Political Killings still major problem in RP, says US (tags)
"At long last, the US State Department have stated the obvious" The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) News today through various news sources that the US State Department has reported that extrajudicial killings remained a major problem in the Philippines last year and that security forces and insurgent groups were both responsible. The “2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” released to the US Congress on March 11, noted that concerns about impunity in the Philippines persisted.
U.S.-BACKED STATE TERRORISM AND MILITARY BRUTALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Millions of US taxpayers' money are supporting de facto President Arroyo's despotic rule in the Philippines. The continuing torture of 43 health workers may be an alibi to cover up the horrendous Ampatuan massacre and numerous corruption scandals, a preparation for martial rule by May 20. Fascist violence will surely be met by the enraged mobilization of the masses. The US public needs to protest the use of their taxdollars to fund Arroyo's extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of thousands of Filipino civilians.
AFP Award Medals to Torturers of Morong 43 (tags)
AJLPP NEWS sources learned today that Philippine Senators Pia Cayetano and Jamby Madrigal and other groups Tuesday cried foul over the awarding of Bronze Cross Medals to military officers involved in the controversial arrest and detention of 43 health workers attending a seminar in Morong, Rizal, early this month. “There’s something seriously wrong when a government institution commends its personnel for committing an illegal act,” said Cayetano in a statement.
Kin find activist tortured in Army camp in Cagayan province (tags)
Pesante-USA , an environmental and a human rights advocacy group based in Los Angeles learned today through news sources in Manila that relatives and friends of a youth activist who was reported missing for more than a week. They found him in a military camp in Cagayan province, allegedly beaten and tortured into admitting that he was a communist rebel. Noriel Rodriguez, 26, a member of the militant youth group Anakbayan, was held for 10 days in various camps of the Army’s 17th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Masin in Alcala town in Cagayan, according to the Tanggulan Youth Network for Human Rights and Civil Liberties.
CHR probes NDF consultant’s torture claim (tags)
The Commission on Human Rights in Cagayan Valley has started looking into the arrest and detention of a National Democratic Front peace consultant, who was allegedly tortured while in the custody of military and police personnel. Lawyer Jimmy Baliga, CHR regional director, said the commission began investigating the case of Randy Felix Malayao, 39, without the prodding of nongovernment organizations and human rights advocates.