Appeals for Action

Case:  Extrajudicial killing

Victim:  DIONISIO GARETE

• Male, 57 years old, widower, farmer
• Member of the Janiuay-Badiangan Farmers Association (JABAFA) and Katilingban sa Mangunguma sa Dabong (Kamada). Both organizations are affiliates of the Panay Fair Trade Center (PFTC). Kamada is an association of small farmers and a major producer of muscovado sugar sold at the fair trade market through the PFTC.
• He was also a village councillor of Barangay Aquino-Nobleza West.

Place of Incident:    Barangay (village) Danao, Janiuay town, Iloilo province.

Date of Incident:    May 26, 2014, at 9:15 a.m.

Alleged Perpetrator(s): Suspected to be members of the paramilitary group Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) who are under the auspices of the Philippine Army of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Account of the Incident:

In the morning of May 28, 2014, Dionisio Garete was on his way to deliver sugarcane to the muscovado mill of the Janiuay-Badiangan Farmers Association (Jabafa). Garete was driving his pick-up truck behind a Jabafa cargo truck driven by fellow farmer. The truck was loaded with newly-cut sugarcane.

When their convoy reached a sloping and winding road in Brgy. Danao, Janiuay, Garete’s vehicle was behind some 50 meters from the cargo truck. Eric Nonato, driver of the cargo truck, heard gunshots and the horn of Garete’s pickup blowing. Nonato stopped the truck sensing  Garete was in danger. Aware that the perpetrators may still be on site, Nonato and his companions waited for a few minutes  before rushing to help Garete.

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call for the immediate release of Roy Erecre, peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and the resumption of the peace talks between the NDFP and the Philippine government.

(An updated version of Urgent Appeal issued on April 22, 2014)

Andrea Rosal, a woman political prisoner and daughter of communist spokesperson Ka Roger Rosal, lost her first child two days after giving birth while in detention.   

Andrea Rosal was arrested together with Edward Lazanas on March 27 by elements of the National Bureau of Investigation for trumped up charges of kidnapping with murder.  Rosal was seven months pregnant during the arrest. 

On May 3, the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), through its spokesperson Capt. Alberto Caber, released a statement to the media claiming it has captured the “notorious NPA front secretary Felix Armodia who operated in Davao del Sur, South Cotabato and Tulunan, North Cotabato.”

May 11, 2014

Dear fellow advocates: 

Greetings of peace!

The Pantaron Range is a mountainous area that contains one of the last remaining primary forests in Mindanao, a part of our few remaining biodiversity corridors, and is a critical watershed for major river systems such as the Pulangi, Lasang and Davao rivers. It is ancestral home to thousands of Talaingod Manobo indigenous people, Lumads who gallantly defended Pantaron from big logging firm Alcantara and Sons (also known as Alson’s) in the 1990’s by organizing themselves into the Manobo federation, Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon (Unity in Defense of Ancestral Land; or, literally, 'a gathering {salugpong}for a land {tanu} that cannot-be-alienated [from us] {kanugon}').

In 1993, Datu Guibang Apoga, the chieftain of the Talaingod Manobos, united 83 different Manobo villages to rise against Alson’s and led a pangayaw, or a tribal declaration of war in defense of their lands, using traditional weapons against the company and its private security. The Pantaron struggle forced Alson’s to leave the area, thus preserving to date the flora and fauna of the Pantaron Range.

The current plight of the Talaingod Manabos

The Talaingod Manobos were forced on an exodus to Davao City away from their ancestral homes by a series of aerial bombings and intensified militarization by the combined forces of the 68th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA), 60th IBPA of the 1003rd Brigade, and the 4th Special Forces under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which started on March 3, 2014.

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call for justice for the human rights violations of farmers in Hacienda Dolores, Porac, Pampanga.

Killing of village councilor

Initial reports from Karapatan-Central Luzon cited the killing of Menelao "Boy" Barcia, 57. Barcia was a Barangay councilor (kagawad) and an official of Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Hacienda Dolores (Aniban or Alliance of United People of Hacienda Dolores).

On March 27, Edward Lazanas accompanied 7-month pregnant Andrea Rosal to Caloocan City for her check-up. They went to the residence of Ruben Gatchalian, barangay (village) captain of Brgy. 169, in BF Homes, Brgy. 169, Caloocan City to drop off their belongings before going to Rosal’s doctor.  At around 8:00a.m., Gatchalian went outside the house when they heard a sound of a car horn to check if it was someone he knew. A man with an armalite rifle introduced himself as an NBI agent and said he was looking for Rosal. The NBI agent approached Rosal and forced her to go with him, threatening her she will be dragged if she refused.

Case: Enforced disappearance

Victim/s: GARY AGUILAR SANTOS

• 48 years old, male, working as a gardener at the house that was leased by the arbitrarily arrested and detained Wilma Austia Tiamzon, Benito Tiamzon, et al.  
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Case: Arbitrary/illegal arrest and detention; psychological torture; violations of the rights of arrested or detained persons includes violation of Miranda rights, right to counsel and visit by a human rights organization, among others]