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.

Prominent Philippine journalist Maria Ressa has been re-arrested at Manila airport, allegedly for violating laws barring foreign ownership of media. Ms Ressa, the founder of news site Rappler, was granted bail after paying P90,000 ($1700; ��1300). It comes weeks after she was arrested over an alleged internet libel case. Press freedom advocates say the veteran reporter is being targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte because of Rappler's critical reporting on the government. Eleven legal cases have been filed against the outlet since January 2018. Ms Ressa, who was named one of Time Magazine's People of the Year in 2018, spoke to reporters as she was arrested. "Obviously this is yet another abuse of my rights. I am being treated like a criminal when my only crime is to be an independent journalist," she said.After her previous arrest on 13 February she spent a night in jail before being released on bail. What happened? Ms Ressa was arrested moments after stepping off a plane from San Francisco, ABS-CBN, reported. Before arriving, apparently aware that she might be met by police officers, she tweeted: "Landing in a short while to face my latest arrest warrant and the 7th time I will post bail."She then posted a series of tweets following her arrest, including a photograph from inside the police car. ater she tweeted again, writing: "Am posting bail for 7th time! For being a journalist." Why was Ressa arrested? The government accuses Ms Ressa, who has both Philippine and American nationality, of having violated foreign ownership rules and committed securities fraud. According to Philippine law, media organisations must be completely Filipino-owned. Rappler has denied government allegations that the website is being controlled by an organisation outside of the Phillipines, and press freedom organisations say the charges are designed to intimidate independent journalists. Human Rights Watch said: "The court case is unprecedented and speaks volumes of the Duterte administration's determination to shut the website down for its credible and consistent reporting on the government." n February, Ms Ressa was accused of "cyber-libel" over a report on a businessman's alleged ties to a former judge. Two months earlier she had posted bail on tax fraud charges, which she described as "manufactured". If convicted of one count of tax fraud, she could serve up to a decade in prison. The cyber-libel charge carries a maximum sentence of 12 years. The repeated arrests of Ms Ressa have drawn international condemnation and raised concerns about worsening press freedom in the country. Rappler has reported extensively on President Deterte's hardline war on drugs, in which police say around 5,000 people have been killed over the past three years. In December, the website reported on Mr Duterte's public admission that he had sexually assaulted a maid. President Rodrigo Duterte has previously denied charges against Ms Ressa are politically motivated, describing the website as "fake news". Since 1986, 176 journalists have been killed in the Philippines, making it one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters. In 2016, the president was criticised for saying some of those journalists deserved to die. Why Rappler is raising Philippine press freedom fears What is Rappler? Rappler was founded in 2012 by Ms Ressa and three other journalists and has gone on to become known in the Philippines for its hard-hitting investigations. It is also one of the few media organisations in the country that is openly critical of President Duterte, regularly interrogating the accuracy of his public statements and criticising his sometimes deadly policies. The president has banned its reporters from covering his official activities and last year the state revoked the site's licence. Ms Ressa is a veteran Philippine journalist who, before founding Rappler, spent most of her career with CNN - first as the bureau chief in Manila, and then in Jakarta. She was also the US broadcaster's lead investigative reporter on terrorism in Southeast Asia.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - Journalist groups and a human rights organization denounced an anonymous list distributed to journalists in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday, February 22, that tagged several groups and individuals as members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The red-tagging document came from an unknown person and was given to journalists during a human rights forum in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday. The document, written in Bisaya, said, "Here is the list of several members of the Communist Party of the Philippines here in our city that are aspiring to wrestle the government." Among those included in the list are: lglesia Filipina Independiente priests Rolando Abejo, Khen Apus, Kris Ablon, and bishop Felixberto Calang Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Alliance of Concerned Teachers Journalist Leonardo "Cong" Corrales, his son LA, and his wife Ai Lawyer Beverly Musni and her lawyer daughters Czarina and Beverly Ann Musni Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao Kabataan Partylist Karapatan-Northern Mindanao in a statement Friday deplored the list as yet another case of harassment against human rights defenders in Northern Mindanao. Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary-general, said that two brown envelopes with 13 copies each of the document were handed over by "military-looking" men to the security guards of Philtown Hotel, where human rights groups were holding an assembly. Palabay said the document tagged the names in the list as communists. "The notorious lists have further endangered the already perilous situation of human rights defenders. We have repeatedly raised how these arbitrary and baseless accusations incite threats to the lives and security of named individuals, the worst of which they become victims of extrajudiial killings," Palabay said. "We call on the Commission on Human Rights and the local government to protect the rights of defenders and make accountable those who continue to put their lives at risk," she added. But the 4th Infantry Division denied the allegation thrown at them by Karapatan. "To all our media friends, it's for Palabay to prove it...burden of proof," Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Osias of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Eastern Mindanao Command said. "My take on this is if Karapatan cannot prove that it came from the Army then I say that they[Karapatan] are the ones who made it to sow intrigues among our ranks!" he said. Captain Ryan Delgado, spokesperson of the Army's 403rd Brigade, and Captain Regie Go, acting spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, both denied that the document came from them. "This is the first time I've seen this document. We don't know where that came from," Go said. 'Virtual death sentence' The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in a statement deplored the inclusion of its member and former director Corrales, as well as his wife and son in the list. "There is nothing more cowardly and deplorable than to vilify persons and put them in mortal peril behind the cloak of anonymity," the statement said. "As has happened all too often, red-tagging is not mere intimidation. All too often it can be a virtual death sentence," the NUJP said. The group added: "Even media have not been spared from red-tagging and other acts clearly intended to intimidate a critical press into silence, as with the ongoing vilification campaign against the NUJP and the cyberattacks on alternative media." The Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) also condemned the list. "The COPC strongly debunks the allegation that Board Member Leonardo Vicente 'Cong' Corrales is affiliated with the Communist Party of the Philippines as what has been stated in a document circulated during a press conference in a hotel this morning, February 22, 2019," the organization said. The COPC added, "Let it be known that we will stand with Board Member Corrales as we call on the authorities to investigate this red-tagging and ensure that media personalities be spared from this accusation." Corrales, meanwhile, said that whoever put him and his family on the list is a coward. "We are not, have never been and never will be members of CPP. My wife is a marketing executive with Gold Star Daily, where I am the associate editor. My son is a regular staff of the Commission on Elections-10 and is currently serving in the commission's city office. He is also currently studying at Xavier University College of Law. Our credentials are readily available," Corrales said. "We denounce this list as it is not only aimed to intimidate me in my work as a journalist but has endangered my family. We know fully well that red-tagging is a virtual death sentence." "On my end, I will not let this cowardly act push me to silence. I will continue speaking truth to power," Corrales added. - Rappler.com

Authorities in the Philippines have arrested award-winning journalist Maria Ressa, who leads the Rappler news website that is known for its tough scrutiny of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration. In a live stream posted by Rappler on Wednesday, officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) cybercrime unit were seen speaking to Ressa inside the website's headquarters. The NBI is a government agency under the Department of Justice. Rappler earlier said that an officer has prohibited its journalists from taking photos and videos inside her office, where the arrest warrant was served. Time honours Khashoggi, Maria Ressa and other journalists as 2018 'Person of the Year' In a short statement to journalists, Ressa said she had not seen the indictment before her arrest was issued. She said that "if possible", she would post bail immediately. "We are not intimidated. No amount of legal cases, black propaganda, and lies can silence Filipino journalists who continue to hold the line," Ressa said. "These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail." The arresting officers served the warrant at 5pm local time, just as government office hours ended, making it difficult for Ressa to apply for bail. In a statement, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned the arrest of Ressa as "a shameless act of persecution by a bully government". "This government, led by a man who has proven averse to criticism and dissent, now proves it will go to ridiculous lengths to forcibly silence a critical media and stifle free expression and thought," it said. One of the political parties, Akbayan Partylist, also issued a statement in Ressa's support, saying they condemn the government for "the latest of the series of actions aimed at stifling press freedom in the country". "The arrest of Maria Ressa for fighting disinformation puts a target sign on all those who tell the truth," the statement said. "This arrest is deplorable. It highlights Duterte's fear of true, free and critical journalism." Last week, Philippine prosecutors announced that it will file a libel charge carrying up to 12 years in prison against Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for her journalistic work. The case - under a controversial cybercrime law penalising online libel - adds to legal pressure on Ressa and her company, which has already been hit with tax evasion charges that could shutter the outlet and put her behind bars. Rappler has drawn the administration's ire since publishing reports critical of Duterte's signature anti-drug crackdown that has killed thousands of alleged users and pushers since 2016. However, the new case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge in the nation's top court. Philippines journalist charged with tax evasion (2:59) The cybercrime law, however, came into effect after the publication of the report. While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration. 'Gross violation of press freedom' Amnesty International Philippines said Ressa's arrest was based on a "trumped up libel charge". "This is brazenly politically motivated, and consistent with the authorities' threats and repeated targeting of Ressa and her team," it said. The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of media personnel, also denounced condemned Ressa's detention. "The arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrageous attempt by the Philippines government to silence a news organisation that has been courageously investigating corruption and human rights violations in the country," Ravi R. Prasad, IPI director of advocacy, said in a statement. "The manner in which Ressa has been pursued by the government by slapping legal cases against her is not only shameful but also a gross and willful violation of press freedom." Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN. He had threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application. Some of the drug crackdown's highest-profile critics have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her. Ressa, already on bail for the tax charges, has maintained that the new case lacks a sound legal basis. The law that forms the foundation of the case takes aim at various online offences, including computer fraud and hacking. Nonoy Espina, chairman of the NUJP, earlier warned that the case would set an ominous precedent. "This is an extremely dangerous proposition since it essentially means anyone can be made liable for anything and everything they posted even way before the Cybercrime Law," he added.

DAVAO CITY - An employee of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Sub-Region (RMP-NMR) received on Monday afternoon threating text messages from an unknown sender. RMP-NMR - an inter-diocesan and inter-congregational group composed of priests and lay people - also posted a statement about it on Tuesday. Fr. Allan Khen Apus, spokesperson of Karapatan in Northern Mindanao, did not name the employee for security reasons, but he said the employee received four text messages from mobile number 0906-154-0493. The sender addressed the RMP-NMR employee as "Tagalog," according to Apus. Below are the messages: "Tagalog nadakop na yung isang kasama niyo wala ka magresponde?"[Tagalog, one of your colleagues has been arrested, aren't you going to respond?] "Nawala ka dito sa cagayan tagalog ha ha haaa."[You have been missing here in Cagayan Tagalog ha ha ha.] "Bakit ka kasi nagpunta pa ng mindanao tagalog ka naman hindi ka dapat nakialam mabilis ka din gumawa ng kontra."[Why did you have to go to Mindanao. You're Tagalog. You should not have meddled. You're so quick to oppose.] "Tagalog kung gusto ka mag media ayaw lang sa mga npa."[Tagalog if you want join the media but not the NPA "NPA" in the fourth message stands for New People's Army. Apus said the text messages came a day after the arbitrary detention of Gleceria Balanguiao, another RMP-NMR employee, and her mother, Gloria Jandayan of Gabriela Women's Party. In a text message sent to RMP-NMR on Monday, Balanguiao said they were being held at a camp of the 4th Infantry Division in Patag, Cagayan de Oro City. In its statement issued on Tuesday, the RMP-NMR said: "We call on the faithful to lend their support in calling out these types of harassment and intimidation against human rights defenders. Let us continue the good fight in supporting each other against the enemies of truth, peace and justice."

According to an alert released by the RMP-NMR, a certain CPT. Lorefel Judaya INF, Intel Officer of 1st SFBn went to the home of Jandayan in Brgy. Macabalan, Manolo Fortich Bukidon and took her to the Barangay Hall for questioning on the allegation that she is Medic of the New People's Army. She was later informed that she needs to be brought to the Philippine Army's 1st SF Batallion camp in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon for further questioning. Further information stated that Gloria and Gleceria demanded for an arrest warrant and refused to go with Cpt. Judaya when the latter failed to produce said warrant. But Judaya was insistent on bringing Gloria with him, and Gleceria then decided to accompany her mother to ensure her safety. At 10:30 am, Gleceria was able to send a message that they are being held at the 4th IDPA camp in Patag, Cagayan de Oro City and their phones are about to be confiscated. Nothing was heard from them since. Jandayan is a Barangay health worker and is the point person of Makabayan Partylists to assist beneficiary patients in the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC). Jandayan is also a Gabriela Women's Party member. Balangiao on the other hand has been a member of Panday Bulig and is currently working with the RMP-NMR. Even without Martial Law, the rural poor and their supporters, including rural missionaries and lay workers have always been victims of human rights violations for their firm stand against anti-poor programs and policies of the government. With the ML in place, militarization of rural communities have intensified resulting to increasing number of victims of human rights violations such as extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests and detention and filing of trumped-up charges. This harassment against Jandayan and Balangiao is not isolated and is part of the continuing attack against Church people, human rights defenders and the rural poor in Northern Mindanao. Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chair of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization, and Ireneo Udarbe, chair of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in Northern Mindanao was illegally arrested last January 28 in Bukidnon. Meanwhile, 5 members of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA) and two minors were also illegally arrested and detained last January 30 in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. We demand for the immediate release of Gloria and Gleceeria and we call on our fellow Church people to denounce this latest harassment. We also call for the immediate release of Goaynon and Udarbe, and of the five members of the MOFA and the withdrawal of fabricated charges against them. Furthermore, we demand for an end to these attacks against land and peace advocates in Northern Mindanao and an end to Martial Law in Mindanao. As Christians who vowed to fulfill our mission with the rural poor, we will continue to stand with them and will continue to expose the injustices committed against them.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) website was briefly inaccessible twice on 8 February 2019 in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, the group said in a statement. "According to our digital security partners, the two attacks happened at around 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., with attackers sending up to 426 gigabytes of traffic to our website, almost 10 times the 50 gb/s that brought down alternative news site Bulatlat," NUJP said. The site was back up at 8:30 p.m. This is not the first time NUJP's website was attacked. On 9 January 2017, the group reported that its website was attacked by a "massive denial of service." NUJP was also subjected to red tagging on 7 January 2019 by several local tabloids, which ran a similar headline, "NUJP pinamumunuan ng CPP-NPA-NDF" (NUJP Headed by CPP-NPA-NDF). One "Ka Ernesto', identified in the reports as a former member of NUJP, said the group had links with the Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison. "We believe the attack on NUJP site is related to the ones launched against Bulatlat and alternative news sites Kodao Productions and AlterMidya, all of which host NUJP chapters." Bulatlat (translated as the act of uncovering or exposing something) reported receiving continuous DoS attacks, which brought down its website for several days, from 19 to 29 January 2019. Alternative news websites - including Bulatlat, Pinoy Weekly, and Kodao Productions - were the targets of cyber attacks in December 2018.

Leonides "Dennis" Seque"a was gunned down in Barangay Bunga in Tanza, Cavite, by men riding a motorcycle who immediately fled the scene, according to labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM). The 48-year-old labor leader was brought to the General Trias Maternity and Pediatric Hospital, but was declared dead. Seque"a, the vice chairperson of PM Cavite, was also the group's 4th nominee for the party-list race during the 2019 midterm elections. Seque"a's killing came less than a week before his birthday. He was set to turn 49 on Saturday, June 8, based on his certificate of acceptance of nomination for the polls. In a statement, PM urged authorities to "act with dispatch and catch the perpetrators of the crime." "Dennis is a community leader and has no personal enemies," PM national chairperson Rene Magtubo said. "We believe this is an extrajudicial killing for Dennis' work as a labor organizer." The group also urged Congress to probe the alleged extrajudicial killings of labor leaders and activists, including human rights workers. Sentro, another labor organization, called for justice for Seque"a. "We call on the government to immediately and thoroughly investigate this dastardly act and ensure that the mastermind be brought to justice immediately," said Sentro secretary general Josua Mata. "This, once again, proves that the country continues to be dangerous for trade unionists, whose only crime is to assert their workers' and trade union rights guaranteed by the Constitution."

COTABATO CITY - An investigator in the Bangsamoro Commission on Human Rights who was a former TV reporter of a local ABS-CBN outfit and his companion were killed in an ambush here Wednesday. The 28-year-old Archad Ayao, who had brief stints as a television reporter and as a civilian writer for the civil-military relations office of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, died on the spot from bullet wounds. Ayao and companion Pio Orteza, 42, were riding a motorcycle together on Ramon Rabago Avenue here when they were attacked by gunmen. Orteza was a former driver in the Bureau of Public Information under the executive department of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The ARMM became the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, following the ratification of its regional charter, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (Republic Act 11054), via a plebiscite last January 21 based on agreements reached by Malaca"ang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during 22 years of peace talks. Ayao, an investigator in BARMM's regional CHR for more than three years, was instrumental in the extensive documentation of human rights cases in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The pistol-wielding suspects who were also on motorcycles hurriedly escaped leaving the duo sprawled on the concrete pavement. Col. Michael Lebanan of the Cotabato City police office said investigators are still trying to identify their killers and their real motive for the attack. Relatives and friends said it could be Ayao alone who was the target of the gunmen. "We believe it was like that. Pio, his slain companion, has no known enemies. It could possibly be work-related," said Ayao's friend in the Bangsamoro regional government who asked not to be identified. Ayao was said to have survived a knife attack by a still unidentified suspect after he resigned from the ABS-CBN television station in Cotabato City. Orteza was driving a motorcycle for hire and was occasionally contracted exclusively by Ayao when he goes around owing to their longtime friendship. Former officials of ARMM have condemned the incident. Members of central Mindanao's largest bloc of reporters, the Kampilan Press Corps covering the 6th ID and all of its component units, have urged the police to immediately file criminal cases against the culprits once identified.

National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant Randy Malayao was shot dead inside a passenger bus in Nueva Vizcaya early morning Wednesday, January 30. Malayao, 49, was aboard a Victory Liner bus bound for Isabela when the bus made a stop in Aritao town in Nueva Vizcaya past 2 am on Wednesday, according to the spot report of the Nueva Vizcaya police. Aritao town police chief Geovanni Cejes said Malayao was sleeping inside the bus when an unidentified gunman shot him. Police reports said the gunman boarded the bus when it stopped in Aritao. "The victim was still inside the bus when the suspect gunman went inside the bus then fired two successive shots upon the victim causing his untimely death," said the spot report. The police said the suspect "immediately came down the bus then boarded his getaway motor vehicle together with his companion/driver." Two unidentified suspects were seen aboard a black Yamaha Mio near the crime scene. Police recovered a bullet and two pieces of cartridge case at the scene. As an NDF panel consultant on political and constitutional reforms, Malayao joined the peace negotiations in Europe under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, and had attended peace forums around the Philippines. He was among the 656 people that the Department of Justice had wanted a Manila court to declare as terrorists in February 2018, but was no longer on the shortened DOJ list of 8 people in a January 3 petition to the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19. Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), condemned the killing. "These series of attacks follow one thread: get those who fight the oppressive and exploitative system and who work for fundamental change fast and quick," said Olalia. Bayan Muna said the murder of Malayao "is part of the coordinated and direct attacks against progressive groups like Bayan Muna and the Makabayan bloc in the run up to the elections." Malayao had apparently attended a campaign conference of Makabayan before his murder. "This is another nail on the coffin of the peace negotiations. It is truly tragic that while we are going all out to resume the peace negotiations, the militarist hawks in the Duterte administration are the ones running the show," said Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate. Malayao, an activist since his college days, was in jail from May 2008 to October 2012 as the main suspect in the killing former Cagayan Governor Rodolfo Aguinaldo. The court has dismissed the charges against him in the Aguinaldo killing. -

A member of a farmers' group affiliated with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) was shot dead in San Roque village, Rizal town, in Zamboanga del Norte, a human rights group said Tuesday. Jennifer Aguhob, spokesperson of Karapatan in Western Mindanao, identified the victim as Sergio Atay, of Barangay Upper Dioyo, Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental. The 35-year-old activist was a member of a local peasant group Magbabaul, an affiliate of KMP. Aguhob said Atay's body was found on January 29, Tuesday at about 8:30 a.m. "His was found riddled with 5 bullets, all in the head. Medico-legal investigation shows that he had torture marks and was hogtied," Aguhob said. Citing accounts from his family, Atay traveled along the highway of Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental, and Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte, on January 28, at 10:00 p.m. "He was on his way home. He and his wife were under surveillance, visited by military several times last year for their active involvement in the peasant group," Agubob said. He was last seen alive when he was stopped, held and interrogated at the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) check point in the same area," she added. Aguhob suspects that Atay's active involvement in Magbabaul and KMP was the reason why he was interrogated by the RPSB elements. "His family is seeking for justice," Aguhob said. She added that Atay's body is now at the morgue and Karapan is forming a quick reaction team to probe the killing. /cbb

PROGRESSIVE groups in Northern Mindanao have expressed alarm over the sudden disappearance of two leaders of Lumad and peasant organizations in Cagayan de Oro City last Monday, January 28, but police said the two were arrested on the strength of a supposed arrest warrant. The families and colleagues of Lumad leader Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay Regional Lumad organization, and Ireneo Udarbe, chairperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in Northern Mindanao, failed to reach the two and declared them missing since Monday morning. However, a police official in Northern Mindanao confirmed that the two were not missing but were arrested by virtue of an arrest warrant for attempted murder and frustrated murder, issued by a court in Cagayan de Oro. Police said Goaynon and Udarbe, whom the police tagged as leaders of the New Peoples Army (NPA), were charged with four counts of attempted murder and frustrated murder. They were arrested through a joint military and police operation. "They are not missing. Udarbe and Goaynon were arrested at Barangay Patag by virtue of a court-issued arrest warrant according to our records," PRO Northern Mindanao D Director Timoteo Pacleb said. Reports said Goaynon and Udarbe left their office in Barangay Bulua, past 10:00 a.m., Monday. Their last communication to a Kalumbay staff was to inform that they were stuck in traffic on the way to their meeting place from their office. However, the two never got to their meeting place and none of their relatives and friends have seen or heard from them since then. Calls to Goaynon were picked up but no one answered while Udarbe's phone was still ringing but no one was picking up. The two can no longer be reached as of this writing. The two were supposed to attend a meeting with Pig-uyonan, a member organization of Kalumbay, in Barangay Carmen, this city. Pig-uyonan was scheduled to have a dialogue with the members of the 65th Infantry Battalion, facilitated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) last Monday. Last January 22, Pig-uyonan together with Goaynon filed a complaint against the 65IB for harassment and forced surrender. Goaynon has been complaining over a tarpaulin bearing his picture hanged in Talakag, Bukidnon which accused him of recruiting the lumad to the New Peoples Army (NPA). Police claimed that firearms, fragmentation grenades and subversive documents were seized from their possession during the arrest. PRO-Northern Mindanao spokesperson Superintendent Surki Serenas said the two will undergo inquest proceedings for illegal possession of guns and explosives. The two were detained at the jail facility of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). Human rights groups have argued that the charges made against the 2 lumad leaders are trumped up and aimed to target and intimidate the HRDs

Karapatan's website www.karapatan.org has been inaccessible since January 20, 2019. We were careful not to automatically attribute this problem to a possible cyberattack against our web page. However, after much troubleshooting, our website continued to receive an abnormal load of traffic which was more than what the provider can handle. After requesting assistance from Quirum, a Sweden-based non-profit secure hosting provider for independent media and human rights organiztions, to investigate, initial findings show that the signature of the attacks was identical to those of Philippine alternative media groups Bulatlat, Altermidya, and Pinoy Weekly. We, therefore, confirm that the inaccessibility of our website is due to a targeted Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack from a source intent on silencing Karapatan's platform for online advocacy. According to Qurium, Karapatan's website has been monitored by the attackers since November 2018, when information and press statements, an average of three per day, were released by the alliance on various human rights violations. The attacks started on December 26, 2018. The attackers used several virtual private networks (VPNs). The attacker, Qurium says, can be a group of people judging by the number of devices they used. According to Qurium, this kind of attack against Karapatan's site and other alternative news sites is one of the worst that they have seen in the last ten years that they have been monitoring attacks against civil society online spaces globally. It was a continuous and relentless attack, taking our website offline for nearly a month, bringing us to the conclusion that those who commissioned such attacks have enormous resources and thousands or even millions of funds to spend. Since it was put online in 2007, Karapatan's website has become one of the primary sources of data and analysis on the human rights situation in the country. Our website is a space for us to provide information and expose rights violations in the Philippines, to report evidence-based analysis of the deteriorating rights situation in the country, to educate the public with access to internet on the need to promote, protect and uphold human and people's rights, and to advocate for fundamental societal change. Resources on this website date back to the administration of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the current administration, and information on many cases, which at times do not receive ample attention from authorities, are published in this site. Together with those who support our advocacy, both online and offline, we persevered in maintaining the site, keeping it updated as much as possible, knowing fully well that the victims and their families need all the help and efficiency we can muster. With this, the only ones who can benefit from such attacks are State forces, with billions of intelligence and discretionary funds in their war chest and whom we have relentlessly made accountable through our human rights advocacy in both online and offline platforms. Karapatan strongly condemns this attack as a desperate move by those who have clear contempt on the exercise of people's rights. In light of similar attacks against alternative news platforms Bulatlat, Kodao Productions, Altermidya, and Pinoy Weekly and the politically-motivated charges against Rappler's Maria Ressa, this cyberattack reveals a systematic and devious effort to curtail people's basic rights to information, freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief, both online and offline. This is an extension of the Duterte government's attack against human rights defenders and against people's rights. This year, we have been grappling with the Securities and Exchange Commission Memorandum No. 15 which institutionalizes red-tagging and can seriously hamper the work of organizations through arbitrary and draconian provisions. Prior to this, we have dealt with online threats, banners branding us as "enemies of the State" and outright violations such as killings and arrests perpetrated against our colleagues. Clearly, this is an effort to silence us, but we will not cower. We stand in solidarity with the Philippine-based alternative media groups who have been subjected to similar attacks. They are among the most reliable partners of people's organizations in upholding the people's right to information and freedom of expression. We thank Qurium and all digital activists who are helping us, as we are back online since February 15, 2019. However, we remain uncertain if our website can withstand future attacks, which is why we call on all our partners among national and international civil society and human rights bodies, members of the media and academe, and human rights defenders to continue this support by providing spaces in your online platforms for statements, reports, and materials released by Karapatan. Amid constant threats of similar online attacks, we enjoin you to #MirrorUs to #FightBack, a solidarity online campaign that we will be launching to enable the release of public information from Karapatan through publication in various websites and social media accounts. You may contact us at [email protected] for further information on this campaign. Through your support, Karapatan, in all its years of activism and advocacy, has carried on despite numerous attacks directed against the alliance. As we remain vigilant, we will take concrete steps towards exacting accountability and exposing this deliberate and devious web of repressive tools to ultimately silence dissent and critical opinion.

The Philippines' Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted news website Rappler, its chief executive officer and executive editor Maria Ressa, and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. for cyberlibel for an article the news website published seven years ago. The DOJ announced its decision in a resolution dated Jan. 10 but was made public only yesterday, reported GMA News. The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which acted on a case filed by a businessman named Wilfredo Keng. Keng filed the complaint against Rappler for allegedly publishing false information about him in an article titled "CJ using SUVs of "controversial' businessmen." Written by Santos, who was then working for Rappler, the article reported that Keng was allegedly involved in "illegal activities, namely "human trafficking and drug smuggling.'" The article also said that then-Chief Justice Renato Corona used a vehicle that belonged to Keng when Corona was attending his impeachment trial at the Senate. Keng, however, denied that he owned the vehicle which Corona used during that time. The article was published on Rappler's website on May 29, 2012 and was updated on Feb. 19, 2014. Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edwin Dayog said Rappler, Ressa, and Santos Jr. committed libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. In the resolution that was obtained by ABS-CBN News, Dayog said: "The publication complained of imputes to complainant Keng the commission of crimes. It is clearly defamatory." Dayog added: "Under Article 354 of the Revised Penal Code, every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious, even if it be true if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown. The presumed malice is known as malice in law. The recognized exceptions, where malice in law is not present, are the absolutely or qualifiedly privileged communications." "The publication in question does not fall under any of the absolutely or qualifiedly privileged communications. It is not qualifiedly privileged as a "private communication made in the performance of any legal, moral or social duty,'" Dayog also said. According to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Ressa said that she could not be accused of cyberlibel because the Cybercrime Prevention Act was not yet in effect when the article was first published in May 2012. The Act, also known as Republic Act 10175, was approved on Sept. 12, 2012. The DOJ disagreed with Ressa because it said the article was updated in February 2014 and remains online to this day. On the other hand, the DOJ dismissed Keng's complaints against former and incumbent Rappler board members Manuel Ayala, Nico Jose Nolledo, Glenda Gloria, James Bitanga, Felicia Atienza, and Dan de Padua and former corporate secretary Jose Maria Hofile_a due to the absence of evidence that would prove their participation in the alleged crime. The cyber libel case is just one of the many legal woes that Ressa and Rappler are facing. Rappler and Ressa have been charged at the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) with three counts of violating the internal revenue code for allegedly failing to submit the correct information in their tax returns in 2015. They were also charged with one count of tax evasion at the CTA. It does not end there. One count of tax evasion was filed against Rappler and Ressa at the Pasig Regional Trial Court. Ressa has maintained that the charges were politically-motivated because it has been critical of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro were arrested along with 72 others for conducting a solidarity mission in Davao del Norte on Wednesday night. According to ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, the lawmakers and the other individuals who were mostly part of human rights groups held the protest to support students and teachers of a lumad (indigenous people) school that had been forcibly shut down by the 56th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. [T]he solidarity mission convoy was attacked by men believed to be members of the paramilitary group known as Alamara. Tires of some of their vehicles were spiked, the windshield of the van ridden by Rep. Castro and Ka (Kasama or Comrade) Satur was broken and gunshots were fired in their vicinity," Tinio told reporters. The police, instead of going after the attackers, he said, brought the mission participants to the Talaingod police station in Davao del Norte, where they were detained. The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives confirmed that the National Solidarity Mission was a delegation of 74 people, including 29 students and 12 teachers of lumad schools in the region. The protesters have been detained since 9:30 p.m. The bloc said all the protesters involved are facing charges of "human trafficking in relation to child abuse law," which it said was a "blatant and outrageous lie." The Army on Thursday said tribal leaders in Davao sought assistance from the police and military in connection with the alleged child trafficking incident.

A LUMAD leader in Agusan del Sur is in critical condition after he and his companion were shot by still unidentified gunmen while they were on their way home in Sitio Cantagan, Barangay Lucac, San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, last November 23. Datu Walter Espa_a, 34, a Lumad-Manobo and barangay chairperson of the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Sur (Namasur)-Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Caraga, was shot several times by eight armed men. His companion, identified as Rommel Romon, 22, died in the attack.ARTICLE_MOBILE_AD_CODE Espa_a sustained three bullet wounds on his right chest, on the right side of his stomach, at the back part of his waist, and on his legs. He was brought to the hospital. As of Tuesday, November 27, he was still fighting for his life. Romon, an active member of Namasur, was shot on his legs, chest and head. He sustained three bullet wounds on his head, resulting in his immediate death. Another companion, identified only as Carillo, was able to escape. Police in Agusan del Sur identified one of the gunmen as Roger Detros, who also died during a brief shootout. Police said the remaining gunmen escaped. Authorities have yet to determine the motive in the attack. Human rights group Karapatan said that Espa_a, along with members of Namasur, have opposed the expansion of oil palm plantation of Davao San Francisco Agricultural Ventures Inc. (Dasfavi). "He firmly refused to sell the hundreds of hectares to the company despite the grave threats and attempts of Dasfavi to buy his principles by offering him large amounts of money," the group said. Dasfavi, a Davao-based plantation company, operates an oil palm plantation in Rosario and San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, covering more than 50 hectares of land. It was established in 2012 by the SC Group of Companies of Davao. The shooting last Friday, November 23, is the recent in a string of attacks recorded by Karapatan in Mindanao in just a span of two weeks. The other attacks include the alleged abduction of teachers of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Sitio Babalayan, Barangay Durongan, Tagoloan 2, Lanao del Sur. Reports said that before the teachers went missing, soldiers were allegedly roving the area looking for Sultan Jamla and Datu Langi, both known community leaders in the area. The whereabouts of teachers Tema Namatidong, 28, Julius Torregosa, 30, Ariel Barluado, 22, and Giovanni Solomon, 20, are still unknown. In Kitaotao, Bukidnon, a member of a Lumad school's Parents-Teachers Community Association was shot dead on November 17. Esteban Empong Sr., 49, was shot dead while asleep in a relative's house. Empong Sr., a member of Tinananon Kulamanon Lumadnong Panaghiusa, was allegedly harassed by the 19th Infantry Battalion. On November 18, five students who were on their way home were allegedly tortured by soldiers of the 19th IBPA in Magpet, North Cotabato. The victims, all minors, were students of Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. in North Cotabato. Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said "this is the real face of martial law, the reality that the Duterte regime is desperately trying to whitewash." "The government, however, is still eyeing the extension of military rule in Mindanao, insistent on cracking down against marginalized sectors raising legitimate demands. The perpetrators are guaranteed protection, while the Filipino people are left to suffer unbridled repression and plunder," she said. "The government targets indigenous and peasant communities. Increasingly, the Duterte regime has also trained its guns on teachers. Lumad schools are bad for a government who prefers an uneducated populace. Likewise, progressive organizations are bad for a government who prefers disunity. In any case, after this series of violations, martial law has peddled state terrorism to an unprecedented degree," she added. (SunStar Cagayan de Oro)

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines - A human rights lawyer here was killed by riding-in-tandem assailants Tuesday night, November 6, in Barangay 5, Kabankalan City. Benjamin Ramos, secretary-general of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers-Negros Island, was in front of a store near the public plaza when he was shot at close range by two unidentified men. Karapatan-Negros secretary-general Clarizza Singson, quoting the victim's wife, said the lawyer was having a smoke when he was attacked around 10:20 pm. Singson said the victim was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to 4 gunshot wounds, 3 in the front and one in the back. Ramos, who represented a number of political prisoners, was the lawyer of youth leader and University of the Philippines Cebu alumna Myles Albasin and her 5 companions - known as the Mabinay 6 - who were arrested in March this year in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, following an alleged clash with government troopers, although they later tested negative for gunpowder residues. The lawyer, being a peasant advocate, had also founded the farmers' organization Paghiliusa Development Group. - Rappler.com

The Sagay City Police have filed kidnapping charges against human rights group Karapatan for taking custody of the 14-year-old witness in the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental. Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said on Monday that the group violated the law by taking custody of the minor who is not their relative. "According to the report of the DO (Directorate for Operations), meron nang fi-nile na kaso na kidnapping doon sa members ng Karapatan doon," he said in a press briefing. (According to the report of the DO, kidnapping cases have been filed against members of Karapatan in that area.) "Hindi tama iyon na kukunin mo iyong bata na hindi mo kaano-ano and then suppress him and then curtail his liberty for that matter," he said. (It's not right that you take custody of a child who is not your relative and then you will suppress him and curtail his liberty for that matter.) Chief Supt. John Bulalacao, director of the PNP in Western Visayas, said the police filed the charges last week at the request of the minor's father. The minor is being considered as the key witness in the killing of nine sugarcane workers in Sagay City on October 20. The PNP has earlier filed multiple murder cases against suspects who recruited the nine farmers to join the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW). The police earlier said that the group is a legal front of the New People's Army. The NFSW has denied this claim. Regional women's rights group Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development has condemned the filing of kidnapping and illegal detention charges against lawyer Katherine Panguban and is calling for them to be dropped. "APWLD demands that the politically motivated charges against Ms. Panguban to be dropped immediately and for the murders of Benjamin Ramos and the nine farmers to be independently investigated," they said in the statement. Police officials said earlier this month that they support the filing of charges. "It's not right to get the kid if you're not related and curtail his liberty," Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde was quoted in a GMA News Online report on November 5. "We need the whereabouts of the kid," he added. But APWLD and other human rights groups denied that Panguban was the one who took custody of the child and was only representing Flordeliza Cabahug, the child's mother. APWLD pointed out that a criminal complaint was filed despite the fact that it was the "mother and recognized parent who sought assistance from NUPL and human rights organization Karapatan." They added that regaining custody over the minor was done considering Lester's "manifested choice to be with his mother over his estranged father, officially done in the presence of the head of CSWD Sagay (City Social Welfare and Development Office); properly documented; one that was acknoweldged and signed by Lester's parents." The groups insisted that Panguban represented the the mother with consent and "had signed agreements with NUPL and Karapatan." The child's mother ackonwledged and had the documents notarized in Manila, it also said. Panguban was also the counsel of Catholic nun Patricia Fox, who had her missionary visa revoked last month and left the Philippines on November 3, after the administration of Rodrigo Duterte had her investigated for allegedly taking part in political activities.

Two members of Onyon sa Yanong Obrerong Nagkahiusa (Union of United Agricultural Workers - OGYON) were illegally arrested and detained by members of the Philippine National Police and Philippine Army in a checkpoint in Lumbo, Valencia City in Bukidnon earlier today, October 22. Julie Balvastamen and Susanu Aguaron are with other members of OGYON on their way to Cagayan de Oro City to join the region-wide Peasant Mobilization in time with the International Peasant Month.

A group of human rights activists condemned on Tuesday the recent arrest of four women advocates tagged by police and the military as alleged members of the New People's Army (NPA). Edzel Emocling, 23, a member of the League of Filipino Students-Polytechnic University of the Philipines (LFS-PUP); Yolanda Diamsay Ortiz, 46, and Eulalia Ladesma, 44, of Anakpawis and Gabriela Women's Party respectively; and Rachel Galario, 20, a peasant advocate, were nabbed by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in Sitio Bangkusay, Barangay Talabutab Norte, Natividad, Nueva Ecija last Saturday. Both the police and military said in their reports that the suspects were members of the NPA and engaged in recruitment, propaganda, and extortion activities in the community. Authorities said they were armed with guns when arrested while a cache of firearms were allegedly confiscated from the four. However, Karapatan Alliance for the People's Rights said the four are members of various progressive groups, not the NPA. "Karapatan strongly condemns the illegal arrest, detention and torture undergone by the four women human rights defenders in Nueva Ecija. This is indefensible. This is precisely what happens when you have security forces that have no respect for human rights," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. "We call for the immediate release of Ortiz, Ladesma, Amocling and Galario. We condemn this continuing spate of attacks against activists and rights defenders," she added. Earlier, Director General Oscar Albayalde, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, said the arrest of Emocling and others only proved that some individuals, particularly students, have already been "brainwashed" by the communist rebels to join them in destabilizing the government. "Wala akong kopya ng report. Nabasa ko lang sa report, sa Viber group. I really don't know the details but this goes to show that accordingly, parang nabe-brainwash nga ng mga leftist groups yung mga estudyante (I have no copy of the report. I have just read[a copy of the] report in[our] Viber group. I really don't know the details but this goes to show that accordingly, it seems the students are already being brainwashed by leftist groups)," said the PNP Chief. Even though the military revealed that the Red October, an alleged ouster plot against President Duterte, has already been dissolved, top police and military officials said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP-NPA) still continue to recruit members.

We in the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) urgently request your support for Filipino land and environment defenders and other activists across the region of Cagayan Valley who have recently faced a systematic campaign of vilification and harassment from suspected military intelligence operations from October 12 to 16, 2018. Last October 12, 2018, the Cagayan Valley chapter of the Karapatan - Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights received reports that leaflets and streamers were scattered around several towns in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, and Cagayan implicating the names of leaders and members of peoples' organizations as "leaders and recruiters" of the communist rebel group New People's Army (NPA). These are organizations that have led protest movements against land grabbing and environmental destruction pushed by large-scale mining projects such as illegal gold mining in Isabela, black sand mining in Cagayan, and large-scale gold mines in Nueva Vizcaya. On October 15 to 16, 2018, the Alyansa ng Novo Vizcayano para sa Kalikasan (ANVIK), the provincial member organization of Kalikasan, monitored a second wave of leaflet distribution and streamer hanging in the towns of Solano, Diadi to Bagabag. This time, leaflets included a new list of names of 27 environmental defenders, including public interest lawyers Atty. Fidel Nemenzo and Atty. Ed Balgos, and scientists Finesa Cosico, Alfonso Shog-oy, and Tess Acosta who are supporting the campaign against the large-scale mining operations of Australian-Canadian multinational corporation OceanaGold. This "red-tagging' is part of a vicious textbook pattern employed by the military where activists are repeatedly vilified to justify a series of attacks that include harassments, intimidation, arrest, strategic lawsuits against public participation, and ultimately extrajudicial killings. Elements of the 84th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army engaged in a similar vilification campaign last September 2017 in the town of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, where Oceanagold's mining project is located. The recent massacre of nine (9) sugar plantation workers in the town of Sagay, Negros Occidental province last October 20 was preceded by a similar red-tagging campaign by the military since April 2018 accusing the land occupation and cultivation areas of the workers as NPA communal farms

AN INDIGENOUS Peoples' (IP) leader condemned the arrests of activists Gerry Basahon and Carmelita Dorado, both members of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA) who were accused as New People's Army (NPA). Basahon and Dorado were arrested in Gingoog City on Thursday, October 4, after an arrest warrant was issued by a court in Cagayan de Oro City for two counts of attempted murder and frustrated murder charges. Both were tied in the attack of Binuangan town police station last December 3. The attack left four policemen wounded including the station's commander. According to police, two were alleged members of the Guerilla Front 4B. But Datu Jomorito Goaynon of Kalumbay lumad organization insisted that the charges against them are trumped-up charges and denied they were part of the attack. For Goaynon, the arrest was not only efforts by the state to harass or silent them, but also a symbol of Duterte's dictatorship, he added. Goaynon said October is a critical month for activists who are targets of an intensified crackdown by the government. "Maybe it's the end for us even before this month ends. They intend to destroy us lumads because they have interest in our ancestral lands," he said.

A Catholic nun who has been active in social justice issues in the southern Philippines is fearing for her life after she was tagged as a communist by the military. Sister Susan Bolanio of the Oblates of Notre Dame condemned what she described as "red tagging" by the military, describing it as a "farcical lie." In a statement on Oct. 2, the nun called on authorities to investigate those behind efforts to label her as a communist rebel, saying it exposes her life to danger. "The mere suggestion of affiliation to a terrorist communist group poses a serious threat to the lives, dignity and security of the persons singled out," said Sister Bolanio. A social media post on Sept. 28 accused Sister Bolanio and tribal leaders Dande Dinyan and Victor Danyan of being part of the Far South Mindanao Region rebel front. The post was no longer available on Oct. 2. Danyan used to be chairman of the tribal group Taboli-Manobo S'daf Claimants Organization. He was killed along with seven other tribal people in December 2017. Dinyan replaced the slain leader as head of the organization. Sister Bolanio, who is executive director of the church-run Hesed Foundation in General Santos City, has been helping the tribal organization with its livelihood and development projects. The nun said the attempt to link her to the underground rebel movement was a "malicious and vile design to put her life in danger, especially as Mindanao is under martial law." "To be linked to a terrorist communist group is to condemn a person as all-out anti-government," she said. The nun has been actively involved in local and regional special government bodies in the region in the past 30 years. "How can I be a terrorist, an enemy of the state, when I have been engaging with officialdom?" she asked. Lt. Col. Jones Otida, commander of the Philippine Army's 27th Infantry Battalion in South Cotabato province, said his unit was not behind efforts to implicate the nun. "We don't know where that information came from," he said in a radio interview. Sister Bolanio said her lawyers were already looking into possible cases to file against the military.

43-year-old Mariam Uy Acob was a paralegal at the Kawagib Moro Human Rights Alliance. She was killed by suspected government troops on 23 September, 2018. Also a leader of Moro evacuee rights group Tindeg Bangsamoro, Mariam consistently denounced aerial bombardment and encampment in Moro communities, notably those perpetrated by the Army's 40th Infantry Battalion under the 6th Infantry Division, according to Kawagib. The group added that Mariam had been receiving death threats. Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples' Rights disclosed that two gunmen shot Mariam while she was on board a motorbike on her way home. The HRD sustained seven gunshot wounds on her chest, stomach, shoulder and back. In separate statements, Karapatan and Gabriela Women's Party held the military and Duterte responsible for Acob's death. "Only tyrants and human rights violators stand to gain with the deaths of human rights defenders like Mariam Acob," Gabriela Women's Party said. "We will cry for justice as we fight for the lifting of martial rule in Mindanao." Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, condemned what she called as "the military's handiwork under martial law, mercilessly zeroing in on human rights defenders." Karapatan noted that the killing of Acob came weeks after the massacre of seven young men in Patikul, Sulu on September 14, 2018. The victims went to sitio Bato, barangay Kabuntakas to harvest fruits but their bodies were found the next day, riddled with bullets. The Army's 55th Infantry Battalion claimed in a statement that the seven were members of ISIL's branch in the Phillippines. "The government has been directing people to believe, especially under martial law, that Moro communities are the purveyors of terrorism and thus they deserve to be subjected to harassment, air strikes, forced evacuations, and other abuses," Palabay said. "What are conveniently left in the shadows are the years of oppression, repression and discrimination, and the justified and necessary resistance of Moro communities against continuing State terrorism."

An Australian professor left the Philippines on Tuesday, nearly a week after being barred entry and placed in limbo at an airport in what rights groups say was part of a crackdown on critics of President Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippine government said Gill Boehringer, 84, was put on a blacklist for allegedly violating laws barring foreigners from engaging in political activities after he attended a protest in 2015. The former law school dean denies the charges. "I am not a terrorist. I am a human rights defender," Boehringer said in a video message recorded on Monday in an airport exclusion room where he had been staying since his arrival last week. He was the latest foreigner ordered out of the Philippines following Australian Catholic nun Patricia Fox, who has been fighting deportation since April after drawing Duterte's ire. After winning the presidential election in 2016, the Philippine leader launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs that has left thousands dead and sparked allegations of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations. The defiant Duterte has lashed out at foreign critics of his drug war -including the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor and United Nations rights experts - and personally ordered the arrest of Fox in April. Like Fox, Boehringer had joined a fact-finding mission looking into alleged rights violations in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao where Duterte had declared martial law, said Maria Sol Taule, the professor's lawyer. "This is the concerted handiwork of a defensive and paranoid government," Philippine rights group Karapatan said in a statement, and opposition congressman Carlos Zarate described Boehringer's expulsion as "alarming". Manila denied Boehringer's expulsion was part of a crackdown on critics, saying the policy against foreigners' participation in politics was "nothing new". "If they (foreigners) have issues or concerns about how the government is being handled, there are other ways of expressing their opinions, other more peaceful ways," Dana Sandoval, a Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman, said. - AFP

BULACAN, Philippines - Security personnel again violently disperse striking workers of condiments giant NutriAsia in Marilao, Bulacan. Both camps are pointing fingers on who started the violence, which ended with several people injured and 19 detained at the Meycauayan Police Station. DETAINED. University of the Philippines Diliman student Jon Bonifacio talks to their lawyer on July 31, 2018 at the Meycauayan Police Station. Photo by Naokira Mengua/Rappler AIKA REY, REPORTING: Isang araw mula nang puwersahang pinaalis ang mga nagwewelgang manggagawa ng NutriAsia, may 19 na katao ang nakakulong sa Meycauayan Police Station. A day after the violent dispersal of NutriAsia workers who are on strike, 19 people are still detained at the Meycauayan Police Station. Ayon kay Superintendent Santos Mera, nanguna raw ang mga manggagawa na manggulo, matapos ang ecumenical na misa nitong Lunes. Nagsimula raw ito nang biglang may magpaputok ng baril. Superintendent Santos Mera says the workers triggered the violence after an ecumenical mass Monday. It all started when somebody fired a gun. Ngunit pinabulaanan ito ng mga manggagawa at mga taga-simbahan na nasama sa gulo. Sabi pa nila, hindi raw nila kakilala ang sinasabing may baril. But the workers and people from the church refute the claims. They also say they don't know the man who had a gun. REVEREND MARVIN DE LEON, UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Ang nakita natin na sila 'yung talaga papalapit at talagang mukhang berdugo na uhaw na uhaw sa dugo. At pinagpapapalo at saksi natin na maraming nasaktan sa pagkakataon na 'yun. Namamagitan tayo at umulan na ng bato. Hindi natin alam saan nanggagaling, pero may unang nanggaling dito sa part ng mga guwardiya. Ayon sa mga manggagawa ng NutriAsia, 'yun ay hindi mga original na guwardiya kundi talagang goons. We saw the guards approaching and they really looked like executioners thirsty for blood. They hit us and we witnessed how a lot of people were injured. We tried to mediate but stones were thrown at us. We couldn't tell where it was coming from but the first ones came from the guards' area. According to the workers of NutriAsia, they are not the original guards but hired goons. AIKA REY, REPORTING: Sa mga hinuli, 6 ang manggagawa ng NutriAsia, 8 ang tagasuporta, at may 5 taga-midya. Sa bilang na ito, 4 ang mga estudyante. Of the detained, 6 are workers of NutriAsia, 8 are supporters, and 5 are from the media. Of the media and supporters, 4 are students. Kamakailan, inutusan ng DOLE na gawing regular ng NutriAsia ang 80 manggagawa mula sa contractor na AsiaPro. Maliit na bilang daw ito, kumpara sa mga 800 manggagawang nagsasabing dapat maregular din sila. Recently, DOLE ordered NutriAsia to regularize 80 employees from its contractor AsiaPro. But this is a small figure, the workers said, compared to the 800 employees demanding regularization. Sa kasalukuyan, patuloy pa rin ang pag-uusap ng DOLE at ng NutriAsia. Talks between DOLE and NutriAsia are still ongoing. UPDATE: On Aug 1 2018, 19 of the detained protesters were released.

AT LEAST 13 church workers and activists were arrested Wednesday evening, July 4, while attending a seminar on farmers and Lumad issues at the Mother Francisca and Spirituality Center, Radasa St., Ladao, General Santos City. Among those arrested are top leaders of militant organizations namely Datu Jomorito Guaynon, chairperson of the Kalumbay Lumad organization; Ireneo Udarbe, chairperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas; Vennel Chenfoo, chairperson of the Kabataan Partylist; Kristine Cabardo, chairperson of the League of Filipino Students; Teresita Naul of human rights group Karapatan; Aldeem Yanez, church worker of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente; and farmer leader Roger Plana, all of Northern Mindanao. Also arrested were the security guard and staff of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development (IFI-VIMROD). According to the alert of the rights group Karapatan, charges against them remain unknown. In a statement, the IFI-VIMROD expressed its concern over the arrests and pointed out that this is yet another case of human rights abuse under the martial law regime in Mindanao. The IFI-VIMROD said while the meeting was ongoing, elements of police barged into the group to serve a warrant of arrest for 3 persons whose names were not even known to the participants. The police claimed that the participants were the ones named in the warrant arrest, and then proceeded to detain all of them at the Camp Fermin, General Santos City. "Development workers who are striving to create a genuine development to geographically isolated and underserved communities, sadly become victims of trump-up charges," it says. "Instead of acknowledging their valuable contribution and supporting their efforts, the government maligns their development work to justify repression. We call on the immediate release of 13 development workers and ensure their safety so that they could continue their development work to justify repression," it says. The IFI-VIMROD said they continue to call for the resumption of peace talks as a sustainable solution in achieving genuine development work without any harassment and violence. UPDATE: Only July 6 2019, detained church workers and rights activists were released on bail after their arrest on the evening of July 4 in General Santos City while holding an organizational consultation on peasant and tribal issues. They were granted temporary liberty by the Municipal Trial Court in General Santos City after posting bail last Friday.

One of the activists who heckled President Rodrigo Duterte while delivering his Independence Day speech in Cavite will be facing a criminal case for disturbing public order, police said Tuesday. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) member Francis Couichie was arrested while staging a protest action during Duterte's speech at Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite. According to a spot report from the Kawit Police, members of the Cavite Police Mobile Force Company arrested Couichie as he chanted "huwad na kalayaan!" and held a placard bearing the words "Kapayapaan para sa lahat at lahat para sa kapayapaan." Couichie is facing a case for public disturbance or violation of the Article 153 of the Revised Penal Code. He is currently detained at the Kawit Municipal Police Station.

Journalists from Mindanao and an international media watchdog were the latest groups to condemn the killing of yet another Filipino member of the media. The Mindanao Independent Press Council (MIPC) and the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned Friday, June 8, the murder of Dennis Denora, publisher of the weekly community newspaper Trends and Times in Panabo City in Davao del Norte. According to the Panabo City police Denora, was gunned down around 1 pm on Thursday, June 7, while he was in his car with his driver, Mayonito Revira, along the national highway. The police said Denora was sitting at the right side of the driver when unknown assailants started firing bullets at him "multiple times". In its statement, the MIPC, a broad-based organization of practicing journalists in the island, condemned "in the strongest terms the murder of Dennis Denora". "Colleagues describe Denora, who maintained a column in his own newspaper, as an ardent advocate of community press, covering important local issues that do not usually get attention in the national media." Reporters Without Borders' condemnation Th RSF said "Denora's murder is extremely disturbing and we call on both the Davao del Norte authorities and the presidential task force on media security to conduct a thorough investigation." Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia Pacific desk said: "The current (Philippine) government keeps on pointing to this task force, created in October 2016, as evidence of its desire to protect journalists but this is the 6th journalist to be murdered since Rodrigo Duterte became president. The authorities must take more concrete measures to guarantee journalists' safety." He was referring to the Presidential Task Force on Media Security which also issued a statement Friday condemning the killing. "The Presidential Task Force on Media Security is deeply saddened and condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the killing of newspaper publisher Dennis D. Denora, a member of the Davao Region Multi-Media Group at about 2 pm (on Thursday) in Panabo City, Davao del Norte," the task force statement said. The Philippines is regarded by RSF as one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. In its World Press Freedom Index released in April 2017, RSF ranked the Philippines 127th out of 180 countries. Based on this index, the Philippines was in the top 5 dangerous countries for journalists - together with Mexico, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The MIPC said it "deeply values the work of local journalists who are at the forefront of shedding light on the issues facing their own communities. Often, they are the only voice standing against abuses, corruption, and impunity."

A labor leader was arrested by after authorities allegedly found an illegal firearm and bomb components in his possession, police said Sunday. Juan Alexander Reyes, leader of the Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City, is now in the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Metro Manila. Authorities said they used a search warrant for a murder case against Reyes in Agusan del Sur. Operatives then found a firearm and bomb components in his possession. But activist Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of the group Karapatan, said the firearms supposedly found in Reyes's possession was just planted. "Basta na lang (out of nowhere), magically, a warrant of arrest comes out and magically again, some persons, especially activists are being charged especially with illegal possession of firearms and explosive," added Palabay, who said she knew Reyes since their student movement days. She said they have information that Reyes was arrested yesterday while he was on his way to a meeting with his group members. "May isa siyang kasama. Dalawa silang kinuha tapos nilagay sa isang van. Tapos a few minutes, pinalabas 'yung isa niyang kasama," she claimed. (There was one person with him. Two of the were taken and put in a van. Then, after a few minutes, they forced the person he was with to come out)

A local radio broadcaster and volunteer reporter was killed in a shooting incident in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur on 13 March 2017. Zamboanga del Sur is 1167 kilometers south of Manila. Carlos Matas, the victim, hosted Zambo News Patrol in dxCA Bell FM and dxBZ Radyo Bagting. The police also described him as a "provincial coordinator for Cassava Farmers Association in Zamboanga del Sur." Police Officer 2 Welito Nuena told CMFR that Matas was meeting a colleague in relation to his work as coordinator when he was killed. The meeting was in the house of a certain Jonathan Magdadaro. According to Nuena, the killing involved more than the usual two men on a motorcycle. Around seven gunmen on board several motorcycles parked in front of Magdadaro's house at around 3:30 p.m. When Matas went out of the house to greet them, the men simultaneously shot him dead. The suspects fled toward the direction of Barangay Dipaya in the same town where they engaged the police in a six-hour standoff. Three suspects were killed in action, one was wounded. Four days prior he was killed, Matas reported to authorities that his group was allegedly ambushed by motorcycle-riding men along Barangay Langapod in Lambangan. In a separate blotter report, the group of men in motorcycles had also reported to the police that they were ambushed by Mata's group. Both parties filed appropriate charges against each other in court. Nuena told CMFR, that while confined for treatment in the Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center one of the suspects, Arnaiz Alam Kabaro, told police that his group was seeking revenge for the May 8 ambush involving his group and Matas'. The police believe that Matas case is not related to his work as a reporter. CMFR tried but could not reach dxCA FM for comment. As of press time, 158 journalists were killed in the line of duty since 1986. Of these cases, only 17 had been partly resolved with the conviction of the gunmen while the masterminds have gone free. In the case of Bombo Radyo-Kalibo broadcaster Herson Hinolan who was killed on Nov. 13, 2004, the murder case filed against convicted mastermind former Mayor Alfredo Arsenio of Lezo town in Aklan province, was downgraded to homicide in 2016.

Ariel Maquiran, 33, an industrial worker in a banana plantation in Continental farm in Panabo City, Davao del Norte was shot dead by suspected agents of 16th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army on May 17, 2018. Maquiran was driving his motorcyle on his way home to Brgy. Maduaw, Panabo City at around 9:30am of May 17, after his morning shift in the plantation when a men onboard a motorcycle followed and shot him multiple times. Maquiran accelerated his driving speed but when he reached crossing Brgy. Little Panay, he fell down from his motorcycle. Two (2) other assailants stationed in Brgy. Little Panay again shot Maquiran multiple times, resulting to his death. He sustained 9 gunshot wounds. The victim's kin recalled that on May 16, Maquiran was heading to his workplace onboard his motorcycle when men on a motorcycle followed him. Maquiran sought refuge in one of his relative's house in a nearby village to evade them. Also on March this year, the victim was summoned by the military allegedly for the investigation regarding the Lapanday incident in 2017. Maquiran was an active member of the Bayan Muna (People First) partylist in the region. He was also known for staunch defense of the rights of peasants.

MANILA, Philippines - The Archdiocese of Tuguegarao on Monday denounced in the strongest terms the killing of Fr. Mark Ventura, who was gunned down by unknown assailants Sunday morning. In a statement, Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg called the death of Ventura a "brutal and cowardly act." "We just lost a young priest, zealous and dedicated, one who smelled like his sheep, to an assassin's bullet right after he said Mass and was baptizing children," Utleg said. The Tuguegarao archbishop called on the Philippine National Police to go after the assailants swiftly and bring them to justice. "There have been too many murders already done with impunity in our country by assassins[in] riding in tandem. May this be the last," he said. Utleg also offered prayers for Ventura's family and the lay faithful of Tuguegarao. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on Sunday called the killing of the 37-year-old priest an "evil act." Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay noted that there is a possibility that Ventura might have been targeted because of his stance as an anti-mining advocate and his work in indigenous communities. "There is no doubt that there is a disturbing trend of church people being persecuted for their stance and involvement in human rights," she said. Ventura was the second priest who was killed in a gun attack in a span of four months. Last December 2017, activist priest was also shot dead in Jaen, Nueva Ecija. The Cagayan Valley Police director has ordered an investigation into the killing of the missionary priest and a hot-pursuit operation against the suspects.

BAGUIO CITY - As many as 300 indigenous Filipinos were blocked by 40 policemen from marching towards the gates of the summer courthouse of the Supreme Court on Monday morning (April 24). The group participated in this year's Cordillera Day activities, and assembled to join calls for the Court to dismiss a quo warranto petition filed to oust Chief Justice-on-leave Maria Lourdes Sereno. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino took part in the rally. The group performed a prayer ritual in front of the barricade. Windel Bolinget, chair of the Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA), said the elders prayed for a successful protest and the junking of the quo warranto plea and cursed all the forces obstructing justice. This was the fourth rally staged at the SC Baguio compound since the High Court held this year's summer sessions here. The indigenous people (IP) came from various provinces in the Cordillera, central Luzon, southern Luzon and Mindanao to participate in the Cordillera Day program. Cordillera Day commemorates the April 24 murder of Macliing Dulag, a Kalinga village leader who led the opposition against a hydroelectric dam project for Chico River during Martial Law. He became a symbol for the fight to assert Cordillera rights.

BAGUIO CITY-Flyers labelling activist groups in Ifugao province as creations of the "terrorist communist rebels" were found scattered in the streets of the capital town, Lagawe, on Saturday morning (April 21). Lagawe residents out for their morning walk found the flyers at 5:45 a.m., according to Brandon Lee of the Ifugao Peasant Movement (IPM). Some flyers were signed by a group called Kaagapay ng Maralitang Ifugao and list Ifugao women's groups and farmer's associations as "organized by the terrorist New People's Army." Another flyer bearing the acronym Makamasa says, "The Ifugao Resource and Development Center (IRDC) in Poblacion South, Lagawe is housing the terrorist NPA! Obliterate it!" A third type of flyer names Lee and five other Ifugao residents as "accomplices of the terrorist NPA in Ifugao," signed simply as "Para sa Masang Ifugao." In 2015, Lee was among the Ifugao activists who received flyers bearing a photograph of the "gamong," the Ifugao fabric used for the dead, with the words "Gray-May, June-Gloom, No Sky-July." On March 2, Ricardo Mayumi, an IPM member and vocal objector to the Quad River hydro project in Tinoc town, also in Ifugao, was murdered in Kiangan town. He also received the death cloth flyer. On March 25, 2014, IPM member and IRDC leader William Bugatti was gunned down along the provincial road in Kiangan.

An Australian nun arrested in the Philippines for engaging in "illegal political activities" has been released pending further investigation after authorities became aware she held a valid missionary visa. Key points: Sister Fox says she was arrested by six immigration officials The Australian nun has been working in the Philippines for 27 years MPs are calling for her release Her detention came a day after Giacomo Filibeck, a Socialist Party official from the European Union who had criticised Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal anti-drugs crackdown, was deported. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, was reportedly taken from her house and brought to the immigration bureau in Manila, said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the leftist Bayan (Nation) movement. She had taken part in a human rights fact-finding mission in the country's south, according to Mr Reyes, who also said the immigration department informed her about deportation proceedings against her. "We condemn her unjust detention and the deportation proceedings initiated against her," Mr Reyes said "She is no criminal or undesirable alien. Sister Fox is the superior of the Notre Dame de Sion in the Philippines, a congregation of Catholic nuns. In a statement, the Philippines Bureau of Immigration said the department's legal division had recommended releasing Sister Fox, and that her missionary visa was valid until September 9 this year. The bureau said she was detained "due to reports that she violated the conditions of her stay by engaging in political activities and anti-government demonstrations." "While Fox was alleged to have taken part in protest actions by farmers in the past, she was not doing so at the time when[Bureau of Immigration] operatives served her the mission order yesterday," the statement said. "Fox should undergo preliminary investigation to determine if deportation charges should be filed against her before the bureau's board of commissioners." Sister Fox had been involved with human rights missions on the southern island of Mindanao, where Mr Duterte has declared martial law. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said she had been working in the Philippines for 27 years. In a series of tweets, CBCP quoted Sister Fox as saying she was arrested by six immigration officials at a mission house in Quezon City at about 2:15pm on Monday (local time). The CBCP said she was detained at the Intelligence Division of the Bureau of Immigration in Intramuros. Sister Fox's attorney Jobert Pahilga said the fiscal in charge of the inquest recommended Sister Fox be released once she was able to produce her passport, which she had given to a travel agency arranging her trip back to Australia next month, according to CBCP. The immigration bureau confirmed Sister Fox's arrest but declined to issue any statement until after the investigation is complete. Sister Fox was unavailable for comment. Leftist MPs have vowed to hold a congressional inquiry into the deportation of foreign human rights advocates. UPDATE: On 18 April 2018, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he ordered the investigation into a 71-year-old Australian nun for "disorderly conduct," justifying it as a legal move against "undesirable" foreigners. "I ordered her to be investigated, not deported at once, not arrested, but to invite her to an investigation for a disorderly conduct," Duterte said during the change of command ceremony of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said there was "probably" a need to apologize for the detention of Fox because she was not engaged in any political activity when she was taken from her home by immigration authorities. UPDATE: On April 25 2018, In a one-page order, immigration bureau head Jaime Morente asked Fox to leave the Philippines after "she was found to have engaged in activities that are not allowed under the terms and conditions of her visa." Fox, who has been in the country for more than 27 years, has 30 days to exit the Philippines after receipt of the order. Her renewable missionary visa, which was due to expire in September 2018, was cancelled on Monday, but an immigration spokeswoman said she can still return to the mainly Catholic Southeast Asian country as a tourist, not as a missionary. She has decided to challenge this order by filing for a motion for reconsideration.

ALERT: Jose Benemerito Jr, secretary general of the Kahugpungan sa mga Mag-uuma sa Bukidnon (KASAMA Bukidnon)-Kliusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas is currently being held by three military men at the Musuan bridge in Maramag, Bukidnon. Benemerito is among the 600 names earlier included in the DOJ petition for terrorist proscription. He is on his way to a community activity at the BTL Training Center when he was intercepted. More updates to follow. UPDATE as of 8:49PM: Benemerito resisted and was able to evade arbitrary arrest. Asserting people's rights vs. Martial law, Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus community members mobbed the arresting military men for its failure to show a warrant to arrest Benemerito. The community also asserted that Benemerito is not a criminal, but a peasant leader instrumental in the struggle for land rights of the BTL farmers.

Suspected communist rebels belonging to Guerilla Front 54 allegedly killed on Wednesday a town's representative of the indigenous peoples in the Sangguniang Bayan in Magpet, Cotabato. The victim identified as Antonio Takinan, 50, was an ex-officio member of the SB. Police Senior Inspector Jose Marie Molina, Magpet Police chief, said Takinan had multiple gunshot wounds and died on the spot on Wednesday afternoon. His two companions, Robello Tambunan and village watchman Rene Soriano, were injured. Molina said at least three armed men attacked Takinan and his companions while they were on their way to Barangay Bantac. Takinan was able to retaliate. However another three armed men fired at them using a caliber .45 pistol and M 16 rifles. Takinan had just attended their regular session at the Sangguniang Bayan Hall at the municipal hall in Barangay Poblacion when the incident happened. Molina said the victim has received several threats from Kumander Bobby Rosete. The latest threat was recorded on March 18, 2018. "He has constantly been receiving threats from Kumander Bobby as per information we gathered from the victim's wife," Molina told this writer. He disclosed that Takinan has told his fellow tribe members not to support the NPA but instead encouraged them to join the training of the Civilian Active Auxiliary or CAA. The victim was also responsible for the entry of some Indigenous Peoples (IP's) for training to become future soldiers. Molina added that Kumander Bobby even instructed Takinan to meet him in an undisclosed village in Magpet. Takinan however refused to meet him despite several calls made by the rebel commander. After the ambush, the suspects immediately fled toward the northern portion of Magpet situated within the tri-boundaries of Arakan-Antipas and Magpet. Soriano and Tambunan were brought to a private hospital for medical treatment as they sustained gunshot wounds. Takinan's fellow SB members condemned the attack and called it an act of cowardice. -KG, GMA News

Karapatan claimed that on March 30, 2018, suspected military agents attempted to enter the home of Audrey Beltran, member of the Karapatan National Council and Vice Chairperson of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), a regional chapter of Karapatan. In a Facebook post, Beltran said her family "heard loud thuds that alarmed us." "I was still awake at that time so I went to check whether some things fell in our kitchen where the sound came from. I was shocked to see that the kitchen door was open and that two locks have already been destroyed. Someone was pushing the door from the outside. I hurriedly took my phone and called up Station 5 of the Baguio City Police Office and also took effort to close the door without allowing whoever it was outside to get hold of me. After I was able to close the door, I heard faint footsteps of a person hurrying away from the door," Beltran said. "The attempt to break in to our house seemed planned and precise by the pieces of information we were able to gather. We could not discount it as just a mere case of burglary as it coincided with the harassment against our office, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance at #55 Ferguson Road, a day before the attempted break-in to our house," she added. On top of handling other cases of human rights violations in the Cordillera, CHRA is also assisting human rights defenders named in the Justice Department petition proscribing the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army as terrorist organizations. Karapatan noted that the names of at least 60 human rights defenders were listed in the petition, including that of Karapatan National Executive Committee member Elisa Tita Lubi, two other officers of the Batangas Human Rights Alliance-Karapatan, and UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. On April 2, flyers containing false and dangerous propaganda that incite and justify violence against ten human rights defenders in Cagayan Valley, including Karapatan staff and officers, were purportedly distributed by the military and its agents in Isabela. Cristina Palabay Karapatan secretary-general, said the rights activists were tagged as "minions of godless communists" and "terrorists." "The more insidious motives of all this red-tagging and demonizing is to prevent the intelligent discussion of issues, and worse, to justify witch-hunting and physical attacks against activists and the communities they work with," Palabay said. "This incident also comes with the repeated public pronouncements of President Rodrigo Duterte inciting state-sponsored violence against Karapatan and other people's organizations," she added. She claimed that since October 2017, Duterte has threatened to "go after" Karapatan and other progressive organizations at least six times, prompting the human rights alliance to file a complaint to UN independent experts on March 1, 2018. The organization conducts monitoring and documentation work on human rights violations in the Philippines and provides services for victims of rights violations and their kin as part of their advocacy for human and people's rights. Palabay said Karapatan's human rights workers in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Southern Tagalog, Negros, Panay, Central Visayas, Caraga, Socsksargends, and the Southern Mindanao region have been reporting several cases of surveillance, harassment and threats by state security forces since last year. She said they also face fabricated charges filed by the military and police. Palabay added the organization's Negros Oriental coordinator, Elisa Badayos, was killed on November 28, 2017 during a fact finding mission. s Since 2001, there have been at least 40 human rights workers of Karapatan killed by state forces. "Instead of addressing complaints of human rights violations, the Armed Forces of the Philippines shoots and harasses the messengers in its sorry attempts to silence and deter the work of the organization. These cowardly acts have reached new lows under the Duterte administration." Palabay said. "As Elisa Tita Lubi said in a statement, human rights attackers should back off and they should keep their hands off human rights defenders, their families and communities," Palabay concluded.

On March 22, 2018, Garito Malibato, 23, Manobo, and a resident of Brgy. Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, was shot dead by elements of the Alamara, a paramilitary group under the control of the 73rd Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army. The Alamara has been implicated in many rights violations against indigenous communities in Mindanao, including the killing of 15-year-old student Alibando Tingkas in January 2016, the killing of 60-year-old Umayamnon tribe leader Matanem Pocuan in February 2017, and the shooting of farmer Ande Latuan in July 2017.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - A peasant leader was shot dead in Compostela Valley Tuesday evening, human rights group Karapatan reported. Jay Apiag, spokesperson of Karapatan Southern Mindanao, has identified the victim as Agudo Quillio, 52, a resident of Purok Gemilina, Sitio Lawaan Barangay Kingking Pantukan town in Compostela Valley province. Quillo was preparing dinner when three unidentified armed men forcibly entered his house and shot him. According to the report, he sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his chest that resulted to his immediate death. Apiag accused the Army of being responsible for Quillo's death. Apiag said Quillo was killed because of his active participation in the peasant movement calling for land reform and due to his strong opposition to the large-scale mining operation of St. Augustine Mining Limited and Kingking Pantukan Mining. Quillo was the chairperson of Hugpong sa mga Mag-uuma sa Pantukan (HUMAPAN), a municipal-wide peasant organization. Apiag added, "peasant organizations like HUMAPAN, became a target of attack by the intensified militarization against various peasant and indigenous people's organizations." According to Karapatan, Quillio is the 70th victim of extrajudicial killing in Southern Mindanao. The group also holds the Duterte administration accountable for the crimes against those who are notably active in asserting their legitimate demands to the government.

BAGUIO CITY - The group leader of Ifugao Peasant Movement, activist (IPM) Ricardo Mayumi, was fatally shot in his home in Kiangan, Ifugao last Friday night. According to Chief Inspector Carolina Lacuata, Cordillera police information officer, witnesses saw two men running away from Mayumi's residence after the incident. "Dalawang kalalakihan yung nakita na bumaril sa kaniya. Yung isa naka-suot ng black na jacket, yung isa naman ay naka-suot ng brown na jacket na naka-suot din ng helmet. Sila ay sinundan ng mga kapulisan pero wala silang nakita," Lacuata said. The motive behind the killing is still unknown. But human rights advocate group, KARAPATAN, claimed that Mayumi's killing is part of the military's efforts to attack activists involved in campaigns for people's rights and welfare. KARAPATAN said Mayumi and other members of the IPM have been receiving death threats since 2012. The group also said Mayumi was included in the 86th Infantry Battalion's (86th IB) target list last December 2014. The military claimed he was part of the New People's Army (NPA) leadership in the province. A leader of the 86th IB, however, said they have nothing to do with the killing. Mayumi was one of the environmental activists who opposed the proposed Quadriver mini-hydro dam in Tinoc, Ifugao. Mayumi's group, IPM, said he had been actively communicating with different government agencies to oppose the project of Santa Clara Power Corporation.

ROGER GONZALES, farmer and council member of the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Sur-Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (NAMASUR-KMP) was arrested by about 30 combined SWAT and Provincial Public Safety Battalion (PPSB) personnel at around 4 o'clock in the morning of February 23, 2018 in his home in Purok 9, Del Monte, Talacogon, Agusan del Sur. The arresting officers claimed that he was in possession of a caliber .357 gun. Prior to his arrest, at around 3 o'clock in the morning of the same day, Gonzales and his family were awakened when 10 combined SWAT and PPSB officers arrived and entered their home. Without showing a search warrant, the team began searching the house. A 10 year old child, witnessed one of the officers put a gun in the kitchen before the 10 officers left. When the 30 SWAT and PPSB officers came back at around 4 o'clock in the morning they showed a search warrant and immediately went to where the gun was planted. They then arrested Gonzales and brought him to the Talacogon Police Station.

KORONADAL CITY-Authorities stopped at a checkpoint a group of foreign activists who were on a mission to look into the recently reported massacre of nine civilians in Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato province. South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes told reporters Thursday that the foreign activists, Julie Jamora, Dina Anderson, Jamy Drapeza, Adam Shaw and Tawanda Chandiwana, all members of the Gabriela Network USA Chapter, were on board a truck when they were stopped by police around 8 a.m. at a checkpoint in BArangay (village) Palian in Tupi town, South Cotabato due to alleged lack of identification and travel documents. Fuentes said they came from Lake Sebu and were held briefly for questioning. "Some of them were not able to present identification cards and passports so they were brought to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration," Fuentes said. The said offices were in General Santos City. Citing a report from South Cotabato police commander Senior Supt. Nestor Salcedo, Fuentes said the foreigners even claimed to be journalists but their affiliations were not immediately known. She said the foreigners were released after their papers had been verified by Immigration officials. Arlyn Perez, coordinator of the Kalumahin Federation of Indigenous Peoples, protested the brief detention of the members of the fact-finding mission, saying there was an alleged connivance between military and provincial officials, an allegation denied by the governor. Perez said the team were investigating the deaths of nine indigenous people in December last year in Lake Sebu. "They (police) were just doing their job. If they have proper identification and travel documents, they will not be held," Fuentes said. On December 3 last year, soldiers reportedly encountered about 25 members of the New People's Army in the village of Ned in Lake Sebu, leaving two soldiers and nine alleged NPA members dead. This was what the fact-finding mission was investigating. The governor said they expected the fact-finding mission report to be "biased" as they only focus on their own version. Jerome Aba, spokesperson of Suara Bangsamoro, said the foreign delegation was told they were being held on suspicion of being Islamic State members. "The three Filipino-Americans, one American and one Zimbabwe national are among the delegates invited by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines investigating the impact of Duterte's Martial Law in Mindanao. The contingent went to Lake Sebu to probe the December 3 massacre of Dulangan Manobos, including tribal leader Victor Danyan, who defended their ancestral land from Consunji and Nestle plantation collaboration project," Aba said

OEBU CITY-Five security guards are facing criminal charges for killing four sugarcane farmers and wounding another on Wednesday in Siaton town, Negros Oriental. Complaints for multiple murder and frustrated murder were filed at the prosecutor's office on Thursday afternoon against Roswil Antanoy, 29; Edilberto Pancho, 41; Reynante Rubia, 36; Nelcher Abordo, 27; and Jason Ramos, 31. They were detained at the police station of Siaton pending resolution of the complaint against them. The five were accused of killing farmers Jessebel Abayle, 34; Carmelina Amantillo, 57; Consolacion Cadevida, 66; and Felimon Molero, 66. Another farmer, Lito Prudencia de Jesus, 28, was wounded and was recuperating at the hospital. In a phone interview, PO3 Euberto Kinkito Jr. of Siaton Police, said personal grudge appeared to be the motive in the shooting. The farmers worked in a sugarcane farm, about 200 meters from the national road in Sitio Bondo, Barangay Napacao, Siaton. The suspects belonged to Nico Security Agency that was tapped by farm owner Gaspar Vicente to guard his farm. But the farmers caught the ire of the security guards because they would report to the owner any infraction committed by the guards, said Kinkito. Police investigation showed that the suspects went to the tent where the farmers were resting and shot them several times. One of the suspects then threw a hand grenade at the victims. The suspects fled but were caught two hours later in Napacao during a hot pursuit operation by the police.

Karapatan strongly condemned the killing of peasant leader Ronald Manlapat, 30 years old and a member of the local chapter of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NSFW) in Hacienda Joefred, Brgy. Luna, Sagay City, Negros Occidental yesterday, February 22 at around 5am. He was shot by an unknown assailant at the back of his head. Previously, Manlapat had been receiving threats for being actively involved in organizing laborers and farmers in their village. "This is unconscionable. In an ideal situation, peasants like Manlapat should get support and services from the government. But for insisting on suitable wages as laborers on a farm, they get bullets instead. To add insult, killings of peasants have remained unpunished," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. Palabay cited the cases of NFSW leader Alexander Ceballos who was killed last January 20, 2017, and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) members Wencislao Pacquiao and Webby Argabio Sr., who were killed last January 20, 2017 and November 8, 2017, respectively, as among the recent cases of extrajudicial killings in Negros. The island is widely known to have been plagued by persistent issues of landlessness, landgrabbing, underpayment of wages of agricultural sugar workers, poverty and labor right violations, with the continuing dominance of big sugar barons and landlords in the province. "The culture of impunity which this regime embraces must end. We call for an independent investigation on the killing of Manlapat and all peasant activists who are staunch campaigners of genuine agrarian reform," Palabay concluded.

A human rights group condemned on Friday the petition of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that seeks to declare over 600 individuals as "terrorists" for supposedly being members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, New People's Army (NPA). Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said the list targets government critics and human rights defenders, and aims to sow fear among them. "There is no doubt that the filing of the petition is an effort to sow fear and panic among Duterte's detractors, subjectively prepare the public for more intense political repression, and be the front act of a crackdown against the dictator wannabe's critics," Palabay said in a statement. In a 55-page petition for proscription filed on February 21, the DOJ urged Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 to declare the CPP-NPA as terrorist organizations. The petition has also enumerated a list of individuals, who are alleged leaders of the CPP-NPA's various committees. The list included CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, alleged ranking CPP leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, and National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiators Luis Jalandoni, Coni Ledesma, Randall Echanis, and Rafael Baylosis, who is currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. It likewise tagged UN special rapporteur for the rights of indigenous people Victoria Tauli-Corpuz as a member of the CPP's Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee (ICRC). The list further named former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo, and Ilocos environmental activist Sherwin de Vera, who was likewise tagged as a member of the ICRC. According to Palabay, the list submitted by the DOJ in court suspiciously included several others who were already dead and missing. Palabay also said the list included seven other members of paramilitary units accused of killing Lumads in Mindanao, including four from the New Indigenous Peoples' Army (NIPAR), led by Alde "Butchoy" Salusad, who have standing warrants for the killing of Lumad leader Datu Jimmy Liguyon. "They also have been presented and paid as surrenderees, consistent to their being all-purpose pawns in the military's repressive schemes," Palabay said. Rights activists The DOJ petition also named Elisa Tita Lubi, who is apparently Karapatan National Executive Committee member and former interim regional coordinator of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. Moreover, named in the list were Joan Carling, past Secretary General of the Asian Indigenous Peoples' Pact and former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; Atty. Jose Molintas, former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Beverly Longid, Global Coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation; Sandugo Co-Chairperson Joanna Cari_o; Cordillera People's Alliance Chairperson Windel Bolinget; and at least 10 Lumad datu/leaders in Northern and Southern Mindanao. "Even more unbelievable is the inclusion in the list of the names of the nine-member Karapatan quick reaction team arrested in November 2017 and HR defenders in Negros," Palabay said. She said that the list is "severely defective as it contains scores of aliases, John and Jane Does so any person can be added later." Names of activists affected (that can be identified): Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Sherwin de Vera Elisa Tita Lubi Joan Carling Atty. Jose Molintas Beverly Longid Joanna Cari_o Jose Maria Sison Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Luis Jalandoni, Coni Ledesma, Randall Echanis, and Rafael Baylosis Rep. Satur Ocampo�_

ANOTHER Lumad leader was allegedly killed by the New People's Army (NPA) in Alegria town, Surigao del Norte on Friday, February 9, just a week after a tribal was gunned down by members of the communist group in Davao del Norte. In a statement, Captain Al Anthony Pueblas, Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer of the 402 Infantry (Stingers) Brigade, said Dakula Guillermo Tiambong, 58, a farmer and a tribal leader, was shot to death in front of his family while in his farm at the mountains in Sitio Palo 10, Barangay Camp Edward, Alegria, at 2:30 p.m. Tiambong is an officer of the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of the Mamanwa Tribe in Alegria. According to the victim's daughter, Girlie, his father had previously received death threats from the NPAs for being an active advocate on peace and development in their community. "Walay sala ang akong amahan nganong ila man kining gipatay? Giyatakan sa mga NPA ang katungod namong mga tribu nga magpuyong malinawon (Why did they kill my father? The NPA have stepped on our rights as Indigenous Peoples (IP) to live peacefully)" Girlie said. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Raymund Tomas, Commanding Officer of 30th Infantry Battalion, condemned the recent atrocity perpetrated by the NPA and expressed his sympathy to the bereaved family. "We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved family of Dakula Guillermo Tiambong whose daughter is an active youth leader," Tomas said. The slain tribal leader attended the three-day IP summit dubbed as "Panagtagbo Alang sa Kalinawug Kalambuan" at the Naval Station Felix Apolinario, Panacan, Davao City wherein they met President Rodrigo Duterte and had a dialogue regarding their issues and concerns in the community. "Datu Tiambong is the voice of the Mamanwa tribe during the three-day IP Summit in Davao where President Rodrigo Roa Duterte met them last January 30 to 31 and February 1, 2018," he said.

A tribal leader of the Langilang-Manobo tribe and his son were shot dead by armed men inside their home in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte on Sunday dawn. The victims, Datu Banadjao Mampaundag and his son, Jhonard Mampaundag, were attacked around 4 a.m. inside their home by the armed men posing as soldiers but were believed members of the New People's Army (NPA). AFP Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) spokesperson Maj. Ezra Balagtey said the attackers were Tagalog-speaking members of the NPA who entered the house of the Mampaundags and murdered the two tribal leaders. Balagtey said a medical team from Talaingod was sent to give assistance but they stopped when the team heard an explosion. The remains of Banadjao and Jhonard are still in Sitio Igang waiting to be retrieved. The NPA members were believed to be in an ambush position and could possibly attack army troops who would respond to the incident. The incident happened a day after Banadjao came home from the two-day "Panagtagbo Alang sa Kalinaw ug Kalambuan," an Indigenous Peoples Leaders' Summit held in Davao City at the Green Height convention Center on January 31 and February 1. Banadjao was one of the participants of the gathering at the EastMinCom headquarters in Panacan, Davao City where President Rodrigo Duterte called on tribal leaders from four regions in Mindanao to "dissociate from the NPA." "Distansya mo as NPA. Ayaw mo pakig away (You distance yourselves from the NPA. Do not fight them," he had told them. The two-day IP Leaders Summit was aimed at providing the "lumads" with an avenue to air their concerns to the national government. Two of the issues included security and lack of economic opportunities. Banadjao was also one of those who signed a manifesto calling for a push on their struggle and fight for self-determination based on their customary laws, cultures and traditions passed by their ancestors that are deeply rooted in their communities. In the manifesto, they vowed not to fail Duterte in his peace and development program spelled-out in the administration's 10-point socioeconomic agenda. (PNA)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Another Lumad was killed in Arakan town, Cotabato, reported human rights group Karapatan on Sunday. Karapatan Southern Mindanao Region said in a statement that 30-year old Ricky Olado was shot dead by suspected military agents Sunday morning. Olado was driving his motorcycle boarding another passenger heading to Barangay Datu Ladayon, Arakan when "they were chased by two armed men in two single motorcycles." He sustained multiple gunshots while the unidentified passenger was wounded. Olado was a member of a local IP group Tinanaon Kulamanon Lumadnong Panaghiusa (TIKULPA) under PASAKA Confederation of Lumad groups in Southern Mindanao. On Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his call to go after organizations believed to be supporting the communists saying if the military has to kill they have to do so. "And if you have to kill, do it because the human rights, kung babagsak itong bayan na "to, walang maitulong sa atin "yan," Duterte said. Karapatan National in a statement slammed Duterte's pronouncement to target legal and progressive organizations saying "[these] are the very reasons why majority of the Filipino people strongly distrust government institutions." "Making no distinction between armed combatants and civilians gives state forces carte blanche to kill, arrest, threaten, and harass any one, including free speech advocates, unarmed activists, peasants, workers, indigenous peoples, church workers, among others. These tactics, used by the Marcos dictatorship and subsequent regimes such as that of Benigno Aquino III and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, are acts of desperation and paranoia," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. Olado is the 66th victim of politically motivated killings in Southern Mindanao Region according to Karapatan.

On January 25, 2017, Arturo Colao was shot by two unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen in Puting Balas, Talisayan town. The victim was attending a birthday party when the assailants stopped a meter from where he was sitting and started shooting. Colao sustained a gunshot wound on his hip. This is the latest of a series of attempts on Colao's life.

Peasant activist James Flores, 33, resident of Purok Cadena, Brgy. Mankilam, Tagum City, Davao del Norte was shot dead by an unidentified assailant around 6pm of January 20, 2018. Flores was tying his groceries to his single motorcycle parked at the back of Gaisano shopping mall in Tagum City, when an unidentified gunman shot James multiple times. James was a staunch peasant rights activist and a member of Pederasyon sa tanang Asosasyon sa mga Mag-uuma ug Lumad sa Agusan ug Davao (PAMULAD).

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) brutally murdered a Lumad leader from Kapalong town in Davao del Norte. Datu Benandao Maugan, 59, a tribal leader of Sitio Luno-luno, Barangay Gupitan, Kapalong, was killed by the alleged communist guerillas at around 1 pm on Sunday, December 17, in front of his people. According to a police report, which cites the testimony of Maugan's brother-in-law who witnessed the scene, several NPA members led by a certain Renard Catarata (alias SM or Tata) and Rene Catarata (alias Gilbert) arrived in their village on Sunday morning while Maugan was out hunting. The alleged NPA members, he said, forced them to assemble at the village center, where their jungle knives or bolos were confiscated. Also present were Maugan's wife, child, and several relatives. Upon his arrival, Maugan was reportedly dragged to a nearby hut. He was heard saying, "Pahibal-a ko ninyo kung unsay sala nako." (Tell me what I have done wrong.) Maugan was then reportedly blindfolded, hogtied, and dragged to the riverside by at least 5 armed men, including a certain Bucay Matog and alias Dasoc. A few minutes after, the villagers heard several gunshots. SM Catarata supposedly instructed the people to pick up the body of Maugan, whom he described as a "corrupt" and "hard-headed" leader. Maugan's brother-in-law and the other villagers then recovered the leader's body, which sustained 9 gunshot wounds. After the incident, the alleged NPA members fled the village and threatened those who would oppose them. In 2013, Maugan refused to give in to the NPA's demand and prevented his entire village from evacuating to Haran, Davao City, for their communist propaganda. On several occasions, he also prevented his villagers from being used by the NPA as errand runners. In one account, Maugan was said to have been accused by the NPA of personally blocking food supplies supposedly delivered to them in nearby Sitio Muling. Recently, Maugan also facilitated the establishment of a public school in Luno-luno in collaboration with the local government of Kapalong. Police said they are now preparing a case against the NPA members. Meanwhile, Kapalong Mayor Maria Theresa Timbol has given initial assistance to Maugan's family. News of Maugan's killing comes as President Rodrigo Duterte declared a ceasefire with communist rebels during the Christmas season, from December 24, 2017, to January 2, 2018. - Rappler.com

Early this morning, December 17, 2017, Karapatan-Southern Mindanao received information that the remains of Jeanni Rose Porras, 39, a member of Compostela Farmers Association (CFA), was found at a funeral parlor in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley. Jeanni's son reported her missing on December 15. Jeanni's son narrated that on December 14, his mother went out to talk to someone. He started worrying when after a day, Jeanni has still not returned home. He tried calling through her mobile phone but it was out of reach. On December 15, Jeanni's son decided to report the incident at a nearby police station in Compostela town. He also informed fellow CFA members, asking their help to look for his mother. It was only this morning that they discovered her body at a funeral parlor. As of this writing, Karapatan, along with CFA members, are still trying to ascertain the details with regard to Jeanni's disappearance and death. Jeanni Porras was a staunch anti-mining activist and a peasant organizer in the area. Her organization, the Compostela Farmers Association, has long been the target of killings, illegal arrests, and harassment due to their anti-militarization, anti-mining, and agrarian reform campaigns. HR Alert #12-17-17 Released: 17 December 2017 Source: Karapatan -Southern Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - A missing woman was found dead in a funeral parlor in Nabunturan town, Compostela Valley Province two days after she was reported missing by her son. Human rights group Karapatan in Southern Mindanao said Jeanni Rose Porras, a member of the Compostela Farmers Association (CFA), was found dead by her son in a funeral parlor on December 15. "Jeanni's son narrated that on December 14, his mother went out to talk to someone. He started worrying when after a day, Jeanni has still not returned home," Karapatan said in a Facebook post Sunday, December 17, adding that the son has decided to report the incident to the police. "He tried calling through her mobile phone but it was out of reach," the group added. "It was only this morning that they discovered her body at the funeral parlor," it added. Davao Today tried to get a copy of the police report from the Police Regional Office 11, but there was no report available as of press time. Meanwhile, Karapatan said Porras was a staunch anti-mining activist and a peasant organizer in the area. "Her organization has long been the target of killings, illegal arrests, and harassment due to their anti-militarization, anti-mining, and agrarian reform campaigns," the group said. (davaotoday.com)

A community newspaper columnist and human rights advocate was arrested by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday while on board a bus in Bantay, Ilocos Sur. Sherwin de Vera, a columnist for Northern Dispatch, an Ilocos Sur weekly newspaper, was arrested in Barangay Bulag on his way home from Candon City, the Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (Karapatan) said in a statement. De Vera, also a coordinator of Defend Ilocos, a network of environmental advocates in Ilocos Region, is facing charges of rebellion filed in Abra in September 2014. He said the charges were all fabricated. Police said de Vera was detained on Tuesday night at Camp Elpidio Quirino in the town of Bantay and was transferred on Wednesday to the Provincial Jail in Bangued, Abra. De Vera's Defend Ilocos played a key role in leading the Save the Abra River Movement opposing the continued operations of Lepanto Mining Company, which was reportedly affecting downstream communities in Ilocos Sur. Karapatan said the police asked de Vera for his identification card and invited him to the police station. "They claim that my case was "rebellion.' They dragged me down the bus and handcuffed me. I let them search inside my bag in front of other people and they didn't see anything," de Vera reportedly said. At the police station, the lawmen showed him a supposed copy of the rebellion case. They allegedly took all his personal belongings. Meanwhile, the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), also in a statement, demanded the immediate release of de Vera as it expressed indignation over his "illegal arrest." Leon Dulce, campaign coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, said this is not de Vera's "first brush with the fascistic authorities" and prior to his arrest, he was already receiving threats and intimidation from the military in connection with his work. Defend Ilocos also opposes the presence of a coal-fired power plant in Luna, La Union. Similarly, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), an independent federation of grassroots organizations among indigenous communities in the Cordillera also denounced the arrest of de Vera. "The unwarranted arrest of Sherwin de Vera and the intensified attack on peoples' democratic rights nationwide strongly manifest the tyranny prevailing over our lands and the people must unite to fight," it said in another statement. with LEANDER DOMINGO

A Catholic priest was gunned down by unidentified men in Jaen, Nueva Ecjia on Monday evening. Fr. Marcelito "Tito" Paez, a priest of the Diocese of San Jose, was shot while driving his vehicle at around 8pm. The 72-year-old priest was immediately rushed to the Gonzales General Hospital in the nearby town of San Leonardo but he succumbed to two bullet wounds on his body at around 10pm. Paez was a former parish priest of in Guimba town and currently the coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Central Luzon. In the 1980s, he was also a leader of the Central Luzon Alliance for a Sovereign Philippines, which campaigned for the removal of the US military bases in Central Luzon and other parts of the country. He was also known to lead church service for communities and victims of human rights violations in Nueva Ecija and Central Luzon. Earlier in the day, Paez assisted in facilitating the release of political prisoner Rommel Tucay who was detained at a hail in Cabanatuan City. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing

The 27th IB-AFP massacred civilian residents and not NPA members in a skirmish that took place in Sitio Datal Bonglangon, Brgy. Ned, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato in December 3, 2017. The victims are members of the T'boli-Manobo S'daf Claimants Organization (TAMASCO), a group fighting for the tribe's ancestral lands seized by the DMCI through the government's IFMA program. The group found out that the government had rejected their claim by granting the renewal of Consunji's IFMA contract. But the group continued to fight for their rights. The NDF-FSMR strongly condemns this heinous crime and terroristic act perpetrated by the AFP against the civilians. This is clearly an antrocious violation of the human rights and the international humanitarian law. Sityo Datal Bonglangon is a T'boli-Manobo community located within the vast coffee plantation of the Silvicultural Industries Inc.-DMCI. For a long time, sitio residents have persistently resisted the company's efforts to evict them. According to reports received by the NDF-FSMR, prior to the incident, Lumad residents have complained about the incessant intimidations done by DMCI company guards and government forces. Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, the commanding officer of the 33rd IB-AFP, have also threatened to attack the sitio. Reports said that at around 12:25 in the afternoon in December 3, forces of the 27th IB-AFP conducting military operations arrive in the community. The soldiers approached the house of the chieftain Datu Victor Danyan and opened fire. This prompted the residents, armed with 12-gauge shotguns and indigenous weapons, to fight back. The firefight resulted to the death of eight individuals namely Datu Victor Danyan Sr., Victor Danyan Jr., Artemio Danyan, Pato Celardo, To Diamante, Bobot Lagase, and Mateng Bantal. A number were also wounded that includes Luben Laod and Teteng Laod, and a minor that was taken to a hospital. According to witnesses, three 27th IB soldiers were also killed and three others were wounded. A unit of the Mt. Daguma Operations Command-NPA operating in area immediately responded to rescue the fleeing civilians. They engaged the maneuvering forces of the 33rd IB-AFP a kilometer away from the community. A Red fighter was martyred in the gunfight. The 33rd IB indiscriminately bombed the place after the successive encounters. At least fifteen 105 mortar shells were fired by the AFP from 2:00 o'clock until 4:30 in the afternoon that day. Hundreds of families in Datal Bonglangon and adjacent sitios evacuated as a result of the incidents and the continuing presence of government armed troops in the area.

Suspected state security forces along with goons of a local official in Negros Oriental shot and killed two members of a team investigating human rights violations in the province this afternoon, Nov. 28. A youth activist was also injured. Killed were Elisa Badayos of Karapatan-Central Visayas, and Elioterio Moises, a village guard and member of the local peasant organization, Mantapi Ebwan Farmers Association. They were pronounced dead-on-arrival at a hospital in Bayawan town. CJ Matarlo, a 23-year-old Kabataan Partylist member remains in critical condition as of press time. The fact-finding team, composed of 30 people, was investigating reported human rights abuses committed by soldiers who are encamped in communities in the cities of Bayawan and Sta. Catalina. Earlier, the team was blocked and harassed by armed men identified with Bayawan City Mayor Ismael Martinez. Armed men also questioned the team, but they were eventually allowed to pass. At 2:40 PM, Badayos, Moises and the KPL activist companion were in San Ramon village, Bayawan and were headed to the police station to file a blotter report on the blocking incident, when armed men opened fire. Badayos and her family has long suffered from injustice perpetrated by the state forces. Her husband, Jimmy, a labor leader in Cebu, was abducted by the military in 1990, and has since disappeared. In 2012, a police and military team abducted her daughter, Jimmylisa, and a companion. She was later found illegally detained in Cebu. In 2015, Badayos was among the leaders of progressive groups in Dumaguete City who were slapped with trumped-up criminal charges filed by soldiers of the 79th Infantry Battalion. Cases including murder, rebellion, and illegal possession of firearms were then filed against leaders. "We condemn in the strongest terms this recent attack on human rights workers. Even as human rights workers conducting fact-finding missions in Batangas, Negros, Mindanao and elsewhere are being subjected to attacks by state forces, we will never relent in struggling alongside with the Filipino people in contending against this murderous Duterte regime," said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (Karapatan). In 2008, the Negros Oriental local government unit issued Ordinance No. 5, s. 2008 entitled "An Ordinance Regulating Outreach Activities Through Medical and Fact-Finding Missions in the Countryside of Negros Oriental and for Other Purposes." As a result, non-government organizations and other cause-based organizations are prohibited from conducting humanitarian missions without permission from the governor, municipal government, and the municipal police. Yesterday, Nov. 27, the fact-finding team went to the Sta. Catalina City hall, where they had asked for an appointment with the local government unit, but no official came to face them. Palabay said the Negros ordinance contravenes the purpose of fact-finding missions, which are conducted to confirm reports of abuses, especially those committed by the military and other officers and agents of the state. "The attacks on human rights defenders are becoming more rampant, more brutal, more fearless. The perpetrators know they will be dealt with impunity, as human rights have lost force and meaning especially under this regime. Fact-finding missions are a mechanism for human rights organizations to confirm reports of abuses, and this incident has only proven how fascism works to kill outright those who dare to question," Palabay said in a statement. (This article was updated to add the name of CJ Matarlo, who was not identified in the earlier report.)

Human rights group Karapatan has accused the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines of arresting and detaining 11 human rights workers "illegally". In a press release, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay linked the arrest of Peping Sacdalan, 67; Carlos Sanoza, 62; Josefino Castillano, 50; Senando Jacutin, 47; Rosario Tabanao, 47; Jocelyn Cabadin, 44; Leonardo Delos Reyes, 43; Jennelyn Bayani, 30; Orlan Cabadin, 19; Robert Hernandez; and Anthony Ba_aga to President Rodrigo Duterte's "threat" on Saturday to crack down on progressive organizations. Those arrested had been tagged as members of the New People's Army. But Palabay said it was "a lie relegated as among the oldest tricks in the PNP and AFP's "how to get away with illegal arrest and human rights violations' rulebook." "Mass arrest of members of an organization is fast becoming a trend in the PNP and AFP's conduct of illegal arrests. It has become as brazen and as arbitrary," she added. She accused the Duterte administration of allegedly conducting a "systematic attack against human rights workers." Ba_aga, Bayani, Orlan Cabadin, Jocelyn Cabadin, Castillano, Delos Reyes, Hernandez, Sacdalan, and Sanoza were arrested on Monday by members of the PNP and the Philippine Air Force 730th Combat Group in Nasugbu, Batangas. According to Karapatan, eight of these nine persons were actually members of farmers groups, while the ninth was a jeepney driver. They were on their way to Brgy. Utod in Nasugbu to "monitor human rights violations against civilians amid the ongoing military operations of the PAF against members of the NPA in Nasugbu." Karapatan said the group would be brought to a regional trial court in Batangas to undergo inquest proceedings. On Saturday, meanwhile, Jacutin and Tabanao were arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 9 and the 1st Infantry Tabak Division of the AFP in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. According to Karapatan, Jacutin is a peasant organizer of Kilusang Mambubukid ng Pilipinas, while Tabanao is a staff member of Karapatan Western Mindanao. Karapatan alleged that firearms and explosives were planted on the two, who are detained at the Pagadian City police station and are set to undergo inquest proceedings Tuesday. "Karapatan condemns this blatant attack on the people's right to monitor human rights violations and the brazen arbitrariness and illegality of the recent series of arrests," Palabay said. She continued, "How then can human rights and humanitarian organizations function and aid civilians amidst armed conflict when rights of human rights workers are being curtailed? Human rights workers, in the conduct of their work, have already one foot in the grave." Palabay also criticized the creation of the Inter-agency Committee on Legal Action (IAOCOLA), which supposedly intensified "political persecution and illegal arrests" against human rights groups and other progressive organizations. "More increasingly in the Duterte regime, legal processes are subverted and instead directed against the people," she said. According to the PNP website, the IACOLA establishes "stronger coordination of ongoing and future efforts of the government in addressing these cases" against threat groups. The joint resolution creating IACOLA was signed in October by PNP Chief Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa and then AFP Chief of Staff General Eduardo A_o in the hopes of strengthening "the intelligence gathering and cooperation, investigation, prosecution, and monitoring of cases against threat groups." On Saturday, Duterte told reporters in Davao City that the government "may take steps" against activists, and added that he believed groups like Bayan were in league with the communist rebels. "We will study and maybe we will have a crackdown here somewhere," Duterte said. In the same press conference, he called the armed wing of the National Democratic Front, the New People's Army, terrorists. "Before, we recognized them as legitimate rebels. But with their continued depredations, killing innocent people even an infant four months old, I'll be issuing a proclamation. I will remove them from the category of a legal entity... placing them - same as America -[in the category of] terrorists." Recently, an infant was among eight civilians in a Toyota Fortuner caught in the crossfire when NPA rebels ambushed a police vehicle in Bukidnon. The NPA admitted killing the infant, and even apologized in a statement. "So beginning from now, wala nang[there'll be no more charges called] rebellion-rebellion. We will fight terrorism, murder, arson na[now]... because we will consider them criminal already," the President added.

The Tarlac police detained an activist on Wednesday after militant farmers stormed a contested property inside the former sugar estate on the eve of the so-called Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004. Florita Sibayan, chair of the militant Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), was taken to the Tarlac provincial police headquarters in Camp Macabulos here. Supt. Bayani Razalan, Tarlac City police chief, said Sibayan and other Ambala members were facing charges of malicious mischief and physical injuries for destroying the concrete fence of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. compound in the Tarlac City side of Luisita. On April 24, the same group forcibly occupied the RCBC compound, after they petitioned then Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano to use the 500-hectare property for agrarian land distribution. The RCBC lot is what remains of the Luisita estate most of which have been distributed to farmers by the Department of Agrarian Reform. The lot was acquired from the family of former President Corazon Aquino and her son, former President Benigno Aquino III, in 1996. On Wednesday, around 500 Ambala members staged the rally at 9 a.m. in front of the RCBC lot before they broke through the fence an hour later. Following Sibayan's detention, 200 Ambala members held a protest rally at Camp Macabulos. Some of them spray-painted the police compound. Reached by telephone, Sibayan said a police officer in plainclothes dragged her into a police vehicle parked inside the RCBC lot. "They said they would kill me," Sibayan said in Filipino. The group was scheduled to hold on Thursday a memorial of the massacre where seven farmers were killed during a clash between policemen and strikers. Cases filed against government officials, including Aquino when he was Tarlac representative, in connection with the killings had been dismissed.

Human rights groups decried the illegal arrests and abduction by police of a total of seven activists and supporters in the past five days, before and during the visit by US President Donald Trump and the start of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit. These happened from Nov. 9 to 12 in separate incidents in the provinces of Cebu, Samar, Oriental Mindoro and Metro Manila. Among those arrested is a nursing mother who was tending to her two-month-old baby when arrested in a hospital in Oriental Mindoro. Human rights alliance Karapatan riled at the Duterte administration, for "unleashing its fascist and militarist policies" in fitting tribute to the visiting US president, who also faced growing protests in his own country. Groups like Karapatan had criticized the Asean for evading the issue of human rights violations, which hound all its member-states. President Duterte, who is this year's Asean chairman and host of the summit, has been lambasted for his bloody war on drugs and continued political killings. The seven arrested are: former peace negotiator Rustico Tan, Lopito Paquigbao and Eddie Cullamat, who were arrested Nov. 9 in Cebu; health worker and former political detainee Emilia Marquez, who was arrested with Jess Carlo Poblador on Nov. 10 in Oriental Mindoro; peasant leader Carlito Badillo, arrested also on Nov. 10; and Neil Legaspi, who was arrested during the anti-Trump protest in Manila on Nov. 12. Legaspi, a Karapatan staff who was detained by the Manila Police District, was released this afternoon, Nov. 14. Poblador was also immediately released shortly after arrested. The five others remain in detention. Former "Morong 43' detainee abducted in hospital The group Buhay na Alay para sa Nagkakaisang Isla ng Mindoro (BAYANI Mo) is calling for the release of Emilia Marquez, 29, who was abducted while tending to her critically-ill two-month-old baby at the Medical Mission Group Hospital in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. On Nov. 10, at 11 PM, four soldiers in plainclothes led by Corporal Marcos Padilla Magnaye of the Philippine Army's 203rd infantry brigade nabbed Marquez and Jess Carlo Poblador, 27, who was assisting Marquez in the hospital. The soldiers refused to identify themselves when Marquez asked for their identification and arrest warrant. Marquez refused to come with the soldiers, who then forcibly took her and Poblador, in full view of the shocked hospital staff. Marquez, a native of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, is a former political detainee and was one of the "Morong 43," the 43 health workers arrested in February 2010. They were released in December 2010 after prosecutors withdrew the charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. A team of human rights workers searched for Marquez and Poblador in various detention facilities of police, military and the National Bureau of Investigation, which all denied they have the two. The group also learned that the Army corporal Magnaye asked to have the recording of the closed-circuit television erased, but the hospital staff refused. After 24 hours, Marquez was able to call and inform her parents that she was detained in at the 203rd IB headquarters in Bansud, but was being brought to Calapan City. She is currently detained in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. The group said Poblador was already released, but gave no detail. BayaniMo said Marquez was charged with two trumped-up charges: a murder case at branch 44 of Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, and frustrated murder at branch 41 of RTC Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. "Emilia Marquez, hails from a poor family, and is passionate in serving the underprivileged and managed to continue her work as a community-based health worker for the indigenous Mangyans and farmers of Mindoro. Since then she was followed by suspected state agents and consistently harassed thru vilification and pressuring her aging parents to submit him to authorities though no cases were filed against her," BayaniMo said in its statement. Former NDFP peace negotiator, peasant leader arrested in the Visayas In its statement, Karapatan said that Paquigbao and Cullamat were first to be nabbed by a joint team of police and military men who came looking for Rustico Tan at his farm in Palaminya village, Oslob, Cebu on Nov. 9, at 5 PM. Failing to find Tan, the government troops took the two men who are both farm workers of Tan. Karapatan said they later learned from the Philippine National Police in Oslob that Tan has also been arrested and he and the two other men are detained at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Central Command in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City. The group later learned that Tan was transferred detention to another island, in Camp Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province. The group, however, is yet to confirm if Paquigbao and Cullamat are detained at the AFP CenCom in Cebu city. Tan, 76, is a former Catholic priest belonging to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC). He was a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and was one of the negotiators in the peace talks with government during the Corazon Aquino administration. Tan is engaged in sustainable agriculture in his hometown in Oslob. On Nov. 10, at 7 AM, peasant leader Carlito Badillo had just brought his children to school in Tag-alag village, Marabut town in Samar province when he was abducted by a group of men. Later, the 87th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army admitted that they have Badillo in their custody. Badillo, a leader of Tag-alag Farmers and Fisherfolk Association, is being detained at the Marabut Municipal Police Station. Karapatan said trumped-up charges of rebellion and illegal possession of explosives were filed against Badillo. Karapatan deputy secretary general Roneo Clamor said the arrests come after the formation of the Inter-Agency Committee on Legal Action (IACLA), which "will further legitimize and systematize the political persecution, illegal arrest, and detention of vocal critics of the Duterte regime's anti-people policies." As of Sept. 30, Karapatan had documented 28 political prisoners in the Eastern Visayas region, 13 of whom are ailing. The group has documented 435 political prisoners, with 94 arrested and detained under President Duterte. "Instead of heeding the demands of peasant organizations, the Duterte administration is blatantly disregarding the plight of farmers and have continued to violate their political, economic, and social rights," Clamor said. Along with the Selda, the group of former political detainees, Karapatan has called on the Duterte administration to release all political prisoners and "stop the arrests, harassment and criminalization of the work of political activists." "The Duterte administration must also junk Oplan Kapayapaan, a counterinsurgency program patterned under the US counterinsurgency guide, which seeks to curtail dissent and forego people's rights to protect the interest of the few," Clamor said. Aside from arresting Karapatan staff, police took van, staff belongings "Who do we expect to guard a human rights violator, fascist, and bigot like US President Donald Trump? None other than his fellow fascists, personified by our own police force. In true militarist and fascist fashion that their masters -Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte - would no doubt be proud of, the police arrested Karapatan's staff who was then driving the van and injured at least 20 protesters, including Anakbayan Chairperson Vencer Crisostomo," said Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay. Karapatan lambasted the Manila Police District for the arrest of their staff Neil Legaspi, as well as for taking the group's van and the belongings of the paralegal team. On Nov. 12, at 2:30 PM, Legaspi was driving the van along Mabini street, following the main body of protesters as part of the paralegal team, when he was accosted by members of the Task Force ASEAN and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). "He was forced out of the vehicle, his hands tightly handcuffed, and his head forced down by two policemen identified as PO1 Agcamanan and PO2 Bigcas of the Regional Public Safety Battalion, under the leadership of Task Force ASEAN," said Palabay in a statement. The men also punched him in the back. "The paralegal van was also taken by the police, allegedly by police operatives identified as O. Silla, E. Ocampo, R. Siochi, J. Florendo, Padua of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police," Palabay said. Legaspi was brought to the CIDG bus along UN avenue, where he saw the Karapatan van being driven by a police man. Later, he saw CIDG operatives also went in and out of the van where the paralegal team's personal belongings were kept. Legaspi was released at 1:30 PM today, but will still undergo further preliminary investigation before the Manila prosecutor, on charges of violation of the public assembly act, assault upon agent of person in authority, and resistance and disobedience. The Karapatan van remains in custody of the police. "We personally witnessed how the CIDG scampered around to consolidate a script for the entire unit. The tag "scriptwriters' is a perfect fit, as these operatives busied to stage a convincing narrative. They first planned to file a case of reckless imprudence resulting to physical injury against Legaspi, but later changed the charges," Palabay said. She added that some personal belongings of were missing, the staff's bags were searched, with wallets left open. She said they are looking into charging the police with illegal search and carnapping.

PISTON National President George San Mateo posted bail on Tuesday afternoon for his case before a Quezon City court. Before this, San Mateo had been picked up by several policemen as he was on his way to post bail at the Quezon City Hall of Justice. Police then brought him to Station 10 of the Quezon City Police District for booking. Afterwards, the police escorted San Mateo back to the Hall of Justice, where he eventually posted bail. In the December 1 arrest warrant released to the media, Judge Don Ace Alagar of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 43 found probable cause to order San Mateo's arrest for violating Commonwealth Act No. 146 or the Public Service Law. Alagar set bail at P4,000. On October 30, Quezon City Assistant City Prosecutor Marvelous Madamba charged San Mateo in court for violating Section 20(k) of the said law, recommending bail at P4,000. The charge sheet read San Mateo knowingly and willfully instructed members of PISTON to conduct a nationwide strike. The case stemmed from the nationwide strike that PISTON and other transport groups conducted in February 2017 to protest the PUV Modernization Program. Read: Transport groups hold nationwide transport strike to protest government's PUV modernization program No to Jeepney Phaseout Coalition Spokesperson Misael Melinas told CNN Philippines on Tuesday that the group condemned the arrest order. "Ang layunin lang po niyan ay pananakot upang pigilan kaming mga driver at operator na ipaglaban ang aming kabuhayan," he said. [Translation: The only objective of that warrant is to stop us drivers and operators from fighting for our livelihood.] Melinas added that the group will continue to fight for a "more inclusive" PUV Modernization Program. Meanwhile, PISTON members and supporters marched to the Quezon City Hall of Justice on December 5 to protest the "trumped-up charges" against San Mateo. On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque denied that the charges were a form of harassment. "I think he was warned that as a holder of a franchise, a certificate of public convenience...it is criminal and it is illegal for them to participate in any tigil-pasada[halting of service]," Roque said. "He defied. He now has to face the consequences." He said the purpose of the certificate is to render a service necessary to the public. "But if you will be a tool to inconvenience the public, then that's a violation of the trust repose in you by the state because that certificate of a public convenience is not a right. It's a privilege reserved only for those who can meet the obligations of franchise holders," he added. Poe: 'Let's hear them out' Sen. Grace Poe said on Tuesday that the timing of the warrant's release is "suspect and casts doubt on the intent of the complainant in filing such charges." "Everyone has the right to peaceably assemble," she said in statement. "It is unclear based on the cited section of the Public Service Act what exactly San Mateo violated. If holding a strike is tantamount to a violation under any memorandum of the LTFRB, then the proper penalty should have been a fine or suspension or cancellation of their franchise, not threatening their leader with incarceration." Poe added that the Public Service Act should be revisited to better balance public service and the right to assemble. The senator on Monday that the groups are set to meet transport officials at the Senate on December 11 to discuss their concerns. Read: Transport group cancels nationwide strike on Dec. 4-5 "With their entire livelihood at stake, the least we can do is hear them out," Poe said. "Moving forward, let us give them and other stakeholders a chance to explain so that we can resolve their issues together." Melinas said despite the warrant issued against San Mateo, the coalition will still attend the hearing. The PUV Modernization Program, which was revealed in June 2017, aims to phase out PUVs over 15 years old and replace these with vehicles with "low-carbon and low-emission technology." Read: Jeepney modernization program kicks off next month Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Spokesperson Aileen Lizada told CNN Philippines in June 2017 that there are around 204,000 jeepneys operating nationwide, with an estimated 75 percent of these over 15 years old. PISTON and other transport groups are against the program, saying that hundreds of thousands of jeepney drivers and operators could lose their business.

We condemn the arrest of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Region (RMP-NMR) staff and lay worker Julito Otacan, and five other Banwaon human rights defenders (HRDs), on Oct. 27 in Balit, San Luis, Agusan del Sur. Otacan is a field worker under the Protect and Promote Indigenous Human Rights in the Philippines, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the RMP-NMR and Relief International. Otacan, in his work under the project, had been going around the Banwaon communities in Agusan del Sur, to organize and facilitate the training of community members in their capacity as HRDs. Under martial law, attacks against HRDs had been heightened, with community organizers and legitimate community meetings put under surveillance of state forces. We are demanding their immediate release and for the government to ensure their protection while they are doing their legitimate work for indigenous peoples' rights.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) - A 29-year-old broadcaster died in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur on Tuesday night, October 24, after unidentified men opened fire at his vehicle. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) alerted the media of the death of Christopher Iban Lozada on Wednesday morning, October 25. The NUJP said that Lozada was driving home with his girlfriend, Faith Tuyco Indog, when the incident happened. Indog was injured. Lozada was killed immediately while Indog was rushed to the Andres Soriano Hospital for treatment," the NUJP said. The ambush came after Lozada received multiple death threats, some of which could be found on his own Facebook acount, said NUJP. "I'm not an activist; I don't look for controversy. I'm not a political person, but I'm a person with compassion," Lozada said in a live Facebook video on October 15. Lozada was the operations manager and anchor of DXBF Prime Broadcasting Network, where he was known as "Chris Rapido." He was also called "Dok Chris" as he had health-related radio programs. According to the NUJP, Lozado was reportedly involved in filing charges against Bislig Mayor Librado Navarro and other Bislig officials before the Office of the Ombudsman over their involvement in a questionable hydraulic excavator deal. Navarro and the officials were found guilty of grave misconduct. In another Facebook post, Lozada posted a text message theatening him. "Another grave threat. I received this while I was hosting a program on air. I'm slightly worried by this incident because I was told that my days are numbered and that I would die soon. I'm just doing all these for the people. Now they're telling me this; I think they're getting used to this kind of act," he said. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) condemned the death of Lozada. Lozada earlier filed a complaint against Navarro with the PTFoMS, citing the death threats he had been receiving. PTFoMS issued a "red-flag" letter to Navarro on October 24 but it was too late, as he was killed that morning. "Lozada was killed even before the letter-warning could reach the mayor," PTFoMs said in a statement, adding that it suspected the mayor to be behind the threats to Lozada's life because of the graft case before the Ombudsman. In his complaint, Lozada cited threatening text messages that he reportedly received form Navarro. "Leave Bislig if you do not want to die," the alleged text message read. Police Superintendent Eder Collantes of Task Force Usig has been instructed to "immediately" investigate the killing.

SULTAN KUDARAT - Two men on a motorcycle shot dead early Monday in President Quirino town a volunteer radio reporter and columnist of a local weekly newspaper. Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, director of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police, said Leodoro Diaz died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the attack. Diaz was a volunteer reporter of a broadcast outfit in Cotabato City, the station dxMY of the Radio Mindanao Network. He was also a columnist of the Sapol tabloid published weekly in General Santos City, about three hours away via overland travel from President Quirino, his hometown. Diaz was on his way to Tacurong City from his home in Barangay Katiku, President Quirino when two bikers trailing behind overtook, block his path and shot him with pistols, killing him on the spot. Benjie Caballero, a broadcast journalist based in Tacurong City, said Diaz was a hard-hitting tabloid columnist. "We are urging the police to investigate on his murder in broad daylight at a time when Mindanao is under martial law that prohibits non-military and police personnel from carrying guns outside of houses," Caballero, a long time friend of Diaz, told The STAR. Diaz was the third journalist killed in Sultan Kudarat province in about 15 years. Marlene Esperat, also a columnist of a local newspaper, and radio reporter Amy Corpuz were also killed by hired killers. Supiter said personnel of the President Quirino municipal police are still trying to determine the identities of the two men behind the murder of Diaz and their real motive for the attack. "Let's give them enough time to identify the perpetrators of this crime for them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law," Supiter said.

According to the information received, on 20 July 2017, at around 10:20 p.m., Ms. Cristina "Tinay" Palabay received a phone call from a man who repeatedly asked her if she was "Tinay Palabay" and refused to tell her his name. He told Ms. Palabay that she should stop what she was doing, referring to her human rights work, because she was on a "list" of people whom they considered as "courageous," and that he called because she was within his "AOR" (interpreted as "area of responsibility"). He accused Ms. Palabay of being involved in the alleged ambush of June 19, 2017, of the Presidential Security Group by members of the New People's Army (NPA) in Mindanao. Ms. Palabay denied knowledge of and involvement in the reported incident, as she was at that time in Manila leading the preparations for peaceful protests ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address and his request for an extension of martial law in Mindanao. The caller also repeatedly asked about Ms. Palabay's whereabouts, and warned her to be careful because he would soon meet her. Ms. Palabay immediately recounted on Facebook the incident and made public the threats she received. After searching the caller's cellphone number (+639260779448 ), it appeared that the number belongs to a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Safety Battalion. On August 16, 2017, a complaint to the Philippine Commission on Human Rights was submitted by Karapatan. Ms. Palabay is an independent observer in the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). She is also a member of the organizing committee of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), an advisor to the Urgent Action Fund for Women's Rights (UAF). In April 2017, Ms. Palabay and three other Filipino activists conducted a speaking tour in the US on the human rights situation in the Philippines and the GRP-NDFP peace talks. She also participated in the May 2017 Carter Center Human Rights Defenders Forum, organized by former US President Jimmy Carter in Atlanta, US.

Sherwin De Vera is a the coordinator of Defend Ilocos, a regional environmental network in north western Philippines affiliated with Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment. The organisation is currently leading a campaign against large-scale mining projects in the region that would be detrimental to local communities' right to a safe and healthy environment. The human rights defender is also a former human rights worker of Karapatan. On 18 July 2017, Sherwin De Vera was tailed by men in military uniforms when he visited Vigan City. On 19 July, the defender was informed by friends from the University of Northern Philippines that suspected military intelligence personnel had visited the university the previous day to ask the campus security department about Sherwin De Vera's recent visit to the university.

A warrant of arrest was issued against the peace and human rights activist Temogen "Cocoy" Tulawie by the Regional Trial Court in Sulu on 10 May, 2017. Tulawie is accused of being involved in the case of the kidnapped German journalist Andreas Lorenz from the Spiegel-magazine. In 2000, Lorenz had been covering the story of the kidnapping of the German Wallert family on the Malaysian island of Sipadan, when he himself was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf Group. Tulawie played a crucial role in providing the hostage with basic necessities and advocating for his release. Investigating Prosecutor Annie Marie Pierreangeli P. Ledesma filed the formal charges against Tulawie for kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom at the Regional Trial Court in Jolo, Sulu on 8th May 2017. The initial complaint against Tulawie was filed on 10th February 2017 only one month after Tulawie had filed a petition at the Office of the President to remove Ledesma from office on grounds of dishonesty, betrayal of public trust and grave misconduct. Then foreign correspondent Olaf Ihlau, who reported about the kidnapping for the Spiegel, testified that "the accusation that Cocoy kidnapped Lorenz is absurd". The American photo-journalist David McIntyre in addition attested that "Cocoy was there to help us verify information, facilitate contact with the hostages and help us bring in goods and messages to and from the hostages". "It is too easy to misuse the Philippine judiciary to silence political opposition. People like Tulawie should be awarded for their work; instead they're being put behind bars", says Dominik Hammann, country coordinator for the German human rights organization International Peace Observers Network (IPON). IPON expresses its deep concerns over the continuing criminalization of HRD in the Philippines and calls on Philippine state authorities to immediately drop the charge against Tulawie!

TAGUM CITY - Unidentified assailants gunned down a 60-year old farmer inside his house in San Isidro, Davao del Norte on Thursday night. According to tights group Karapatan, the farmer, identified as Elias Pureza, became the latest victim in the spate of killings of activists and farmers in Southern Mindanao. Jay Apiag, Karapatan spokesperson, said Pureza had become the 23 victim of such attack in the region since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power. Apiag described Pureza as a member of the Farmers' Association of San Isidro (Fasi). The victim, he said, was inside his house in Purok Palmera in Barangay Mamangan when six men on motorcycles arrived at around 8:00 p.m. "When his wife opened the door, the assailants forced their way in and shot Elias in front of his family immediately killing him," he said. As in previous killings that targeted farmers and rights activists, Apiag said Pureza's murder might have been carried out by soldiers. Maj. Michael Candole, executive officer of the Army's 60th Infantry Battalion, which is based in Asuncion, Davao del Norte, said Karapatan's claims "were baseless and mere propaganda." He challenged the rights group to also look into the possible involvement of the New People's Army (NPA) in the killings. "We are mandated to protect innocent civilians," Candole said. "We do not kill hapless farmers and activists."

MANILA: An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for the highest-profile opponent of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs, but she dodged police and sought refuge in the Senate. The planned arrest of Senator Leila de Lima outraged her supporters and human rights activists, who said the government had manufactured drug trafficking charges to silence her criticism of Duterte and intimidate others. The 57-year-old lawyer, who has spent nearly a decade trying to link Duterte to death squads that have allegedly killed thousands of people, could be jailed for life if she is found guilty of drug trafficking. "I have no plans of fleeing and I have no plans to go in hiding. I will face all these charges," a tearful De Lima told reporters at the Senate in the early evening after a Manila court issued the arrest warrant. De Lima then went to her home in another part of the capital after believing she had secured an agreement with authorities to surrender on Friday morning. But, after police were seen on national television driving to her home to arrest her, De Lima quickly left and returned to the perceived safety of the Senate building. De Lima appealed late on Thursday night for police not to arrest her overnight, and committed to surrendering on Friday. "If they respect the Senate as an institution, they should not force an arrest tonight," she told reporters at the Senate. Police followed her to the Senate. But, signalling an apparent pause to a night of intense drama, the head of security at the Senate and De Lima's aides said police had committed to waiting until Friday morning to arrest her. Political persecution De Lima is accused of orchestrating a drug trafficking ring when she was justice secretary in the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But De Lima and her supporters insist she is innocent, and that Duterte wants to crush one of his most vocal and enduring critics. De Lima this week branded Duterte a "sociopathic serial killer" as she called for ordinary Filipinos to stand up in opposition to his drug war, which has seen more than 6,500 people killed since he took office eight months ago. De Lima's Liberal Party, which ruled for six years under Aquino, voiced deep anger on Thursday at her imminent arrest. "This arrest is purely political vendetta and has no place in (a) justice system that upholds the rule of law. This is condemnable. We reiterate that an arrest based on trumped-up charges is illegal," it said in a statement. Safety fears The party also said it feared for De Lima's life once she was arrested, citing the police killing of another politician, Rolando Espinosa, inside a jail cell in November last year after he was arrested on drug charges. The National Bureau of Investigation said the police who raided the jail murdered him and that he was defenceless. But Duterte defended the police and vowed they would not be jailed. Duterte, 71, won the presidential election last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people. He immediately launched the crackdown after taking office in June and police have reported killing 2,555 drug suspects since then, with about 4,000 other people murdered in unexplained circumstances. Amnesty International has warned that police actions in the drug war may amount to crimes against humanity. Amnesty said Thursday that, if De Lima was arrested, it would regard her as a prisoner of conscience. "The arrest of de Lima is a blatant attempt by the Philippine government to silence criticism of President Duterte and divert attention away from serious human rights violations in the "war on drugs'," it said. But Duterte's aides said De Lima's imminent arrest showed even the most powerful people would be brought to justice if they broke the law. "The war on illegal drugs targets all who are involved and the arrest of an incumbent senator demonstrates the President's strong resolve to fight pushers, peddlers and their protectors," presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

On February 19, 2017, WILERME AGORDE, was stabbed and gunned down in North Cotabato. Ka Wiling is a pastoral worker of the Diocese of Kidapawan, and a project officer of agrarian justice program of NASSA (National Secretariat for Social Action) on "Empowering Farming Communities Through Advocacy on Agrarian Reform, Social Enterprise and Practice of Sustainable Agriculture." Ka Wiling was actively involved in leading the campaign to implement agrarian reform in government school reservation. The 5,000-hectare property is owned by University of Southern Mindanao (USM) but the 1,000-hectare portion was allocated to CFCST (Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology). The disputed land had been occupied by the farmers for several decades. Recent development indicates that the farmers are winning in the agrarian campaign. And the killing of Ka Wiling is interpreted by the community as a way to silence the leaders in defending their land rights. We join Bishop Colin Bagaforo and the Diocese of Kidapawan in vehemently condemning the heinous murder of one of our dedicated human rights workers. We demand that justice be served and that impartial investigation be conducted to determine who are behind this atrocious crime

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - A Philippine lawyer who specialized in investigating crimes against the environment has been ambushed and shot dead, police said Friday, February 17. The murder on Wednesday of Mia Manuelita Mascarinas-Green deepened concerns that the Philippines is one of the world's most dangerous places for environmental campaigners, with more than 100 killed over the past 15 years. Four motorcycle-riding gunmen opened fire after surrounding a van being driven by Mascarinas-Green -- with her children and nanny in the vehicle -- near her home on the central island of Bohol, the authorities said. Mascarinas-Green was pronounced dead at a hospital but her children were unharmed, regional police spokesman Senior Inspector Reslin Abella told AFP. "The victim is a known environmental lawyer. Investigators are checking whether the attack had any link to the cases she had handled in relation to environmental issues," Abella told the Agence France-Presse by telephone. "They now have the identity of at least one of the perpetrators and a hot pursuit operation is ongoing," she said without naming the suspect. Abella said police were at the moment unaware if Mascarinas-Green had been threatened previously in relation to her work. Her children are twins, aged two, and a 10-year-old daughter, according to local media reports. Her death brings to 112 the number of environmental campaigners murdered in the Philippines over the past 15 years, according to Filipino environment monitor Kalikasan. This includes 12 since President Rodrigo Duterte took office 7 months ago, Kalikasan said. "Most of these cases remain unresolved as the government continues to ignore the threat against environmental defenders," Clemente Bautista, its national coordinator told AFP. "What this means is that the perpetrators are emboldened to do it again and again because no one ever gets caught." Condemning the killings In a statement, Alternative Law Groups (ALG) condemned the killing of Mascarinas-Green, saying society "simply has no place for lawless killings." ALG added Mascarinas-Green "has been working as a dedicated environmental lawyer, an alternative lawyer in pursuit of public interest, respect for human rights, and promotion of social justice for more than 10 years. Her untimely death is a clear example of why we all should strive as alternative lawyers and advocates of human rights and social development." Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Yeb Sano also said the killing highlighted the culture of impunity in the Philippines, where powerful figures abuse a corrupt political and justice system to literally get away with murder. "Those who cause environmental destruction are resorting to savage measures and deplorable acts to stop communities and people who are standing up to protect our imperilled environment," Sano said. Environmental monitor Global Witness separately lists 88 killings of environmental activists and workers in the Philippines between 2010 and 2015. The attacks spiked with 33 dead in 2015, ranking the Philippines as the second most dangerous country in the world for environmental campaigners behind Brazil.

Based on the report from Front Line Defender, in the early months of the year 2017, 11 of land rights activists, farmers, members of indigenous communities have been the target of extra-judicial killings. The termination of the ceasefire between the government of the Philippines and the NDPF and the cancellation of the peace talks have intensified the repression and attacks against the civilian population, human rights defenders and their organisations. None of the vicitims have been properly investigated by the authorities to this day. Most of the HRDs targeted in the recent spate of killings were working on environmental, land or indigenous peoples' rights. On 5 January 2017, around 4pm, Venie Diamante, 43, a T'boli and municipal tribal chieftain, was brutally killed by an unnamed assailant on board a motorcycle while on his way home from Koronadal City, in South Cotabato. He was a strong advocate for the defense of ancestral T'boli lands. --- On 20 January 2017, Veronico Lapsay Delamente, 27, a Lumad-Mamanwa and member of Kahugpungan sa Lumadnong Organisasyon (KASALO) in the CARAGA region, was shot by two unnamed assailants in Punta Naga, Barangay, Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao del Norte. On the evening of the same day, around 8pm, Alexander Ceballos, 54, regional council member and district area coordinator of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) was gunned down by two unnamed assailants near his house in Purok Tangke, Brgy. Pandanon Silos, Murcia, Negros Occidental. Ceballos' involvement in organising and mobilising farmers to uphold and defend their rights have earned him the resentment of local landowners. --- On 25 January 2017, Wencislao Pacquiao, 48, a member of the San Benito Farmers Association- Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), was shot several times at close range in a targeted killing while he was working in the fields in Negros Occidental. Pacquiao had been instrumental in filing a case which seeks to secure legal title to the land for the people who work it. --- On 3 February 2017, Renato Anglao was shot dead by three unidentified men in Quezon, Bukidnon province. Renato Anglao was the Secretary-General of TINDOGA (Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association), an indigenous peoples' organisation representing the Manobo-Pulangion tribe in Barangay Botong, Quezon, Bukidnon. TINDOGA works on issues related to human rights violations linked to agri-business plantations which are encroaching on their ancestral lands. --- On 6 Feb 2017, Emelito Rotimas was shot dead by suspected military agents. Emelito Rotimas was a local leader of Lapu-Lapu village, Maco, Compostela Valley. He was also an active member of a progressive partylist group Anakpawis (Toiling Masses). --- On 11 February 2017, Orlando Eslana was shot dead by an unidentified armed man in Roxas City, Capiz, Visayas. Orlando Eslana was an active member of the Kahublagan sang Mangunguma sa Capiz (KAMACA), an organisation of farmers in Capiz. They were holding a peasants' protest to assert their ownership of the land occupied by the Tan Estate. During the protest, unidentified armed men open fired leading to five protesters being injured. --- On 16 February 2017, Edweno "Edwin' Catog, 44, a Lumad-Mansaka farmer and a land rights activist, was shot in public by two men on a motorcycle, suspected of being linked to the 46th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA), in Pantukan, Compostela Valley. He was a member of the Hugpong sa mga Mag-uuma sa Walog Compostela (HUMAWAC), a local peasant organisation. --- On 25 February 2017, Gilbert Bancat, 32, a coconut farmer and peasant leader in Quezon, was gunned down by an unidentified assailant, suspected of being a member of the private army of a landlord in the area and a serving member of the Philippine Army, in Sitio Long Beach, Barangay, San Lorenzo, San Andres, Quezon province. Gilbert was a peasant organiser of the Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Partylist and a land rights activist. Prior to his killing he had been warned to give up his support for the farmers because he was on a military hit list. --- On 2 March 2017, among the latest victims were Ramon Dagaas Pesadilla and his wife Leonila Tapdasan Pesadilla, who were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in their home, in Barangay Osme_a, in Compostela Valley. They were both active members of Compostela Farmers' Association, which has been vocal in its opposition to major mining projects in the area. As a result, their members are regularly targeted by security forces and thugs hired by the mining companies. Ramon and Leonila Pesadilla had recently donated land to host a Lumad (indigenous community) school.