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Right defender frustrates arrest

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July 8, 2020

Screengrab of a closed-circuit television footage of the two police officers trying to enter the Karapatan office building. Note the person at right wearing an LBC courier company uniform.

“I was served a warrant of arrest this afternoon by a guy who introduced himself as an LBC courier. He was wearing the uniform/t-shirt and had an ID. Is this the usual procedure now?”

By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions

MANILA– A Philippine National Police (PNP) operative presented himself to be a delivery boy in a failed attempt to arrest Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay Wednesday, June 7.

Police Master Sergeant (SPOI) Joelon de Tomas Rafael was dressed as an LBC courier when he arrived at Karapatan’s office in Quezon City and introduced himself as an employee of the company.

“I was served a warrant of arrest this afternoon by a guy who introduced himself as an LBC courier. He was wearing the uniform/t-shirt and had an ID. Is this the usual procedure now?” Palabay wrote in a Facebook post.

Palabay added that another man in civilian clothes accompanying Rafael introduced himself as a police officer from the Quezon City Police District’s headquarters in nearby Camp Karingal.

Palabay told Kodao that the undercover officer was Police Chief Master Sergeant (SPO3) Luisito Johnson Ubias.

“I asked for their IDs. The guy in plainclothes easily gave his and said, after I badgered the ‘LBC guy’ for his ID, that the LBC guy is also a cop,” Palabay revealed.

The prominent human rights activist said she reminded the two police officers that the manner they were serving the arrest warrant violated the PNP’s manual on such operations.

“[W]hen you’re serving warrants of arrests, you should introduce yourself as policemen/arresting officers. You should be in uniform. In fact, you should have read to me my Miranda rights,” Palabay told Ubias and Rafael.

Rafael also initially lied when asked for his identification, saying he left it in the car. He eventually took it from his back pocket when pressed, Palabay said.

The officers tried to justify their ruse by saying they would not be able to arrest respondents if they stick to legal procedures, she added.

Ubias and Rafael apologized and left after their identification cards and documents were photocopied, Palabay said.

Perjury complaint by Esperon

Palabay said the arrest warrant stemmed from a perjury case filed by national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in retaliation for the writ of amparo and habeas data petition Karapatan, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and Gabriela filed with the Supreme Court in May 2019.

Esperon was among the respondents named in the petition of having threatened and red-baited officers and members of the three organizations.

Palabay said the perjury case was initially dismissed by a Quezon City prosecutor, and then revived and filed in court by another prosecutor, after Esperon’s motion for reconsideration.

Palabay said she showed Ubias and Rafael the recall order for the arrest warrant against her.

The policemen said they only received the arrest warrant yesterday and they haven’t received the recall order issued on April 29, 2020.

Palabay has posted bail and presented herself to an executive judge via online channels to secure the recall of the arrest warrant against her.

‘Does LBC know?’

In a Facebook post, Karapatan lawyer Ma. Sol Taule asked if the courier company knows its identity is being used by the PNP for undercover operations.

“Alam ba ng LBC Express Inc na ginagamit niyo ang pangalan ng kompanya nila para mang-harass ng mga tao?” Taule asked. (Does LBC Express Inc. know that you [PNP] use their company to harass people?)

“At ano naman kaya ang susunod niyong costume? Grab, Food Panda, Lalamove Delivery?” she asked, referring to other courier service companies in the country. (What costume would you be using next?)

Taule also asked the police if donning LBC uniforms is part of Rule 6.1 of the PNP’s operations manual.

The manual orders that arrest, search and seizure, checkpoint, roadblocks, demolition and civil disturbance management operations shall be conducted with a marked police vehicle, led by a Police Commissioned Officer (PCO), and with personnel in prescribed police uniform or attire.

Ubias and Rafael are both non-commissioned officers. Reposted by

The post Right defender frustrates arrest appeared first on Bulatlat.

Higher inflation for poorest Filipinos underscores urgent need for continued cash subsidies

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July 8, 2020

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Research group IBON said that the higher inflation is problematic
but particularly burdens the poorest Filipinos. Inflation rates for the 30%
poorest households are higher than the national average. Especially amid
historic joblessness, this affirms how the government should continue giving
cash subsidies as income support, the group said.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), headline
inflation rose to 2.5% in June 2020 from 2.1% in May 2020. Behind this uptick
are price increases in: transportation, particularly tricycle fares; alcoholic
beverages and tobacco; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and
communication.

However, the 3.0% inflation rate in June for the poorest 30% of
households was higher than the headline inflation rate of 2.5 percent. This
means that the cost of living is rising fastest for the country’s poorest
households. IBON said that this is troublesome for millions of poor families
suffering interrupted incomes and stingy emergency relief.

IBON said that the rise in inflation despite repressed consumption
during the lockdown is worrying and points to problems in supply and
production. The government is primarily responsible for ensuring these
especially during a public emergency. For instance, the group said, the notable
increase in the transport index shows the government’s weakness in ensuring
this vital public service.

Rising prices especially for the poorest affirms the urgency of continued income support, IBON said. The number of beneficiaries getting the second tranche of emergency subsidies should not be limited. The 18 million poorest Filipinos, including the 5 million wait-listed beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program, should receive both the first and second tranches of the Php5,000-Php8,000 per-month emergency aid, said the group.

The government said that only those residing in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ areas will be getting a second tranche. This is only 8.6 million families of the original 18 million target beneficiaries, and 3.5 million households of the five million wait-listed. This also means that 10.6 million beneficiaries now in general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified (MGCQ) areas will have to make do with just their first tranche.

With the cost of living fast rising amid an even worsening pandemic, limiting the number of beneficiaries getting the second tranche of emergency aid is unconscionable, IBON said. The government should even consider additional tranches for vulnerable households that continue to reel from lost livelihoods and income, said the group.

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Pinoy Abrod

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July 7, 2020

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‘Pasaway’

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Opinion

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July 7, 2020

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Editorial, Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:30 AM July 05, 2020

Transport assistant secretary Goddes Hope Libiran, March 16, on the government’s then-impending move to impose a total ban on public transportation during quarantine in Metro Manila: “Napakarami kasing pasaway, matigas ang ulo, pilosopo at makasarili.”

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, April 16: “Ang dami pong pasaway sa atin. At dahil po diyan, number one na naman po tayo sa Asean sa dami ng COVID-19. Itigil n’yo na po ang pagiging pasaway, manatili po kayo sa inyong tahanan.”

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, April 17: “Yung mga pasaway… Sigurado marami tayong aarestuhin. Dapat meron ’yang penalty magmulta o kaya makulong para di uulit ’yung mga pasaway.”

Senate President Tito Sotto, June 29: “Kaya pala ang bilis ng pagtaas ng COVID sa atin. Not because there are more mass testings now but because we are so hardheaded.”

President Duterte, June 30: “Mga Bisaya talaga, maski sa Davao, ’yung mga Bisaya doon, ang titigas talaga ng mga ulo. Hindi mo mapasunod.”

That’s the government’s grand narrative for the COVID-19 crisis: ordinary Filipinos as undisciplined, hardheaded rascals who refuse to follow basic rules, and hence to blame for the continuing rise in infections and the grinding quarantine that now stands as the world’s longest lockdown. The government’s heavy hand, its baffling resort to militaristic, harshly coercive means as the primary response to the pandemic, is wholly justified by a citizenry that cannot be counted on to act responsibly on their own.

Is the portrayal true? Not according to the data.

The “Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Report,” which uses the geographic location data of smartphone users to see how people are moving about in their communities, shows that Filipinos overwhelmingly restricted their public movements during the quarantine.

On March 29, or about two weeks after ECQ was imposed in Luzon, mobility nationwide was down by 81 percent in restaurants, cafés, and shopping centers; by 82 percent in public transport hubs such as bus and train stations; and by 59 percent in parks, beaches, and plazas. On April 10, the drop in people visiting malls and similar places was 90 percent. The numbers were in comparison to the average movement data taken during the pre-pandemic period of Jan. 3 to Feb. 6.

Even after Metro Manila transitioned to GCQ on June 1, mobility remained down in retail and recreation areas (-57 percent), parks (-56 percent), transit stations (-64 percent), and workplaces (-41 percent). For the same period, in Central Visayas—where COVID-19 “hotspot” Cebu is located—mobility was lower: -69 percent in retail and recreation areas, -51 percent in parks, -70 percent in transit stations, and -35 percent in workplaces.

Despite the Google report’s limitations in terms of user and privacy settings as well as connectivity, the numbers are clear: On the question of how Filipinos reacted to measures imposed by the government since March to contain COVID-19, a vast majority, in fact, stayed home and complied with quarantine guidelines

That dovetails with other findings showing that Filipinos generally acceded to the extraordinary sacrifices demanded of them in this crisis. According to a Social Weather Stations survey, 84 percent of Filipinos, or 8 out of 10, believed that the community quarantine measures were worth it. An online survey conducted by the National Research Council of the Philippines also showed that many Filipinos were amenable to COVID-19 measures and were willing to be isolated for three to four weeks, whether they had symptoms or not.

If pasaway, on the other hand, also means obdurate, dismissive, reflexively antagonistic, and unwilling to account for shortcomings, then between the public and the administration, there’s no doubt to whom that moniker belongs.

Who refused to ban flights from China promptly to avoid offending Beijing? Who initially downplayed the gravity of the COVID-19 threat? Who was late in procuring critical PPE (personal protective equipment) and strengthening hospitals and frontliners? Who dilly-dallied in declaring a state of public health emergency?

Who failed to test and trace on an adequate scale from the very beginning — and even now has missed successive target testing numbers? Who opted for retired military generals instead of epidemiologists, scientists, and health experts to lead the fight against the pandemic? Who oversaw a relief distribution program that, three months on, still has some 300,000 families awaiting the aid promised them in April — per Malacañang itself?

Who neglected to plan for the hemorrhage of displaced OFWs and stranded individuals? Who decreed a lockdown so severe and sweeping that it would flatten the economy? And whose officials have blithely violated lockdown rules by throwing a birthday party, leading a mass gathering, or hying off to a resort to cavort with dolphins?

Evils, old and new

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July 7, 2020

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By DEE AYROSO

The post Evils, old and new appeared first on Bulatlat.

Davao’s Barangay 23-C on ‘hard lockdown’ due to Covid-19

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July 7, 2020

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The City Government of Davao has placed Barangay 23-C, known as Mini-Forest Boulevard, under “hard lockdown” for a minimum of 14 days starting July 4, following an increase of Covid-19 cases among its residents.

Kin of political prisoners urge SC to act on urgent plea

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July 7, 2020

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Kin of political prisoners urge SC to act on urgent plea

Marites Asis, mother of 23-year-old Reina Mae Nasino also asked the SC to release her daughter who recently gave birth last July 1. (Photo courtesy of Kapatid)

“Yet we are still waiting for the Court to deliver what the Chief Justice vowed. One of the petitioners has already given birth and like what we’ve feared, the day after giving birth, she was brought back to prison with her baby.”

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Relatives and supporters of political prisoners once again trooped to the Supreme Court today, July 7, pleading the SC justices to act immediately on the petition they filed three months ago.

Led by KAPATID, relatives and friends of political prisoners tied blue ribbons at the SC’s gate to signify their call for a positive resolutio and handed letters of appeal to the justices. They also asked Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta to be true to his words.

Peralta said in a virtual press conference last June that the decision on their petition for the release of 22 elderly and sickly political prisoners on humanitarian grounds might come out on June 16.

Fides Lim, spokesperson of KAPATID and wife of peace consultant Vicente Ladlad said that three months of waiting is beyond enough. She said that investigative reports reveal that many prisoners are dying at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City. At least 80 prisoners died from May 1 to May 19. The figure surpassed the prison camp’s average mortality rate of 50 to 60 deaths per month, Lim said.

“Yet we are still waiting for the Court to deliver what the Chief Justice vowed. One of the petitioners has already given birth and like what we’ve feared, the day after giving birth, she was brought back to prison with her baby,” said Lim.

Marites Asis, mother of 23-year-old Reina Mae Nasino, asked the SC to release her daughter who recently gave birth last July 1.

Nasino, a political prisoner at the Manila City Jail female quarters, delivered her firstborn at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila. She and her baby were immediately taken out of the hospital the next day despite the hospital’s permission allowing both to stay in the hospital at least for a week to ensure continued medical care for her underweight and jaundiced newborn.

Court Administrator Midas Marquez receiving the letters of appeal. (Photo courtesy of Kapatid)

“Named River, this baby is the reason why we wear blue today and tie blue ribbons with letters of appeal from political prisoners’ kin. Blue symbolizes the waters of the river that give life. Blue is also the color of the sky that expresses the freedom we yearn for Reina Mae and her baby, and other prisoners who likewise deserve to be freed,” Asis said.

Karapatan said there are more than 600 political prisoners in different prison facilities in the country.

Church, Moro groups in Region 10 slam Anti-Terror Law

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July 7, 2020

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Various groups in Northern Mindanao expressed strong opposition to the Anti-Terrorism Act 2020 which they said will trample human rights as the country grapples on the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.