From the Daily Tribune (Dec 5): AFP more disastrous than ‘Pablo’ — Bakwet
Close to a thousand bakwet joined the second day of Lakbayan ng Mamamayan Para sa Karapatan (People’s March for Human Rights) spearheaded by the human rights group Karapatan in the Southern Tagalog Region. Bakwet became a popular term in the Philippines for people who leave their communities due to natural calamities, but now, instead of fleeing from the gusts of tropical storm “Pablo,” the bakwet claim their homes have been long before destroyed due to militarization in the countryside. “We no longer have what one can call as physical homes, we have seen with our own eyes the military’s heartless hamletting. It is here, in solidarity with each other, we find our true homes,” Pedro “Tata Pido” Gonzales, the spokesman of the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement (SPBM), said. Families and supporters of victims from the provinces of Cavite, Batangas and Laguna also joined the evacuees.
Tata Pido narrated how the evacuees, mostly from Quezon, brought in the protest march what’s left of their communities, such as baskets, farm tools and even farm animals. “We have long mistrusted the government’s true intentions, who else can we count on but ourselves?” he added. Particularly in South Quezon in Bondoc Peninsula, families have been evacuating since 2001. This is already the third time that they will leave their community due to military intimidation and use of force now perpetuated by eight combat battalions of the Philippines Army and other paramilitary groups. There are 216 victims of human rights violations already documented in the area. Forty of them are women and 26 are children or minors while cases of threats and harassment already numbered about 2,000. The use and encampment of security forces in homes and public places already affected at least 3,000 residents.
Yesterday, the protesters kicked off the Lakbayan in front of the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) in Lucena City, where instead of listening to their demands, the military played loud disco music. Glen Malabanan, secretary general of Karapatan — ST expressed similar sentiments with Editha Burgos, mother of desaparecido Jonas, who was dismayed with the appointment of Brig. Gen. Eduardo Ano, a suspect linked to her son’s abduction. “This government is no different from its predecessors, they are not only deaf to the calls of human rights victims, but altogether give more medals to the ones accountable for these abuses,” she stressed.
The militants marked the streets in front of the Solcom with a “bloody trail” depicting the worsening cases of human-rights violations under the Aquino administration that now rose to 114 cases of extrajudicial killings, 12 enforced disappearances, 224 illegal arrests and detention and many others. On its second day today, the Lakbayan is set to take-off from Quezon province and will reach San Pablo and Calamba in Laguna were more supporters are expected to participate.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/7758-afp-more-disastrous-than-‘pablo’-—-bakwet
Looks like another protest caravan conducted under the auspices of several CPP front groups--the Southern Tagalog chapter of Karapatan, the main CPP human rights front and the Save the Bondoc Peninsula Movement (SBPM). These groups tend throw around alot of statistics on HR violations by the military but truth be told they are generated by the groups themselves and are often the result of their own "fact-finding missions." These "statistics" are rarely double-checked by any independent organizations/ agencies. That often makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction regarding allegations of HR abuses made by these groups.
ReplyDeleteBy the way the SBPM has a Website and Facebook page with some pretty cool propaganda material. See below:
http://savebondocpeninsula.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SaveBondocPeninsula