FOR PUBLICATION 

AHRC-ART-065-2009 
November 30, 2009

An Article by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PHILIPPINES: Who were the massacred journalists? - Part 1

One of the journalists worked for over two decades 

Before the advent of electronic mail, high speed internet connections, and mobile phones, all part of the technology used in transmitting information that we now take for granted, Alejandro Reblando, Bong, to his friends and colleagues, was an eyewitness to what was happening in Mindanao. Indeed, he was not just an eyewitness but was very much a part of the stories he reported on. For two decades Bong Reblando collected exclusive stories and fearlessly reported on them in the worst of conditions. Alejandro Bong Reblando was one of the 30 journalists slaughtered in the Maguindanao massacre on November 23.

 

In this photo:  Manila Bulletin (MB) reporter Bong M. Reblando (2nd from left) smiles in this undated file photo taken during a past Saudi Arabian national day celebration in Makati City/ from the Manila Bulletin

 

Fifty-four-year-old Bong Reblando was no neophyte. At the time of his death, he was writing for the Manila Bulletin, a national daily newspaper. He spent many years writing for them as a correspondent before they absorbed him as regular staff in 2008 based in General Santos City. 

He began his professional career in the early 1980s as a broadcaster and reporter for dxCP, a Catholic-run radio station in General Santos City. In those days, only a few local radio stations were broadcasting. dxCP was once one of the more popular radio stations. It was where the residents turned for news and current affairs, not only within the city but also in neighbouring provinces and municipalities of South Cotabato. 

Bong Reblando knew the very fabric of the inside stories and how violent it could get covering local elections. He was a stringer for the Associated Press (AP), an American news agency, from late 1980s to early the 2000s covering the southern Philippines. He also wrote for and edited stories for numerous community newspapers in General Santos City, one of which was the Mindanao Bulletin that began publication in 1985. 

In this country's troubled region, it was very easy for journalists like Bong and his colleagues to become desensitized in covering the often violent stories from the conflict areas. Their compassion and commitment to their work dictated that they had to be not just onlookers but actually part of the story. These were the types of stories and places that they had to cover and they never shirked the responsibility. They received satisfaction, not only from reporting the news, but by having the authority of saying: I was there! 

Bong Reblando was a veteran and had personal experience of covering election-related violence. He had also covered the protracted war in conflict affected areas in Mindanao, numerous kidnapping cases and bomb blasts. 

With their years of experience Bong and his group did not take lightly the potential danger of reporting on the November 23 would-be filing of the Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) by the wife of a local politician, Ismael Mangudadatu in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao. They discussed thoroughly the security arrangements and only after they got the assurance from a local top military commander that it was safe for them to go did they proceed. 

Amongst his contemporaries, Alejandro Bong Reblando was known for never running out of steam when working in the field and writing exclusive stories, both for the Filipino people and the world. 

To see one’s name in a newspaper headline is, perhaps petty to others, but it is what motivates the local journalist to do well in their profession. Bong Reblando surpassed many of his contemporaries, who either relocated to other places or retired. 

'He told me the area is cleared' 

It was Bong who spoke with Alfredo Cayton, commanding General of the Army's 6th Infantry Division (ID), asking his opinion as to whether it was safe for the group to proceed. Cayton told him that they could and the area where their convoy would be passing through has been cleared of any possible danger. This is what Bong told a colleague who survived the massacre. 

According to his newspaper, Bong considered Cayton as his friend. In this part of the country journalists have to befriend top military and police commanders, not only to establish good working relationships and as sources of news, but also as a form of protection. However, when it comes to reporting on military personnel, police officers and government officials who are abusive and corrupt these journalists will not hesitate to burn their bridges. 

Bong Reblando’s body was found hog-tied inside the vehicle of Henry Araneta, a reporter for dzRH radio, who was also killed during the massacre. Bong was killed by a shotgun blast and his body was among the most badly mutilated corpses. 

Covering violence: elections, kidnappings and bomb blasts 

In 1995, during the election for mayor in Palembang, Sultan Kudarat, about two hours from General Santos City, Bong Reblando and another colleague (who survived the Maguindanao massacre), had to stay there for a week to cover a brewing confrontation between two powerful and bitter rival clans in local politics. At that time hardly any journalist covered election violence in the area of southern Mindanao. 

Bong’s wife, Myrna, had to travel to Palembang to take him back to the city with her. His relatives and his colleagues were worried because they had no idea of what had happened to them. The two could not be contacted as there were no mobile phones in those days. 

In 2001, Reblando made extensive coverage of the kidnapping of Chinese engineers in Carmen, North Cotabato. While one kidnap victim was later released, two of his companions were killed by the abductors. The kidnapping was a huge story as it involved the diplomatic relationship between China and the Philippines. Reblando was one of those who produced a blow by blow account of the kidnapping case. 

For most of his adult and professional life, Reblando covered the decades-old conflict in Mindanao. The protracted war between the Moro rebels and the government forces, the frequent bombings, hostage-taking, and the like. They were all stories that could not escape from his notice. 

From phone lines to computers 

In those days to be able to send their stories to their outlets in Manila, Bong Reblando had to dictate his story, written at the end of the day’s work, by phone from a local telecommunications office to the news desk. There were many times when he and his fellow local journalists were crowding the office, each waiting for their turn at the telephone. 

It was only after the fax messaging technology was introduced that Bong Reblando and his colleagues began sending their stories in writing. Instead of making phone calls, they started making use of typewriters to type their stories and then send them by fax. This is how his employers at the Manila Bulletin and the intentional wire agencies to whom he was sending stories receive his work. 

Some of the stories that Bong wrote may still be read online. 

Alejandro Bong Reblando is survived by his wife, Myrna and seven children. 
 

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

 

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 各位夥件：平安

 

孫銘德	1,000元
陳瑤華、龔維正	10,000元
施逸翔	2,000元
許婉姿	2,000元
無名氏	2,000元
枋汝蓉	1,000元
Muni	1,000元
泥巴咖啡	1,000元
瞿宛文	2,000元
陳光興	2,000元
夏鑄九	2,000元
何春蕤／卡維波	2,000元
馮建三	3,000元
趙剛	2,000元
賀照田	2,000元
黃麗玲	2,000元
夏曉鵑	5,000元
total	42,000元

共匯了美金1290(台幣42000, 扣掉手續費350元)


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CONDEMN STATE VIOLENCE! NO TO ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTION!
END THE CORRUPT AND ANTI-PEOPLE ARROYO REGIME!
Joint Statement (August 20, 2009)

We, Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students, Student Christian Movement
of the Philippines, National Union of Students of the Philippines and
College Editors Guild of the Philippines condemn in the strongest
terms the violent dispersal and mass arrests of the youth rally at the
Malacañang gates by elements of the Presidential Security Group (PSG)
and the Manila Police District – Philippine National Police yesterday,
August 19.

What happened at the Malacañang gates is an exaggerated use of force
against the youth and students. At the moment we reached Gate 7 of
Malacañang, elements of the PSG and PNP immediately welcomed us with
blows and nightsticks. Some of them were not even in uniform.
Negotiations went underway only after they have arrested 20 of our
fellow students and 17 of us have suffered mild to serious physical
injuries.

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URGENT ACTION APPEAL


UA Title: MASS ARRESTS AND VIOLENT DISPERSAL AT YOUTH RALLY

UA CASE:  ASSUALT, ARBITRARY ARREST AND UNJUST DETENTION OF STUDENTS, MANILA, PHILIPPINES


VICTIM/S:
1.      Mark Gil Gamido, 17 y/o, ANAKBAYAN Culiat High School chapter
2.      Likha Gaia Flores, 16y/o, ANAKBAYAN member
3.      Jessa Dulay, League of Filipino Students member
4.      Karl Villaseñor, Anakbayan
5      Yasmin Ongay, member Anakbayan University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman
6. Charmaine Guevarra, member Anakbayan, UP Diliman
7. Michael Non, member League of Filipino Students, UP Diliman
8. Lia Torres, member Anakbayan UP Diliman
9. Warren Guttierez, member League of Filipino Students, UP Diliman
10. Allan de Guzman, member League of Filipino Students, UP Diliman
11. Absolom Eligio, member League of Filipino Students, UP Diliman
12. Abriel Mansilungan, Kabataan Partylist member, Polytechnic
University of the Philippines (PUP)
13. Kimberly Salas, member Student Christian Movement of the
Philippines (SCMP), PUP
14. Giemma Canalis, member SCMP-PUP
15. Elvin Rillo, PUP student
16.    Lea Jamayan, member League of Filipino Students, PUP
17. Andrew Alejo, Anakbayan PUP member
18. Ana Isabel Manalang, PUP student
19. Anton Perdigon, College Editors Guild of the Philippines member
20. Nida Grefaldo, College Editors Guild of the Philippines member


Place of Incident: Gate 7, Malacañan Palace, Manila

Date and time of incident:   August 19, 2009, around 11 a.m.

Perpetrators:  Members of the Presidential Security Group, Manila
Police District


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OFW group hits 'pompous' Arroyo visit to Hong Kong

03/26/2008 | 08:51 PM

MANILA, Philippines-A Hong Kong-based network of migrant organizations criticized the “pompous" preparations drawn up for the scheduled visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the former British colony on Sunday.

“She rents a spacious lounge in a five-star hotel while stranded workers in Jeddah are cramped in jail cells. She throws a lavish banquet for her supporters while OFWs in Kuwait scrounge trash bins for food. Isn’t this scandalous and immoral?" asked Gloria Step down Movement – Hong Kong (GSM-HK) spokesperson Eman Villanueva on Wednesday.

President Arroyo is set to appear before the Filipino community on March 30 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in front of the scenic Victoria Harbor.

Citing insider information, Villanueva claimed that the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong (PCG-HK) will be gathering hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to attend a reception with the President at the hotel’s pricey Tiffin Lounge.

“Tiffin Lounge, where GMA is scheduled to appear, already costs HK$450 per head. If they gather 200 people, it’ll be a whooping HK$90,000 (P 450,000).," Villanueva said.

“Where did this money come from? Is this not also an extension of this government’s extreme corruption?" he asked.

The group scored the President’s “luxurious program," noting that most OFWs face “desperate" situations all over the globe.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, more than 100 stranded Filipinos are awaiting repatriation while cramped inside a deportation center. It was reported that the OFWs, mostly runaways from their employers as well as undocumented workers, are suffering from poor health and lack of food.

Eighty-four of the 145 stranded Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, however, have been cleared for repatriation and will probably start coming home by next week, the Labor department confirmed on Wednesday.
ding to Villanueva, the preparations for Arroyo’s visit only indicate that funds that may be channeled for the OFW’s welfare are there.

“Only, it is not used for its intended purpose but to give a thief and a plunderer a pompous welcome," he added.

Previously, GSM-HK has initiated a campaign rallying Filipinos to snub any activity involving the President in Hong Kong.

Since Tuesday, the group also claimed to have gathered about 5,000 signatures from OFWs in Hong Kong to support the “No Remittance Day" campaign scheduled on April 6.

A total of 2,000 OFWs are also expected to participate in the protest action, according to Villanueva.

OFW money

GSM-HK also accused the Arroyo administration of using the proposed “OFW Savings Instrument" to siphon off money for its own benefit.

“It is not enough that our remittance and payment to government charges are pillaged? Now we are lured to shell out more with the false promise of relief," Villanueva averred.

GSM-HK’s spokesperson also slammed the hedging fund program launched by the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines which was envisioned to help OFWs cope with the continuing appreciation of the peso against the US dollar.

Under the program, the remittance-deposit by a group of OFWs for a certain period would enjoy a guaranteed return, and a measure of protection against the fluctuating peso-US dollar exchange rate.

“The relief that we need is for prices of basic goods to go down, for the EVAT to be scrapped, for oil prices to rollback and for social services such as education and health to be accessible. This is something that we cannot get while GMA is in place," Villanueva asserted. - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV

(UPDATE) Labor leader shot dead in Cavite
By Niña Catherine Calleja
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 01:59pm (Mla time) 03/11/2008

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna—A labor leader in Cavite was able to survive two consecutive attempts on his life but failed the third time, when three to five men shot him several times Monday morning in Imus, Cavite.

Gerry Cristobal, 39, former union president of the Japanese semiconductor firm Emi-Yazaki and an official of the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW), was killed in what police said was a traffic altercation in Imus town, Cavite.

Senior Supt. Fidel Posadas, Cavite provincial police director, told the the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that Cristobal was shot several times near a gasoline station on Aguinaldo Highway in Barangay (village) Anabu I-B in Imus at about 7:30 a.m.

On April 28, 2006, Cristobal was shot and seriously wounded by SPO1 Romeo Lara of the intelligence division of the Imus police station.

Lara, who was also wounded during that incident, denied that he intended to kill Cristobal and said it was actually Cristobal who tried to kill him.

After 10 months, on Feb. 9, 2007, Cristobal escaped unhurt when two motorcycle-riding men fired three shots at him.

Supt. Ulysses Cruz, Imus police chief, said it was not an ambush.

"When you say it's an ambush, the gunmen are waiting in a place to shoot the victim," he added.

Cruz said that according to witnesses, the assailants on board a green Toyota Innova vehicle seemed to be chasing the Mitsubishi Lancer "box-type" car of Cristobal before the shooting.

He said they were not sure if he was able to shoot back.

The police found a 9-mm pistol in Cristobal's car while the assailants allegedly used M14 rifles.

Ramil Tined, president of the union Samahan ng Manggagawa ng Emi Independent, said it was highly probable that the other two incidents were related to this one.

"We believe it was not just a road fight," he said, adding that the neighbors of Cristobal said they had seen a vehicle similar to the one used by the gunmen parked near his house several times.

"Imposibleng traffic lang 'yun. May dalang mahaba. Target talaga siya (It was impossible that the reason was just a traffic altercation. The gunmen used long firearms. Surely, he was a target)," Tined said.

Nora Tiloy, former coworker of Cristobal at Emi-Yazaki, said she was both sad and angry.

"Pinapatay na nila ang hanay naming para siguro matakot kami [They are already killing people in our ranks, perhaps to scare us]," she said.

Two years ago, their comrade Jesus Buth Servida, the former vice-president of the union in Emi-Yazaki, was killed by a lone gunman in front of the gate of the semiconductor factory in Imus, Cavite.

Servida was the former vice president of the Samahang Manggagawa sa Emi-Yazaki (SME) and one of the leaders of the SCW.

Like him, Cristobal remained active in labor organizing in Cavite.

FREE KA BEL MOVEMENT

An alliance for the immediate release of Anakpawis Representative Crispin B. Beltran, true leader of the Filipino people

PRESS RELEASE
August 25, 2006

The people's movement will release Ka Bel "End Beltran's six months illegal imprisonment, jail Arroyo instead for her crimes against Filipinos"

Marking the sixth month of Rep. Crispin Beltran's illegal detention, the Free Ka Bel Movement (FKBM) together with Anakpawis Party List led a protest rally of labor unions, progressive organizations and thousands of Beltran's supporters to demand the legislator's immediate release. "We demand an end to Beltran's six months illegal imprisonment. We want Arroyo out Malacanang and thrown into jail for her crimes against Filipinos, said FKBM Spokesperson Dennis Maga."

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Probe Body: Effective only if Genuinely Independent, Credible, Transparent and with Powers to Prosecute

BY THE COUNSELS FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTIES
Posted by Bulatlat
Posted 4:03 p.m., Aug. 21, 2006 

CODAL finds unacceptable Pres. Arroyo’s creation of a probe body to investigate political killings without any consultation from the victims and the human rights sector to assure the public that the body is genuinely independent.   Although we have condemned Pres. Arroyo, the PNP, the AFP and the DOJ for their silence and inaction in the past five years while the killings were going on, we would have welcomed Pres. Arroyo’s attempt for the creation of a probe body if it is genuinely independent, effective and credible because it is transparent and consultative. Even if CODAL finds it encouraging that the President has essentially abandoned Task Force Usig as it has failed to gain any credibility from the victims and the public, it is condemnable that another body is created without putting up mechanisms that will ensure its independence, credibility and effectiveness, thereby condemning that body to the same fate as TF Usig.

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EDITORIAL
Menace over Melo

Inquirer
Last updated 01:33am (Mla time) 08/23/2006
Published on Page A10 of the August 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's decision -- after international pressure made it impossible to continue stonewalling local demands for action -- to appoint an investigative commission made the news around the world. Her decision shows that the issue of human rights cannot just be set aside so that the country can "move on." So now, the country awaits what the commission tasked to investigate political murders will do.

While the National Democratic Front has criticized the appointment of retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo and others, on the basis of the members' not being known for their advocacy of human rights, at least the President didn't appoint individuals known for their hostility to human rights. Melo's reputation, too, despite his having worked for the late President Diosdado Macapagal, hasn't sparked the same derision that President Ferdinand Marcos' appointment of Chief Justice Enrique Fernando did in the wake of Ninoy Aquino's assassination.

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ANALYSIS
Arroyo hit men make farce of Melo Commission

By Amando Doronila
Inquirer
Last updated 00:38am (Mla time) 08/23/2006
Published on Page A11 of the August 23, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration has launched a spurious peace offensive to blunt mounting international pressure to stem the wave of extrajudicial killings, which has claimed the lives of at least 114 political activists since 2001, by creating an "independent" commission of inquiry into the executions headed by former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo.

President Arroyo said she created the commission to demonstrate "my determination to stop extrajudicial killings." The commission would be "powerful, credible and fully independent, setting its own rules and timetable," she added.

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Bishop declines membership in probe body

By Carla Gomez
Inquirer
Last updated 07:00pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

BACOLOD City -- A Catholic bishop has declined his appointment to a special investigative body formed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to investigate a spate of killings of left-wing activists and journalists.

Batanes Bishop Camilo Gregorio, who initially said he was conditionally accepting his appointment to the commission headed by former Supreme Court justice Jose Melo, asked Tuesday that he be replaced.

"In deference to the autonomy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, I asked to be replaced," he said in a telephone interview from Batanes.

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SC orders AFP to present another missing person

By Tetch Torres
INQ7.net
Last updated 04:34pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

THE Supreme Court ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to present before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Nueva Ecija province a man who went missing after allegedly being abducted by government troops.

Philip Dela Cruz is one of 10 Nueva Ecija residents who went missing after they were allegedly seized by government troops in a series of saturation drives aimed at flushing out communist rebels.

In its resolution, the high court directed the executive judge of the RTC in San Jose, Nueva Ecija to immediately assign the case to a judge.

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Senators, CPP defend media vs Gonzales’ claims

By Nonoy Espina, Veronica Uy
INQ7.net
Last updated 04:10pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

COMMUNIST rebels and senators assailed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales for claiming media have been infiltrated by rebels and admitting that the government has been “profiling” journalists.

Gonzales’ claims, made at a media forum on Monday, are “McCarthyist threats” and proof of government’s “policy of suppressing and intimidating free expression and criticism,” Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesman Gregorio Rosal said Tuesday.

“A reporter who embraces communism doesn't commit any crime,” said Senator Joker Arroyo, a human rights lawyer.

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Farmers’ group leader killed in Surigao
But cops claim victim was a rebel

By Thea Alberto
INQ7.net
Last updated 01:54pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

A MILITANT farmers’ organization said the leader of an affiliate group had been murdered in his home in Surigao del Sur Sunday night.

But police, while confirming the killing of Hermelino Marquiza, denied the victim was an activist but was reportedly belonged to the New People’s Army (NPA).

Carl Ala, spokesman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) maintained Marquiza was an active leader of the Kapunungan sa Mag-uuma sa Surigao and said he was shot dead with an M-14 rifle around 11 p.m. in Barangay Maitum, Tandag town.

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Military nabs rights workers in ‘off limits’ area

By Delfin Mallari Jr., Joel Guinto
INQ7.net, Inquirer
Last updated 06:27pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

(UPDATE) THE MILITARY has confirmed apprehending members of a human rights fact-finding team that had entered what it claimed was an “off limits” area in Quezon province.

But Colonel Romy Lustestica, commander of the 74th Infantry Battalion (IB), denied on Tuesday assertions by activists that the fact-finding team fielded by the human rights group Karapatan had been “abducted.”

Lustestica said the activists were entering an “off limits” area, which the military had cordoned off because it was the “scene of the crime,” referring to the encounter with members of the New People’s Army (NPA) last Friday in Catanauan town where three guerrillas and a soldier were killed.

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Makati court suspends trials vs 5 leftwing solons

By Tetch Torres
INQ7.net
Last updated 06:06pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

THE Makati regional trial court has suspended all proceedings against the five leftwing lawmakers charged with rebellion, saying it "cannot just play into the hands of the prosecution and act with grave abuse.”

In a five-page ruling, Judge Elmo Alameda said trials would be suspended until the Supreme Court has ruled on the lawmakers’ petition for certiorari with prohibition questioning the preliminary investigation conducted by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The high court issued a status quo order on June 5, barring the DOJ from proceeding with the preliminary investigation, even as the DoJ had already conducted a preliminary inquiry and filed the rebellion case against partylist representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, Joel Virador, Liza Maza and Rafael Mariano.

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NDF rejects Melo commission

By Nonoy Espina, Delfin Mallari Jr.
INQ7.net, Inquirer
Last updated 07:32pm (Mla time) 08/22/2006

SAYING “none of its members are known to be human rights advocates or defenders,” the National Democratic Front (NDF) has rejected the commission created by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to investigated political killings.

Fidel Agcaoili, chairman of the NDF’s human rights committee, in a statement, called the commission “nothing but a whitewashing machine for the Arroyo regime” and “another vicious psywar [psychological warfare] device to besmirch the memory of the victims and blame the revolutionary movement for the crimes.”

“It is completely unacceptable and condemnable that the mastermind of the extrajudicial killings and abductions of legal activists and suspected revolutionaries is the one unilaterally forming a commission to investigate her crimes,” Agcaoili said.

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Independent body to probe killings draws mixed reactions

By Maila Ager, Tetch Torres, Thea Alberto
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:49pm (Mla time) 08/21/2006

(4TH UPDATE) THE FORMATION of an independent body that will investigate the militant and journalist killings does not guarantee a speedy resolution of these cases, a high-ranking police official said Monday.

Nonetheless, the panel should be “transparent and consultative” to be “genuinely independent, effective, and credible,” according to a lawyers’ group and leftist lawmakers predicted it would end up a government “mouthpiece.”

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said the commission “lacks independence and credibility, considering that its members have been unilaterally chosen and appointed by Arroyo, who herself is the principal accused in the series of killings.”

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Palparan admits  'relative blame’ for leftist slays

By Joel Guinto
INQ7.net
Last updated 05:58pm (Mla time) 08/21/2006

A CONTROVERSIAL Army general accused by militants of responsibility for many of the political killings sweeping the country acknowledged on Monday that he was “relatively to blame” and that soldiers could be behind many of the deaths.

But Major General Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, said there are no official orders for his troops to murder left-wing activists and other dissenters.

At a news forum in Quezon City, Palparan admitted having "encouraged people to take the law into their hands. But I cannot give the same order to my soldiers. I have encouraged people who are victimized to get even, but it's their individual responsibility."

（'My hands are clean,' says Army Major General Jovito Palparan, whom militants blamed for the wave of violence against their comrades. Photo by Joel Guinto）

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THERE’S THE RUB
The usurper did it

By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer
Last updated 01:22am (Mla time) 08/21/2006
Published on page A14 of the August 21, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

I’M GLAD THE FOLK OF OTHER COUNTRIES are still alive. By that, I don’t just mean that they are alive physically, though in these times of murder and mayhem that means a great deal already. I mean that they are alive in the sense that they can still see, hear, smell, taste and feel. That is something the folk of this country no longer seem able to do. Jovito Palparan says openly that anybody seen in the company of a suspected NPA can and will be shot to death along with him, and Filipinos no longer fill the air with angry shouts at that obscenity. There is only one thing worse than being dead. That is being dead while still being alive.

I’m glad the folk of other countries are still alive while being alive and have risen to damn it. “No one,” thunders Amnesty International, whose credentials for saying these things have been earned the hard way during the time of butterflies and dictators, “deserves to die for their political affiliation. It should be a deep embarrassment to the government that people in the Philippines cannot freely exercise their rights of political expression and association.”

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RP women take case to UN

Inquirer
Last updated 09:20pm (Mla time) 08/21/2006

NEW YORK CITY -- Members of the Philippine women’s movement presented cases of the Philippine government’s alleged gross violations of women’s rights to a United Nations forum here last week.

Twenty-three international experts took the Philippine government to task for failing to address poverty and political repression and for its “uncritical support” of the persistent culture of machismo in the institutions of media, education, law and religion.

The women spoke during the 36th Session of the Committee on the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women on August 14. The body was chaired by former Philippine Ambassador Rosario Manalo.

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Communists have infiltrated media, says Gonzales
‘Old tired line,’ says NUJP chair

By Joel Guinto
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:30pm (Mla time) 08/21/2006

(2ND UPDATE) COMMUNIST rebels have penetrated the media, and are using them to topple the government, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Monday.

Gonzales’ claim immediately drew a retort from Inday Espina-Varona, chairwoman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

“It’s an old, tired line used whenever the government faces a crisis,” Espina-Varona said.

“Media has a responsibility to cover all sides -- the government, the rebels, the people,” she added.

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‘Lessons of Aquino assassination lost on Arroyo’ -- Bayan

KMP dares gov’t to ‘prove us wrong’ on killings

By Thea Alberto
INQ7.net
Last updated 12:57pm (Mla time) 08/20/2006

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not learned from the death of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and is even emulating the dictatorial leadership of former president Ferdinand Marcos, an officer of the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Movement or Bayan) said Sunday.

"Twenty-three years have passed (since Aquino's death) and we see a rising dictatorship tread the same path of political assassinations and killings just so it could cling on to power,” Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement.

Aquino, a staunch critic of Marcos, was gunned down at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983, just minutes after he returned to the country from the United States.

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REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE
Rage against the dying of the light

By Patricia Evangelista
Inquirer
Last updated 08:47am (Mla time) 08/20/2006
Published on page A11 of the August 20, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT TRUTH, AND JUSTICE, AND THE people who get caught in between. About a half-an-hour ride from Quezon City, soot-stained factories and car washes make way for glassy fields drowned in brown water and a roadside billboard that says “Sta. Rita, 1 Km.” Beyond the blue and white tollgate, a sign welcomes visitors to Barangay Plaridel, Bulacan, the place where videoke machines are rented out, roasted goat is for sale by the kilo and tricycles have matching umbrellas attached to their motors. At the first side street, past unpainted concrete houses, past scratched-off campaign posters, past a man in red shorts carrying a plastic bag with a 2-liter bottle of Coke, is the Church of St. James.

I walk into the church and find a young girl in a school uniform sitting at a pew. I ask her where the refugee center is. She pulls open a wooden door, and I follow her into an unlit passage, through another wooden door, across a cobbled path by a green, green garden and out into a sprawling concrete courtyard.

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‘Commission to probe killings a sham’ -- Sison

By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 01:18pm (Mla time) 08/19/2006

LUCENA CITY -- President Macapagal-Arroyo’s proposed special commission to look into the political killings in the country is nothing but a sham and blatant cover up for the military death squad to continue its murderous rampage, the self-exiled founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said Saturday.

“It (commission) can only depend on the sham investigations of the police agents of Arroyo and can only end up with trying to uphold the malicious claims of the regime against the victims, the legal opposition and the revolutionary movement,” Jose Ma. Sison said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer from his base in the Netherlands.

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