Human Rights

Rene Penas led march on Manila from Bukidnon to highlight plight of landless Malaybalay City – two unidentified armed men killed a leader of the Sumilao farmers, a group that actively pushed for agrarian reform, and wounded his two companions in an ambush late Friday night in Sumilao, Bukidnon.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Leila de Lima has condemned the killing of the sister of a ranking communist leader and urged witnesses to come forward to shed light on the case.

A peasant leader was killed Friday night by unidentified gunmen in Bukidnon province, the latest in a series of attacks against activists, police yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday condemned the killing of one of the leaders of the farmer activists who walked all the way from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to Manila in 2007 to seek justice.

The Arroyo government has failed to address the issue of the killings of lawyers and judges, the Hague-based Lawyers for Lawyers said on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government blamed the New People’s Army (NPA) for the number of unexplained killings in the country as it highlighted a report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that such killings “have fallen dramatically by 70 percent.”

United Nations Special Rapporteur to the Philippines Professor Philip Alston has blasted President Arroyo’s government for failing to put an end to extra-judicial killings.

An independent group of Dutch lawyers group has scored the Philippine government for its failure to stop extrajudicial killings, particularly those involving judges and lawyers.

MANILA, Philippines—United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston has noted a 70-percent decrease in the number of unexplained killings in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.

MANILA, Philippines – An alliance of organizations against torture appealed yesterday to the government to declare a policy of “total elimination” of acts of torture in the country in the wake of the concluding observations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT), which pressed for the enactment of the Anti-Torture Bill.

MANILA, Philippines – Some members of the Davao police are actually “involved” in the death squad behind the vigilante killings in the city, Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila de Lima said yesterday, citing “confirmed information.”

FARMERS belonging to different organizations on Monday filed a complaint against House Speaker Prospero Nograles at the office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for ordering on Friday the demolition of their camp site at the gates of the Batasan Complex and injuring 10 farmer activists in the process.

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The Philippine National Police (PNP) has created a special task group tasked to put an end to political killings and election-related violence, less than a year before the 2010 elections, PNP Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is set to look into the allegation of the 350-member International Solidarity Mission (ISM) that there is an increased militarization in certain parts of southern Mindanao.

The international journalist group Reporters Without Borders (Reporters San Frontiers or RSF) expressed alarmed over reports that a journalist and two human rights groups were on the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) “Order of Battle” list of surveillance targets in Mindanao in 2007 because of their alleged links to the Communist Party of the…

Last March, the Commission on Human Rights headed by Chairman Leila de Lima held three days of public hearings on extrajudicial killings in Davao City.

DAVAO CITY: This month, an international fact-finding mission came here to investigate human rights violations in the Davao district of Paquibato and towns in Davao del Sur and Compostela Valley.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday called on the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to recognize its visitorial powers by stating “clearly and without equivocation” that such an authority of the constitutional body must be respected by all members of the military and its establishments.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government yesterday admitted that there were lapses in its reportorial obligations as a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, but vowed to address all of the concerns raised about specific cases in the country.

BAGUIO CITY: A communist guerrilla commander who had his brother assassinated for giving up their armed rebellion has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines – A brother of a militant labor leader was shot dead by two men while a 12-year-old boy was hit by a stray bullet in the foot in Calaca town last Thursday night, police said.

MANILA, Philippines – Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday warned that the dismal human rights record of the Arroyo administration is making the Philippines more unattractive to foreign investments and forcing donor-countries to drastically reduce, if not withdraw, development aid.

An alliance of churches in the United States has urged the US Congress to withhold additional military funding to the Philippine government until it improves its dismal human rights record.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo has ordered the investigation of reported death squads in Davao City.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions has again assailed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged failure to comply with its recommendations that are aimed at putting an end to extra-judicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the dreaded Davao Death Squad.

In light of the latest report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston on the state of human rights in the Philippines, a lawmaker yesterday called on President Arroyo to immediately dismantle the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) and for her government to “drop all trumped-up charges” it slapped against local activists.

MANILA, Philippines – Activists from various organizations called on foreign donors yesterday to stop giving military assistance to the Philippines in the wake of the findings of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extra judicial Killings that President Arroyo failed to make “substantial progress” to stop unexplained killings in the country.

Malacañang accused human rights groups of being used as fronts for the local communist movement while disputing a new report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston stating that human rights violations continue in the country mainly as a result of President Arroyo’s order for the military to neutralize the communist movement in the country.

MANILA, Philippines –  The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) castigated the Philippines for its failure over the past 20 years to fulfill its obligation of submitting periodic reports on measures undertaken to implement the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and for Congress’ sitting on the Anti-Torture…

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang cried foul yesterday over the statements of UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston on the supposed failure of the Philippine government to implement reforms aimed at addressing the issue of summary executions and other human rights abuses in the country.