Category Archives: From the web

[From the web] ATM, green groups back Baguilat, Hontiveros, Diokno, and de Lima senatorial bid

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ATM, green groups back Baguilat, Hontiveros, Diokno, and de Lima senatorial bid

Alyansa Tigil Mina and allied environmental groups threw their support behind the senatorial bid of four green champions in an online green sortie where the groups publicly declared their endorsement of Cong. Teddy Baguilat, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Atty. Chel Diokno, and Senator Leila de Lima.

Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, said the four senators are the first senatoriables ATM is endorsing, as they have been known champions of green bills, particularly the Alternative Minerals Management Bill.

As incumbent legislators, Cong. Baguilat, Sen. Hontiveros, and Sen. De Lima have proposed the legislation of the AMMB, which aims to rationalize mining towards national development while protecting the rights and interests of communities.

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[From the web] J&T umatake na sa panggigipit sa mga rider | Kasama Riders

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J&T umatake na sa panggigipit sa mga rider

J & T umatake na ng panggigipit sa mga rider nito sa buong pilipinas.
Nagbaba ng kautusan (Memo) ang J&T management na nagbabawas sa Salary, incentives sa bawat parcel at gas allowance.

Kagaya ng ibang kumpanya unti-unti na nilang mas pinapahirapan ang kanilang mga delivery rider na silang nagpapakapagod para maideliver sa tamang oras (on time) ang bawat parcel na pinapadala ng mga costumer nito.

Ngayon ay inaalis o binabawasan ang mga dati ng natatanggap ng mga sariling rider nila na kapalit ng kanila pawis at pagod.

Dahil ba mga rider lang? at walang kakayanang ipagtanggol ang kanila karapatan ay gagawin na lamang ng J&T management ang lahat ng panggigipit kahit magresulta pa ito ng pag liit ng kita at pagkagutom ng pamilya ng mga manggagawang rider?

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[From the web] We need genuine universal quality education, not your paltry charity! | SPARK

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We need genuine universal quality education, not your paltry charity!

Last week, Senator Kiko Pangilinan filed Senate Bill 2495, or the “Bawat Pamilya May College Gradweyt Act.” The bill is meant as an amendment to the previous R.A. 10931, commonly known as the Free Tuition Law. Pangilinan recognized the economic barriers preventing the aforementioned law from universal application, with how low-income families have more difficulty attaining education. Pangilinan’s bill seeks to expand the free tuition law by ensuring at least 1 college graduate for every family, as well as other subsidies. Pangilinan’s bill however includes specific parameters that will decide which students are eligible for the program – making the effort an exclusive one, and not an affirmation of the universal right to education.

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[From the web] Jessica Soho interviews 4 presidentiables | VERA Files

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Jessica Soho interviews 4 presidentiables

There are many good things going for the three-hour GMA 7’s Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews aired Saturday night.

It started at exactly 6:15 and wrapped up at 9:15 at which time you realize you have just watched one hell of a TV interview involving at least four presidential contenders.

It was a refreshing experience because the state of the country’s talk shows has sunk so low after the disappearance ofgood TV hosts who lost the ratings war and pushed to late night slots.

For the Presidential Interviews, the subjects looked prepared- from Vice President Leni Robredo, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Mayor Isko Moreno and Sen. Manny Pacquiao.

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[From the web] No justice, no genuine land reform 35 years after Mendiola Massacre—KMP | KODAO

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No justice, no genuine land reform 35 years after Mendiola Massacre—KMP

Justice for the victims of the Mendiola Massacre and the struggle for genuine land reform they died for remain a rallying cry for farmers 35 years after the bloody incident, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said.

The farmers’ group that led 20,000 farmers in a rally near Malacanang Palace on January 22, 1987, said the 13 victims who died in the bloody dispersal are yet to be given justice, as is their group’s call for an end to tyranny and for genuine land reform.

“The peasant movement pays tribute to Danilo Arjona, Leopoldo Alonzo, Adelfa Aribe, Dionisio Bautista, Roberto Caylao, Vicente Campomanes, Ronilo Dumanico, Dante Evangelio, Angelito Gutierrez, Rodrigo Grampan, Bernabe Laquindanum, Sonny Boy Perez, and Roberto Yumul who were martyrs of the Mendiola Massacre,” the KMP said.

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[From the web] Labor and Environmental Groups Push for a Stronger Anti-Asbestos Policy to Protect Human Health | Ecowaste Coalition

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Labor and Environmental Groups Push for a Stronger Anti-Asbestos Policy to Protect Human Health

There is an urgent need to modify and improve the Philippines’ twenty-one year old asbestos policy regulation on the manufacture and use of asbestos and asbestos containing materials in the country, said a confederation of labor unions and a coalition of environmental organizations.

According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Ecowaste Coalition, the moribund Chemical Control Order (CCO) for Asbestos issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on January 6, 2000 needs serious improvement in its mandate to protect the public in the light of its passive enforcement, growing non-compliance to the regulation, and the unfettered importation into the country of raw asbestos and materials and products containing asbestos.

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[From the web] Amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Teachers asked DEPED to retain their work from home status | TDC

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Amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Teachers asked DEPED to retain their work from home status

Amid the rising cases of COVID-19 especially in Metro Manila, the Teachers ’Dignity Coalition (TDC) has asked the Department of Education (DepEd) leadership to publicly declare that the agency is compliant with its own policy on alternative work arrangements for public school teachers. In a series of Facebook posts this morning, TDC Chairperson called the attention of DepEd officials to reiterate the alternative work arrangement of public school teachers.

“Yung ilang schools/SDOs sa Reg 3 & Reg 4A na nagpapasok sa teachers physically, relax, ‘wag niyo na dagdagan ang exposure ng tao para hindi matulad dito sa NCR. Remote modalities ang teaching, remember?” Basas posted referring to some schools in Central Luzon and CALABARZON requiring the physical presence of their teachers despite the remote teaching modalities employed by DepEd.

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[From the web] Tinay Palabay wins prestigious human rights award; dedicates prize to fellow rights defenders | Kodao

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#HumanRights

Tinay Palabay wins prestigious human rights award; dedicates prize to fellow rights defenders

Karapatan’s office was busy Wednesday afternoon and people were scurrying about, as usual. But no list was being updated and no frantic calls were being made. The stacks of papers atop tables were being ignored and the placards were shoved to corners where they could not get in the way of the bustle.

The chatter was happy and the jokes came thicker and faster than usual. And instead of harried-looking human rights defenders, they looked like party-goers in their Sunday best.

In a space usually reserved for quick consultations when there are reports of arrests and killings stood a ring light beside a human rights lawyer, make-up brushes in hand. Under the lights sat Karapatan’s secretary general Cristina “Tinay” Palabay being glammed up.

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[From the web] Harry Roque fails in bid for International Law Commission post | GMAnews

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#HumanRights #ILC

Harry Roque fails in bid for International Law Commission post

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque failed to obtain a seat in the 34-member International Law Commission (ILC), the body of experts that help develop and codify international law.
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“My candidature at the ILC was a challenging campaign throughout but we met it head-on. Unfortunately, we did not succeed,” he said in a statement posted on his social media account.

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[From the web] Why the Laud quarry, ‘mass grave’ for DDS victims, haunts Lascañas | RAPPLER.COM

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#HumanRights #Killings

Why the Laud quarry, ‘mass grave’ for DDS victims, haunts Lascañas

When a death squad maintained by the mayor of the Philippines’ largest city goes on a killing spree, where do they bury the bodies?

For their biggest dumping ground – where hitmen had confessed to having buried thousands – the notorious Davao Death Squad (DDS) had a six-hectare quarry owned by policeman Bienvenido Laud in Barangay Ma-a.

In an affidavit submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in October 2020, a copy of which was obtained by Rappler, former DDS insider Arturo Lascañas detailed how the Laud quarry had become a “mass grave” for persons whom then-mayor Rodrigo Duterte had ordered them to kill.

Read full article @ https://bit.ly/3oELuPK

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[From the web] FB is now Meta. And it wants to monetize your whole existence | by James Muldoon

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#HumanRights #Meta

Facebook Is Now Meta. And It Wants to Monetize Your Whole Existence.
By James Muldoon

You log on, and you’re herded into a virtual bar to listen to your boss telling jokes. Meanwhile, a metaverse-first real estate company is selling off overpriced property in a virtual London, and gamers are competing for non-fungible tokens. Welcome to the Zuckerverse — a place nobody asked for but in which we may soon all be spending a lot of time.

On Thursday, Facebook changed its name to Meta, as part of a broader shift toward the so-called metaverse — a network of interconnected experiences partly accessed through virtual reality (VR) headsets and augmented reality (AR) devices. In Zuckerberg’s own words, “you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it.” The most recognizable examples of this in action are virtual office meetings with VR goggles, playing games in an expansive online universe, and accessing a digital layer on top of the real world through AR.

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[From the web] Philippines Loses Staunch Rights Defender | Human Rights Watch

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#HumanRights #ChitoGascon

Philippines Loses Staunch Rights Defender | Human Rights Watch

Philippines Loses Staunch Rights Defender
Chito Gascon Led Commission on Human Rights During Trying Years
By Carlos H. Conde
Senior Philippines Researcher
Human Rights Watch

The Philippines has lost a beloved human rights defender. Jose Luis Martin Gascon, known to all as “Chito,” who had chaired the governmental Commission on Human Rights since 2015, died October 9 from complications due to Covid-19, his family said. He was 57.

Friends and allies in the human rights movement mourned Gascon’s passing. “The country lost a dedicated public servant who never cowered in fear in asserting people’s rights and civil liberties,” said Fides Lim, spokesperson of Kapatid, a group advocating for the rights of political prisoners. “Amid the challenges faced by the CHR … he carried on with dignity, strength and courage,” said Jacqueline Ann de Guia, Gascon’s colleague at the commission. Even the military, often the target of commission investigations, paid its respects.

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[From the web] Opinion: Duterte is worried about the ICC. He should be. | by Carlos Conde

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#HumanRights #Killings

Opinion: Duterte is worried about the ICC. He should be. | by Carlos H. Conde

Clarita Alia remains anguished, nearly 20 years after I first heard her express her grief.

“His name was Danilo Lugay,” she told me over the phone recently from Davao City, in the southern Philippines. Police killed Lugay in September 2020 during a drug raid; a news report of the killing said he had fought back and police officers shot him. Lugay, 28, was the grandchild of Alia’s sister Naneth.

Alia’s voice cracked as she described what happened — the same pained voice that I heard when I interviewed her in 2002 for a report on the killing of her sons Richard, Christopher and Bobby, all teenagers. Assailants later murdered a fourth son, Fernando, in 2007. This unimaginable family tragedy gave Alia, a vegetable vendor who lives in a slum community, the label of poster mother for the city’s bloody “war on drugs,” in which police use extrajudicial executions instead of prosecutions as a primary method of punishing criminal suspects.

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[From the web] Congratulations, Maria and Rappler. You have made the country proud | LnM

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#HumanRights #PressFreedom

Congratulations, Maria and Rappler. You have made the country proud

Laban ng Masa joins the country in celebrating Maria Ressa’s being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Russian journalist Dimitry Muratov. Maria and the news and opinion outlet she headed up, Rappler, have been in the forefront of the defense of freedom of the press. For continuing to expose the crimes of the Duterte regime, Ressa and Rappler were subjected to legal persecution and attempts at political annihilation and economic asphyxiation by the administration.

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[From the web] Int’l community must support independent investigative mechanism to end attacks on civil society | CIVICUS

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#HumanRights #StopTheAssault

Philippines: International community must support independent investigative mechanism to end attacks on civil society

New research on the state of civic freedoms in the Philipines

CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, continues to call on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism to address human rights violations and abuses in the Philippines to further accountability and justice. A new brief published today, shows that one year on from the adoption of a profoundly weak resolution at the Council, serious civic freedoms violations continue to occur, creating a chilling effect within civil society.

The CIVICUS Monitor has documented the arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders and activists on fabricated charges. In a number of instances, the activists have been vilified and red-tagged – labelled as communists or terrorists – in relation to their work prior to their arrest. There have also been reports of evidence planted by the police and military forces to justify arrests or violence against activists.

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[From the web] Victims and their families will engage a justice system that they can trust | iDEFEND

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Victims and their families will engage a justice system that they can trust- iDEFEND

The report of the ICC registry indicating an overwhelming support of victims and their families towards an investigation into the war on drugs by the International Criminal Court, proves the lack of credibility of the Philippine system to provide justice to more than thirty thousand cases of extrajudicial killings in the country.

According to the Victims’ Participation and Reparations Section of the registry, there had been more than 200 submissions to the ICC supporting the request of the prosecutor to launch a formal investigation into the human rights violations in the country. The VPRS cited that some reasons given by the victims are the reign of impunity entrenched by the President, the unending trauma that they endure, and their conviction that their relatives did not fight back against authorities.

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[From the web] Lessons Unlearned: Fight for Inclusive Education Carries into Second Year of Remote Learning | by Isaiah Castro/ PhilRights.org

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#HumanRights #Education

Lessons Unlearned: Fight for Inclusive Education Carries into Second Year of Remote Learning
by Isaiah Castro

“It makes me anxious,” John Carlou, 20, confesses when asked how he feels about remote learning. “Since it started, I have been struggling financially, mentally, and emotionally. Also, learning at home does not work well for me because I keep doubting myself.”

The eldest among four children, John Carlou resides in the rural Daanbantayan town in northernmost Cebu. An incoming third-year student of political science at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu, he admits that he feels “alienated” and is still adjusting to the virtual set-up. He worries about his performance, especially during the heavily stressful final exams, which reflects on the grades he received last semester.

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[From the web] Global torture prevention community calls for protection of Afghanistan’s national preventive mechanism | APT

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#HumanRights #Torture

Global torture prevention community calls for protection of Afghanistan’s national preventive mechanism

The recent Taliban military offensive poses a grave threat to the continued independence and functioning of Afghanistan’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) – the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) – and for the safety of its members and staff.

Everyone in Afghanistan who has engaged in work to promote human rights and democracy now faces a serious risk of reprisals under the Taliban. At particular risk are the women who lead and work for the AIHRC. All those under threat, including the staff of the AIHRC and their families, need protection including, if necessary, through visas and safe passage.

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[From the web] It’s Time for the U.S. to Stop Selling Weapons to Human Rights Abusers | HRW

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It’s Time for the U.S. to Stop Selling Weapons to Human Rights Abusers
Published in:The Washington Post

By Elisa Epstein
Washington Advocacy Officer
Human Rights Watch
@elisacepstein

The Biden administration notified Congress in June of a proposed sale of more than $2.5 billion in arms to the Philippines, including fighter jets and two kinds of precision missiles. The notice came less than two weeks after the International Criminal Court prosecutor sought approval to open a formal investigation into crimes against humanity related to the Philippines’ brutal “war on drugs.”

Human rights groups promptly expressed concern that the administration would reward an increasingly abusive government with such a large weapons sale, particularly given public pledges by both President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the new administration would put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

This is not the first time in the Biden administration’s short tenure that it has found itself the object of criticism following an arms sale announcement. In February, the United States approved plans to sell Egypt missiles worth $197 million. In May, news broke of an approved arms sale worth $735 million of precision-guided weapons to Israel amid its latest military offensive in Gaza, where it used large, precision-guided munitions to destroy multi-story buildings containing scores of businesses and homes on the pretext of some unproven Hamas presence at those sites. According to the United Nations, Israeli airstrikes in May killed 260 Palestinians in Gaza, at least 129 of whom were civilians, including 66 children.

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[From the web] The new UN Climate Report and Environmental Defenders | UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs

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The new UN Climate Report and Environmental Defenders | UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs

The report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which came out earlier this week warns of imminent climate catastrophe. Major atmospheric and climatic changes are already underway.

People have caused climate change, and must now bring it to a halt through radical changes in our behaviour and attitudes. And yet it’s the defenders of our environment who are often forced to risk their lives to advocate for increased environmental protection.

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