DAVAO CITY - Progressive group Suara party list on Wednesday called on all US citizens to pressure their government on the tenacious incidents of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, a country that receives millions of dollars-worth of financial assistance from the American government.
This, as Bayan, the largest among progressive groups in the country, also sounded the call for the US Congress to stop supporting the Philippine government with financial aids as it continues to show its inutility in solving the killings of militant leaders and members, students and journalists now numbering close to a thousand since 2001, the year when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president.
Abubakar Uy, secretary general of Suara-Southern Mindanao, said Americans, who are fighters of freedom and democracy, can actually press their own government to stop supporting the Philippines’ security agents who are blamed for the series of killings.
“Americans must realize that the money they giving their government in the form of tax are now used to finance the slaughter of hundreds of Filipinos. They must realize that they are actually supporting the evil desires of a criminal government which is out to murder all of those whom it consider enemy as it desires to stay in power,” Uy said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
“So we appeal to all Americans to ask the US government suspend its financial aids to a country like the Philippines…a country that is hell-bent in murdering hapless civilians. While US aids continue to pour in to the country and finds its way into the military, deaths will never stop,” Uy said.
The United Nations human rights expert Prof. Phillip Alston and the Philippine-government backed Melo Commission which was tasked to investigate the series of killings, both agreed of the military’s culpability in the death.
The government has denied this. The US Congress will discuss next week the cases of killing in the country and Philippine officials have so far showed an image of confidence on the result of the investigation.
Immediately, Justice Secy. Raul Gonzales said the government will clear its name.
For Suara, the culpability of the government is so obvious already that it can never persuade anyone that it is not behind the killings. Although the idea of the US government investigating the cases of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines doesn’t sit well with progressive groups like Suara, the idea of the international community giving attention to human rights abuses happening in a democratic country like the Philippines is a welcome development.
“What is more important is for the people around the world to know that the Philippine government is killing its own people and if their government will pledge support to the Philippine government, it would only mean that they too supports the slaughter of the Filipino people,” Yap said.
Showing posts with label Suara Party List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suara Party List. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Militant Party List Groups Face Bigger Battle For Publicity
DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Mar) - The Suara party list group on Tuesday assailed election guidelines it said have marginalized party lists and other candidates for the mid-year elections in the Philippines.
It said the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has designated areas where all candidates can put up their campaign posters, but many of those places are hardly noticeable.
It said unlike government candidates who can afford to pay television and radio ads, many party list groups and their candidates who cannot afford the expensive advertisements are forced to putting up their campaign streamers and banners at areas designated by the COMELEC.
And many of the party lists campaign materials were often destroyed or removed by unidentified groups across the country.
Abubakar Abalos Uy, Suara secretary general for Southern Mindanao, said: “The common poster areas of the COMELEC are rendering progressive groups defenseless against attacks which are becoming more intense as the elections draw near.”
“It is becoming more apparent that the guidelines of the COMELEC were only crafted to put administration bets to the advantage.”
In Tagum City, Uy said, campaign posters of his own Suara and other party list groups such as Gabriela, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Kabataan had been destroyed by the military.
“The posters were placed in common posters area. What was suspicious, however, was that while the progressive groups’ posters were destroyed, campaign materials of other groups and senatorial bets were left untouched.”
“Marginalization of party list groups like Suara is deliberate. We have been receiving information from our Davao del Norte chapters that the military have been giving instructions to village officials to destroy our posters. And it happened now and we believe that incidents like these will not stop right away. We are expecting even for the worse,” Uy said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)
It said the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has designated areas where all candidates can put up their campaign posters, but many of those places are hardly noticeable.
It said unlike government candidates who can afford to pay television and radio ads, many party list groups and their candidates who cannot afford the expensive advertisements are forced to putting up their campaign streamers and banners at areas designated by the COMELEC.
And many of the party lists campaign materials were often destroyed or removed by unidentified groups across the country.
Abubakar Abalos Uy, Suara secretary general for Southern Mindanao, said: “The common poster areas of the COMELEC are rendering progressive groups defenseless against attacks which are becoming more intense as the elections draw near.”
“It is becoming more apparent that the guidelines of the COMELEC were only crafted to put administration bets to the advantage.”
In Tagum City, Uy said, campaign posters of his own Suara and other party list groups such as Gabriela, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Kabataan had been destroyed by the military.
“The posters were placed in common posters area. What was suspicious, however, was that while the progressive groups’ posters were destroyed, campaign materials of other groups and senatorial bets were left untouched.”
“Marginalization of party list groups like Suara is deliberate. We have been receiving information from our Davao del Norte chapters that the military have been giving instructions to village officials to destroy our posters. And it happened now and we believe that incidents like these will not stop right away. We are expecting even for the worse,” Uy said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)
Monday, March 05, 2007
Militants, Moro People Offer Prayer, Candles For Victims Of Airport Bmbing
DAVAO CITY — Suara Party List and various militant groups offered prayers and candles Monday for the victims of the 2003 Davao International Airport bombing as they demand for the real perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The groups condemned the incident that not only caused the lives of at least 22 and wounded 145 others but also shattered those of whom were mistakenly blamed for the bombing, all of whom were Moro people.
“The candles and the prayers were offered both for the victims and the people wrongly accused as being behind the bombing. It’s not only the families of the victims that have suffered from the dastardly attack but also those who were immediately accused but were found innocent,” Abubakar Abalos Uy secretary general of Suara Party List group in Southern Mindanao, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
An example to this, Uy said, was the case of Montasser Sudang, a Moro from a village of Kabacan in North Cotabato who was quickly tagged as the man who carried the bomb.
Sudang, whose wife just delivered a child at that time, was in the airport on March 4, along with a number of people from his village, to welcome a relative from Egypt. Sudang was among the fatalities.
His father and other relatives, including the one who came from Egypt, were detained and investigated. Uy said the government even violated and desecrated the Moro custom when authorities refused to release his body to the family for burial.
“Until now, the death of Sudang has not been given justice like all of the other victims. While he was a victim, Sudang now remains to be the primary suspect which leaves us to believe that the incident was state-sponsored,” Uy said.
Sudang, he said, was apparently a victim of government’s unsubstantiated notion and prejudice against the Moro people.
“Until now, the truth remains that the government picked an innocent person as their suspect. The bloody incident caused a young father’s life and that of his wife and child…a bloody incident which could only trace back on who has control and the machinery to carry out such a deplorable act of terrorism,” Uy said.
He said innocent Moro people are still languishing in the detention cells while the real suspects are enjoying the luxury of freedom. “We will not stop fighting against the continued oppression of the Moro people and the injustices we all suffer from the power-starved government,” Uy said.
The groups condemned the incident that not only caused the lives of at least 22 and wounded 145 others but also shattered those of whom were mistakenly blamed for the bombing, all of whom were Moro people.
“The candles and the prayers were offered both for the victims and the people wrongly accused as being behind the bombing. It’s not only the families of the victims that have suffered from the dastardly attack but also those who were immediately accused but were found innocent,” Abubakar Abalos Uy secretary general of Suara Party List group in Southern Mindanao, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
An example to this, Uy said, was the case of Montasser Sudang, a Moro from a village of Kabacan in North Cotabato who was quickly tagged as the man who carried the bomb.
Sudang, whose wife just delivered a child at that time, was in the airport on March 4, along with a number of people from his village, to welcome a relative from Egypt. Sudang was among the fatalities.
His father and other relatives, including the one who came from Egypt, were detained and investigated. Uy said the government even violated and desecrated the Moro custom when authorities refused to release his body to the family for burial.
“Until now, the death of Sudang has not been given justice like all of the other victims. While he was a victim, Sudang now remains to be the primary suspect which leaves us to believe that the incident was state-sponsored,” Uy said.
Sudang, he said, was apparently a victim of government’s unsubstantiated notion and prejudice against the Moro people.
“Until now, the truth remains that the government picked an innocent person as their suspect. The bloody incident caused a young father’s life and that of his wife and child…a bloody incident which could only trace back on who has control and the machinery to carry out such a deplorable act of terrorism,” Uy said.
He said innocent Moro people are still languishing in the detention cells while the real suspects are enjoying the luxury of freedom. “We will not stop fighting against the continued oppression of the Moro people and the injustices we all suffer from the power-starved government,” Uy said.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Suara Fears Escalation Of Violence In Sulu
THE SUARA PARTY LIST expressed fear Wednesday over a possible escalation of more violence in the province of Sulu as skirmishes between the Abu Sayyaf Group and government troops are rapidly slipping out of hand.
This, as the involvement of members of the Moro National Liberation Front in the fighting is also dreaded as inevitable because government troopers are now hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf in the areas considered as territory of the MNLF.
Zaynab Ampatuan, national deputy secretary general of Suara, said the operations against the Abu Sayyaf in an MNLF area is an open invitation for a confrontation.
“We think that government troops are teasing the MNLF to shoot at them. The situation in Sulu is very critical now knowing that the government and MNLF officials are still ironing the kinks of the final peace agreement they signed in 1996,” Ampatuan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
“We hope that the MNLF will not be ensnared and drag themselves into a situation that will absolutely endanger the peace negotiations,” Ampatuan said.
The military, through Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commander of the joint special operations forces hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, said that they were able to receive information that the MNLF is coddling members of the Abu Sayyaf.
Marine Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, however, said that he has advised Pabustan not to believe in the report as “somebody is trying to get the AFP to the MNLF and start a confrontation again.” At least 13 scout rangers were reportedly hurt while six soldiers were killed in the gun battle that already involved members of the MNLF.
This came after the scout rangers conducted a hot pursuit operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits who fled and allegedly sought refuge in MNLF camp in Jolo’s Sitio Marang, Barangay Buanza.
Ampatuan said they were able to receive reports that a number of civilian Moro families have left their homes again for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
“Evacuation seems to be a never ending affair of the Moro people as the government continues to advance its misplaced policies like the antiterrorism law which, in the end, only hurt the civilians more than their supposed targets,” Ampatuan said.
“We fear that civilians will again be the casualties of this recent clash as it did before. The fighting has to stop for the sake of the civilians—the children, the elderly and women,” Ampatuan added.
This, as the involvement of members of the Moro National Liberation Front in the fighting is also dreaded as inevitable because government troopers are now hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf in the areas considered as territory of the MNLF.
Zaynab Ampatuan, national deputy secretary general of Suara, said the operations against the Abu Sayyaf in an MNLF area is an open invitation for a confrontation.
“We think that government troops are teasing the MNLF to shoot at them. The situation in Sulu is very critical now knowing that the government and MNLF officials are still ironing the kinks of the final peace agreement they signed in 1996,” Ampatuan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
“We hope that the MNLF will not be ensnared and drag themselves into a situation that will absolutely endanger the peace negotiations,” Ampatuan said.
The military, through Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commander of the joint special operations forces hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, said that they were able to receive information that the MNLF is coddling members of the Abu Sayyaf.
Marine Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, however, said that he has advised Pabustan not to believe in the report as “somebody is trying to get the AFP to the MNLF and start a confrontation again.” At least 13 scout rangers were reportedly hurt while six soldiers were killed in the gun battle that already involved members of the MNLF.
This came after the scout rangers conducted a hot pursuit operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits who fled and allegedly sought refuge in MNLF camp in Jolo’s Sitio Marang, Barangay Buanza.
Ampatuan said they were able to receive reports that a number of civilian Moro families have left their homes again for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
“Evacuation seems to be a never ending affair of the Moro people as the government continues to advance its misplaced policies like the antiterrorism law which, in the end, only hurt the civilians more than their supposed targets,” Ampatuan said.
“We fear that civilians will again be the casualties of this recent clash as it did before. The fighting has to stop for the sake of the civilians—the children, the elderly and women,” Ampatuan added.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Militants Denounce Arrest Of Muslim Farmer In Southern Philippines
DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 26 Feb) – The militan party list group, Suara, on Monday urged the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the illegal arrest of a Muslim farmer in the southern Philippine port city of Davao.
It said security forces arrested Nahar Darawi, 20, for a still unknown reason. It condemned the arrest that occurred Friday in Purok 5 in the village of San Isidro in Bunawan District.
"We have been warning about this and it is coming; the Moro people suffering the deadly effects of a law anchored on paranoia and the desire to curtail the basic rights of the people," said Zaynab Ampatuan, national deputy security general of Suara.
"We condemn this incident and all the incidents where the Moro people, the national minority, end up being victims of an oppressive government. What happened to Nahar Darawi is an additional proof that this government can tag any individual as terrorist, make unlawful arrests and detain without filing charges against the person," Ampatuan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Ampatuan said the farmer was arrested just after Friday’s Muslim prayers. Police and military operatives barged into the houses, even without search warrants, and seized Darawi and interrogated for hours, his relatives said.
"The military and police wanted some information from Nahar Darawi and they wanted it pathetically that they took him even without proper court documents. This just shows that civilians barely can trust their lives and freedom from very people who are supposed to secure them and assure them of free space for the exercise of this freedom," Ampatuan said.
Abubakar Uy, the party list’s secretary general in Mindanao, denounced the arrest.
"We also call on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate. This is not just a simple case of questioning and wanting to get information from a farmer. This is about the Moro people being the usual suspects. This is about harassment and profiling," Uy said.
Uy said the occurrence of this incident, along with other similar cases in Mindanao is one of the reasons why their group has consistently registered their opposition to the enactment of the anti-terror bill.
He said if such violations to basic human rights of the Moro and the rest of the national minorities are prevalent now, "how much more if such a hasty and vague legislation is implemented soon."
Last year, Rakman Camili, from Tagum City, was allegedly abducted by the military and had never been seen since then. Authorities linked Camili to the bombing of Sasa Wharf in April 2003 that left scores of people dead and wounded. (Mindanao Examiner)
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