Moro Groups to OIC Mission: Check RP?s Rights Abuses
MCPA and Kawagib call on the Organization of Islamic Conference to deny the Arroyo administration?s request for an observer status at the world Muslim body COTABATO CITY ? A progressive…
?State of War? Displaces, Terrorizes Hundreds
UCCP says soldiers desecrated churches in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. Residents complain that they were used as guides by the soldiers in search of communist guerrillas. Military retorts that these allegations are mere ?insinuations.?
By Cheryll D. Fiel and Grace S. Uddin
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY ? Karapatan, the human-rights group, has accused the Philippine military of committing atrocities against civilians in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, in the course of retaliatory operations against the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
According to Karapatan and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the military has imposed a curfew in Sta. Cruz, restricted the movement of the residents and workers, and harassed villagers by accusing them of being NPA members.
Early this week, Karapatan spokesman Kelly Delgado presented to the media some of the residents who were forced to flee due to the heavy military operations in their villages. The operations, he said, were in retaliation for the military?s recent skirmish with the communists.
Alfredo Tubale, a resident of Upper Langan, a hamlet in Sta. Cruz town, said his house was among those searched by soldiers in the guise of looking for wounded NPA guerrillas and firearms. “How could we have wounded rebels in our hands? We are not doctors,? Tubale told repoters. ?The wounded are usually brought to hospitals so the military should be looking there instead.?
Ka Oris: Still Alive and Kicking
Contrary to the statements of the miitary, Jorge Madlos, known popularly as Ka Oris, is alive and well. In a statement, he denounced the military for their "lies." Related to…
In Banana Plantations, Soldiers Bust Unions, Harass Workers
An international fact-finding mission says the military is being used by plantations in Southern Mindanao to harass and intimidate workers from forming or joining unions.
DAVAO CITY (davaotoday.com) ? A fact-finding mission composed of delegates from several countries questioned on Friday the Philippine military?s participation in union-busting and intimidation of workers in plantations in Southern Mindanao.
The delegates, who completed on Friday a four-day fact-finding mission in a banana plantation in Compostela Valley province, said the military is being used by plantations to harass workers, particularly when the workers? union is engaged in campaigns to improve wages and work conditions.
?We?ve heard complaints by the workers about soldiers present during union negotiations,? said Holly Patterson, a delegate from Australia. At one point, she told reporters in a press conference on Friday, soldiers confiscated the original copy of the union?s collective bargaining agreement.
His Warrant Recalled, Luque Vows to ?Face this Battle?
?I will make use of the increasingly tapered space in the judicial system, to expose the incredulity of the accusations hurled against me, and to defend my name and the people?s movement of which I come from” — Alvin Luque
DAVAO CITY ? A local court has recalled the warrant of arrest it issued against Alvin Luque, the former secretary-general here of the progressive Bayan, his lawyer said Tuesday night.
The order by Judge Marivic Daray of the Regional Trial Court Branch 14, will allow the prosecution to file within 10 days its comment or opposition to the motion for reconsideration earlier filed by Luque questioning the warrant, Isagani Zarate, Luque?s lawyer, told davaotoday.com.