Facist State on a Rampage
NDFP consultant illegally detained
THERE are currently 248 political detainees being held in various prisons throughout the country, based on a June 2004 listing by KARAPATAN. The prisoners include National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Eduardo Serrano, who is now detained in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
Serrano, together with two women, was captured by operatives of the Intelligence Service Group of the Philippine Army in Lipa City, Batangas in the morning of May 2. The military suspects that he is "Rogelio Villanueva" and "Ka Macliing," allegedly a high-ranking leader of the revolutionary movement in Mindoro.
Serrano was held incommunicado for nine days. Relatives, lawyers and members of human rights organizations went to various military camps and offices in search of him. He was eventually located by an official of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP) in a detention cell in Calapan City on May 12.
The NDFP Peace Panel has asserted that in accordance with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), Serrano should enjoy immunity from arrest and detention due to his status as an NDFP consultant in the peace negotiations.
Military abducts 3 BM members
THREE Bayan Muna (BM) members were abducted by elements of the Intelligence Service of the AFP in Sampaloc, Manila on August 18. To date, the police and military refuse to divulge any information regarding the fate of the three BM members.
Meanwhile, in Bohol, police arrested farmers Hermosila Villamor, 30 and Roldan Emance, 32 in the morning of July 26 in Barangay Kalbaryo, Lila. Villamor and Emance, who were accused of being Red fighters, were arrested by PNP elements who had earlier clashed with an NPA unit. The two farmers are currently jailed at Camp Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City.
ST, "killing fields" for activists
 THE Southern Tagalog (ST) region has been dubbed the most dangerous place for progressive activists after the murder of 50-year-old Gabriela Women's Party coordinator Melita Trinidad Carvajal on August 27 in the City of Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Carvajal was waiting for a tricycle ride in front of her house when two persons approached her and shot her. She died even before she reached the hospital. Up to 80 activists have been murdered in the region during Arroyo's three years in office.
Complaints vs. police, military lodged in Bulacan
ELEMENTS of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group led by Chief Insp. Alex Sitin indiscriminately fired their weapons, illegally searched houses and robbed residents of two barangays in Bulacan.
The troops arrived in Barangay Sta. Lucia on the night of May 27. They immediately cordoned off, strafed and entered the house of Alexander Tigas who was not home at the time. They stole Tigas' money and belongings. The police subsequently entered two more houses.
On May 30, at around one or two in the morning, 10 soldiers of the Philippine Army entered the house of Marcelo Miras in Sitio Coral, Barangay Matictic in search of someone named "Rico." The soldiers left, taking with them Miras' bolo.
CAFGU robs villages in Maguindanao
CAFGU elements robbed barriofolk in Maguindanao who abandoned their villages at the height of clashes between Moro Islamic Liberation Front units and the Philippine Army from August 28 to 29.
According to the Joint GRP-MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), CAFGU elements stole valuable belongings and resources owned by the barangays as well as carabaos, other farm animals, food and various other items from the villagers. Up to 2,860 families (14,215 people) from the villages of Linantangan, Dalapdap, Pimbalakan, Bagumbong, Tukanalipao, Dugengen, Liab, Dabenayon, Dasikil, Pagatin and Puseo in the towns of Mamasapano and Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao were forced to evacuate.
Townsfolk demand pullout of 46th IB from Basey, Samar
RESIDENTS of Basey, Samar are demanding the pullout of abusive troops of the 46th IB. In a petition signed by more than 200 people on August 23, the townsfolk demanded the cessation of military operations and the troops' withdrawal from the area. The petition was presented in a meeting of the Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) attended by Mayor Vicente Labuac of Basey, the town's councilors, 801st Bde chief Gen. Anastacio Salud, and 46th IB chief Col. Manuel Ramos.
The MPOC meeting was called in the wake of complaints of military abuses by the townsfolk, who had also filed a case with the office of the Commission on Human Rights in Eastern Visayas.
the Samahan han Gudti nga Parag-uma-Sinirangan Bisayas and the Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR)-Tacloban launched a fact-finding mission in the hinterland barangays of Basey on August 20. Basey's municipal councilors also participated in the fact-finding mission. The mission confirmed cases of abuse by the 46th IB such as intimidation of children, destruction of crops and illegal ransacking of homes in the villages of Villa Aurora, Bulao and Cogon from August 7 to 17.
2 peasant leaders arrested in Bohol
ELEMENTS of the PNP and the Philippine Army 17th Special Forces Company illegally arrested and detained two peasant leaders in Bohol on August 13.
KARAPATAN-Central Visayas reported that at around 5:30 a.m., Felipeneri Bejasa and Ireneo Ucang were stopped at a checkpoint set up by the 17th Special Forces Company in Barangay Rizal, Catigbian. They had come from Tagbilaran City and were on their way to the town of Trinidad to attend a meeting by members of the Hiniusang Makinasodnong Mag-uuma sa Trinidad, which is affiliated with the Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon (HUMABOL). Bejasa is the vice president of HUMABOL, while Ucang is an organizer of the Anakpawis party.
The military confiscated copies of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by the GRP and the NDFP in August 1998 after rifling through Bejasa and Ucang's backpacks.
Charging that the CARHRIHL was a "subversive document," Bejasa and Ucang were brought to the Catigbian Police Office and detained. They were released at around 3:30 p.m., after the Bohol Provincial Police Office could find no evidence to use as basis for their continued detention.
Military strafes hut, kills pregnant woman, wounds husband, 3 kids
IT was around 6 a.m. on August 8 when soldiers indiscriminately rained bullets on the home of the Conge family in Barangay Uno, Catubig, Northern Samar. Twenty-seven-year-old Mely Conge was instantly killed after sustaining 17 bullet wounds. She was four months pregnant.
Her husband Sonny Sr., 27, and their three children�Sonny Jr., 10; Sammy, 8; and Gina, 6�were seriously wounded. Neighbors brought them to the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital, where attending doctors said that the victims needed to be transported to Metro Manila for further treatment due the gravity of their injuries.
Four different versions of the bloody incident were released by the government's armed forces in a bid to escape criminal liability. The day after the incident, the AFP claimed that the victims were New People's Army (NPA) members in a text message sent by the military and aired over radio station DZRH in Manila. That same day, 63rd IB commander Col. Manuel Usi told local reporters in an interview that the Conges had been harboring Red fighters. On August 10, the same official claimed that NPA guerrillas were responsible for the bloody incident. On the third day, the military released its fourth version: it was an armed group that the AFP could not identify that had strafed the poor family's hut.
In his testimony, Sonny Conge Sr. identified one of the gunmen as Romy Acerbon, a neighbor who was also a CAFGU element.
KATUNGOD - Northern Samar and the local media have denounced the 63rd IB and 803rd Bde for restricting access to the victims. A squad of Scout Rangers stands guard over the family at the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital to prevent them from being interviewed.
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