DAVAO CITY — Compostela Valley Province still bears the name it earned a long time ago for what could only be blamed on the military — the Valley of Death, the human-rights group Karapatan said.
This, the group said, is a result of the continued rule of military brutality and fascism in the area under 1001st Brigade-Philippine Army (PA) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
(more…)
May 03, 2007
PRESS STATEMENT
In March this year, a multi-sectoral delegation of human rights advocates traveled to Canada, the United States, and Switzerland to raise in the international arena the issue of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other forms of political repression in the Philippines. Named the Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines, the team presented ?Let The Stones Cry Out: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and Call To Action? to ecumenical bodies, churches, legislators, and the United Nations Human Rights Council. A highlight of the trip was a hearing conducted by the US Senate Committee on Human Rights headed by Senator Barbara Boxer. For a considerable length of time, the media spotlight was focused on the Philippines following that trip. We had hoped that such an international exposure of the issue would move the Philippine President to bring to an end the sorry state of human rights in the country.
The following is a Statement of the General Board of Church and Society of
The United Methodist Church adopted April 28, 2007
?Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and righteousness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene??(Isaiah 59: 14-16 NRSV)
(more…)
MANILA — The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the ANAKPAWIS party list group called on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and election watch dogs like Kontra-Daya and Bantay Pondo at Boto ng Bayan to investigate the campaigning of top Armed Forces o the Philippines (AFP) officials for the election of the Butcher retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.
(more…)
MANILA — Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran today said that the worsening election-related violence in the country is related to the seemingly endless spate of extra-judicial killings targeting political activists and human rights advocates.