The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is alarmed over reports that no less than the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has prevented a reporter from covering legitimate news events in Mindanao, particularly in the province of Basilan.
"In Davao City in Mindanao, several corpses were found bearing placards similarly suggesting they that were criminal offenders. What is shocking is the implied acceptance by the authorities and the public regarding this practice without seriously reflecting on the tremendous implications if it is allowed to continue," says the Asian Human Rights Commission.
Children?s vulnerabilities have further been aggravated by reports from the DSWD in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that on August 19, eight kids aged 4 to 16 years old from Indanan, Sulu, were arrested and tortured along with their parents by the military?s Joint Special Operations Force.
On this day of the desaparecidos, Anakpawis ?SOCSKSARGEN calls for the immediate surfacing of abducted labor leader Jaime ?Jimmy? Rosios. Rosios, a Board Member of Yellow Bus Lines Employees Union, and a vocal critic of the YBL management?s unfair labor practices, was abducted by armed men aboard a Tamaraw FX, just outside the Yellow Bus garage in Koronadal City, South Cotabato last August 11, 2007.
DAVAO CITY — Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region today slammed Gloria Arroyo?s declaration that her administration?s plans for the economy has succeeded, saying the hard-up Filipino people will be the first ones to negate her preposterous claim.
(more…)