Fascist state on a rampage:
Latest cases of human rights violations (May-August 2002)

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

August 18. Troops from the 8th Special Forces Battalion (SFB) led by Maj. Alexis Gopico executed Amay "Ka Ronson" Espeja, a Red fighter, when soldiers laid siege to the guerrillas in Sitio Nursery, Barangay Binondo, Baganga, Davao Oriental. Ka Ronson was alive and unscathed when he was captured. Three children were killed in the siege. The fascists also mauled the residents of the sitio and stole two chainsaws, P9,000 in cash as well as other property from them.

In the first week of August, the soldiers and CAFGU elements also mauled 15 men in the same barangay who were suspected of being NPA supporters. The soldiers made them dig their own graves and threatened to kill them if they refused to divulge the guerrillas' location. Residents of nearby Barangay Matanog also complained about the abuses inflicted on them by the soldiers of the 8th SFB.

August 18. The PNP in Boac, Marinduque forcibly and illegally arrested Mr. Prestores, who chairs the Pinag-isang Lakas ng Magbubukid ng Quezon, is vice president of Bayan Muna and assiduously provides assistance to victims of Marcopper Mining in the province. He was detained from 12:30 noon to 10:00 p.m. It is illegal to detain a person for more than seven hours without pressing charges.

August 15. Military Police violently dispersed a picket staged by hundreds of national minorities in front of Camp Aguinaldo. Benilda Coplangen, 45, sustained head wounds when she parried blows from a police truncheon meant for Baket Indena, an elderly woman from Sagada, Mountain Province.

The mass action led by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas was launched to oppose intensifying militarization in the countryside that has victimized thousands of national minorities and peasants in the entire archipelago.

Other elderly folk who were dancing the pattong (a Cordilleran community dance) also sustained injuries when the police attacked. Injured were Lakay Longan of Kalinga; Lakay Simplico Sikuan of Itogon, Magno Dumas of Abra, and Cordillera People's Alliance leaders Joseph Torafing Jr. and Windel Bolinget. One of the fingers of a Southern Tagalog delegate, Robert Laplana, was also cut off.

Second week of August. Men under Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani Fernando demolished stalls maintained by sidewalk vendors in various parts of Metro Manila. Fernando also threatened to pour kerosine over the vendors' wares if they refused to stop plying their trade along the sidewalks. He called them parasites who deserved brutal treatment to force them to stop. Malaca�ang has supported Fernando's actions.

August 5. Troops under the 4th ID arrested Zenaida Llesis, 40, who is pregnant and suspected of being a Communist Party cadre. Llesis was arrested after a military operation in Rocky Village, Pangantukan, Bukidnon. She has been slapped with various criminal cases but has been denied the right to counsel. On top of everything, the military continued to subject Llesis to interrogation even if she was suffering from vaginal bleeding and was in danger of having a miscarriage. The military has also refused to consider the fact that Llesis suffers from tachycardia, a heart abnormality that requires her to rest.

August 5. Troops of the 74th IB illegally arrested three youths from Barangay San Pablo, Catanauan, Quezon. Resty Buen, Rogelio de Roxas and Romeo Resureccion were accused of being Red fighters because they were found in the company of a suspected guerrilla.

Meanwhile, a six-year-old boy was arrested by 7th ID troops in Barangay Sto. Rosario, Masinloc, Zambales after an encounter between the military and the NPA.

August 3-4. MetropolitanWaterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) guards demolished the houses of 25 peasant families in Area 4, Sitio Seedling, Barangay Macabud, Rodriguez, Rizal. The guards pointed their guns at the residents, uprooted their crops and stole their food, rice and money. The following day, the guards burned down the houses of more than 100 residents. Four peasants were arrested and forced to sign certain documents. The area is part of the 2,700-hectare La Mesa Watershed which is being claimed by MWSS and the ABS-CBN Foundation.

August 2. Ten demonstrators were injured when Western Police District troops blocked and attempted to disperse some 500 protesters in front of the US Embassy who rallied during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to the Philippines.

July 20-28. Hired goons of the San Roque Power Corp. harassed and forcibly evacuated hundreds of residents of Sitio Bolangit, Barangay San Felipe, San Nicolas, Pangasinan to give way to the completion of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam Project. On July 22, the goons forced the residents to leave their homes and other property behind. The women and children were forced to board helicopters while the men were made to walk. They were also forced into signing papers stating that they had voluntarily left the area. On July 28, the demolition team burned down 11 houses of the evacuees. The incident has spawned fear even among villagers in nearby barrios.

July 24. The Baguio City Anti-Squatting Team demolished the houses of more than 20 families in Barangay Dontogan. More than 60 other houses are set to be razed upon orders from Mayor Bernardo Vergara, who claimed that the residents were all illegal squatters even if they had titles to the land. The families who lost their houses were forced to take shelter under pine trees after their homes were demolished amid heavy rains.

July 24. Goons from the Manila Banking Corp. and 25 policemen led by Insp. Jose Costello of the Mabolo Police Station wrecked the houses of 27 families in the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City. The bank plans to build a branch on the 1,640-sq. m. lot. The evicted families were forced to set up temporary shelters on the streets. According to the Cebu City government, those who lost their houses have to fulfill certain requirements before they could avail of any assistance.

July 1. Three demonstrators were injured when some 40 policemen from Region 11 led by Chief Supt. Eduardo Matillano violently dispersed a demonstration in Tagum City during Macapagal-Arroyo's visit to the area. Most of the 200 demonstrators were women and children. They were mauled and verbally abused and their belongings, such as a megaphone, batteries and an amplifier were confiscated. Some of them were illegally arrested.

July. Despite lack of evidence, the police implicated Ador Pulido, a Bayan Muna leader in Gerona, Tarlac and president of the town's Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap chapter, in the killing of a certain Herman Dugay of Barangay Tagumbao of the same municipality. Pulido is also an organizer of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Tarlac. He has been repeatedly arrested and detained by the police despite the absence of a clear case against him.

June. Soldiers of the 204th Brigade led by Col. Jovito Palparan repeatedly harassed Juvy Magsino, a lawyer and the vice mayor of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. Magsino was warned that she was under surveillance on suspicion of being an NPA supporter.

May 17. Troops of the PNP 15th Special Forces Company in Barangay Casigaran, Balilihan, Bohol rained automatic fire on the home of 70-year-old Cecilia Tambis where NPA fighters were resting. The soldiers also threatened to kill two Red fighters they had captured.

September 2002
English Edition

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