The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) called on the Philippine military to immediately cease and desist its red-tagging against the lawyers’ organization National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL)
NDFP’s Casambre ‘clandestinely’ transferred to ‘noisy’, ‘hot’ Bacoor jail
The BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) administrator reportedly tried to give a positive impression during Casambre’s family’s first visit but Patricia was broken-hearted to note of the “intolerable noise and the oppressive heat that she would not wish on others.”
‘Search warrant’ para pumatay
“Hindi totoo na dahil may searxh warrant ay kailangan nilang hulihin,
Ang kanilang layunin ay patayin ang mga tao doon sa Canlaon City, Manjuyod at Santa Catalina sa Negros Oriental.”
Ang kanilang layunin ay patayin ang mga tao doon sa Canlaon City, Manjuyod at Santa Catalina sa Negros Oriental.”
#MirrorUs: Alternative media outfits launch campaign to counter cyber-attacks
Independent and alternative media outfits under Altermidya Network today launched the #MirrorUs campaign, an initiative which calls on supporters to create a mirror copy of their websites that have been the subject of unrelenting cyber-attacks in the past months.
“The concept behind the #MirrorUs campaign is for supporters and advocates to create a mirror copy of recent posts and contents of the websites of the alternative media in their respective servers, to make the contents of these sites available even if the ongoing cyber-attacks shut down the main sites,” explained Computer Professionals Union (CPU) coordinator Mac Yanto. CPU, an Altermidya member organization, assists several alternative media outfits in securing their websites.
Since December, the websites of Bulatlat, Kodao Productions, and Pinoy Weekly were targeted for “Distributed Denial of Service” (DDoS) attacks after posting reports on issues critical to the current Duterte administration, including stories about the illegal arrest of political prisoners and the moves to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
DDoS is a malicious form of cyber-attack that aims to overload a targeted machine. Once the server is oversaturated, the website will become inaccessible. As a result, additional and legitimate readers of the website are literally be “denied” of access.
By January this year, DDoS attacks escalated, and included the sites of Altermidya, Manila Today, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), and even the websites of human rights group Karapatan, Arkibong Bayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and lately, Ibon Foundation.
Qurium, the Sweden-based media foundation assisting Bulatlat, Altermidya, Karapatan and Pinoy Weekly, found out that there is a pattern: the same techniques and same botnets are being used against these websites. An independent review of Kodao Productions’ traffic logs also revealed the same attackers. Quirium noted that in the past decade, they have not seen such magnitude and scale of DDoS attacks being launched in one country.
Details of the attacks have been reported to the National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT) under the Department of Information and Communications Technology last February. The NCERT replied CIVICERT only on March 15 after protests at the DICT, but only to ask for a list of attacked websites (although these details have been sent to the agency earlier)
“Mirroring websites is one way to fight the DDoS attacks. Even if the attackers successfully shut down one site, its mirror sites can still make the contents of that site available. Mirror sites may serve as repository of the attacked sites. Amid the continuing cyber attacks against online alternative media platforms and advocacy groups, the #MirrorUs project will help multiply our online presence and partly mitigate the cyber attacks,” said Ronalyn Olea, managing editor of Bulatlat.com.
Site mirroring circumvents technological censorship by duplicating the contents of a website targeted by cyber-attacks in various servers located not just in the Philippines but throughout the world.
International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has already began the website mirroring campaign for alternative news websites, Bulatlat and Kodao Productions, as part of their “Operation Collateral Freedom” international campaign.
“We call on advocates, supporters, and the public to support the #MirrorUs campaign. As more mirror sites are established, the nefarious forces behind the DDoS attacks will not succeed in shutting down and silencing the alternative media,” said Altermidya national coordinator Rhea Padilla.
“The #MirroUs campaign is both an act of defense and offense against cybercensorship. It is a big way to defiantly tell those who are attempting to implement cyber-martial law that the media will not be silenced, and that the alternative media will definitely fight back,” Padilla said.
The groups encouraged netizens to repost and promote contents of alternative media outfits through their social media accounts.
For people and organizations interested in joining the #MirrorUs campaign, kindly contact alternative media outfits through: mirrorus.ph@gmail.com or send an FB or twitter message to @Altermidya.
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Alternative journos, advocates to NCERT-DICT: Act on cyberattacks now
Marking the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, independent and alternative journalists, as well as student and human rights activists and IT advocates picketed the National Computer Emergency Response Team (NICT) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) head office at Diliman, Quezon City to press the agency to act on relentless and continuing cyber attacks on websites of independent and alternative media.
The protesters decried the cyber censorship in the form of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) attacks. Websites of Bulatlat, Kodao Productions and Pinoy Weekly, as well as Altermidya – People’s Alternative Media Network, and other advocacy websites, have been targeted for DDoS since late December 2018 and continue until today.
“We have reason to believe that the Duterte administration has orchestrated this cyber attack on websites of critical and independent media as part of its efforts to silence criticism and dissent against it” said Ronalyn Olea, managing editor of Bulatlat.com. “The cyber attacks are in conjunction with the overall attacks on press freedom that include threats against news site Rappler and even dominant media networks like ABS-CBN.”
Since January this year, Bulatlat, Altermidya and Pinoy Weekly have sought hosting and quick response support from Sweden-based IT advocacy nonprofit group Qurium Media Foundation.
Since taking on the websites of Bulatlat, Altermidya and Pinoy Weekly, Qurium has called the attention of NCERT and DICT regarding the relentless DDoS attacks on the websites of alternative media and advocacy groups. The said government agencies, however, have not answered Qurium’s queries.
“This is why we are here. We demand that they act on the attacks. Otherwise, we will be lead to believe that NCERT and DICT are complicit in the attack on press freedom,” said Rhea Padilla, national coordinator of Altermidya.
“Not content with fomenting disinformation and fake news, the Duterte administration is hell-bent on silencing what it considers as fierce critics and political opponents and goes to extreme lengths and harnessing even the power of the dark web.”
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is a malicious form of cyber-attack that aims to overload a targeted machine. Once the server is oversaturated, the website will become inaccessible. As a result, additional and legitimate readers of the website are literally be “denied” of access. #
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17 years on: Remembering Beng’s journalism, human rights advocacy
Evangeline Hernandez, fondly recollects some memories of her daughter Beng, describing her as bright, easy to talk to, and especially have lots of stories to tell. A mother would never forget her child.
Martial law victims hit OSG for blocking claims distribution
“Stopping the reparation and recognition of our claims may be tantamount to non-acknowledgement of victims of martial law.”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Martial law victims criticized the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for blocking what could have been the third tranche of compensation for them.
In a statement, the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) questioned the motives of the OSG in rejecting the settlement agreement that would have given martial law victims a total of $13.75 million from the sale of the paintings recovered from Imelda Marcos’ private secretary Vilma Bautista.
In a report, Solicitor General Jose Calida said that terms of the agreement “were found to be grossly disadvantageous to the government and not in accord with existing Philippine laws and jurisprudence.”
Reacting to Calida, Danilo dela Fuente, Selda vice chairperson, said the move is more disadvantageous to the victims of human rights violations under the Marcos administration. “Stopping the reparation and recognition of our claims may be tantamount to non-acknowledgement of victims of martial law.”
The group feared that the OSG’s move is part of the rehabilitation of Marcoses, noting that President Duterte himself has repeatedly denied the fact that the Marcoses committed plunder.
The late dictator’s daughter Imee Marcos is running for senator under President Duterte’s political party.
Dela Fuente said the government should be first to work on the recovery of all funds related to Marcos ill-gotten wealth. “They have the obligation to do so,” he said.
“In the first place, the victims and the members of the class suit have a rightful claim to the settlement. They proved time and again that the late dictator [Marcos] and his family should be made accountable for decades of their rule. They (victims) have all the right to assert and demand justice and compensation,” Dela Fuente said.
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International lawyers’ group slams red-baiting of NUPL
The IADL said that the military’s red tagging of NUPL contradicts Article 16 of the Basic Principles, which mandates governments to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions “without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — An international association of lawyers denounced the Philippines military’s red tagging of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
In a resolution, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) branded Maj. Gen Antonio Parlade, Jr.’s statement linking the NUPL with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New Peoples’ Army as “irresponsible, slanderous and legally punishable.”
“This unsupported claim without any specific and verifiable evidence that is reliable and credible exposes the human rights lawyers and the clients that they are defending to grave danger,” the resolution, adopted during the recent meeting of the IADL Bureau in Kuala Lumpur, read. Lawyers from Algiers, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, France, Haiti, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, United States, and Vietnam attended the said meeting.
The IADL called on the Philippine military to immediately cease and desist casting aspersions on the NUPL and the human rights lawyers and let them do their work and advocacy unhampered by such labelling.
The IADL, which has consultative status as an NGO with the United Nations, pointed out that the red tagging of the NUPL violates UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. It cited Article 18 which states, “Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their client’s causes as a result of discharging their functions.” Doing so, the group said, would deprive the people of their access to justice and basic right to counsel guaranteed by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The group added that such hate speech may also constitute a violation of Article 20 prohibiting advocacy of hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. It further said that the red-tagging contradicts Article 16 of the Basic Principles which mandates governments to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions “without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”
The IADL said it fully supports all legal actions and recourse in various domestic and international fora to make those responsible for these attacks accountable.
The IADL doubted the veracity of the accusations made by Parlade, noting that the NUPL has defended the rights and welfare, not only of the people in the Philippines but other oppressed peoples in other countries. It also commended the long track record of the NUPL in defending pro bono the economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights of various persons and organizations.
In a separate statement, NUPL President Edre Olalia decried Parlade’s labeling, saying it has put their members in even more danger. “It is not only absolutely baseless in fact, it does not legally hold water at all,” Olalia said.
To date, at least 36 lawyers, judges and prosecutors have been killed since Duterte assumed office. An international mission revealed that the suspected perpetrators include state security forces or their agents.
Related story: Mission finds ‘patterns of state-sanctioned violence’ against Filipino lawyers
The IADL also vowed to get the broadest support of various legal organizations worldwide in putting a stop to these “vicious attacks on our colleagues.”
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