Activist lawmakers, rights advocates seek writs of amparo, habeas data over 'hit list'

From InterAksyon (Sep 18): Activist lawmakers, rights advocates seek writs of amparo, habeas data over 'hit list'



Leaders of the lumad refugees at the UCCP Haran Mission House in Davao City.

Activist lawmakers and human rights advocates have petitioned the Supreme Court for writs of amparo and habeas data over what they called a “hit list” containing the names and pictures of 70 persons, mostly from Mindanao and national leaders of progressive groups, that they say constitute a threat to their “life, liberty and security.”

Among the petitioners is Ofelia Beltran-Ballete, representing the family of the late labor leader and Anakpawis representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, who died in 2008 but is included in the list.

The petition names President Benigno Aquino III, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Lieutenant General Hernando Iriberri, Philippine National Police chief Ricardo Marquez, Army chief Major General Eduardo Año, Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Aurelio Baladad, and other military and police officers.

According to the human rights organization Karapatan, the supposed “hit list” is appended to the criminal complaint for kidnapping, serious illegal detention and trafficking filed against supporters of some 700 lumad who fled and have been sheltering at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Haran Mission House in Davao City after soldiers and militiamen occupied their villages and schools in Davao del Norte.

The charges are an offshoot of accusations by the military, echoed by North Cotabato Representative Nancy Catamco, that the Haran refugees are not evacuees but “manipulated” and “victims of trafficking.”

The petitioners called the criminal charges “clearly manufactured and meant to distort the truth behind the Manobos’ terrible ordeal and disparage human rights and humanitarian workers who came to their aid.”

They cited UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons Chaloka Beyani, who visited the country in late July, and debunked the claims that the Haran refugees had been manipulated or trafficked. Beyani also rebuked the military for its “gross distortion” of his views when it misrepresented an exit brief he gave for security officials to bolster its claims about the Davao evacuees.

And explaining why inclusion in the list threatened their safety and even lives, the petitioners noted that the organizations to which they belong “have been tagged as ‘communist front organizations’ while their leaders and members have been targets of attack under the government’s counterinsurgency programs. Many of them have experienced various forms of harassment by state forces. Some were killed or abducted.”

“Even the deceased Representative Crispin Beltran was included in the hit list,” the statement quoted Beltran-Balleta as saying. “Ikinulong at tinortyur na nga ng AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) ang tatay ko nung siya ay nabubuhay pa. Hanggang ngayon ba naman, patay na siya, gumagawa pa ng mga kuwento para sampahan siya ng mga gawa-gawang kaso (The AFP jailed and tortured my father when he was still alive. Now that he is long dead, they still want to slap him with trumped-up charges)?”

Aside from Beltran-Balleta, the other petitioners are Representatives Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna and Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela, former representatives Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis and Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, Children’s Rehabilitation Center executive director Jacqueline Ruiz, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines coordinator Sister Mary Francis Añover, and Reverend Irma Balaba of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117717/activist-lawmakers-rights-advocates-seek-writs-of-amparo-habeas-data-over-hit-list