Foreign, local activists launch probe of rights abuses in Central Luzon

From InterAksyon (Jul 15): Foreign, local activists launch probe of rights abuses in Central Luzon

Foreign human rights activists joined local counterparts and members of peasant organizations Monday in a mission to investigate human rights abuses in Central Luzon, particularly in the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport area and Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

Eleven delegates from the Netherlands and Denmark will be joining the International Solidarity Mission-Central Luzon, which intends “to document and expose human rights violations of state forces” in the APECO area and Luisita, the vast estate owned by the Cojuangco clan, to which President Benigno Aquino III belongs, a statement from the organizers said.

The mission will also look into the murder of Dutch missionary and development worker Wilhelm Geertman on July 3 last year.

Geertman was gunned down at the office of Alay Bayan Inc., the nongovernmental organization he headed in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Although authorities have pointed to robbery as the motive -- the victim had just withdrawn money from a bank -- colleagues and human rights advocates believe Geertman, who had been vilified by security forces as a rebel sympathizer, was the victim of extrajudicial execution.

APECO, which was created by Republic Act 10083 sponsored by former Senator Edgardo Angara and his son, former Aurora Representative and now Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, covers 13,000 hectares in five barangays of Casiguran town.
Critics of the project say it threatens the displacement of farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people in the affected areas.

While the Supreme Court has ordered the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to farmer-beneficiaries, the land has yet to be parceled out with activist farmers accusing Aquino’s family of attempting to “sabotage” the high court’s decision.

“The issue of APECO and Hacienda Luisita are major issues in the region, as (these affect) tens of thousands of poor farmers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk and other sectors” whose “rights to livelihood and obviously breached,” said Sister Cecille Ruiz, Central Luzon coordinator of the human rights organization Karapatan and spokesperson of the solidarity mission.

The Central Luzon activity, from July 15-17, is part of a nationwide solidarity mission preceding the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines, which will be held in Manila from July 19-21.

The ICHRPP will be attended by representatives of human rights groups from the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/66394/foreign-local-activists-launch-probe-of-rights-abuses-in-central-luzon