Undeclared Martial Law
in Eastern Visayas
Statement of KATUNGOD-SB-KARAPATAN
for International Human Rights Day 2007
December 10, 2007
A glaring 139 cases of
human rights violations affecting 5,486 individuals, 916 families, and
12 communities, was recorded by the Regional Human Rights Alliance,
KATUNGOD-SB-KARAPATAN just for year 2007 alone. The full blow of
Oplan Bantay Laya II was felt both by the legal mass movement in the
urban areas and the broad masses in the countryside.
The number one
perpetrator of these recorded human rights violations is the Armed
Forces of the Philippines.
Seven farmers died on
the spot including the baby inside the womb of Alma Bartoline when
they were massacred by the elements of the 19th IB PA at Brgy. San
Agustin Palo, Leyte. Two years after the incident justice seems to be
far from them when their countercharges were dismissed for lack of
merit. If only the dead could speak how they were violated, how they
were mercilessly peppered with bullets by the military while some of
them were still asleep. The victims were the ones who were put in jail
while the murderers go scott-free under the loving arms of Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. We had witnessed how cases against them were filed
in court overnight while their counter-charges were decided after a
year of filing only to be dismissed.
Justice delayed, is
justice denied! No single case of extra-judicial killings committed
in the region had been given justice as of this very moment.
Students of Prof. Jose
Ma. B. Cui could still clearly picture in their minds how a gunman
shot their professor on his back and on his head while he was inside
his classroom giving midterm examinations. Prof. Cui was a very vocal
critic of this rotten administration and a human rights defender. The
military have long belied his name, accusing him of being a member of
the NPA. He was constantly been harassed by the military up to the
point that he was charged with libel. Not discounting the horrific
ordeal by families of human rights defender Reverend Edison Lapuz and
human rights pro bono lawyer Attorney Fidelito Dacut and the rest of
militant activists whose only sin was to fight the right of the common
tao.
If only the fields in
the countryside could speak, they will tell you of how the houses of
the farmers were burned by the soldiers from the 62nd IB PA in Sitio
Ogbok, Barangay Villa Aurora, Basey, Samar and Barangay Sinalangtan,
Calbiga, Samar leaving the farmers without anything except the dress
they were wearing.
The whole 3rd District
of Leyte is howling with so much human rights violations courtesy of
the massacre battalion, the 19th IB. A farmer in Tabango, Leyte was
forced to admit that he had a gun only to escape from the cellophane
being covered on his face and from the dirty toilet bowl on which his
face is being dipped.
The 19th IB and the
802nd Infantry Brigade were arrogantly declaring that they have
cleared the insurgency in Leyte only to find out in reality that the
marks of their operations left the farmers with bruises on their body,
bullets on their head, and constant fear on their hearts and mind in
contrary to their claim for “winning the hearts and minds of the
people.”
The unborn child of
Juliet Fernandez is shouting in all its might for the people to hear
her call for freedom, freedom for her mother and father who are until
now in the custody of the 62nd IB PA.
Even the children as
young as one year old were not spared by the military. They were
arrested and detained with their parents inside the 62nd IB PA
Headquarters under Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce. The children of Dominador
Doque and Divina Belanigue were the witnesses on how their parents
continue to suffer and continue to languish inside the military camp.
How arrogantly Col.
Francis Lanuza expressed over the media when he assumed as the Brigade
Commander of the 801st Infantry Brigade that he would not tolerate
cases of human rights violations perpetrated by his soldiers when
these violations are happening right under his nose, and maybe on his
command.
The irony of being a
soldier who had sworn in to protect the people and the sovereignty are
very much visible as these cases of glaring human rights violations
continue to happen and escalate.
As we commemorate
today the International Human Rights Day, we, in the Regional Human
Rights Alliance calls on all human rights defenders and advocates to
continue on the struggle for a class-based human rights. It is now the
right time for us to be one in our quest for justice. Let us unite,
let us fight, and let us join hands in toppling this fascist regime.
We call on all victims
of human rights violations to bravely speak of their horrible ordeal
in the hands of the military. Do not be afraid to speak out because
silence is not a guarantee that your human rights will not be further
violated. Stand for your rights and stand for those who are still
afraid to speak up. Even if our human rights are written on the
Constitution, they are not freely given to us; we have to fight for
it.
We call upon the
church to heed your call for the preferential option to the poor. Open
your churches and your hearts to the victims of human rights
violations who shall knock and who are knocking upon your door for
sanctuary and for help. Let us join hands in upholding the cause of
the Lord in helping the poor and the oppressed.
We call upon the civil
society to be vigilant. We have to seek for the truth if we wanted to
know the truth. We have to see things in the eyes of a farmer, a
worker, a victim of human rights violation. Let us not be contented by
the luxuries we have in our homes. We have to fight, to struggle, for
our human rights and for the rights of those who cannot speak for
themselves.
In order to give
meaning to this memorable day, we have to be with the masses in their
struggle for human rights.
Onwards with the
struggle!
Struggle for a
class-based human rights!
Reference:
Atty. Kathrina R. Castillo
Secretary-General
KATUNGOD-SB-KARAPATAN
