GMA Watch

News Release
December 10, 2007

Reference: Katrina Abarcar, National Coordinator, GMA WATCH, email: gmawatch@yahoo.com

Human Rights Groups in the US Launch GMA WATCH, Citing Arroyo the Most Significant Violator of Human Rights in the Philippines Today

E-Letter-Writing Campaign Launched to Pressure US Congress to Further Restrict US Military Aid to Arroyo Government

Several Filipino-American human rights advocacy groups are banding together this International Human Rights Day (December 10th) to launch a broad coalition called GMA WATCH: A Network for Human Rights, Government Accountability, and Justice in the Philippines. The initiative also comes upon the pledge of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark as well as several labor and church officials to pay close attention to the grave human rights crisis in the Philippines under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA).

Clark and others in the network were branded and watchlisted as terrorists by the Philippine Department of Justice for their outspoken condemnation of the leadership of GMA and human rights crisis in the Philippines by way of over 886 extrajudicial killings and nearlty 300 enforced disappearances since 2001.

'We convened and named our network GMA WATCH, instead of referencing the entire Philippines because the human rights campaign is not sharp if we do not isolate the commander-in-chief of the Philippine military-- the biggest obstacle to human rights in the Philippines today-- and that is GMA herself,' stated GMA WATCH national coordinator Katrina Abarcar. Abarcar also serves as coordinator of the DC-based Katarungan: Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in the Philippines, a grassroots advocacy group that has been participating within the Ecumenical Advocacy Network (EAN) formed last Spring after the US Senate hearing on the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines chaired by Senate Foreign Relations Committee head Barbara Boxer of California.

Membership to the network have also been integrated in broad advocacy initiatives to restrict more US military aid going to the Philippines, a campaign that led to the inclusion of restrictive language and distinct pre-conditions set on the Philippines to improve its human rights record before the release of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) the country, tagged as the 4th largest recipient of US military aid in the world. The pre-conditions were also significantly placed after the release of the country report of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston earlier this year.

This week, members of Congress are attempting to finalize several appropriations bills that could affect US military aid to the Philippines. GMA WATCH is also appealing to others across the US to continue urging key lawmakers in Congress to restrict more US military funding to the Philippines, which are being used to fund human rights violations in the country. An e-advocacy campaign can be accessed at http://citizenspeak.org/node/1187

Other GMA WATCH members and conveners include Fr. Benjamin Alforque of the US-Filipino Catholic Ministries in the Archdiocese of San Bernardino, the NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP), United Students Against Sweatshops, Teamsters Local 763, ML King County Labor Council in Washington State, the San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, the Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines and Seattle's Philippine US Solidarity Organization (PUSO). Popular Filipino-American hip-hop artists Kiwi (formerly of Native Guns) and the Seattle-based Blue Scholars are also part of the network.

Other planned upcoming activities of GMA WATCH include a February speaking tour of Edith Burgos, mother of Philippine labor activist and high-profile abductee Jonas Burgos, and a peace delegation to Mindanao in May 2008 to investigate the character of US military presence in the Philippines which have already generated positive responses from groups such as Human Rights Watch. ###

News Release
December 5, 2007

Reference: Jamie Mapa, NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, email: nychrp@gmail.com

FORUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES TO FOSTER COMMUNITY DIALOGUE

New York-- The NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP), a grassroots education and advocacy group,
will be sponsoring an evening forum on the state of human rights in the Philippines on Monday, December 16th, 7pm
at Alwan for the Arts, a performance space located on 16 Beaver Street in lower Manhattan. The forum falls 6 days after December 10th, marked by the United Nations as International Human Rights Day.

The forum will feature a panel discussion by human rights advocates from the Filipino-American community, including
Katrina Abarcar of Katarungan: Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines in Washington DC. Katarungan as a group
has been active in the Ecumenical Advocacy Network (EAN) spawned by the recent US Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings
and enforced abductions in the Philippines. Performances by Filipino youth and a reading by Filipino-American author Luis Francia will are scheduled to follow the panel discussion.

A review of the report titled "Let the Stones Cry Out!" by a high-profile church delegation from the Philippines en route to Geneva last March will also be highlighted. The testimony of the said delegation and grassroots advocacy culminated into the inclusion of concrete restrictive language to the latest Senate bill on Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for the next fiscal year to the Philippines. The Philippines has historically remained the 4th largest recipient of US military aid in the world. Conditions set this year by the US Senate upon the recommendation of UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston marked the first time the US government has set pre-conditions on the release of US military aid based on the human rights situation of any country.

Press Statement
November 30, 2007
Reference: Berna Ellorin, Secretary-General
BAYAN USA, email: secgen@bayanusa.org

PEOPLE, NOT MILITARY TANKS, WILL BE THE WEIGHT THAT WILL FORCE ARROYO TO STEP DOWN



While we certainly understand the reasons why Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brigadier General Danilo Lim took the measures to call for a military stand-off in Makati, demanding for the immediate resignation of the illegitimate and morally-bankrupt Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from her seat in Malacanang, a unilateral, military approach without the force of the peaceful Filipino people massing up on the streets is futile.

As concretely proven twice with the historical downfalls of Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph "Erap" Estrada, peaceful and massive assembly on the streets is the key ingredient towards de-seating the Arroyo administration. It cannot be conducted through forceful military takeover because such means does not have popular support.

We must place the Makati military stand-off in its rightful context-- as an indication that the calling for the resignation of Arroyo is intense and felt even within the high ranks of Philippine Congress. But it cannot be the formula for another successful presidential ouster. That distinction can only be realized through the years of arduous and painstaking work of community organizers and peace activists who mobilize the Filipino people to fight for just and righteous social reforms.

For this reason, the Arroyo government has been targeting ONLY activists and human rights defenders in her trail of bloodshed from the rampant extrajudicial killings, an oversight not mentioned in Lim's speech to the Filipino press. She knows these human rights defenders are the biggest threat to her illegitimate presidency. It is the work of people's organizations building a mass movement on the streets, not military tanks, that will eventually be the weight that will force Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down.

We continue to condemn the massive assault on press freedom by way of arbitrary arrests of journalists covering the Makati story. But we call on the Filipino people worldwide to once again stand up against a dangerous dictator in Malacanang. We also vow to step up our actions and words against the Arroyo administration even from the United States. The time to act is now.

STOP POLITICAL REPRESSION!
UPHOLD PRESS FREEDOM!
OUST THE US-ARROYO REGIME

Press Statement
Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom
30 November 2007

STOP THE ASSAULTS ON PRESS FREEDOM

The Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom joins all media outfits and people's organizations in condemning the arrest of members of print and broadcast media who were covering the Makati standoff yesterday (29 November). The journalists, TV and radio reporters and crew were taken to a military camp in Manila after the siege by troops loyal to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on some 30 rebel soldiers who walked out of their trial and marched to a posh hotel in Makati to hold a press conference to denounce the corruption, scandals and human rights violations of the Arroyo government and to call for her ouster.

The members of the media were handcuffed and hauled to a bus and taken to a military camp to verify their identities. The Arroyo government justified their arrest on the pretext that rebel soldiers allegedly mixed with the crowd and posed as journalists. The military and police confiscated the media's video tapes of the coverage of the press conference of the rebel soldiers and the siege. Among those arrested were well-known TV news reporters and radio announcers. Other civilians were also arrested apart from the 30 rebel soldiers.

The arrest of the media reporters and crew seriously violates freedom of the press and freedom of speech. It also denies the people their right to know what was happening in Makati yesterday. It has once again debunked the official propaganda and hype that Arroyo government safeguards press freedom. Lest everyone forgets, whenever there is a coup or an imminent threat to Arroyo's continued rule, the media have always been targeted. Journalists and other media people continue to top the list of victims of extrajudicial killings. The Philippines is second to Iraq in the number of media personnel killed.

We join the media organizations in the Philippines in calling a stop to the assault on press freedom and free speech in the Philippines.

Press Statement
November 29, 2007
Reference: Chito Quijano, Chairperson, BAYAN USA
email: chair@bayanusa.org

FIL-AMS POSITION THEMSELVES IN MAKATI MILITARY STAND-OFF; CURFEW IMPOSED IS THE DAWN OF FULL-IMPLEMENTATION OF MARTIAL LAW

Even from afar, the current and ongoing military stand-off launched by Opposition-sided Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brigadier General Danilo Lim in the Manila financial center of Makati last night calling for the resignation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo comes as no surprise. It is merely a predictable result of over 2 years of scandal linked to the Arroyo administration. Ever since the media exposed the Hello Garci scandal that prompted the de facto President to offer a lame on-air apology for proven election fraud back in 2005, wherein her legitimacy in Malacanang became pronouncingly questionable, it has been a long and winding road downhill for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

This latest mutiny from the ranks of her own military is the fruit beared by her long-standing vendetta to crush all forms of opposition starting with altering the Constitution to extend her powers, abusing the legal and judicial forums to resurrect Martial Law, squashing democratic space and civil liberties, and ultimately killing-off all members of the broad opposition, including those in the Philippine Congress in addition to those engaged in peaceful assembly on the streets.

The imposition of a curfew is not only blatantly unconstitutional, but is identical to the measures taken by former US-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos who sought to turn the Philippines into a garrison state. The ongoing and random arrests of journalists covering the Makati story likewise brings us back to the dark days of the Marcos era and more importantly to the declaration by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists that the Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Evidently, under the regime of Arroyo, to tell the truth about what the government is doing can get you killed.

Press Statement
November 28, 2007

The Alston report clearly shows Arroyo gov't policy in killings
Renato M. Reyes, Jr., Secretary General, BAYAN Philippines

There are no if's and but's about it.

The final report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston on the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines clearly points to a national policy of the Arroyo administration through its Armed Forces of the Philippines and other agencies such as the Inter-agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) of Norberto Gonzales.

The national policy being pointed out by Alston is the counter-insurgency program of the AFP known also as Oplan Bantay Laya as well as various pronouncements from ranking officials and military literature which label legal Left organizations as "communist fronts". This attitude of the military, which the Arroyo regime fully agrees with, is the lynchpin of the national policy for exterminating legal activists. The Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2 all emanated from the Arroyo regime. We hold this government responsible for these fascist policies and for the 800 dead and almost 200 disappeared.

We in Bayan and our allied mass organizations and partylist groups, as affirmed by Altson's report, have borne the brunt of the attacks, killings and enforced disappearances. Yesterday, Hope Hervilla, a Bayan leader in Panay Island, was almost assassinated by unidentified men believed to be working for the military. The fascist policy continues.

Meanwhile, the IALAG under Sec. Norberto Gonzales has also been tagged by Alston as partly responsible for reinforcing the military view of legal activists as "communist fronts". That military and police officials also sit on the IALAG establishes a circumstantial link between this agency and the killings. We support the call for the abolition of this agency insofar as it has been responsible for the arrests, detention and political persecution of many activists including partylist representatives.

Was US envoy kept in the dark on bases in RP?
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The government of the United States may have kept the existence of its military bases in the Philippines a secret even
from its ambassador to the country, Kristie Kenney.

A member of the Thai think tank Focus on Global South, who conducted the research that became the basis for the group's report on the existence of US bases in the Philippines, said it appeared Kenney may have been purposely kept in the dark by her own government.

During a visit here on Thursday, Kenney denied the US had reestablished military bases in the country.

Herbert Docena said Kenney's denial contradicted the report of the US government's Overseas Basing Commission, also known as the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structures of the United States.

The commission was created by the US Congress to review the US military presence abroad.

Published on Bulatlat (http://bulatlat.com)
2 Missing UP Students Tortured, Raped inside Military Camp

By Dabet Castañeda
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
BULATLAT
VOL. VII, No. 42, November 25- December 1, 2007

One year and five months after their abduction, a witness testified that he had actually seen and talked to Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, the two scholars of the University of the Philippines (UP) who were abducted allegedly by soldiers on June 26, 2006 while doing research in a farming community in Barangay (village) San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan. Farmer Manuel Merino was abducted together with the two.

The witness, Raymund Manalo, also confirmed what had been feared all along - that the UP students were raped by their abductors.

First meeting

Manalo, who was abducted together with his brother, Reynaldo, in their home in Barangay Buhol na Mangga, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, on Feb. 14, 2006, said he first met Cadapan sometime in November 2006 at the barracks of Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan. Camp Tecson hosts the First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR).

It was an uncanny meeting, Manalo said in his signed affidavit submitted at the Court of Appeals (CA) on Nov. 12. “Sa loob ng barracks ko nakilala si Sherlyn, isang estudyante ng UP,” (I met Sherlyn, a UP student, inside the barracks.) Manalo said as she described Sherlyn as a “babaeng nakakadena (chained woman).”

At first, Manalo said he was told not to converse with the chained woman. But on the third or fourth day, Manalo said he approached Sherlyn and gave her food.

News Release
November 13, 2007
Reference: Berna Ellorin, Secretary-General, BAYAN USA
email: secgen@bayanusa.org

Fil-Ams Condemn Batasan Explosion; Suspect Pro-Impeachment Solon Targeted

The US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, condemned the most recent car explosion at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City a few hours ago that killed at least one Congressperson, one driver, and injured several. The explosion was set off at approximately 8:00 pm Monday at the South Wing driveway of the House of Representatives complex in Quezon City. Police investigations are ongoing.

"Like the Glorietta bombing, this is a deliberate offensive to justify the intensification of anti-terrorism measures such as the Human Security Act, and further crackdown on civil liberties and minimize democratic space. But the government clearly cannot provide real security for their duly-elected officials in Congress," stated BAYAN USA Chair Chito Quijano.

The blast immediately killed Marcial Tuadlo, a driver for Gabriela Women's Party Representative Luz Ilagan. Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar also died at Far Eastern University Hospital while undergoing treatment. Ilagan, one the House members who endorsed the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo that is now pending before the chamber's justice committee, is being treated for injuries at the Malvar General Hospital.

Solon's driver killed as bomb rocks House

3 solons, 6 others wounded
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 10:58pm (Mla time) 11/13/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 11) An explosion at the House of Representatives Tuesday evening that killed the driver of a lawmaker and wounded three solons and six other persons was caused by a bomb, National Capital Region Police Director Gearry Barias said.

The explosion, just minutes after session ended, killed Marcial Tando, driver of Gabriela Representative Luz Ilagan.

"There is a bomb that exploded in the South Wing of the Batasan complex," De Venecia told local radio.

"This is deliberate," Barias said of the explosion.

He said they suspect an improvised explosive device was remotely detonated because "the explosion occurred immediately after the suspension of the session at 8:05 p.m."

Barias added that they were looking at one of two motorcycles parked a few meters from the south wing lobby of the Batasan as the carrier of the bomb. The explosion left a three-foot crater.

He said they are questioning a cameraman of the House of Representatives who owned one of two motorcycles but were not taking him into custody.

Among the wounded were Ilagan, Negros Oriental Representative Henry Teves, and Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar.

Gabriela Representative Liza Maza, also identified another of the wounded as her driver Mike Lim. She said Ilagan, Lim and Tando were rushed to the nearby Miguel Malvar Hospital.