“After all what has been said and done, political prisoners (PPs) will still spend Christmas inside cramped jails,” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general said. “Since Pres. Duterte first talked about releasing political prisoners, a political prisoner has already died, several have been rushed to hospitals and PPs already went into fasting and hunger strike, and additional fifteen (15) have been illegally arrested and are still detained,” Palabay said.
“The December 12 shooting of farm workers in Madaum Village, Tagum City by Lapanday guards has been one too many incidents of violence against farmers asserting their right to land. President Duterte should uphold the interests of farmers by addressing landlessness,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.
The 66th year of the International Human Rights Day will be commemorated in the Philippines by calls for justice for the victims of the US-supported Marcos dictatorship and for the Filipino people to persevere in the struggle against state fascism.
“Ang pakikibaka para makamit ang hustisyang ipinagkait sa aming mga bilanggong pulitikal ay bahagi ng kabuuang laban para sa karapatang pantao (The struggle for justice long denied to political prisoners is part of the people’s struggle for human rights)” said political prisoners (PPs) from Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City in a statement, as 76 PPs ended their hunger strike today, International Human Rights Day. At least 122 PPs also participated by fasting.
Karapatan is set to join Bayan in nationwide rallies tomorrow, International Human Rights Day, to press for the release of all political prisoners, to call for an end to military occupation of schools and rural communities in the guise of civic action and denounce extrajudicial killings of activists and civilians, including killings in the Duterte government’s “war on drugs.” The rallies are also meant to sustain protest actions against the hero’s burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and press the call for justice for and indemnification of martial law victims.
Since yesterday, December 7, youth political prisoners in several detention centers nationwide have been on hunger strike to strengthen the call for the release of all political prisoners.
“With a notorious implementer of US-directed counter-insurgency programs Oplan Bantay Laya and Oplan Bayanihan now at the helm of the fascist Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), there is greater danger of human rights violations and militarist efforts to sabotage peace initiatives,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said, in reaction to yesterday’s appointment of Gen. Eduardo Año as the new Chief of Staff of the AFP, replacing Gen. Ricardo Visaya.
Three days before the International Human Rights Day, at least 76 political prisoners (PPs) in different jails in the country started their hunger strike, while 122 PPs, many are sickly and elderly, will fast until December 10.
Political prisoners from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Taguig City Jail, Samar Provincial Jail, Compostela Valley Provincial Rehabilitation Center (CVPRC), and Davao Penal Colony (DAPECOL) are all mourning for the death of fellow political prisoner Bernabe Ocasla, who died last November 28, 2016 after three days in coma.
Karapatan today joined RISE UP!, a campaign initiated by faith-based groups, institutions and people’s organizations against the drug menace and for the protection of human and people’s rights against drug-related extrajudicial killings, in a protest action in front of the Department of Interior and Local Government office in Quezon City.
Yesterday, December 4, 2016, at 8 a.m., another elderly and ailing political prisoner, Apolonio Barado, was admitted to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) hospital in Muntinlupa City due to chest pains.
Karapatan welcomes news on President Duterte’s pardon of political prisoners Rico Bodino (Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm), Dindo Absalon and Bonifacio Suyom (Leyte Regional Prison), and Martin Villanueva (New Bilibid Prison) to facilitate their long-overdue release from jails. Since 2011, their names have been submitted to the Presidential Committee on Bail, Recognizance and Pardon (PCBREP) and recommended to former Pres. BS Aquino, who didn’t act on their release.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay today pressed for the release of all political prisoners, in the light of the recent death of political prisoner Bernabe Ocasla, a 66-year old peasant organizer from Western Samar, due to cardiac arrest last November 28, 2016.