Ninety-five families of two Manobo villages in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga town, Surigao del Sur province reportedly fled their homes on Friday (Feb 29) amid reported gun battles between government soldiers and the New People’s Army (NPA) near their communities.
As the country commemorated the 34th EDSA People Power anniversary on Tuesday(Feb 25), survivors of Marcos dictatorship, along with human rights advocates, warned that the Duterte administration is “a haunting shadow of one of the darkest eras in Philippine history.”
A human rights group has assailed the reported February 18 airstrike launched by the military against a village in Bukidnon province, some 255 kilometers away from this city.
A day before Valentine’s Day, women’s rights advocates in the city organized the local leg of One Billion Rising (OBR) – a global campaign that seeks public attention on gender-based violence through flash mobs.
Independent think-tank IBON Foundation on Monday has filed an administrative complaint against government officials for red-tagging.
Media groups have demanded the immediate release of a community journalist who were among five persons arrested during a simultaneous raid by local authorities in Tacloban City early Friday morning, February 7.
A journalist and four other human rights activists were reportedly arrested at 2:30 a.m. today in Tacloban City in what appeared to be a simultaneous raid of offices.
Several church groups called for the immediate release of a longtime volunteer lay worker who was arrested on October last year and accused of being a ranking leader of armed rebel group New People’s Army.
The Council of Bishops of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) demanded a public apology from the Regional Peace and Order Council of Region 11 (RPOC-11) for “besmirching the integrity” of the Christian denomination, and called for the urgent withdrawal of its “arbitrary resolution” ordering the shutdown of the UCCP-Haran Center here.
The recent attempt to take Manobo evacuees out of the church facility serving as their sanctuary as well as the immense pressure and intimidation that they face have left unshaken their firm resolve to stay.
