Satur Ocampo and Joma Sison --- Ipa Sikup sa Katawhan ug sa Kapulisan!

[duke pikaso]

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Gov’t treatment turning Ocampo into martyr -- Rep Aquino

By Michael Lim Ubac
Inquirer
Last updated 08:01pm (Mla time) 03/20/2007

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is "making a martyr’ out of Representative Satur Ocampo because of the heavy-handed manner by which security forces tried to force the detained militant legislator’s transfer to Leyte, an opposition senatorial candidate said Tuesday.

In an interview at the Loakan airport before flying back to Manila following a campaign trip here, Tarlac Representative Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III accused the Arroyo administration of carrying out the same tactics employed by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos in silencing his political enemies.

"In the 60s and 70s, they had this saying, 'It's better dead than red.' They seem to be following that (policy)," said the legislator, who's father, the late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was assassinated in 1983 while in government custody following his return from exile in the United States.

The younger Aquino, who is seeking a Senate seat in the May polls under the Genuine Opposition ticket, said the heavy-handed manner in which Ocampo was taken to the airport early Monday was a throwback to the dark days of martial law.

Ocampo, Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) founder Jose Maria Sison and about 50 others have been charged with multiple murder in the killing by communist rebels of suspected government spies whose skeletons the military claims to have dug up last August in a mass grave in the municipality of Hilongos in Leyte. The killings allegedly took place 22 years ago.

Worse, the lawmaker said, "they (government officials) seem to be perpetuating the failed strategies tried in the Vietnam era" by persecuting to the hilt political dissidents.

"People (such as Ocampo) who have gone aboveground and are engaged in a democratic struggle should be encouraged," said Aquino, pointing to the policy of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, to welcome former communist rebels into the parliamentary arena after she took power from Marcos in 1986.

Told that Malacañang viewed Ocampo and some leftist party-list lawmakers as enemies of the state, Aquino said: "Democracy will prevail in any challenge as it's the best system."

He said it's a "wrong perspective" that communists were out to destroy the country's democratic way of life, and said that they should be "given legal space" under a democratic system.

In trying to defeat the communist ideology, the President and her top security and justice officials were employing authoritarian ways, he said.

Aquino said that in 1969, there were only 20 former cadres of the Hukbalahap underground movement and University of the Philippines activists who formed the CCP. By 1986, the CCP's armed component, the New People's Army, numbered about 25,000.

"That's why Marcos (became the) chief recruiter of the NPA," he said, warning President Arroyo that she may suffer the same fate.

Instead of ending the insurgency, she may further fan the flame of unrest in the countryside, he added.

[duke pikaso]

Senator Roxas warns of more human rights violations

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 10:56pm (Mla time) 03/20/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Senator Mar Roxas warned Tuesday that the Arroyo administration's "clear violation'' of Representative Satur Ocampo's human rights could be a portent of things to come when the anti-terror law takes effect.

In a speech to members of the Rotary of Makati, Roxas said: "This is not, in anyway, to say that he (Ocampo) is guilty or innocent. Clearly, civil liberties and human rights have been violated here. Clearly, you would not want that to happen to you or to anybody else in our society.”

Roxas, one of only two senators who objected to the passage of the anti-terror bill in the Senate, said that the shabby treatment of Ocampo showed "poor governance'' which could be a preview of how the government plans to implement the anti-terror law.

"It’s clear in the handling of this case that powers have been abused. He was awakened at 3 o’clock, while it was not clear that he should be transferred there (to Leyte),” Roxas said. “This shows that there’s no predictability in the implementation of laws. It’s not good governance which prevailed in this case. Let us not inject politics and ideology in this.''

Roxas noted that the anti-terror law provisions, specifically the rules on detention of suspects, freezing of assets, and restriction on communication, were primarily intended to suppress civil liberties and not target terrorists.

"If they really wanted to get the terrorists they should look at making the computers of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and the LTO (Land Transportation Office) and BI (Bureau of Immigration) talk to each other before looking at reducing civil liberties,'' said Roxas.

In a telephone interview afterwards, Roxas likened the government's tactics to the Nazis' scare tactics in pre-war Germany. "There is a saying, first they came for the gays, then the Jews, and then for the others who were not like them. They took them away and I did not say anything. Then finally they came for me. All I'm saying is we should stand up to this human rights abuses,'' he said.

Meanwhile, TEAM Unity senatorial candidate Michael Defensor revealed Tuesday that Ocampo called him last Sunday asking for help in seeking a suspension of the court order while the Supreme Court deliberates on his petition to quash the charges against him.

"He asked me to relay his wish that he remain in Manila and not go to Leyte because it would be just a waste of time. He said there was no point in him flying back several times. I told this to Justice Secretary (Raul) Gonzalez,'' Defensor told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview.

Defensor said that while he sympathized with Ocampo, the aborted transfer of the militant legislator to Peyte on Monday was a "judgment call'' made by government lawyers and not the military. Defensor said he felt that the government was even handed in its treatment and that it did not go beyond what was provided under the law.

"Government is not necessarily wrong here but there might have been mistakes in the handling of the details. But if you ask me, politically, we're giving him free publicity and this should have not happened at this time,'' said Defensor.

[budmendz]

^^ And who made the anti-terror law? Is he (Senator Roxas) not a senator? He seems to forget that it's one of them who sponsored the anti-terror bill and several times objected by Pimentel until it became a watered-down version of the original. The bill was made into law obviously with the majority of them giving their blessings. Now he is trying to say that he is not part of it or is it?

Naunsa mas Mar mora naman nuon ug di na cya Maru or nisamut ba nuon ka Maru. Ang ako ra ba ini nila kay hilas na kaayo pamation nga wala pa gani maka sulti ang Supreme Court moingon dayon nga gi violate ang human rights ni Satur. Pasultiha una ang SC then mahimo na nila ug ilang sabonan ug maayo ang gobyerno ni Gloria kung mopabor man gani ang SC ni Satur.

Si Palparan bitaw gisigihan nila ug ngalan ug demonyo, mangingihaw. Unya karon lain diay ang istorya kay ug sa CHR pa di man probado nga si Palparan maoy nagpa ihaw anang mga militante diha. Atong mga Senador karon wa na gyuy laing mahimo, magpabula nalang gyud sa ilang baba.

[duke pikaso]

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Malacañang's lynch mob setup for Ocampo backfires--CPP
March 20, 2007

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today pointed to Malacañang as the mastermind in the blotched transfer of detained Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo to Hilongos, Leyte. "Arroyo's top security and military officials were dead set by any means to transfer Ocampo to Hilongos to deliver him straight to a lynch mob pre-organized by the AFP to humiliate him and provide a hostile condition for his trial there. But their malevolent scheme was blotched and has only backfired against the regime."

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said Malacañang's Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) and Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) "were behind the order to haul off Ocampo to the heavily militarized hinterland of Hilongos, subject him further to vilification and persecution, prevent him from putting up an effective legal defense and endanger his life."

Rosal noted that a day before Ocampo was to be brought to Hilongos, Army soldiers in the area were already busy putting up anti-Ocampo posters all over the town and a van was going the rounds of streets with sound systems blaring demonizations of Ocampo. He also cited reports that vigilantes were present in the area.

"These are all part of Malacañang's fascist psywar and persecution schemes to denigrade progressive organizations and party leaders before the public and squash their very likely prospects of gaining even more congressional seats in the May elections."

Despite knowing of the Leyte court's order to hold Ocampo's transfer, the PNP was insistent on bringing the Bayan Muna representative to Hilongos in accordance win Malacanang instructions. This, despite an even earlier Supreme Court "status quo" order in consideration of the March 23 Supreme Court hearing on Ocampo's petition to quash the case against him filed with the Leyte court. The PNP merely feigned ignorance when they claimed they had not received any written order to hold the transfer.

Only upon assessing that pushing through with Ocampo's transfer to Leyte would result in a political backlash did Malacañang accede to the order to return Ocampo to his temporary detention at the Manila Police District.

"Malacañang's adamance to transfer Ocampo manifests its deranged drive to suppress the people's patriotic and democratic movement, their progressive parties and leaders," said Rosal.

The CPP spokesperson, however, noted that "Arroyo is suffering the backlash of all her fascist deeds. She is fast isolating herself nationwide and internationally, and inciting the Filipino people to carry out more widespread protests."

"On the other hand," said Rosal, "the people's cause, which Ocampo represents, is gaining even more adherents and sympathy from the Filipino people."

Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:cppmedia@gmail.com

[duke pikaso]

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP condemns Satur Ocampo's arrest and warrants for 51 others
March 17, 2007

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today condemned the Arroyo regime's arrest yesterday of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo based on trumped-up charges against him and 51 others. Ocampo was arrested right after he went to the Supreme Court yesterday to question the validity of the charges against him and request that it overturn the arrest warrant issued by a Leyte regional trial court and stop the baseless criminal proceedings against him. Ocampo and his lawyers are preparing countercharges against the Arroyo regime's security establishment for fabricating evidence to support the concocted charges. The SC immediately set for March 23 the oral arguments on Ocampo's petition.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal issued the following statement:


The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Arroyo regime's arrest of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and the threat to arrest 51 others.

Ocampo's arrest proceeds from trumped-up multiple murder charges over the alleged killing of suspected government infiltrators more two decades ago. The "facts" presented by Arroyo's security establishment are impossibilities using manufactured "evidence" recycled from several other false charges in the past.


Ocampo's arrest is the handiwork of Malacañang, its Interagency Legal Action Group (IALAG) and its security agencies. We hold Gloria Arroyo, National Security Adviser and IALAG head Norberto Gonzales, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales and other top fascist officials of the Arroyo regime primarily responsible for the persecution of Rep. Ocampo and leaders of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela Women's Party and other progressive parties and organizations.


All this is part of the Arroyo regime's effort to stem the rising strength of the patriotic and democratic people's forces, drive them out of the legal and parliamentary arena and prevent them from winning in the May elections. The Arroyo regime is consumed by its fears of the rising popularity of progressive parties. The frantic efforts of the Arroyo regime to disqualify and cripple Bayan Muna and the other progressive party-list organizations is particularly aimed at preventing their anticipated victories in the upcoming party-list elections.


The Arroyo regime's intensification of attacks against the progressive organizations, parties and leaders is further the result of its severe losses in the face of the advancing people's war and the string of victories achieved by the New People's Army in its tactical offensives. The killings of activists and attacks against unarmed civilians are desperate acts of terrorism. Ocampo's arrest and the perscution of other progressive organizations and leaders are intrinsically linked to the spate of extrajudicial killings, abductions and other vicious fascist attacks against them, their members, mass base and supporters.


It is these progressive patriotic and democratic forces that are the most dedicated and steadfast in struggling for the interests of the Filipino people, especially the toiling masses, in exposing and combatting the lies, rottenness, fascism and puppetry of the Arroyo regime, and in mobilizing the mass of the Filipino people to oust and change this regime. Thus, the Arroyo regime and its fascist officials zealously detest them.


In arresting Ocampo, however, and persisting with its shrill attacks against the open, legal progressive forces, parties and leaders, the Arroyo regime succeeds only in heightening the Filipino people's hatred for it and their sympathy for the democratic and patriotic forces. Never since the height of the Marcos fascist dictatorship have gross human rights violations in the Philippines generated so much concern and censure throughout the nation and worldwide.


The Communist Party of the Philippines joins the Filipino people and the international community in demanding the immediate release of Rep. Ocampo from the regime's prison. We join as well the demand of the Filipino people and the international community for the release from prison of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who has been unjustly and illegally detained for more than a year now based on trumped-up charges of rebellion.


In the face of the increasing repression and fascism of the Arroyo regime, the CPP reiterates its instructions to the New People's Army (NPA) to step up its tactical offensives nationwide and deal several body and head blows against the regime and its armed forces in punishment for the all too innumerable blood debts and fascist crimes they have committed against the Filipino people.



Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:cppmedia@gmail.com
JoRed is online now Reply With Quote

[duke pikaso]

Newsbreak: How the international tribunal judged Marcos in 1980
03/22/2007 | 03:49 PM

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/35325/Ne...Marcos-in-1980

In 1980, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) declared then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos “unfit to govern" and his regime “deprived of legitimate standing as a government" because of its “reliance on…martial law and numerous blatant abuses of state power."

It also called on the international community to “support the struggle…[for] liberation from the Marcos regime."

The PPT acted on the complaints filed in 1979 by the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) and the erstwhile secessionist group based in Mindanao, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Both groups accused Marcos of committing political and economic crimes against Filipinos. The co-accused of Marcos in the complaints were “agents of the US government," as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The PPT is an international opinion tribunal, independent from any state authority, which examines cases regarding violations of people’s rights. It is ideologically sympathetic to liberation and socialist movements all over the world.

It operates within the constitutional framework established by the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples (The Algiers Declaration). However, its decisions are not enforceable by administrative means.

The complainants submitted to the tribunal studies made by the University of the Philippines that showed that rural Filipinos who lived below the poverty line increased from 69 percent in 1971 to 71.3 percent in 1975.

From October 30 to November 3, 1979, the tribunal received oral testimony and written evidence in support of the complaints filed by the NDF and the MNLF.

In its verdict released in 1980, the PPT declared Marcos “guilty of grave and numerous economic and political crimes against his own people." The PPT recommended “severe punishment for his past wrongs, including economic plunder and failure to protect the sovereignty of his country from neo-liberal interventions."

PPT added that the Algiers Declaration “affirms…as a matter of legal right, that liberation movements specifically, in this case the NDF and the MNLF, enjoy status in the international society. They are empowered, by Article 28 to enforce the rights of their peoples, by armed struggle if necessary."

Marcos was ousted in a people power revolt in 1986. Three years later, he died in exile in Hawaii.

Foreign capital increased by 1,000 percent from P83.7 million to more than P1 billion after Marcos declared Martial Law, according to data presented to the tribunal. “Increased profits were built on the repressive control of labor and democratic institutions," the PPT’s verdict said.

According to the tribunal, Marcos prohibited the right to strike, gave businesses the right to dismiss without notice to any worker, abolished obligatory holiday for workers, and reduced the advantages given to pregnant women. He likewise suspended the writ of habeas corpus, closed down media organizations, and arrested hundreds of dissenters.

The-Permanent-People's-Tribunal
The PPT noted that only 22 percent of US aid went to projects that directly benefited the poor. In the same period, military aid increased by 138 percent, according to the tribunal.

The PPT also “acknowledge[d] that the Bangsa Moro people are entitled to the right to self-determination… [and] welcome[d] the position of the NDF and the MNLF on the…issue of self-determination."

It called on the US to “respect…the full sovereignty of the country, including the status of the NDF and the MNLF as legitimate representatives of their respective peoples."

The PPT condemned the “full scale war against the Bangsa Moro people, using the Philippine Army, air force and navy for the bombing of the villages…. The Moros are being subjected to a planned and accelerating program of displacement from their ancestral lands and physical extermination."

It added: “The basic Marcos-US role in the Philippines contravenes virtually every provision of the Algiers Declaration." The declaration provides, among others, the right to the respect of its national and cultural identity; right to retain peaceful possession of its territory; right to break free from any colonial or foreign domination, whether direct or indirect; exclusive right over its natural and wealth resources; rights to a fair evaluation of its labor; and the right to choose its own economic and social system to pursue its own path of economic development freely and without any foreign interference.

“The abuses of the state power not only violate the Algiers Declaration, but are also condemned by the specific provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which all governments acknowledge as expressive of binding law."

[duke pikaso]

Another int'l group blames AFP for extrajudicial killings
RORIE FAJARDO, GMANews.TV
03/26/2007 | 02:43 PM

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/35781/An...icial-killings

For the second time this year, an international body blamed the military for extrajudicial killings in the country.

The Italy-based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) said in its 12-page verdict issued Monday it “has found unequivocal evidences that the militaries have a central role in the greatest majority of the scenarios of human rights violations in the Philippines."

This is the third probe on the rise of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines this year.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston last month blamed the military for the continuous extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

Following his 10-day visit in the country to consult with government and alleged human rights victims, he also urged Arroyo to persuade the military to acknowledge this “fact" and conduct its own investigation.

On March 15, the US Congress conducted its own investigation.

On that day, a State Department official under the Bush administration said that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should do more to deal with security forces involved in political killings and that she must bear ultimate responsibility for her troops' actions.

Eric John, US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a US Senate sub-committee probing political murders in the Philippines that Mrs Arroyo must also bear the blame for the increasing attacks on people speaking out against her administration.

"Until these numbers come drastically down though, I don't think you can determine that it's enough," John said, adding that, "as the ultimate authority in the chain of command, she has to take the steps to solve any involvement by members of the security forces."

In Italy on Monday, the Permanent People's Tribunal’s six-member jury said the Philippine and US governments have used the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the war on terror “as a comprehensive label to justify all illegal actions and their impunity."

The PPT calls itself “an international opinion tribunal", independent from any State authority" that investigates allegations of human rights violations.

The PPT, which also put on trial the government of Ferdinand Marcos for human rights violations in 1980, ruled that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration was worse than that of the late dictator.

Gov't responsible for killings

“The tribunal, having considered the evidence given before it, is of the opinion that the reported killings, torture and forced disappearances fall under the responsibility of the Philippine government and are by no way justified in terms of necessary measures against terrorism," said the six-member jury on the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) in its 12-page decision.

The jury issued the verdict Sunday in The Hague, Netherlands based on three days of hearing testimonies on political killings, forced disappearances, and other forms of human rights violations committed by Arroyo and her co-accused, US president George Walker Bush.

The verdict stemmed from the complaint which human rights organizations and church groups filed before the PPT in August last year.

The groups charged Arroyo and Bush of gross violation of civil and political rights through extrajudicial killings, torture, and abductions; gross violation of economic, social and cultural rights; and gross violation of the peoples’ rights to national self-determination and liberty.

The 28-year-old PPT is an independent tribunal that examines cases of human rights violations and other peoples’ rights. Its members and supporters count respected human rights activists such as Archbishop Desmund Tutu and Nobel Prize winner George Wald.

On March 21, the first day of the hearing, Filipino activist Carmencita Karagdag of the Peace for Life read a message from Tutu calling on Arroyo “to stop the terror inflicted on those who seek justice in your land."

The public hearings, held at the Pax Christikerk in the Hague, gathered testimonies from relatives and colleagues of victims of political killings, human rights lawyers led by Romeo Capulong, Marie Hilao of human rights alliance Karapatan and Carol Pagaduan-Araullo of the progressive group Bayan.

The jury noted in its verdict that “qualified representatives" of the government have confirmed that they were informed of the complaints but did not say if it would participate in the tribunal hearings.

The PPT said it has invited the Philippine government through its embassies in Italy and Netherlands to participate in the hearings.

Crimes against humanity

The tribunal also said in its verdict that the extension and verdict of human rights violations of the Arroyo administration, and with support from Bush, qualify the same violations as crimes against humanity. It urged both governments to stop the violations immediately.

Another finding was that both governments have colluded in implementing the “war on terror" policy, putting in danger the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The tribunal also called the Philippines’ membership in the UN Human Rights Council as “unacceptable" for three reasons: it denounces the credibility of the UN in this field, it is an untolerable offense to the victims, and it is a denial of the many well-documented denunciations of the dramatic violations of human rights in the Philippines.

The Philippines became a member to the UN Human Rights Council last year amid protests from human rights advocates and religious groups.

The PPT also warned that it would hold the Philippine government responsible if anything happens to the witnesses in the tribunal.

The tribunal is set to submit the findings to the UN Human Rights Council and other international human rights groups.

It convened its first session in 1980 to hear cases against Marcos and the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front. It found the Marcos dictatorship guilty of political repression and human rights violations. -GMANews.TV

[LytSlpr]

maayo ra pud para mapapas na ng NPA sa mapa. gasamok-samok lang na sila. di man na ilang causa ilang gibarugan kung di gusto sad na sila ug gahum.

[duke pikaso]

UN report: RP govt apathetic to rights abuses, killings



http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=71705

Key government institutions under the regime of President Arroyo are apathetic if not indifferent to human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings, a report by United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston to the UN Commission on Human Rights has said.

In the report, Alston criticized the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights; the Ombudsman; the Department of Justice and even Malacañang itself for shirking their responsibilities in upholding human rights in the Philippines.

Alston wrote: “There is a passivity, bordering on an abdication of responsibility, which affects the way in which key institutions and actors approach their responsibilities in relation to such human rights concerns.”

Human rights
Alston summarized how the institutions mentioned virtually “abdicated” their responsibilities:

- The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights refuses to take a proactive stance on human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings and instead passes on that responsibility to the Executive branch of government. The Committee also sees no reason to exercise its oversight function and investigate whether the executive is properly implementing the law on human rights.

- The Department of Justice hides behind its principle of “total impartiality” for its prosecutors to refuse any proactive effort in ensuring that human rights are protected. According to Alston, Justice Secretary Gonzales and his officials even seemed bewildered by the notion that protecting human rights is part of their job. Alston wrote (emphasis ours): “The Secretary of Justice, and his colleagues, were perplexed at the proposition that prosecutors, whose role is absolutely central in the Philippines justice system, had some broader responsibility to take steps to uphold respect for human rights. Instead, their role was seen as a passive one. If a file presented to them was insufficient, their role was simply to return it and hope that the police would do better next time. It was not for them to observe or respond to clearly shoddy dossiers designed to ensure that the police could be said to have done their job while at the same time no prosecution would follow.” Alston said that he found such a position by those supposed to uphold justice in the Philippines “highly problematic.”

- Alston has an even worse assessment of the Ombudsman. He practically gave the institution a failing grade: “The Ombudsman’s office, despite the existence of a separate unit designed to investigate precisely the type of killings that have been alleged, has done almost nothing in recent years in this regard. The Government itself acknowledges that, of 44 complaints submitted from 2002 to 2006 alleging extrajudicial executions attributed to State agents, the Ombudsman’s office concluded that it was unable to act on even a single case. While such a result in relation to five or even ten cases might be justifiable, when it reaches the level of 44 cases the conclusion must be that the office is failing in its responsibilities.”

- The UN special rapporteur also scored a memorandum circular issued by Malacañang requiring military and police officials to secure the President’s permission before testifying in any congressional hearing. Alston said, “(T)he executive branch has stymied the legislature’s efforts to oversee the execution of laws.” This, he said, makes “meaningless” the oversight function that congress is supposed to exercise against possible abuses by the executive branch.

Extrajudicial killings
One disturbing finding by Alston is that existing government policy encourages or even facilitates extra-judicial killings. He criticized the government for allowing military instead of civilian authorities to brand many leftist and activist groups as part of a 38-year-old communist insurgency. Alston said, this blanket labeling gives justification to “neutralize” (summarily execute) activists as part of anti-insurgency efforts.

The UN special rapporteur also questioned the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ practice of drawing up an “order of battle”—a list of individuals and groups branded as “enemies of the state.” He raised suspicion over the fact that victims of extrajudicial killings also appear on the AFP’s order of battle. He wrote (emphasis ours):

“When a significant number of individuals killed in incidents implicating the armed forces or police are also listed on an order of battle, it raises serious questions about the appropriateness of this practice. It may be, as I was told, a “political war”, but when such political war is conducted by soldiers rather than civilians, politics too quickly comes to involve guns as well as words.”

Alston also questioned the fact that the entire process of drawing up the so-called order of battle is left entirely in the hands of military authorities. He made the following recommendation:

“The Government should immediately direct all military officers to cease making public statements linking political or other civil society groups to those engaged in armed insurgencies. If such characterizations are ever to be made it must be by civilian authorities, on the basis of transparent criteria, and in conformity with the human rights provisions of the Constitution and relevant treaties.”

[erloy]

I think they deserved what happen to them....they are the one who keep on rallying on the street and keep on complaining. They did not think what they did....They just thinking of there self...and also they did not that they are the one who make investor og away........If they want the country to prosper they must support government project and initiatives...