YES, VIRGINIA, THERE ARE SUCH THINGS AS MERMAIDS AND MERMEN, TIKBALANG, KAPRE, WITCHES, FORTUNE-TELLERS, AND MAGICIANS
Alexander Martin Remollino

Yes, Virginia, there are such things as mermaids and mermen, tikbalang, kapre, witches, fortune-tellers, and magicians. In fact they abound and thrive in this sad republic where to love entertainment as an addict loves opium, LSD or some other mind-bending drug has been the fashion for generation upon generation... READ FULL POEM

KUNG ANG KULAY MO MA'Y HINDI NAKASISILAW
Alexander Martin Remollino

Kung ang kulay mo ma'y hindi nakasisilaw,
huwag kang tumungo't magtakip ng mukha... BASAHIN ANG BUONG TULA

BRAWNER'S BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Alexander Martin Remollino

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office is hoodwinking the public when he says that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado is ordering the transfer of the 43 health workers collectively known as the Morong 43 to a Philippine National Police (PNP) facility, even as they have supposedly communicated their desire to remain at the military’s Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where they are now detained. He is trying to make the AFP and its chief of staff appear more magnanimous than they actually are... READ FULL ARTICLE

GOV'T VIOLATES ELECTION LAWS BY FIELDING OWN PARTY-LIST GROUPS
Alexander Martin Remollino

Catholic priest Fr. Joe Dizon, convener of the anti-fraud and election monitoring group Kontra Daya, raised hell earlier this week over the Commission on Elections’s (Comelec) accreditation of a partylist group that is, by its own declaration, a project initiated by an official of the Arroyo administration and a prominent ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Father Dizon said the Comelec should not have accredited the partylist group that calls itself Batang Iwas Droga (Bida or Kids Avoiding Drugs), and called for the group’s disqualification from the May 2010 elections.

Bida describes itself in its website as “the brainchild” of Ephraim Genuino, chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor). The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Department of Education (DepEd) are Pagcor’s project partners in Bida... READ FULL ARTICLE

2010 WATCHDOG URGES PEOPLE'S ACTION IN WORST-CASE SCENARIO
Alexander Martin Remollino

A 2010 election watchdog group launched yesterday is geared not only to monitor the upcoming elections, but also to rally the public to respond accordingly should the electorate’s will be frustrated.

Kontra Daya 2010, which was launched yesterday morning in Intramuros, Manila, has this early raised several fears about the May elections. These include the possibility of massive fraud and failure of elections.

“Our objective is to have credible and acceptable elections,” said former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, one of Kontra Daya’s conveners, in a press conference organized for the launch. “With the number of warnings and complaints we have received and signs (that are making themselves felt), there is every reason to be worried about May 2010.”

“We want to prepare the people to take action in case the worst scenario takes place,” said Fr. Joe Dizon of Solidarity Philippines, another Kontra Daya convener... READ FULL ARTICLE

PASASALAMAT
Alexander Martin Remollino

Sa ngalan ng “Morong 43” at ng mga nakikinabang sa kanilang libreng serbisyong pangkalusugan sa isang bansa kung saan pati yata hangin ay gustong pabayaran sa mga mamamayan, walang patlang na pasasalamat ang nauukol na ating ipaabot sa Armed Forces of the Philippines, lalo na kina Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia at Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato... BASAHIN ANG BUONG TULA

RAPACITY IS NOT A TUB
Alexander Martin Remollino

You say he is as likely to steal
as a sheep is likely to kill,
because he has all the wealth in the world... READ FULL POEM

A HUNDRED FEBRUARIES AND MORE AFTER
Alexander Martin Remollino

A hundred Februaries and more
after Grayson fired those fatal shots... READ FULL POEM

YOU WILL NEVER BE HISTORY
Alexander Martin Remollino

History for you
was never a mere calendar of events.
Your pen was a million megaphones,
loudspeaker upon loudspeaker,
for the chorus of voices
silenced by official histories... READ FULL POEM

NO WELLNESS
Alexander Martin Remollino

For Tweetie de Leon, Marian Rivera, and other Nestle product endorsers

There can never be wellness
in eating and drinking
the flesh and blood of workers
who fought for the good life.

ARROYO AND PEOPLE POWER
Centerstage / UPI Asia
Alexander Martin Remollino

Manila, Philippines, February 26 — "The world embraced Edsa I in 1986. The world tolerated Edsa II in 2001. The world will not forgive an Edsa III, but it will instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable."

These were the words of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Feb. 22 as she spoke at the opening of a four-day commemoration of the 1986 People Power revolt along Metro Manila's major thoroughfare Edsa, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, which ousted the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The Edsa I revolt restored a semblance of democratic governance that had prevailed before Marcos declared martial law in 1972. The popular uprising of 2001 toppled then-President Joseph Estrada, whose family and friends were involved in several corruption scandals.

Arroyo was vice president when Estrada was booted out of office. She took over as the constitutional successor. Eight years after benefiting from a people-power uprising, Arroyo said another Edsa revolt would earn the Philippines "condemnation" from the rest of the world "as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable."

She would do well to check out the results of the latest survey by the socio-economic think-tank IBON Foundation, which shows that the Philippine political scene is already very unstable, even without the country going through yet another Edsa uprising. IBON's survey shows that 66.7 percent of the respondents believe Arroyo should be removed from office.

According to IBON, its survey "was conducted on January 7-16 among 1,500 respondents across various regions and sectors nationwide, and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent."

If the country is now reeling from a political instability that could explode anytime, Arroyo has no one to blame but herself. Her government's systematic sell-out of the country's sovereignty and patrimony, the denial of the people's basic right to live like humans, her family and political allies' involvement in no less than 10 big-time corruption scandals -- all these have created the climate of political instability that looms over the Philippines today. She has provoked the people by her overall mismanagement of the country's affairs.

The world "will not forgive" an Edsa III? That is not for her to say. And even if that were the case, the rightness of an act is not diminished simply because "the world" condemns it.

The Filipino people were right in toppling a tyrannical government in 1986. The Filipino people were right in toppling a corrupt government in 2001. They will be right when they decide to topple a government that is both tyrannical and corrupt -- whatever the world should later think about their doing so.

LAWYER SAYS GMA TO GAIN FROM PUNO IMPEACHMENT

For lawyer Theodore Te, the bid to impeach Chief Justice Reynato Puno smells of “political maneuverings” that would benefit the current Malacañang occupant.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

Does President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stand to benefit from the impeachment of Chief Justice Reynato Puno?

This is a question that has arisen amid alleged moves to impeach him, which were recently exposed by Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez. The impeachment bid against the Chief Justice reportedly stems from the non-promulgation of a ruling unseating an opposition member of the House of Representatives.

For Theodore Te, a law professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) and Metro Manila regional coordinator of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), the bid to impeach Puno smells of “political maneuverings” that would benefit the current Malacañang occupant. “At this point, Gloria stands to gain from any measure that would ensure that she is not prosecuted for the crimes she has committed – all the impeachable offenses she would have been found liable for had it not been for Jose de Venecia’s and later Prospero Nograles’ respective Houses,” Te told Bulatlat in an interview.

In a press conference last month, lawyer and businessman Louie Biraogo denounced what he described as an “irregularity” in the Supreme Court’s decision-making process.

He was referring to the non-promulgation of a July 15, 2008 draft decision unseating Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong, who had won by over 7,000 votes over her closest opponent, Olivia Paras, in the 2007 elections. The ruling upholds Limkaichong’s disqualification from holding office for being a Chinese citizen.

“My suspicion is the Chief Justice may have a hand in this irregularity,” Biraogo said. “These circumstances led me to believe the Chief Justice may have been dishonest in his dealings … and may prejudice the faith of people in the judiciary.”

Paras is the wife of former Rep. Jacinto Paras, a member of Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi or Partner of the Free Filipino).

Penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reyes, who has recently retired, the July 15, 2008 draft decision on the Limkaichong case had been signed by all justices except Puno himself. But nine of the 14 justices who signed it concurred only “in the result” and did not agree with Reyes’s reasoning. Puno thereafter convinced his colleagues to reconsider the ruling, and subsequently, the Supreme Court “unanimously decided to withhold” its promulgation. The High Tribunal also scheduled oral arguments to be held last August.

“As Chief Justice, (Puno) has the function of ensuring that the decision would be authoritative, meaning it would be followed as law, not only by the parties to the case but also other parties similarly situated,” Te told Bulatlat in an interview. “Under these circumstances, it might have been necessary for Puno to step in considering that the Reyes ponencia did two things: 1. declare a candidate who had been allowed to run by the Comelec (Commission on Elections) as disqualified, and 2. declare a clear winner, by over 7,000 votes, as ineligible to occupy the office to which she was elected and to strike her off the rolls of the House of Representatives. Had the decision been promulgated with majority concurring only in the result, it would have been unclear, at least to Limkaichong’s constituents who had elected her to office, why their duly-elected representative was now disqualified.”

Te also noted that in his reflections on the draft decision, Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that the Comelec resolutions of May 17 and June 29, 2007 disqualifying Limkaichong were rendered “in grave abuse of discretion” and pointed out his reasons for saying so. These were the same Comelec resolutions affirmed by the ruling Reyes penned.

Te said that a ruling where majority of the justices concur only “in the result” is worthless. “A ruling where majority concurred only “in the result” has no authoritative value. The latter feature is that which makes Supreme Court decisions part of the law of the land and that which makes its Decisions ‘precedent-setting’. Reyes’s reasoning was, to the mind of the majority, so bad that they could not accept it but they all agreed that the result was correct. A ruling that is not binding as precedent is a waste of time,” he said.

Previous non-promulgations

There have been similar incidents where Supreme Court decisions were not promulgated, Te said, citing the cases of Misolas v. Panga and People v. Caruncho.

Justice Abraham Sarmiento (now retired), in 1990, wrote in Misolas v. Panga:

It perplexes me why this dissent should first of all merit what appear to be repartees from the majority. I am but casting a contrary vote, which, after all, is in performance of a constitutional duty.

I am also concerned at how this case has journeyed from ponente to ponente and opinion to opinion, which, rather than expedited its resolution, has delayed it-at the expense of the accused-petitioner.

I was originally assigned to write the decision in this case, and as early as June, 1989, I was ready. On June 14, 1989, I started circulating a decision granting the petition and declaring Presidential Decree No. 1866, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1878-A, unconstitutional and of no force and effect. Meanwhile, Madame Justice Irene Cortes disseminated a dissent. By July 18, 1989, my ponencia had been pending in the office of the Chief Justice for promulgation. It carried signatures of concurrence of eight Justices (including mine), a slim majority, but a majority nonetheless. Five Justices, on the other hand, joined Justice Cortes in her dissent. The Chief Justice did not sign the decision on his word that he was filing a dissent of his own.

Subsequently, and as events would soon unfold quickly and dramatically, the Chief Justice returned my decision to the Court en banc, and declared that unless somebody changed his mind, he was promulgating my decision. Justice Edgardo Paras, who was one of the eight who had stamped their imprimatur on my decision, indicated that he did not want to “clip the wings of the military” and that he was changing his mind. This sudden reversement under the circumstances surrounding its manifestation, took me aback for which I strongly voiced my protest for a case (although the majority is very slim) that I had thought was a settled matter.

I am aware that similar events in the Supreme Court are nothing uncommon. The following are the ringing words of my distinguished colleague, Justice Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, but they could just as well have been mine, as far as the instant controversy is concerned, and I could not have put it any better:

“It has taken all of a year and four months to what, I hope, will see the final disposition of this case, notwithstanding periodic reminders for an earlier resolution. It is this delay that has caused me a great deal of concern. It is, to me, a crying example of justice delayed and is by no means ‘much ado about nothing.’ … Nor is the question involved ‘none too important.’ … The bone of contention is whether or not a criminal complaint, which is an offense against the State, may be dismissed on the basis of an amicable settlement between the complainant and the accused, who is a public officer.

“As assigned initially, I was to prepare the opinion of the Court. My original ‘ponencia’ annulling the Order of respondent Municipal Judge Eriberto H. Espiritu dismissing the criminal case against respondent Mayor Emiliano Caruncho, granting the petition for Certiorari and Mandamus, and ordering respondent Municipal Judge to reinstate and proceed with the trial on the merits of the criminal case against respondent Mayor without further delay, was circulated beginning July 30, 1982.”

Te said that stopping the promulgation of a Supreme Court decision does not fall under impeachable offenses – particularly betrayal of public trust, which Biraogo appeared to be alluding to in his statement during last month’s press conference. “I do not believe that the failure to promulgate, for so long as the reason is clear and is not intended to favor a specific party, would be actionable,” Te said.

Malacañang

Considering the legal basis for the non-promulgation of the July 15, 2008 draft decision on the Limkaichong case, the issue of the alleged impeachment moves against Puno has assumed political color. Suspicions are rife that Malacañang may have a hand in the impeachment bid against the highest official of the Philippine judiciary.

Malacañang, through Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, has denied having a hand in the alleged moves against Puno. “In fairness, that speculation is so unfair,” Dureza said in a radio interview last Jan. 11.

Asked whether Arroyo stands to benefit from Puno’s impeachment, Te replied in the affirmative. “At this point, Gloria stands to gain from any measure that would ensure that she is not prosecuted for the crimes she has committed – all the impeachable offenses she would have been found liable for had it not been for JdV’s (Jose de Venecia) and later Nogi’s (Prospero Nograles) respective Houses,” he said.

Te warned that even if Puno survives the alleged moves to impeach him, he should brace for more plots by those who want him out of the Supreme Court.

“Take note that it is not only through impeachment that Puno can be ousted,” Te said. “If he is forced to resign, same effect. If Puno weathers this, expect more to come out in the future because Gloria’s supporters might be hoping that Puno would find it untenable to continue.”

He said Puno should expect his connections with businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco and his closeness to Estelito Mendoza during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos to be played up.

One of Puno’s sons is a top-ranking executive at San Miguel Corporation, where Cojuangco – a top Marcos crony – is the present chief executive officer. From 1971 to 1974, Puno was a solicitor at the Office of the Solicitor-General (OSG), which was then headed by Mendoza.

Te also said that those who want Puno out will not stop even if he will be the only non-Arroyo appointee in the High Tribunal by the time Arroyo completes her appointment of seven new justices later this year.

“One may ask, why the big deal?” Te said. “It is a big deal because the spectacle of a Puno and Carpio dissent every time would be a great blow to legitimacy. I think Gloria wants what Marcos never got – an exit into history without a cloud. Her last best chance is for a Supreme Court to rewrite history. With Puno and Carpio still there, I don’t think this would be possible.”

He also said the best way to maintain whatever independence the judiciary still has is for Puno to “stay put” until 2010, when he reaches the age of 70 – the mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices. (Bulatlat.com)

ISRAEL, THE OPPRESSORS OF YOUR PEOPLE ARE STILL ALIVE
Alexander Martin Remollino

Israel,
your soldiers today are the Romans and Nazis of old.
Listen to the wails of the women and men in Palestine
whose homes were reduced to rubble,
whose sons and daughters and brothers and sisters
were slaughtered like pigs --
these are the same cries
that burst forth from the mouths of your people
as Jerusalem's ruins were being buried
under Aelia Capitolina,
as their loved ones were being gassed to death
in the concentration camps.
Israel,
the oppressors of your people
are still alive --
daily uprooting and murdering the Palestinians.

PARALLELS
Alexander Martin Remollino

Sixty years have the Palestinians spent
away from Palestine,
herded into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
as the Jews were
in the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe.
For sixty years they have been fleeing
from massacres against them,
which are not unlike the pogroms of the Holocaust.

With their homeland being chewed up almost daily,
the Palestinians are getting dispersed
throughout the world,
as the Jews were after Rome's pillage of Judea.
And recently they have been walled in
from what is now Israel --
suffering the same fate that the Jews did
when the Romans built Colonia Aelia Capitolina.

OBAMA AND FILIPINO MIGRANTS IN THE U.S.
Centerstage / UPI Asia
Alexander Martin Remollino

Manila, Philippines, November 06 — How will a Barack Obama presidency affect Filipino migrants in the United States?

This question has arisen following the election of Obama, in part because the U.S. president-elect’s father is a Kenyan who migrated to Hawaii and lived there for two years before divorcing his mother, a white American from Kansas, when he was two years old.

“The (Obama administration’s) policy on immigrants may be more relaxed,” said Philippine Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. “He is the first U.S. president who has a non-American father, and he understands the situation of immigrants.”

Not only is the United States –- a nation largely peopled by the descendants of immigrants –- home to one of the largest Filipino migrant communities in the world. It is also the Philippines’ biggest source of remittances, with 51 percent of the latter’s remittances coming from the U.S.

These remittances are, for the most part, the life jacket that keeps the Philippine economy afloat even as it is perpetually ridden by deficit and debt.

How an Obama presidency will treat Filipino migrants in the U.S. will surely affect not only the Filipino-American community, but also the Philippines itself.

Escudero had a point in bringing up the issue of tight immigration policies, which have burdened those forced out of their homelands by the need to seek greener pastures abroad.

That, however, is just one part of the matter. The greater issue is how an Obama administration will respond to the needs of Filipino migrants who are starting to feel the effects of the U.S. financial crisis.

The U.S. has always beckoned to people across the globe with its promises of being a land of opportunity, and Filipinos have not been exempt from this. Since the first decades of the 20th century, ever-growing numbers of Filipinos have migrated to the U.S. in search of opportunities unavailable in the homeland largely due to the ravages of colonialism and neocolonialism. Confronting racism that lingers even today, these Filipinos spent the best years of their lives working to establish decent livelihoods in a country 10,000 miles away from their motherland.

Now the 4 million Filipinos in the United States are increasingly seeing the fruits of their and their forebears’ labor crumble to the ground –- with the country they have learned to also call home being in the grip of an economic crisis surpassed, in magnitude, only by the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In 2001, U.S. financial institutions offered low interest rates for home mortgage loans; even those with low income or virtually no collateral were encouraged to apply for home loans. Their loans, which became known as “subprime mortgages,” accumulated in U.S. financial institutions, starting in 2001. To spread the risk exposure of banks for these subprime mortgages, there was a process of “securitization” in which home mortgage loan packages were combined with others, packaged and sold as bonds and securities called collateralized debt obligations. These were guaranteed in credit default swaps by insurance companies and sold to other banks, financial investment houses and companies in the U.S. that deal in speculative investments for high returns.

But since the last quarter of 2006, borrowers –- especially those with subprime mortgages – increasingly failed to pay their amortizations. This caused a ripple effect on the banks and investment houses holding both the mortgages and the CDOs, as well as those which issued CDs, leading to a series of bankruptcies of banks and investment houses which were touted as “too big to fail.”

The U.S. financial crisis has led to company closures and the subsequent losses of jobs. Various news accounts show that some 750,000 jobs have been wiped out in the U.S. as a result of the crisis.

Filipinos are increasingly among those finding themselves without jobs in the U.S. as the crisis goes on. This has resulted in reduced remittance flows, the adverse effects of which the Philippine economy is starting to feel.

The Obama administration should face not only the issue of tight immigration laws, but also the needs of Filipino immigrants in the U.S. who are increasingly being weighed down by the financial crisis.

It will be interesting to see how an Obama administration will respond to the U.S. financial crisis, given that both he and his opponent, John McCain, received campaign contributions from Wall Street. According to the Sept. 16 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Obama received $191,000 from Merrill Lynch, $361,000 from Lehman Brothers, and $80,000 from Fannie Mae –- to name only a few.

These are just some of the financial institutions that have put the United States and the American people into the mess they are now in, and which the U.S. government has had to bail out even as those who bear the brunt of the crunch –- including more and more Filipino migrants –- are left to fend for themselves.

SOLDIERS RAID EVACUATION CENTER IN N. COTABATO

Early last month, Rakman Suleik and his 17-year-old son Samsudin, together with a few others, fled from the fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Aleosan, North Cotabato. They had evacuated, to safety or so they thought, at the house of a certain Colonel Maguid of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Barangay (village) Nalapaan in Pikit, North Cotabato. But even in the house that had served as their refuge, they would not be safe from atrocities by soldiers.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Early last month, Rakman Suleik and his 17-year-old son Samsudin, together with a few others, fled from the fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Aleosan, North Cotabato. They had evacuated, to safety or so they thought, at the house of a certain Colonel Maguid of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Barangay (village) Nalapaan in Pikit, North Cotabato.

But even in the house that had served as their refuge, they would not be safe from atrocities by soldiers.

A few minutes past midnight on Oct. 16, the evacuees at Colonel Maguid’s house heard violent raps on the door. A man from outside gave them five seconds to open the door, after which, he threatened, the house would be fired upon.

Ustadz Omar Salasal and his wife opened the door, whereupon soldiers barged in bearing bolos. They threatened to hack the evacuees with the bolos, ordered them to lie on the floor face down, and started beating them up. “Inapakan ako sa mukha (They stepped on my face),” Salasal told the delegates of a recent National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NIHM) to Pikit, North Cotabato and Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

The women and children were then separated from the men and locked up in a room. One of the soldiers then asked Salasal’s wife if there was anyone upstairs. She answered in the negative, but the soldier refused to believe her and dragged her upstairs. The soldier saw Rakman there, hiding in the ceiling, and ordered him to go down.

“Kinaladkad si Rakman at tinadyakan noong pababa sila ng hagdan (They dragged Rakman and kicked him as they were descending the stairs),” Salasal told the NIHM delegates.

Samsudin said he saw his father being beaten up. “Binugbog ang tatay ko, pinilipit ang tainga niya, at napaiyak siya dahil sa paninipa sa likod niya (My father was beaten up, his ears were twisted, and he broke into tears because his back was being kicked)” he said.

A few moments later, Samsudin said, he was accosted by the soldiers, who asked him who his father is. “No’ng malamang tatay ko si Rakman, sinipa ako at inapakan sa ulo, at saka inilabas ako (When they learned Rakman is my father, they kicked me and stepped on my head, and brought me out),” he said.

As all these were taking place, Salasal said, Colonel Maguid’s mother was pleading with the soldiers not to hurt the civilians. A soldier responded by taking one of the flashlights in the house and inserting it into the mouth of Colonel Maguid’s mother.

After that, the soldiers took Rakman and Samsudin outside the house and beat them up some more before speeding away with them in an Army truck. When the soldiers -– whom Salasal had identified as belonging to the 40th Infantry Battalion by the lettering on the Army truck they had used in the raid –- had gone a considerable distance, the other evacuees fled.

Samsudin said they were taken near another evacuation center, where the soldiers tied them to an ipil-ipil tree and continued beating them up.

Rakman is now detained at the Aleosan Municipal Jail. The soldiers had brought them there after beating them up while tied to the ipil-ipil tree.

“Do’n na lang po namin nalamang may kaso sa kanya (It was only there that we learned there is a case against him),” Samsudin said. “Hindi po alam ng tatay ko na may kaso pala siya (My father didn’t know that there was a case against him).”

“Hindi ko po alam kung bakit kami ang tinatarget (I don’t know why we were being targeted),” Samsudin told the NIHM delegates.

As of Oct. 24, there was still no definite information as to whether or not Rakman had been charged with any offense. (Bulatlat.com)

WITNESS INSISTS BOMBING THAT KILLED 4 CHILDREN, 2 ADULTS DELIBERATE

Mohalidin Unsi insists that the bombing attack by an OV 10 aircraft that killed four children, his wife and father-in-law, September 8, while they were fleeing on a boat was deliberate. He said they were even fired upon by soldiers while they were retrieving the bodies of the dead children.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat

Mohalidin Unsi, his pregnant wife, father-in-law, and some neighbors, including children, were fleeing from their homes in Sitio (sub-village) Dagading, Barangay (village) Tee in Datu Piang, Maguindanao just as a fighter plane was dropping bombs in the area at around 9-10 a.m. on Sept. 8. Suddenly, one bomb was dropped near the boat that carried the children.

Unsi thinks the attack on the children was deliberate. “Alam nilang mga sibilyan kami dahil may mga bata, pero hinulugan pa rin ng bomba (They could tell we are civilians because there were children with us, but still they dropped bombs near us),” he told the delegates to a recent National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NIHM) to Pikit, North Cotabato and Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

At first, he said the fighter plane of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which he identified as an OV 10 aircraft, seemed to be dropping the bombs just anywhere.

Because of the children’s seating arrangement, the boat carrying them was in danger of capsizing, so they were made to alight and rearrange their places. “Ang lupang binabaan nila ang hinulugan ng bomba (It was on the part of the soil where they had set foot that the bomb was dropped),” Unsi said.

Four of the children were killed, while six, including his wife’s brother, 13-year-old Guiamaludin, were wounded. The dead children were identified as Bailyn, 9; Zakarudin, 7; Adtayan, 5; and Faidza, 2 –- all siblings of his wife, Aida Mandi. Aida and her father Daya were also killed.

Unsi and his neighbors gathered the four children’s bodies one by one and brought them to a nearby road, where there were soldiers. “No’ng iniaahon na ang mga bata, pinagbababaril pa rin kami kahit mga sibilyan kami (While we were bringing the dead children from the river, the soldiers began shooting at us even though we are civilians),” he said.

After that he returned to the river for the remains of his wife and father-in-law.

“Binigyan ako (ng mga sundalo) ng 30 minuto para balikan ang asawa at biyenan ko, at pagkatapos no’n, babarilin na ako (The soldiers gave me 30 minutes to go back for the bodies of my wife and father-in-law, after which they would shoot me),” Unsi said. “Asawa ko na lang ang nabalikan ko dahil natakot na ako (It was only my wife’s corpse that I was able to bring back, because I feared for my life).”

(His father’s body was retrieved only in the afternoon of the next day, when there were fewer soldiers in the vicinity.)

Site of encounters

Brgy. Tee, where Sitio Dagading is located, is one of the major areas of fighting between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). But Unsi is sure there was no encounter between the military and the MILF the day they were bombed.

There had been encounters between government troops and the MILF as early as June 30 in Sitio Maligaya, Brgy. Malamote in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

The next day, another skirmish took place in Sitio Tubak, Brgy. Pagangan in Aleosan, North Cotabato. The MILF fighters who figured in this firefight were identified as belonging to the 105th Brigade, led by Commander Ameril Ombra Kato.

The weeks before these incidents saw massive military deployment to North Cotabato, supposedly to secure the province for the Aug. 11 elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

These encounters drove community residents to evacuate to Brgy. Bagolibas in Aleosan and Brgys. Bual and Nalapaan in Pikit.

Later that same month, armed men burned some houses in Brgy. Bual and stole a number of farm animals in Brgy. Bagolibas.

On Aug. 2, some 84 houses in Aleosan were razed to the ground. The government claimed that these burnings were perpetrated by MILF fighters led by Kato.

On Aug. 8, four days after the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order on the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) between the government and the MILF, the military implemented Oplan Ultimatum and additional troops were positioned in Pikit, Aleosan, and Midsayap. This, and the dissolution of the government panel in the peace negotiations with the MILF, served as prelude to the intensification of the fighting in North Cotabato.

While clashes continue in North Cotabato, the fighting has also spread to nearby Maguindanao.

Military operations have led residents of affected areas to flee to evacuation centers.

A consequence of the armed conflict

Unsi is well aware that what happened to his family is among the consequences of a long-running conflict that is more than military in character.

“Sana, ibigay na ng gobyerno ang hinihingi ng Bangsamoro at itigil na ang bakbakan, dahil ang apektado ay ang mga sibilyan (I hope the government addresses the demands of the Bangsamoro and the fighting would stop, because civilians are the ones affected),” Unsi said.

“Sana po, agad na matigil ang kaguluhang ito para matigil na ang paghihirap ng mga sibilyan (I hope this fighting will stop soon so that the civilians’ sufferings will end),” he also said. “Papatayin ba ang lahat ng sibilyan bago matigil ang kaguluhan? (Will they kill all the civilians before the fighting would stop?)” (Bulatlat.com)

KAHIT NA IISA ANG ATING TAHANANG LUPAIN
Alexander Martin Remollino

Isang bayan tayong hindi nasasakop
ng mga hanggan ng heograpiya.
Tayo'y nahahati sa kayraming pirasong nakakalat
sa lahat ng sulok nitong daigdig,
sapagkat itong ating lupain
ay pinaghahati-hatian ng mga tagaibang-bayan,
mga tagaibang-bayang inaari ang hindi kanila
at ninanakawan tayo ng tahanan sa sariling lupain.

Ang tirahan mo at ang tirahan ko
ay pinapaghihiwalay ng sampung libong milya,
kahit na iisa lamang ang ating tahanang lupain.

At ang nagbubuklod sa atin
ay ang iisang kasaysayan ng pagkakataboy
at ang iisang pakikitalad para sa pagsapit ng araw
na matitipon sa wakas ang mga pirasong nakakalat
sa buong daigdig,
at silang naghahati-hati sa lupang hindi kanila
ay tatakbong lahat na bahag ang mga buntot
mula sa ating lupain.

MIGRATION, THE PHILIPPINES AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
Centerstage / UPI Asia
Alexander Martin Remollino

Manila, Philippines, October 30 — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon quite missed the point at the opening of the Global Forum on Migration and Development that took place yesterday here in Manila, when he said that "migration can and should be a tool to lift us out of (the) economic crisis."

Before making this point, he was talking about the reversal of migration flows, placing emphasis on net outflows from countries facing economic crises. He also admitted that several countries have already been experiencing slowdowns in remittance flows.

How migration can be a tool to help countries out of the global economic meltdown in the face of these realities, which Mr. Ban himself has helped put to light, is something that is known only to him.

Take the example of the Philippines — a country that is highly dependent on overseas remittances for propping up an economy that is perpetually ridden by deficit and debt.

The Philippines counts the United States among its biggest sources of remittances, with 51 percent of its remittances coming from Filipinos residing there. The United States is now in an economic crisis of a magnitude that has not been seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

To rescue itself from the effects of stock market over-inflation, especially in information technology-related stocks (i.e. the "dot com bubble"), the United States in 2001 blew a real estate and construction bubble. U.S. financial institutions offered low interest rates for home mortgage loans; even those with low income or virtually no collateral were encouraged to apply for home loans. Their loans, which became known as "subprime mortgages," accumulated in U.S. financial institutions, starting in 2001. To spread the risk exposure of banks for these subprime mortgages, there was a process of "securitization," in which home mortgage loan packages were combined with others, packaged and sold as bonds and securities called collateralized debt obligations. These were guaranteed in credit default swaps by insurance companies such as AIG and sold to other banks, financial investment houses and companies in the United States that deal in speculative investments for high returns.

However, beginning in the last quarter of 2006, borrowers — especially those with subprime mortgages — increasingly failed to pay their amortizations. This caused a ripple effect on the banks and financial investment houses holding both the mortgages and the CDOs, as well as those which issued CDS. This in turn led to a series of bankruptcies of banks and investment houses, which were touted as "too big to fall."

The effects of the subprime mortgage crisis have led to mortgage-credit losses of at least $400 billion, based on estimates by The Economist. The International Monetary Fund estimates a loss of some $945 billion worldwide.

The U.S. financial crisis has led to the closure of companies and the subsequent losses of jobs in a country that prides itself in being a symbol of the supposed successes of the capitalist paradigm.

The 4 million Filipinos in the United States are beginning to feel the effects of this economic crunch, as they are among those who are losing their jobs. Filipinos who took to the United States during their best years in search of greener pastures, and who were fortunate enough to establish lucrative careers there, are increasingly seeing the fruits of their hard work crumble to the ground.

Already, remittance flows from the United States are slowing down. We will surely feel the effects of this on the economy more and more acutely in the coming months.

The Philippines is now feeling the consequences of dependence on a labor-export policy crafted and implemented during the Marcos administration. This path was pursued instead of a national industrialization program, which could generate enough jobs domestically to prevent massive labor migration.

The Philippine experience should tell Mr. Ban that migration, rather than being a way out of economic crisis, can actually contribute to its adverse effects.

CRIES FOR JUSTICE PURSUE PALPARAN

When he retired and after his appointment to the National Security Council fell through because of widespread opposition, Palparan has evaded media attention –- in contrast to his frequently hogging the headlines during his days in military service. He must have thought that by doing so, he could escape responsibility for the long lists of human rights abuses in his areas of assignment. Unfortunately for him, even in retirement, the cries for justice of his victims continue to pursue him.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat

Shortly before he retired from the Philippine Army on Sept. 11, 2006, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. made statements to the effect that he would still want to participate in the government’s counter-“insurgency” program.

He was to be given a post at the National Security Council (NSC) after his retirement from the Army, but this did not push through because of widespread opposition. Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles was reported to have taken him in as a security consultant, but both he and Nograles have denied this. Early this year he was involved in armed takeovers of a mining site and a port in Bulacan and Zambales, respectively. Lately he has been managing a jathropa plantation located on part of the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (FMMR) –- the same camp where he served his last assignment, as commanding officer of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

Through all these, Palparan has evaded media attention –- in contrast to his frequently hogging the headlines during his days in military service. He must have thought that by doing so, he could escape responsibility for the long lists of human rights abuses in his areas of assignment.

Unfortunately for him, even in retirement, the cries for justice of his victims continue to pursue him.

The Supreme Court, in a ruling penned by Chief Justice Reynato Puno, recently upheld an earlier Court of Appeals decision linking Palparan to the abduction of brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo, and found “convincing” Raymond’s accounts of how they were tortured by their abductors.

The Court of Appeals had ruled based on an Oct. 24, 2007 petition by the Manalo brothers for a writ of amparo.

The Manalo brothers were abducted by soldiers on Feb. 14, 2006 in San Ildefonso, Bulacan. According to Raymond, they were first brought to Fort Magsaysay. They were subsequently transferred to Camp Tecson in San Miguel Bulacan, and then to a safehouse in Zambales, before being brought to the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Battalion in Limay, Bataan. The last place they were kept in custody was a safehouse in Pangasinan, from where they escaped on Aug. 13, 2007.

“Habang nakakulong ako, kinakausap ako ni Gen. Jovito Palparan. Nakita ko na si General Palparan. dati sa telebisyon kaya ko siya nakilala at doon sinabi sa akin ni Palparan na sabihan ko sina nanay na huwag nang sumali sa mga rally ng mga grupong mga (karapatang) tao at huwag nang dumalo sa mga hearing sa Camp Tecson at Limay, Bataan (While I was detained, Gen. Jovito Palparan was talking to me. I have seen General Palparan on television, that’s how I knew it was him. Palparan told me to warn my mother against joining human rights rallies and that they should no longer attend the hearings at Camp Tecson and Limay, Bataan),” Raymond said.

Raymond also said in his account that he saw soldiers burning 54-year-old farmer Manuel Merino to death and that he saw them torture other detained activists –- including University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, who were abducted together with Merino in Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26, 2006 and remain missing to this day.

Palparan is haunted by his past even in retirement. And expectedly so, considering the kind of past that he has.

Trail of blood

His first assignment, as a 2nd lieutenant with the 24th Infantry Battalion stationed in Indanan, Sulu at the height of the revolutionary armed struggle waged by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 1970s, was already a foreshadowing of the path that he would take –- one on which he leaves a long list of human rights violations in his areas of assignment. In a July 2, 2006 interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Fe Zamora, he admitted that among the victims of his men were children from the Tausug tribe -– whence hail most of the MNLF fighters. There, he said, soldiers saw Tausug children as “future enemies, so the thinking was to finish them off while they were still young” -– a mode of thinking reminiscent of an American general, Gen. Jacob Smith, during the Philippine-American War who ordered the killing of everyone capable of bearing arms -– including 10-year-old boys – in Samar.

The 24th Infantry Battalion was transferred to Central Luzon in the early 1980s, this time to fight Communist-led revolutionaries. There Palparan rose through the ranks, eventually assuming the post of battalion commander in 1989. He held the post until 1991.

A fact sheet released by Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) in 2004 shows Sta. Cruz, Zambales to have particularly suffered the brunt of operations by the 24th Infantry Battalion in 1991. In September that year, while soldiers were stationed by a chapel there, about 100 townsfolk were arrested, interrogated, and forced to sign “affidavits of surrender”. From Oct. 13-18, 10 families were forced to evacuate as a result of shelling operations. Three days later, more than 1,000 residents of the same town were forced to attend a “peace rally”, in which Palparan claimed that they were “rebel surrenderees”.

Karapatan’s tally also lists at least seven extra-judicial killings, one incident each of massacre and assault, two grenade bombings, five harassment cases, and five cases of illegal arrest and detention in Central Luzon during Palparan’s first assignment there. He was also implicated in the abduction and torture of peasant organizers and other activists during his first stint there, Karapatan records show.

His next assignment was in the Cordillera region. One of the most prominent cases of human rights violations in the said region during his stint there was the torture of Marcelo Fakila, a leader of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in Mountain Province and a village elder in Sagada.

Based on combined data from the CPA and Karapatan, in 1992 alone there were six cases of illegal arrest, five harassment cases, one case of disappearance, one summary execution, one case of wounding, and two cases of evacuations – all in Mountain Province during Palparan’s assignment in the region.

Southern Tagalog

He was given a quick succession of assignments after his Cordillera stint. These included the command of Task Force Banahaw, which holds jurisdiction over Rizal and Laguna. One of the most prominent victims of human rights violations during Palparan’s Task Force Banahaw stint was a five-year-old child killed in Laguna in 2001. Karapatan-Laguna listed seven killings of civilians in the province in 2001 alone.

In May that year, Palparan was deployed to head the 204th Infantry Battalion, which is stationed in Oriental Mindoro. It is in Oriental Mindoro, under Palparan’s command, that some of the most shocking cases of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration were committed.

On April 8, 2002, Expedito Albarillo, 48, a Bayan Muna (People First) coordinator in San Teodoro was dragged by some 10 soldiers from his hut, with his hands tied behind his back. Clinging to him and begging the soldiers for mercy was wife Manuela, 45, also a Bayan Muna coordinator in the same town. Shots rang out some 200 meters away, and relatives who rushed to the scene found the couple lying on their faces, bathed in their own blood. Expedito’s left eye was drooping from its socket.

On May 20 that same year, the Apolinar family –- Ruben, 54, a retired policeman; his wife, Rodriga, 54, a teacher; and their adopted child Niña Angela, 8 – were gunned down also by soldiers. Ruben and Rodriga were Bayan Muna leaders in San Teodoro.

Eight days after, it was the turn of activist Edilberto Napoles, Jr., 26, to be killed. He was gunned down near the Bayan Muna office in Calapan City.

The cases of the Albarillo couple, the Apolinar family, and Napoles were among those that prompted a fact-finding mission into human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro in April 2003.

Among the leaders of the said mission were Eden Marcellana, secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog; and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy. They themselves would end up losing their lives in the hands of soldiers from the 204th Infantry Battalion. The photos of the two that were used for Terror in Mindoro –- a book on the Mindoro killings published by Justice for Eden and Eddie, Justice for All in cooperation with the Ecumenical Consortium for a Just Peace –- showed their bodies bearing marks of torture.

The killings of Marcellana and Gumanoy stirred public outrage enough to get Palparan relieved from the 204th Infantry Battalion and transferred to Rizal. His Oriental Mindoro record, based on Karapatan data, totaled 326 human rights violations involving 1,219 individual victims.

The same week he was transferred to Rizal, the chief of a barangay (village) security force was killed. Before that he was repeatedly questioned by the military on his alleged links with the New People’s Army (NPA).

In February 2004, Palparan was assigned to head an Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) contingent sent on a “humanitarian” mission to Iraq. He returned seven months later, was given a Medal of Valor, and appointed as the Army’s chief of staff.

Eastern Visayas

The next year, he was called back to field duty as commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, which covers Eastern Visayas. The most prominent victims of human rights violations in the region during Palparan’s stint there are lawyer Felidito Dacut, youth organizer Marvin Montabon, and Rev. Edison Lapuz.

Dacut, 51, a leader of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Bayan Muna in Eastern Visayas, was on his way home aboard a jeepney when killed March 14, 2005. As the jeepney he was riding cruised along Arellano Street in Tacloban City, Leyte, two men aboard a motorcycle drove near the victim, and one fired a shot behind him. The bullet pierced through his heart and instantly killed him.

Earlier that day, soldiers had gone to Montabon’s home in Tarangnan, Samar and shot him before burning the house. The young man was burned inside the house.

Lapuz, Eastern Visayas conference minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and chairman of Katungod-Sinirangang Bisayas, the Eastern Visayas chapter of Karapatan, had just come from the burial of his father when he was killed May 12, 2005. He was then busy organizing a mining conference for church people in the region.

Palparan’s record in Eastern Visayas shows a total of 570 human rights violations involving 7,561 individuals, 1,773 families, 110 communities and ten organizations all in a span of six months –- based on Karapatan data.

7th Infantry Division

In September 2005, Palparan was assigned to head the 7th Infantry Division –- an event that brought him back to Central Luzon more than two decades after he was first deployed there.

A Sept. 3, 2006 report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer cited Karapatan data pointing to 136 cases of human rights violations in Central Luzon under Palparan’s command from September 2005 to August 2006. Of these, there were 71 summary executions, five massacres, 14 frustrated killings, and 46 enforced disappearances.

The Manalo brothers, Merino, Cadapan, and Empeño are just a few of the victims of human rights violations in Central Luzon during Palparan’s stnt at the 7th Infantry Division.

Palparan’s ghosts

Each time that Palparan exited from an assignment, he left behind a long list of human rights violations. Most of his victims are civilians –- with many of them aging men, women, and youths barely out of adolescence.

Palaparan was never called to account for the long list of human rights violations being attributed to him and the units under his command. He was even praised by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her State of the Nation Address in July 2006 during the height of extrajudicial killings happening in the country, especially in Central Luzon where he was assigned. But now that he is retired, the persistent pursuit of justice by the relatives of his victims may be slowly catching up with him, especially with the recent Supreme Court ruling. (Bulatlat)