Hindi napigilan ng banta ng aresto ang mga pagkilos sa #SONA2020 sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng Pilipinas. Dumagsa rin ang protesta ng mga Pinoy sa ibang bansa. Panoorin ang mga protesta sa SONA.
The post SONA 2020: Protesta sa loob at labas ng bansa appeared first on AlterMidya.
Nakuhanan ng video ang pagpasok ng PNP Bulacan sa opisina ng Kadamay sa Pandi, Bulacan. Kahit na walang ipinakitang search warrant ang mga pulis, hinalughog nila ang opisina at kinumpiska ang mga kopya ng Pinoy Weekly.
The post Pagkumpisa ng PNP sa Pinoy Weekly appeared first on AlterMidya.
Kadamay stated that the four were forced to sign a form “voluntarily waiving their rights under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code,” as well as having a “gag order” placed on them, preventing them from talking to anyone, including their families.
By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SANTA ROSA, Laguna – Bulacan police arrested four women activists July 27 in barangay Cacarong Matanda, Pandi, Bulacan after staging an online protest coinciding with President Duterte’s fifth State of the Nation Address.
According to urban rights group Kadamay, Janet Villamar, April Tricia Musa, Marilou Amaro, and Edmylyn Gruta staged an online protest 11 a.m. to call for mass testing, aid, and the release of fellow Kadamay Pandi member Rose Fortaleza, who was arrested July 26 after police raided a Kadamay office and confiscated copies of alternative publication Pinoy Weekly.
Hours later, police arrived at their homes and began arresting the four individuals. When asked why, they were unable to cite any violation. According to Mimi Doringo, Kadamay spokesperson, the four were already resting or tending to other duties when the police arrived.
This is contrary to the official police report which claimed that officers on patrol saw members of Kadamay conducting a rally. The officers “asked for a permit”, which they protesters were unable to provide, and were asked to go home. When they could not comply, the protesters “persisted and pushed the officers, resulting in their arrest.”
As of July 28, or 24 hours after the arrest, no charges were filed against them. Kadamay also stated that the four were forced to sign a form “voluntarily waiving their rights under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code,” as well as having a “gag order” placed on them, preventing them from talking to anyone, including their families.
Article 125 sets restrictions on how long a person can be detained without charges filed, depending on the severity of the case. Article 125 also guarantees the right of the accused to legal counsel at any time.
On July 28, the four activists in Pandi were charged with violations of Republic Act 11332 and Batas Pambansa Blg. 880, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifying Disease Law and the Public Assembly Act of 1985. The paralegal team only learned of this 24 hours after their arrest.
Section 9 of RA 11332 requires any person or entity to report ‘notifiable disease’ to authorities. The Department of Justice has used this provision to justify warrantless arrests of people “violating quarantine protocol.”
BP 880, meanwhile, argues that permits are needed to hold rallies or other mass gatherings.
However, lawyers’ group National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), stressed that no provisions exist that prohibit rallies during the pandemic. The group stressed that the Constitution states that “no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
Inquest proceedings took place via online on July 28 in the afternoon. Under Article 125, only “crimes or offenses punishable by afflictive or capital penalties, or their equivalent” are given 36 hours for law enforcement to deliver a person to proper judicial authorities before it can be considered a violation of rights.
The post Kadamay calls for release of 4 women arrested for joining online protest appeared first on Bulatlat.
Human rights watchdog Karapatan strongly warned that the proposals to reimpose death penalty for drug-related offenses “would only further institutionalize the already ongoing State-sanctioned carnage of the poor,” as President Rodrigo Duterte pushed for the swift passage of a law reviving capital punishment by lethal injection during his fifth State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27.
On Monday’s State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte harped back on criticisms on his declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao, claiming no human rights violations happened in that period.
The post Editorial cartoon: Missing out on the important stuff appeared first on Manila Today.
“Ang Pride ay hindi lamang sa buwan ng Hunyo ginaganap. Isinasapuso ito sa bawat araw na patuloy ang diskriminasyon, paghamak sa karapatang pantao at pang-aabuso ng pasistang rehimen. Ito ay mananatiling tagapagtaguyod ng pagkakapantay-pantay at malayang pagpapahayag.”
The post ‘Ang Pride ay hindi lamang sa buwan ng Hunyo ginaganap’ appeared first on Kodao Productions.
By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SANTA ROSA, Laguna – Over two months since their arrest, charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives have been dropped against the six farmers from Calaca, Batangas.
The Balayan Regional Trial Court dismissed the charges against Leovino Julongbayan and Roilan Tenorio on July 27. The court earlier dismissed charges against Marcelo Vidal, July Julongbayan, and Doroteo Bautista on July 8, and Virgilio Vidal on July 15.
The six were arrested during the early hours of May 10 in barangay Coral Ni Lopez, Calaca, by elements of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Air Force, and elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines 202nd Infantry Brigade. A search warrant signed on May 7 by Judge Cynthia R. Mariño-Ricablanca became the basis for the arrest.
Policemen and soldiers on board 47 vehicles swarmed the barangay to ransack houses and arrest the six farmers. They were then brought to Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna.
According to Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA), Branch 9 of RTC Balayan granted on July 8 a motion to quash the search warrant presented by Marcel Vidal, July Julongbayan, and Bautista, rendering them invalid. The court also declared as inadmissible the supposed evidence gathered by the police during their search, which included grenades and other explosive devices.
“The said court ruled that there was no basis for the Executive Judge of RTC Santa Cruz, Laguna to issue the search warrants outside of its territorial jurisdiction,” SENTRA said in a statement. “It also said that the search warrants are invalid as they failed to particularly state the address of the houses of the persons to be searched. It also declared that there was no probable cause to issue the search warrants as there is no evidence on record that before issuing them, the Executive Judge of RTC Santa Cruz, Laguna conducted searching questions of the police officer who was the applicant for the issuance of the warrants.”
Virgilio Vidal was charged with illegal possession of firearms and posted bail on June 8. His case was dismissed on July 15 following a successful motion to quash. The same motion was granted to Leovino Julongbayan and Tolentino by Branch 10 of RTC Balayan.
Rights group Free Calaca 6 welcomed the decision, saying that “no cases of trumped-up charges meant to oppress the people will ever win.”
Arrests rooted in land dispute
All six farmers are members of Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Coral Ni Lopez (SAMACOLO), a farmers’ organization that has been asserting the farmers’ rights to the 233-hectare farmland owned by landlord Luis Lopez from Balayan, Batangas.
Additionally, Leovino Julongbayan is a brangay councilor in Coral Ni Lopez, while Virgilo Vidal is a barangay secretary.
Farmers have been asserting their rights to the land for over four decades now. In 1993, the Department of Agrarian Reform granted a Certificate of Land Ownership Agreement to the residents of Coral Ni Lopez. However, the DAR reneged on this decision in 2007 and informed the residents that their CLOA was cancelled.
The residents of Coral Ni Lopez, some of whom have lived in the area for decades, along with SAMACOLO and Samahan ng mga Magsasaka sa Batangas (SAMBAT), have since continued the battle for the land that they believe should rightfully be theirs.
Their struggle for land has also resulted in harassment and accusations of being members and supporters of the revolutionary New People’s Army. In 2016, soldiers harassed residents and accused them of being “[members of the] NPA by night.” Two years later, residents confronted members of the Philippine Air Force that occupied an abandoned house inside the barangay, who told them that their names were listed the military’s “order of battle.”
The harassment did not end after the May 10 arrests. According to rights group Karapatan Southern Tagalog, police denied visitation rights for the families of the Calaca 6 and their legal counsel despite assurances that they would be allowed to visit.
It would take a month before the farmers were allowed to see their families.
As for Virgilio Vidal, who posted bail on June 8, police continued to surveil his home. According to residents, police officers positioned themselves around Coral Ni Lopez while court proceedings were ongoing in Balayan. At one point, at least 15 uniformed policemen with arms arrived at Vidal’s home to confront him and other residents to dissuade them from engaging in any protest action.
Karapatan ST denounced the arrests and harassment, likening it to Oplan Sauron in Negros island. “This crackdown scheme is implemented to ‘neutralize’ and silence farmers fighting for their land through extrajudicial killings and weaponizing of law to justify trumped-up charges, mass arrest, vilification and red-tagging,” the group said in a statement.
Karapatan also stated that the arrests were part of plans by the Regional Task-force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), which they said was “taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to execute crackdowns against legitimate progressive mass organizations in the cities and the countryside.”
Under the Duterte administration, there have been 262 incidents of peasant killings. Attacks against farmers and farming communities have also continued.
The post Charges vs. 6 Calaca farmers dismissed appeared first on Bulatlat.