EPCC NEWS

March 1, 2010

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE PHILIPPINES ESCALATES

Los Angeles—As the US-Arroyo regime gears towards its self-proclaimed deadline of crushing the NPA by 2010, the military and the police has also intensified its attacks against human rights defenders.

AJLPP correspondents in Manila reported that it has documented 338 victims of threat, harassment and intimidation for the period Jan-Feb 2010.

--Early this year, Cesar Lopez Dionido, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-NCR, was approached by intelligence agents and has been receiving threatening text messages.

--In Bohol, Ms. Ira Pamat and the Women’s Development Center, Inc., and other progressive partylist groups have become targets of a smear campaign conducted by the Visayas Command (Vizcom) of the AFP.

--Another health worker, Ronald Capitania, was shot on February 23, 2010 by two masked men. Capitania survived and still confined in a hospital in Bacolod City.

Morong 43 still detained

Last February 6, the AFP arrested and illegally detained 43 Health workers and charged them as “The NPA Health Department “ after six days of torture and detention. Many of the female detainees suffered sexual harassments and abuses.

This was the biggest case of mass arrest reminiscent of the martial law years during the US Marcos dictatorship from 1972-1986. It has been detained for the last three weeks and are still waiting for a ruling from the Court of Appeals.

More human rights abuses are expected as the AFP escalates its military operations against the NPA and the MILF now that the peace talks are suspended.

For more information contact acpp at (818) 749-0272 or email at epccla02@yahoo.com