The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today said that the call made by US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney to punish human rights violators was “hollow and hypocritical.” The group instead demanded an end to US aid for human rights violators in the Philippines.

Malacanang’s confirmation that notorious retired general Jovito Palparan is being considered for an appointive position in government continues to draw flak from cause-oriented groups and human rights advocate.
Over the weekend, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed that Palparan is being considered for a stint in the Dangerous Drug Board or the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). [...]

Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. today dared the Arroyo administration to prosecute retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan for his alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings and disappearances of political activists, instead of tapping him in the campaign against illegal drugs.

The clamor for justice over the massacre in Mendiola Bridge that led to the murder of 13 farmers and injury of 39 others twenty two years ago still echoes today in the streets.

HUMAN RIGHTS  By Alan Davis and Ma. Cecilia L. Rodriguez  |  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 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.

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)

Reporters Without Borders called today for more police to investigate the killings of five journalists in the Philippines this year, including the latest victim, former radio presenter Rolando Anjo Julia, in the central province of Camarines Sur.
“Until the motives for these crimes have been discovered and their authors punished, people will continue to doubt the [...]

The murder in broad daylight of Capiz broadcaster Martin Roxas on Thursday, August 7, mocks government’s claims that it has brought down the incidence of extrajudicial killings, particularly the murder of journalists.
Roxas, 32, is the fourth journalist murdered this year and the 59th since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001.
The brazenness with which [...]

New York, August 7, 2008—Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed radio commentator Martin Roxas today in the second brutal shooting of a broadcaster in the Philippines this week, according to local and international news reports.
Two men shot Roxas in the back as he drove his motorcycle from DYVR station in Roxas City, on the country’s central Panay island, [...]

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A radio broadcaster was killed on 7 August 2008 by a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle in Roxas City, Capiz. Capiz is approximately 411 kms southeast of Manila.
Martin Roxas, program director of dyKR-Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) in Roxas, was shot in the nape. Roxas was himself on a motorcycle. He was pronounced [...]

Leila de Lima. (Photo by John Alliage Morales/Inquirer.net)

For somebody who barely warmed her seat, the actions and statements by Leila de Lima, the new chair of the Commission on Human Rights, are impressive, probably unprecedented. Let’s just hope that this is not ningas-cogon, that de Lima is motivated by a genuine concern for human rights and not by the need to prove her mettle.

The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists invites you to a press briefing on the latest developments in the prosecution of the alleged masterminds in the murder of Marlene Esperat (Criminal Case No. CBU-82237 also known as People of the Philippines vs. Osmeña Montañer et al.).
The briefing will be held on Wednesday May 28, 2008 [...]

(Hong Kong, May 26, 2008) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
has launched today a campaign blog which documents cases involving
various forms of arbitrary deprivation of life in the Philippines.
The blog entitled ‘Slaughter of Innocents’ chronicles how
a class of people have been systematically murdered on an almost daily
basis. The blog may be accessed at:
http://noprotection.blog.humanrights.asia
Moon Jeong Ho, [...]

Between February 4 and May 14, 2008, the Asian Legal Resource Center has been alerted to 17 murders in General Santos City and it is believed that this is not an exhaustive list. Seven of those murdered, including a 16-year-old boy, have been accused by the police investigators of having criminal records, being former detainees or persons involved in committing motorcycle robberies. In several other cases, the victims are persons illegally working as motorcycle taxis, who were killed when criminals stole their motorcycles.