., Filipinas Palm Plantations Inc. in Agusan del Sur and Tubay Agricultural Center in Agusan del Norte are asserting their right and defending their position in almost 10,000 hectares of agricultural lands that are now under the control of plantation companies.

Clearly, Ramos said, this recent attack against Lincuna “is an attack on those who fight against land grabbing.”

Meanwhile, RMP said Comiso has been a long-time member of RMP and has managed a number of schools in the northern Mindanao.

“She has tirelessly sought to bring education to Lumad communities and work with her fellow Lumad and other advocates to achieve this goal,” RMP said in a statement.

According to RMP, Cosimo has been tagged as supporter of the New People’s Army (NPA) because of her service to the Lumad children. She has also been receiving death threats through SMS and Messenger and was put under surveillance by alleged State forces, which prompted her to seek sanctuary.

“We call for the immediate release of Lincuna and the two Lumad teachers. In light of the closure of Lumad schools on the basis of unverified and malicious military reports, such are indicative of incessant violations against indigenous and peasant communities,” Karapatan said.

A human rights lawyer based in Roxas City survived an ambush attack late morning today, Sept. 23, after attending a hearing.

Lawyer Criselda Heredia posted on her Facebook account that her car was strafed while traversing Timpas, Panitan town in Capiz, just a stone’s throw away from a military camp Antonio Belo.

Nine bullets were recovered from the car, she told Bulatlat.

Heredia was accompanied by her daughter and a client.

In a message sent to Bulatlat.com, Heredia said the target of the assailant could either be her or her client.

In a statement, lawyers group National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers chapter in Panay held state security forces accountable.

Heredia, according to NUPL, has been “red-tagged in posters and has been personally threatened by a military agent who visited her office and warned her to slow down on her human rights advocacy.”

Apart from being a lawyer, Heredia is also a cultural worker who used to perform musical presentations and has mounted painting exhibits in both Iloilo and Roxas City.

NUPL-Panay said the attack came in the wake of the call of international organizations to President Duterte to protect lawyers in the Philippines.

Under Duterte, 47 lawyers, including judges and prosecutors, have been killed.

On September 19, an ongoing surveillance and a threat of a raid by the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) of the Philippine National Police into the joint office of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) and the Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC-Phils) was reported by a reliable source to the two organizations.

This came after the two organizations participated in a number of important work on environmental defenders. Kalikasan delivered a testimony on the state of human rights and environment in the Philippines during the National Inquiry on Human Rights Defenders organized by the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) held last week, and CEC raised the issue of environment defenders during the ASEAN People’s Forum 2019 held in Bangkok, Thailand.

This is clear harassment and an obvious effort to silence civil society groups like CEC and Kalikasan.

On September 14, 2019, Karapatan received information from its regional chapter in Southern Tagalog that Alexandrea Pacalda, a human rights worker affiliated with the organization, was abducted by six operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in General Luna, South Quezon. She was initially brought to the 85th Infantry Battalion headquarters, and then later to the General Luna police station. At the police station, Alexandrea was forced to sign a certification indicating that she voluntarily surrendered. Thereafter, she was taken to the 201st AFP Brigade camp in Calauan, Quezon.

During the past days, Karapatan got in touch with Alexandrea’s family. Karapatan legal counsel Atty. Maria Sol Taule was also able to talk to the victim herself. Amid all the false reports circulating online, Karapatan would like to clarify a few matters:

Alexandrea Pacalda, 23, was a human rights worker of Karapatan. She is currently affiliated with Pinag-isang Lakas ng Magsasaka sa Quezon (PIGLAS-Quezon), a local peasant organization in the region. She was abducted by elements of the military and she continues to be under military custody. She was arrested without a warrant and continues to be under detention for five days now.

As of this writing, there have been no charges filed against Pacalda, unless they start planting evidence or put her name under Jane Does or ludicrous aliases in outstanding warrants of arrest. She is being held without charges for more than 36 hours now. Particularly, 118 hours have already passed. This already qualifies as arbitrary detention and the military should be held accountable. Alexandrea should be immediately released to her family.

Alexandrea Pacalda signed the affidavit of voluntary surrender while under duress. In a signed statement to her lawyer, the victim said that she was subjected to mental torture, and was merely forced to sign the affidavit. She added that she was not allowed to sleep and was starved for 24-30 hours.

Alexandrea’s family was likewise forced to affix their signature. While there was no physical coercion, Karapatan asserts that the coercive circumstance wherein the family was subjected to invalidates the giddy claims of the PNP and the AFP that she “voluntarily surrendered.” The military threatened the family with a criminal case to be charged against Alexandrea if they don’t agree to sign the affidavit. This signed document, though far from voluntary, is making the rounds in social media.

Alexandrea’s father broke down after meeting with Karapatan’s legal counsel. He said he signed the affidavit and convinced her daughter to do so, as they were held in a hostile environment. They were fearful of what the military can do to Alexandrea, given that she remains under military custody.

The father of Alexandrea was presented to the media. He initially stated that his daughter was a good person, but was forced to change his account because the military merely wanted the father to talk about the so-called “surrender” of Alexandrea. The family was also invited to join the parade of parents who claim their children are missing, despite being defied and opposed by the children themselves. The Pacalda family refused, and is currently in coordination with the Commission on Human Rights and Karapatan for her release.

Alexandrea was taken to the notary public on September 17, 2019. She was not provided a copy of the said affidavit. She was subjected to custodial investigation, yet an affidavit was drafted without the presence of a counsel of her own choice. The said affidavit, which has likewise been circulated online, was signed without the presence of her lawyer, and was done so while the victim was under pressure. All statements taken from any victim without the presence of his/her counsel of choice should be deemed inadmissible.

After Alexandrea was taken to the notary public and while in conversation with Atty. Taule and her family, she signed a short statement recounting how she was forced to sign the affidavit, as well as her mental and emotional disposition while under military custody. This statement supersedes previous claims by the military and the police about her alleged surrender.

Until now, the military refuses to release Alexa Pacalda. She is currently under the custody of the 201st Brigade in Calauag, Quezon.

On September 19, Capt. Benedict Alfonso Cagain, a civil military officer of the Army’s 201st Brigade, released a statement saying that Alexandrea is not being detained, and that she is free to return home to her family. As of press time however, Alexandrea’s family, accompanied by CHR, is asking continuously demanding for her release. The military refuses to heed the family and the CHR’s request, despite the lack of a case against Alexandrea.

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Unscrupulous individuals are apparently trying to make money following an attack on a lawyer in this city on Monday.

At least three Cebu-based human rights lawyers received a call from a man claiming to be a leader of a gun-for-hire group from Davao City, who demanded P100,000 from them in exchange for sparing their lives. The caller said the lawyers’ names were on his group’s hit list.

But lawyers Magdalena Lepiten, Ian Manticajon and Kim Grace Mendoza suspected that the calls might have been a scheme to extort money from them.

The calls were received in separate times on Tuesday, a day after two men on board a motorcycle attacked lawyer Inocencio de la Cerna while he was leaving the Cebu City Hall of Justice.

De la Cerna survived the attack, but had cuts from glass shards after the suspects fired at his Toyota Land Cruiser.

Same number

Lepiten said she received a call at 9:39 a.m. Tuesday from a certain Bobby who claimed to be from Davao.

She said she did not entertain the caller and instead turned off her phone. Moments later, she said received a text message from the same number—0997-1779161.

The message read: “Ma swerte lang c dela cerna. ekaw ug dli ka makig coperate mamatay ka. 100K kapalit sa imung kinabuhe (Dela Cerna was fortunate to have survived. If you won’t cooperate, you will die. P100K in exchange for your life).”

Lepiten said she posted her conversation on her Facebook account to know if other lawyers received the same call. It turned out she was not the only one.

Mendoza posted on her Facebook account a recording of her conversation with the caller who used the same mobile phone number.

Probe

The man told Mendoza that she was next in the list after De la Cerna but he would spare her life if she had P100,000.

Mendoza, however, told the man to “just kill me” as she didn’t have the money. Irritated, the man called her “crazy (pagkabuang gyud nimo)” before dropping the call.

Manticajon, who missed a call from the same number four times on Tuesday, urged the police and the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest the people behind the threats.

“Although it’s a scam, it still somehow instilled fear among us. It’s not alarming but rather annoying … The government must do something to make every citizen safe and feel safe,” he said.

Col. Gemma Vinluan, city police chief, said she created a team to investigate the matter.

“Although the motive here might be extortion, these lawyers should not take the threats likely. No matter what you call it, it’s still a threat,” she said.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - A Lumad leader and a farmer-activist were gunned down in separate incidents in the province of Bukidnon. On July 8, Datu Mario Agsab, was shot dead in his home at Sitio Mainaga, Brgy. Iba, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon at around 7am by suspected members of paramilitary group Alamara with CAFGU members under the 8th Infantry Batallion. According to Karapatan-Bukidnon, Agsab was an active leader of PIGYAYUNGA-AN, a local chapter of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon. Two days earlier, the group also reported similar shooting incident which targeted a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, an affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Karapatan said that farmer Joel Anino was shot in his home in San Fernando town, Bukidnon by unidentified gunmen around 6:30am last July 6. He later died at the Malaybalay General Hospital. Anino is the second member of KASAMA-Bukidnon killed this year. Last June 16, 57-year-old farmer Liovigildo "Nonoy" Palma, also a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, was killed by three suspects riding a single motorcycle just right outside his house at Barangay Halapitan, Sitio Malambago, San Fernando. Datu Wilson Anglao Jr., secretary general of Karapatan-Bukidnon, condemned the growing number of killings in the province. The group has already documented nine incidents of extrajudicial killings in Bukidnon in the middle of 2019. Anglao attributed these killings to the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, which is expected to last until the end of this year. "The [State] wants to silence anyone " especially the farmers here in Bukidnon " who is strongly calling for genuine agrarian reform in the country" Anglao said. Anglao said that they will bring these cases to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 10 to urge them to look into the human rights situation in the province.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - The human rights watchdog Karapatan has slammed the government for he arrest of the 61-year-old Davao City-based media personality Margarita Valle in Misamis Oriental and the killing of a 65-year-old land reform advocate Felipe Dacal-Dacal in Negros Occidental. Both victims have been active in respective advocacies " Valle as journalist and development worker and Dacal-Dacal as a peasant leader who fought for free land distribution and genuine agrarian reform, the group noted. Valle was arrested by a team of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives from Zamboanga del Sur and other law enforcement agents while waiting for her flight back home at the Laguindingan Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental, on Sunday morning. Dacal-Dacal was shot to death by a lone gunman inside his house in Escalante City, Negros Occidental on Saturday, June 8. Valle's apprehension and Dacal-Dacal's killing are the latest in a string of abhorrent attacks against journalists and human rights defenders, said Karapatan secretary Cristina Palabay.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) – A correspondent of the alternative online paper Northern Dispatch was shot in front of his house at around 6 pm Monday, August 5, in the capital town of Lagawe in Ifugao.

Brandon Lee was immediately brought to the hospital, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance said.

He was hit 4 times in the body. He had just fetched his child from school when the attack happened.

Doctors said he remained in critical condition as of Wednesday, August 7.

The 37-year-old Lee is a paralegal volunteer for the Ifugao Peasant Movement (IPM) and was redtagged by the military in 2015.

He is also the namesake of the actor son of Bruce Lee as his father was a martial arts fanatic.

Lee took over the job of Ricardo Mayumi at the IPM.

Mayumi, a known IP leader who stood against a hydropower project in Tinoc town also in Ifugao, was killed on March 2, 2018, in Ambabag village in Kiangan town.

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines - Anthony Trinidad studied physics, wanted to be an engineer but became a lawyer to help those who could not afford legal services. He was known as a low-key, soft-spoken and gentle person who barely raised his voice. On Tuesday, the 53-year-old who had been tagged as a supporter of communist rebels on Negros Island was killed in an attack by motorcycle-riding gunmen who also wounded his wife. Trinidad was shot in broad daylight as he was driving his car in his hometown of Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental province, according to Lt. Col. Bonifacio Tecson, city police chief. Trinidad's wife, Novie Marie, also 53, took a bullet in the shoulder but survived. "The killers were heartless. They shot him several times and made sure he was dead. I cannot imagine this happening to him" said Trinidad's younger sister Andrea, a former Inquirer reporter. Death threats On Wednesday, Tecson said Trinidad had been receiving death threats for several months before Tuesday's attack. "He was tagged as a supporter of the (New People's Army, or NPA)" Tecson said. Trinidad had informed the Guihulngan police that he received a letter with an alleged list of people being targeted for supporting the NPA. He requested security assistance, which the police provided whenever he attended a hearing, Tecson said. Trinidad's family appealed to the government to help them get justice for the slain lawyer, who also left behind two sons and a daughter. Kindhearted, soft-spoken "We are still at a loss on the motives behind this dastardly act because our brother was such a kindhearted, soft-spoken person who was willing to go out of his way to help people in need" his family said in a statement. "This spate of killings in our country and the culture of violence have to stop. We cannot and should not constantly live in fear. Stop the killings" the statement added. According to the Central Visayas chapter of the rights group Karapatan, Trinidad is the 71st victim of extrajudicial killings on Negros Island under President Duterte. "Negros lost another freedom-loving son martyred today - He work[ed] to defend poor political prisoners and other victims of human rights violations" the group said in a statement on Tuesday. Anticommunist flyer An anticommunist group calling itself Kawsa Guihulnganon Batok Kumunista (Kagubak) included in a flyer the names of Trinidad, his elder sister and Guihulngan Councilor Jessica Trinidad-Villarmente, and her husband, among 15 people it had "judged" and who "would not make it to 2018." The group held them responsible for the killing of 10 "innocent civilians." One former activist on the list, Heidi Malalay Flores, was killed also by motorcycle-riding assassins in August last year. Karapatan said human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos, who was shot dead after he provided legal assistance to the families of nine sugar workers who were massacred in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental province last November, was also on a similar list. 38 dead lawyers, judges Before Trinidad's killing, 38 other lawyers and judges had been assassinated since Mr. Duterte assumed office in 2016 until March this year, according to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). The Defend Negros #Stop the Attacks Network said Trinidad handled cases of peasant leaders and siblings Emilia, Maricris and Rene Quirante from 2007 to 2008. Emilia was municipal chair of Kaugmaon, a peasant organization affiliated with the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, while her brother Rene was head of the local chapter of Anakpawis party list. Rene was shot dead in Guihulngan in 2010. Andrea said her brother did not belong to any group and had been "very focused on his practice, his kids and biking on weekends" since returning home to Negros in the early 2000s after working in Congress. San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza called for justice for Trinidad, who taught high school physics for four years at his alma mater, St. Francis College in Guihulngan. "End the killings!" is the collective cry among us here living on Negros Island" Alminaza said. "The ambience of fear and violence must end. Our people are longing for an end to barbaric killings due to the drug war and the anti-insurgency campaign."

July 23, 2019 2 TFDP staff received death threats via SMS. It noted: 'Your task force was sighted in the area stop what you are doing if not I will fill your heads with 45 and you call yourself task force.' When the texter was asked about his identity 'Don't bother to know,just know there's a place for all of you.' July 30, 2019 Another threat was sent to a TFDP staff. It noted: Ramel you are a small group, you can easily be decimated. Will start with a 45. They've all come from one number. TFDP office is based in Cebu, and they have pulled out all people from Negros.

On July 18, 2019, the Philippine National Police filed a complaint alleging incitement to sedition, libel, cyber libel, and obstruction of justice against Vice President Leni Robredo and 35 other people. Robredo was elected independently of President Rodrigo Duterte and leads the Liberal Party, the party of former president Benigno Aquino III. Concerned governments and donors should press the Duterte administration to end its persecution of critics of its murderous "war on drugs" Human Rights Watch said. "The preposterous complaint against the vice president and the others is a transparent attempt to harass and silence critics of President Duterte's bloody "drug war,'" said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Threatening criminal charges against the vice president, outspoken bishops, and rights lawyers suggests that Duterte's egregious human rights record is catching up with him." Under Article 142 of the Philippines penal code, a conviction for incitement to sedition carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison. The complaint was brought against four Catholic bishops and three priests who have become increasingly critical of the Duterte administration, and a former education secretary and Lasallian brother, Armin Luistro. Others named were Chel Diokno, the president of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), and a human rights lawyer and FLAG official, Theodore Te. FLAG has assisted families of victims of "drug war" killings. Other members and officials of the Liberal Party were named, including Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima, and the party's full senatorial slate in the May elections. Police filed the complaint after Peter Joemel Advincula, an admitted drug dealer, alleged that Robredo and others were plotting Duterte's ouster. In a video that Advincula claims to have filmed as part of the plot, a hooded man is shown accusing Duterte, his family, and close associates of links to the illicit drug trade. The Duterte administration had earlier denounced the allegation, calling Advincula's statement unreliable. The complaint accused the 36 people of "spread[ing] lies against the President, his family, and close associates, making them to appear as illegal drug trade protectors and how they earned staggering amounts of money." The Duterte administration has previously targeted political opposition figures and critics of the "drug war" Human Rights Watch said. In February 2017, it accused Senator de Lima of involvement in the drug trade. The accusation was based entirely on the testimony of convicted drug dealers that Human Rights Watch believes are baseless but later served as the grounds for her arrest and continued police detention. The government has likewise filed sedition charges against a former senator and Duterte critic, Antonio Trillanes IV, one of those named in the recent complaint. The government has brought criminal charges against activists critical of the "drug war." It has also carried out a campaign in mainstream media and social media to harass, vilify, and intimidate human rights defenders, clergy, and journalists, most notably the popular news website Rappler and its editor, Maria Ressa. It has accused many of these people of involvement with the communist insurgency. Criticism of the administration centers on the "drug war" killings that began soon after Duterte became president in June 2016. Since then, police and police-backed gunmen have summarily executed thousands of alleged drug dealers and users in mainly poor urban communities across the Philippines. The police have said they have killed more than 6,600 people who "fought back" in the anti-drug campaign, while estimates by domestic rights groups put the number executed at more than 27,000. In response to the situation, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution on July 11, calling on the UN human rights office to present a comprehensive report on human rights in the Philippines in June 2020. "The sedition complaint looks like little more than a kneejerk reaction to the UN Human Rights Council's resolution on the Philippines" Adams said. "Friends of the Philippines should not stay silent when the administration retaliates against those promoting respect for human rights in the country."

Gunmen shot dead radio journalist Eduardo "Ed" Dizon - who was on his way home after hosting a daily news commentary show in the southern Philippines - on Wednesday night, Kidapawan police said. Mr Dizon, 58, suffered five gunshot wounds from the shooting in Kidapawan City, 954km south of Manila. He was driving home when two gunmen on a motorcycle stopped beside his car at a corner road and shot at him, city police chief Lieutenant Colonel Maria Joyce Birrey added. There was no immediate information on whether the killing was related to Mr Dizon's work, but colleagues said he often reported on corruption and scams in his radio program. Mr Dizon is the 13th journalist to be killed since 2016, under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) - an organisation committed to secure interests of the Filipino working press. The Philippines is ranked as one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists by press freedom groups, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2009, 32 media workers were among more than 50 people killed in a local politician's convoy heading to a rally in the southern region of Mindanao. The alleged masterminds are currently on trial.

Propaganda posters found in Northern Mindanao on July 7, accused members of IFJ affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) as being members of communists parties in the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and NUJP condemn the so-called "red-tagging" of journalists as a dangerous threat to journalist safety in the country. The posters were found on Sunday, July 7, on the wall of of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) church in Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao, listing NUJP along with the Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao and Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) church as being fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The posters were signed by the Movement Against Terrorism-Northern Mindanao Region. This is not the first time NUJP has been targeted by rogue parties. Earlier this year, a black banner referring to NUJP and other activist groups as allies of the "terrorist NPA' was found in Cagayan de Oro on May 27. And in February, Filipino journalist Cong Corrales, a former director of NUJP, and his family's names were included on an anonymous list allegedly naming members of the Philippines Communist Party. NUJP said intimidation to silence journalists using "red-tagging" against individual journalists, organisations of journalists, and human rights activists has increased dramatically since Rodrigo Duterte's rise to power. It condemned the act and reiterated that such action continues to put journalist's lives at risk in the country. A free press is guaranteed under the Philippines Constitution and journalists should not be painted as enemies of the state, NUJP said in a statement. The IFJ and NUJP call for greater efforts to stop the spread of lies and vilification of media workers. NUJP said: "As an organization, the NUJP has stood and continues to stand firmly for the safety and welfare of Filipino journalists and media worker as well as for practice of good, solid journalism." The IFJ said: "These continued attacks and false labelling of journalists puts journalist lives at risk. We demand authorities increase efforts to guarantee the safety of journalists in the Philippines."

ILOILO CITY"Men riding in tandem on a motorcyle shot dead a 42-year-old worker of the Philippine Independent Church near one of its churches in the town of Majuyod, Negros Oriental province on Sunday (July 7). Salvador Romano died from multiple gunshot wounds after he was shot past noon after he left the church to go home on a motorcycle, according to the human rights group Karapatan (Right). Romano was adviser of the group Youth of IFI (Iglesia Independiente Filipinas, the local name of the church) in the dioceses of Negros Oriental and Siquijor. He was also former volunteer of Karapatan, which had been subject of repeated rants by President Rodrigo Duterte over the group's criticism of summary killings in Duterte's war on drugs. Karapatan said Romano was the 69th victim of extrajudicial killing on Negros Island under the Duterte administration. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)

Manobo tribal chieftain Datu Kaylo Bontolan, a consistent participant in the indigenous people's Lakbayan to Manila to air their calls for self-determination, was reportedly killed by elements of the 3rd IB of the AFP Eastern Mindanao Command during its military operations in Kitaotao, Bukidnon last April 7. "He died due to the intensified militarization, bombing and strafing of the indigenous communities" said Pasaka-SMR in a statement. Datu Kaylo was in the area visiting the communities and delving into the current situation of his fellow Manobos who had been forced to evacuate from their communities in Talaingod, a village that has gained prominence for its people's resistance against logging and mining in the Pantaron Range. As a lumad leader, Datu Kaylo was concerned about the plight of the Manobos who are scattered around various communities after Talaingod was hit by successive operations and bombings there and in Bukidnon, said the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon. In previous Lakbayan, Bontolan helped to translate to Tagalog the statements of female Lumad warrior Bai Bibyaon Bigkay, a Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan Awardee. Kaylo himself was regarded as a fierce environmental defender. [He helped here: "We're all challenged to defend the environment' - Bibiaon Bigkay Kaylo was a Lumad leader of the Salugpongan community organization and a member of the National Council of Leaders of Katribu, the national alliance of indigenous people's organizations. He was also the Deputy Secretary General of the PASAKA Confederation of Lumad in Southern Mindanao. PASAKA SMR is a Confederation of Lumad organizations of nine tribes whose name combines lumad words conveying unity and solidarity. PASAKA expressed its alarm over the "intensifying war being waged by the military" against their communities. They said this war has worsened with Martial Law in Mindanao. "Many from the Lumad have been forced to evacuate, including the children whose schooling has been curtailed by non-stop attacks of the military" PASAKA said. "Our plight in Talaingod is comparable to ants being trampled upon and forced to scatter anywhere, because of Martial Law in Mindanao, where soldiers and the paramilitary Alamara have attacked us to no end" said the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon in a statement. Salugpongan mourns the death of Datu Kaylo, who, they said, had sacrificed much since his youth for the defense of our ancestral land and the Lumad schools in Talaingod. "He could have contributed more for the Lumad." Amid calls for justice for the untimely death of Bontolan, PASAKA reiterated its condemnation of the Duterte government's schemes that they said seek to drive them away from their homes so the government could push through with plunderous projects in the Pantaron Range. These projects include mining, plantations and dams.

Neptali Morada, 40, a former Bayan Muna regional head in the Bicol region was shot dead in Naga City on 17 June 2019. He was on his way to the Camarines Sur Capitol Hall in Pili, where he worked as a staff of former Vice Governor Ato Pe"a, when unidentified gunmen attacked him in San Isidro village at 7:30 a.m. Neptali had also served as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) campaign committee head. In a statement, Senator Leila De Lima said, "The obvious questions must be asked: Who killed him and what was the motive? This transpired just days after two human rights workers were slain in Sorsogon, both in the same manner: organized and merciless." "It is not taxing to the imagination to realize that these killings already follow a pattern, and what is troubling is the seeming cold response of the authorities" she further said. De Lima recalled that when Malaca"ang issued Memorandum Order No. 32 in Nov. 2018 deploying more soldiers in Bicol region, Samar and Negros Island, the purported aim was to "suppress lawless violence and acts of terror." "And yet, how do we explain the fact that these regions now tend to host this surge in the killing of activists and HRDs (human rights defenders)?" she pointed out. "This is so serious a matter that the government should be reminded that civil society and the international community are aware and vigilant" she stressed. De Lima said there are now more than 150 HRDs who were killed under the Duterte administration. The government, she said, is accountable for the lives of each of these HRDs. She also said the killing of Morada is further proof that not only poor drug addicts and pushers are the target of the Duterte administration's war on drugs. De Lima said this shows that the government is also after Filipinos who stand firm and fight for human rights.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - A member of a left-wing organization of farmers was gunned down outside his house at Barangay Halapitan, San Fernando town in Bukidnon province on Saturday (June 16) in what appeared to be another attack on the Left. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Peasant Movement or KMP) said one of its members, Nonoy Palma, was killed by three gunmen. Palma was a member of KMP affiliate Kasama-Bukidnon. KMP cited witnesses saying the gunmen rode a single motorcycle and one was recognized as a local militiaman. The killing of Palma came hours after the killing of fwo human rights defenders in the province of Sorsogon which a leader of left-wing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) linked to a shift in the government's counterinsurgency tactic that now targets noncombatant members of left-wing groups.In Sorsogon, two still unnamed men calmly approached the human rights workers Nelly Bagasala and Ryan Hubilla as they were paying their tricycle fare and shot them repeatedly, killing the two on fhe spot. Attacks on human rights defenders had caught the attention of 11 United Nations rapporteurs and human rights experts who issued a rare joint statement on June 7 calling on the UN to conduct an independent investigation of what they said was a "staggering" number of summary killings and attacks on human rights workers committed with impunity. Malacanang scoffed at the statement, saying it was based on falsehoods and goaded by President Rodrigo Duterte's critics and the opposition. The shift in counterinsurgency tactic had been ordered by Duterte who, in January 2018 upon his return from India, said his all-out war on rebels now included what he said were the rebel's "legal fronts" or groups identified with the Left. He said his order to the military was crush the rebellion "and if you have to kill, do it." JIGGER JERUSALEM

MANILA, Philippines " Two human rights defenders were gunned down by unidentified men in Barangay Cabid-an, Sorsogon, on Saturday, June 15. According to human rights group Karapatan, the slain workers were Ryan Hubilla and Nelly Bagasala from their Sorsogon staff. Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said Hubilla was a 22-year-old senior high school student who joined the group in 2016, while Bagasala, 69, became a member in 2006. The group said the killing took place inside Seabreeze Homes Subdivision, just around a kilometer away from a police station, at around 8:20 am on Saturday. The perpetrators were onboard a motorcycle. Karapatan said the incident came after its workers experienced periodic surveillance supposedly carried out by the military and the police. It added that workers, including Hubilla, were tailed by a gray pickup vehicle and a black motorcycle with no license plates last April 21 at 10 pm after the group escorted lawyer Bart Rayco of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers for a visit with political prisoners at the Philippine National Police's outpost in Barangay Cabid-an. MANILA, Philippines " Two human rights defenders were gunned down by unidentified men in Barangay Cabid-an, Sorsogon, on Saturday, June 15. According to human rights group Karapatan, the slain workers were Ryan Hubilla and Nelly Bagasala from their Sorsogon staff. Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said Hubilla was a 22-year-old senior high school student who joined the group in 2016, while Bagasala, 69, became a member in 2006. The group said the killing took place inside Seabreeze Homes Subdivision, just around a kilometer away from a police station, at around 8:20 am on Saturday. The perpetrators were onboard a motorcycle. Karapatan said the incident came after its workers experienced periodic surveillance supposedly carried out by the military and the police. It added that workers, including Hubilla, were tailed by a gray pickup vehicle and a black motorcycle with no license plates last April 21 at 10 pm after the group escorted lawyer Bart Rayco of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers for a visit with political prisoners at the Philippine National Police's outpost in Barangay Cabid-an. "As we condole with the families of our dear colleagues, we raise our fists in condemnation and firmly commit to seek justice and accountability from this ruthless regime," Karapatan said. (READ: Powering through a crisis: Defending human rights under Duterte) In a Facebook post on Saturday, Palabay also said that even if she did not meet Hubilla and Bagasala personally, she was grieving over their deaths. "Human rights workers like young Ryan and Nelly are hard to find. It takes commitment, passion, empathy, and yes, real courage to face all obstacles, all the dangers to help individuals and communities confronting the powers-that-be," she said. Opposition Senator Leila de Lima also denounced the "deplorable murder" of Hubilla and Bagasala, adding that there was an "urgent" need to investigate why the victims were subjected to surveillance. "Don't we find it alarming that the bad guys keep on unleashing bloodbath victimizing the very defenders of human rights without fear for accountability anymore?" De Lima said in a statement on Sunday, June 16. She added: "Dalawa lamang si Ryan at Nelly sa libo-libong biktima ng karahasan at patayan sa bansa, kung saan madalas na target ang mga nasa laylayan na walang kalaban-laban, at ang mga nagtatanggol sa kanilang karapatan." (Ryan and Nelly are but two of the thousands of victims of violence and killings across the country, where the targets are often those who are marginalized and defenseless, and those who fight for their rights.) " Rappler.com

Fidelina Margarita Valle, a columnist with Davao Today, was at the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental province, about to board a flight when he was detained by officers from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). She was detained for nine hours in Pagadian City, about 200 kilometres away from Laguindingan Airport. Upon her release, the CIDG admitted that the arrest was the result of mistaken identity. This has been denied by many human rights organisations who have called detention a targeted and politically motivated form of harassment. The CIDG officers arrested Valle at 10.30 am using the warrant issued against Elsa Renton, who uses the aliases Tina Maglaya and Fidelina Margarita Valle, a subject of a manhunt for several crimes. The arrest warrant for arson was issued in 2006, whilst the warrant for multiple murder with quadruple frustrated murder and damage to government property was issued in 2011. Valle was on her way back to Davao City after attending a workshop-training in Cagayan de Oro. Valle is well-respected journalist in the Philippines, working as a journalist since the 1980s and actively reporting various issues in Mindanao. She is one of the pioneers of Media Mindanao News Service. She then became an administrative officer for MindaNews in 2001 and a writer for Sunstar Davao until 2018. Besides journalist, Valle is also actively involved in community development work and advocating for human rights in Mindanao. NUJP has considered the arrest of Valle not a lawful operation but a criminal abduction of a journalist. NUJP added that the abduction could have had dire, even fatal, consequences. The organisation has demanded the police and military personnel involved in this inexcusable travesty and their superiors be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. "How else do authorities explain why Ms. Valle was held incommunicado for hours even as the police issued a statement saying she was facing multiple crimes from a decade ago, only to admit they had the wrong person? This is the equivalent of shoot now, ask questions later" NUJP said. The IFJ said: "The arrest of Valle has been added to the growing list of violence against journalists in the Philippines. The abuse of critical journalists has become the new normal. It should not. A full investigation into why these officers arrested her should be undertaken. We also call the authorities to respect the rights of journalists and stop all the types of intimidation of journalists." The family of journalist Margarita "Gingging" Valle, who was recently arrested by the police in Misamis Oriental, said today that she was a "clear state target" and that her detention was not a case of mistaken identity as the police claim it to be. In a statement posted on the Facebook account of Margarita's son Rius Valle, the family said that she is now safe but will have to undergo a medical check-up and debriefing as soon as possible.

On 6 July 2019, farmer Joel Anino, 35, a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, an affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, was shot by unknown assailants at 6:30 am while he was on his way to his home in San Fernando, Bukidnon. He later died at the Malaybalay General Hospital. Joel is the second member of KASAMA-Bukidnon to be killed this year. On June 16 2019, 57-year-old farmer Liovigildo "Nonoy" Palma, also a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, was killed by three suspects riding a single motorcycle outside his house in Barangay Halapitan, Sitio Malambago, San Fernando. Datu Wilson Anglao Jr., secretary general of Karapatan-Bukidnon, condemned the growing number of killings in the province. The group has already documented nine incidents of extrajudicial killings in Bukidnon so far in 2019. Anglao attributed these killings to the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, which is expected to last until the end of this year. "The [State] wants to silence anyone " especially the farmers here in Bukidnon " who are strongly calling for genuine agrarian reform in the country" Anglao said. Anglao said that they will bring these cases to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 10 to urge them to look into the human rights situation in the province.

Government propaganda machine Philippine News Agency is misleading the public and falsely reported that PAHRA's operation as NGO is illegal because its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration has been revoked. In its continuing attack on civil society, the Duterte administration, now through the SEC named PAHRA along with other human rights and sectoral organizations as communist supporters. In fact, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates re-filed and was duly registered again with the SEC since 2010 and this registration information is publicly available. It has been operating legally without encumbrances save for those which government levies on its critics. PAHRA has served for more than thirty years empowering sectors and grassroots communities to improve their lives through human rights advocacy. It has worked with the international community to strengthen human rights implementation and accountability worldwide; and cooperated with academic, legal, and government agencies including the Commission on Human Rights on numerous projects. SEC's press release finally sheds light to the true objective of the recently issued SEC Memo Circular 15 Series of 2018, purportedly to protect NPOs (Non-Profit Organizations) from terrorists and money laundering financing abuse by assessing the level of risk of NPOs. The risk assessment is supposed to start when all NPOs have submitted their profile by July 31, 2019. It's incredible that PAHRA and other NPOs have already been rendered judgement. The SEC is being used by Duterte to target these organizations as he targets the church, independent media, strong women and political opponents, with a single aim to debilitate any and all voices of criticism. PAHRA is not connected in any way to the CPP nor the NPA. The real agenda why the SEC is acting as an intelligence bureau making this claim is to march to the beat of Duterte's authoritarian cadence- to silence PAHRA, its partners and network, and all those raising the alarm about the dangerous path onto which this administration is taking the country. The government's action is a retaliation to the consistent and comprehensive opposition of PAHRA to government policies at the outset, including the war on drugs, martial law, TRAIN law, contractualization, mining law, charter change and all other "kill bills" that Congress has enacted. Protecting and defending human rights is first and foremost, government's legal obligation. As long as government itself continue to violate this mandate it is the people who will rise time and again to demand a rights-based governance towards the realization of social justice and human rights for all.

A reelectionist councilor of Escalante City who worked with human rights groups in this province was shot dead on Monday afternoon, April 22. Human rights advocate Bernardino Patigas, 72, was on his way home when he was waylaid and shot by a lone gunman in Barangay Alimango. Patigas, a former secretary-general of the Northern Negros Alliance of Human Rights (NNAHRA), fell and was shot again by the suspect. Police Captain Ronald Santillan, deputy chief of the Escalante City Police Station, said Patigas died on the spot due to head injuries and other gunshot wounds. Police recovered from the scene two fired bullets of .45 caliber pistol. Authorities have yet to establish the motive of the incident, whether it was election-related or not. Patigas was among the personalities featured in a poster of supposed communist-linked individuals allegedly disseminated by the military in a Negros Occidental town early last year. Another personality in the poster, human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos, was killed in November 2018. Patigas is also known as a survivor of the 1985 Escalante massacre which killed 20 people after the state forces opened fired at the protesters in front of the city hall.