Nelly and Federico Intise, a Davao City couple known for their work in the NGO community, disappeared last month without a trace. Davao Today contributor Gingging Avellanosa, a friend of Nelly?s, writes that anxious family and friends believe that the military took them.
Nelly and Federico Intise have been missing since late October. At right is their son Bayan’s painting of Nelly’s favorite slippers. (Contributed photos)
The two women NGO workers allegedly abducted and interrogated by the Philippine military in Tulunan, North Cotabato, last week were also sexually abused by soldiers, the women’s group Gabriela said Monday.
The idea of terrorism is extended to several forms of social fight and protest. Dissident political and trade union opinions become criminalized. An environment movement such as Greenpeace or animal rights activist is even prosecuted as terrorist in some countries. Lawyer Raf Jespers of the Progressive Lawyers Network, Belgium, made these arguments during a forum of international lawyers in Davao City last month.
The University of the Philippines (UP) as the premier academic institution in the country remains one of the bulwarks of academic freedom. But its students are being harassed and military and police forces are intensifying surveillance operations inside the campus. Reyna Mae Tabbada reports for Bulatlat.