In his radio broadcasts, Aresio Padrigao attacked city hall, the local government and, too, the local police and the local Department of Environment and Natural Resources office for what he saw was a failure to catch illegal loggers. On Nov. 17, he was shot dead.

HUMAN RIGHTS  By Fr. Shay Cullen |  A stronger, better-armed UN force is urgently needed to protect the hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children and youth in the Eastern Congo. Five millions have died over the past several years and the world hardly noticed.

HUMAN RIGHTS   By Ronalyn V. Olea |  The United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that the Philippine government violated the rights of Eden Marcellana, then secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, and Eddie Gumanoy, a peasant leader, who were allegedly murdered by state security forces in Mindoro in 2003.

By Keith Bacongco |  Pujada Bay is home to the endangered sea cows (dugong) and sea turtles while the Mt. Hamiguitan range is known both for its pygmy forest and also as a home of the endangered Philippine Eagle which is itself a protected species. The proposed mining project, opponents say, will destroy the environment.

(GENEVA) The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the human rights group Karapatan today attended a briefing of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights a day before the scheduled review of the Philippine government’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.
Among the issues raised were the [...]

Political activists in the Philippines do not only have to contend with the seemingly never-ending assassinations of their colleagues. Lately, according to them, the Arroyo regime has resorted to filing criminal charges left and right against activists, in some cases bringing those arrested to areas in the country where political activism is weak or nonexistent, such as Oriental Mindoro, apparently so that they are deprived of crucial support from their family and colleagues.

Continuing Harassment of Leftist Activists
(New York, October 29, 2008) – The Philippine authorities should immediately release Remigio Saladero, Jr., a labor lawyer who was arrested on charges that appeared to be politically motivated, Human Rights Watch said today.
Philippine police arrested Saladero on October 23, 2008, at his law office in Antipolo City, in Rizal [...]

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano today assailed what he described as a looming crackdown by the fascist Arroyo regime against mass leaders of the progressive people’s movement in Southern Tagalog region.
Mariano issued the statement after the police last night arrested Anakpawis party-list provincial coordinator Rogelio “Ka Mamay” Galit.
Galit, 49, is also the spokesperson of [...]

November 4, 2008
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PHILIPPINES: Prosecution is not a political tool
The arrest and subsequent detention of four activists, including a
labor lawyer, on separate occasions in October and November of this
year raised serious questions regarding how public prosecutors
function in the Philippines. The irregularities in the filing of
charges in court and the [...]

As of November 3, almost 30 activist leaders from the Southern Tagalog chapter of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and its allied organizations as well as party list groups are facing arrest warrants for criminal charges of multiple murders and frustrated multiple murders while facing separate charges of arson. First to be arrested was Atty. Remigio [...]

Multisectoral alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) today said that the political persecution of activist leaders in Southern Tagalog shows how the Arroyo administration continues to brazenly use the country’s trial courts to silence its staunchest critics.
The group issued the statement as activists led by members of Bayan’s Southern Tagalog regional chapter trooped to the Department [...]

The human rights alliance Karapatan is outraged by the recent legal offensive of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration against the legal democratic organizations particularly in Southern Tagalog, including two of its officials namely Karapatan-Southern Tagalog Secretary General Doris Cuario and Karapatan-Batangas Coordinator Dina Capetillo among those falsely accused.

Based on the monitoring and documentation of the NUPL and the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) from 2001 to 2008, at least 13 lawyers and a judge have been subjected to surveillance by suspected state agents and 11 received death threats.

The third quarter of 2008 saw a surge in abductions and disappearances, arrests and the use of torture. Extrajudicial killings continued, with Mindanao suffering the most number of civilian casualties. These are among the findings of the human rights group Karapatan in its latest quarterly report. Download the document here (PDF, 500mb)

By Arthur Allad-iw | Human Rights Reporting Project  |  World church representatives meeting here to forge new links with indigenous peoples’ groups have lined up to condemn the disappearance of activist James Balao, blaming the authorities for his abduction.

NUJP expresses concern over the arrest of human rights lawyer Remigio Saladero Jr.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines views with concern the arrest and continuing detention of Atty. Remigio Saladero Jr., veteran human rights, labor and media lawyer. He also writes a column for Pinoy Weekly.

By Fr. Shay Cullen
If somebody is offering you as beach front home for give away prices it will be because of global warming and climate changes or the crash of the world property and housing markets. Both are man made and greed driven. Both are catastrophic events for the poor who are least able to [...]

On March 21, 2008, Edgar de la Cruz Candule, a 23-year-old Aeta, was picked up by policemen in Zambales. What followed was a nightmare, as the cops tortured him and accused him of being a Communist. According to human-rights groups, Candule’s case illustrates the dangers caused by a skewed interpretation and application of the Human Security Act.