LARABLarawan ng Bayan 2012

TUDLA PRODUCTIONS GROUP, INC.

Copyright © 2012 by Tudla Productions

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

The stories and facts in the LARAB 2012 are from the producer’s own coverage of news and events, interviews and research on the different stories that appeared in the book as well as from other sources cited in the references. The rights of the photographs published in the LARAB 2012 remain with their principals.

Southern Voices Printing Press#7 P. Ocampo St., Brgy. MarilagProject 4, Quezon CityPhilippines

First Printing, January 2013

Contributing Photographers

Ezra AcayanHector Barretto CalmaDemerie Dangla Jhun Dantes Shane DavidLeo DilayKrystel Jen Dumapit Flor Chantal Eco Janess Ann EllaoKenneth Roland GudaMarly Nicorina LopezPaolo Lorenzo Macky MacaspacRonalyn Olea Tine Sabillo

References

Bulatlat.comJaness Ann EllaoRonalyn OleaMarya SalamatIna Alleco Silverio Anne Marxze Umil

Pinoy Weekly Kenneth Roland Guda

Davao TodayWarren Cahayag Danilda L. Fusilero

Akap Bata PartylistAlliance of Concerned Teachers PhilippinesArkibong BayanCenter for Media Freedom and ResponsibilityCOURAGEKalikasan People’s Network for the EnvironmentMigrante InternationalMigrante Middle East National Disaster Risk Reduction Management CouncilNational Union of Journalists of the PhilippinesPanalipdan Mindanao

Acknowledgments

Bulatlat.comRC AsaKeith BacalsoLeon DulceFerdinand GaitePia GarduceZenaida GarduceMalcolm GuyEshei MesinaChito PatiñoMon RamirezRitche SalgadoSandigang Maralitang NagkakaisaChristian TuayonKadamay NCRKatribu PartylistKathy YamzonUGATLahi Artist Collective

Lady Ann SalemCiriaco Santiago III, CSsRMaximo SantiagoAnne Marxze UmilDax SimbolAlliance of Concerned Teachers PhilippinesArkibong BayanBulatlat.comBurgos Media Center Earist TechnozetteGerilyaFriends of the Earth - JapanMigrante Middle East Southern Tagalog ExposureUP Aperture

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January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

page 2

page 6

page 10

page 16

page 20

page 24

page 28

page 32

page 36

page 40

page 46

page 52

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

LARAB or Larawan ng Bayan (Photos of the Nation) is a Philippines news and issues yearend journal that chronicles the year 2012 in photographs. But unlike any other

yearend journal, this photo book centers on the most important issues and events that involved and most affected the common Filipino in each month of the year. The photo book also highlights the issues and events that have the most impact in the pursuit of

human rights, social justice and social change.

There are two recurring sections in the LARAB:

Human Rights - features the most pressing human rights issues of the month, usually a narration of the grave human rights violations that happened

Hacienda Luisita - features the news and updates of the 50-year stuggle of farm workers to their right to land in Hacienda Luisita, a landmark case in land reform, but most

importantly in the existence of democracy and social justice in the country

The word LARAB is a Tagalog word that refers to the rays or the light of the sun. In this connection, this photo book aims to give an enlightened view of society today and

to emphasize the roles of individuals and sectors in working for meaningful changes.

Introduction

HUMAN RIGHTS

HACIENDA LUISITA

JANUARY

Hundreds of residents of Corazon de Jesus, San Juan resolutely defended their homes from demolition on January 11. Police, fully-armed SWAT, demolition teams, bulldozers and fire trucks came to implement the demolition of another section of the community for the construction of a parking lot for the new city hall of San Juan. The battle lasted for two hours until sophisticated tear gas canisters were fired at the residents. This was the second demolition in the community in two years and the fifth time the residents put up a barricade.

PINAGLABANAN 2

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meDIA hARASSmeNTAs in the 2011 demolition in San Juan, police vilified, singled out and harassed members of alternative media group Tudla Productions. A member of Tudla was detained for a few hours in the middle of the scuffle and ensuing arbitrary arrests; another member was kept from documenting an event and police tried to confiscate the camera; and another member’s camera was grabbed by police but the group’s members tugged at it and regained possession. The group has been consistently documenting and reporting the issue since June 2010.

CAmPOUT/INDIGNATIONAfter the demolition, residents still refused the relocation offered by the government. Residents and supporters held a press conference on January 12 to denounce the demoli-tion. More than a hundred families who were forcibly evicted constructed makeshift homes and camped out at Corazon de Jesus Street. Police threatened another violent dispersal after three days of camp out. The residents moved to a temporary sanctuary offered by the church.

When the violence subsided, 26 people were injured and 16 were arrested. Back in January 25, 2011, the local government of San Juan also tried to demolish the homes of hundreds of people for the main city hall building but the residents foiled their attempt.

The city government plans to relocate residents at Montalban, Rizal, a proven danger zone, but Sandigang Maralitang Nagkakaisa (United Urban Poor), the local neighborhood association, struggled for in-city relocation, right to housing and social justice. The residents have been living in the area for 10 to 40 years.Their houses sit on national government-owned land that has been awarded to them twice by two Philippine presidents, Corazon Aquino and Gloria Arroyo. The area is also known as Pinaglabanan (Battlefield), the site of the historic first battle of the 1896 Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule.

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January 22, 1987, state security forces under the command of then Philippine President Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino opened fire at the 15,000-strong peasant rally (demanding genuine agrarian reform) outside Malacañang Palace, the home and office of the Philippine President. Thirteen died and scores were injured and the event came to be known as the Mendiola Massacre. President Corazon ‘Cory’ Cojuangco-Aquino’s family also happened to be the owner of the still un-distributed 6,443-hectare Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI), a landmark case of land reform in the country. After 23 years, Cory’s son, Beningo Simeon Aquino III (also popularly called PNoy) is president, yet justice for the murdered peasants remain elusive, as is the distribution of HLI to the farmworker-beneficiaries.

25Th yeAR Of meNDIOLA mASSACRe

1ST DeATh ANNIVeRSARy Of DR. GeRRy ORTeGADr. Gerry Ortega, Palawan-based broadcaster and environmentalist, was killed on January 24, 2011 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Four alleged gunmen and their accomplices have been charged for the murder but the suspected masterminds, brothers Palawan ex-governor Joel Reyes and Coron mayor Mario Reyes, were not named respondents in the case. Media groups counted Ortega as one of the 150 victims of media killings since Martial Law was toppled in 1986. Environmental advocates noted 10 environmental advocates killed under the PNoy administration who took office in July 2010.

Christopher Guarin was shot and killed by two motorcycle riding men in General Santos City while on his way home on January 5. Guarin, Tatak News publisher and editor and Radyo Mo Nationwide blocktimer, was in his car with his wife and daughter. He tried to flee the vehicle on foot but the armed men pursued him with gunshots.

1ST meDIA KILLING IN 2012

Hacienda Luisita peasants and their leaders experienced continued harassment from the Cojuangco-Aquinos and their business partners and through the soldiers that have acted like their own army. In January, farm worker leaders Lito Bais and Rodel Mesa received death threats through text messages.

The harassment of peasant leaders have intensified since the Supreme Court ordered in November 2011 the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land to the 4,296 original farmworker-beneficiaries. Bais and 22 other leaders of AMBALA (Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita) have been charged by the Rizal Commercial and Banking Corporation (RCBC) with grave coercion and occupation of real property, after the farmers cultivated portions of the 500 hectares of land being claimed by RCBC as the Cojuangco-Aquinos loan payment to the bank in July 2011. Warrants of arrests were expected to be issued any time by the court. At least 200 soldiers were stationed inside the hacienda and were recruiting civilians to their paramilitary groups.

The Presidential family continues to keep an iron-grip over Hacienda Luisita and instigated the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona through their allies in Congress. Pnoy cited pursuant for justice for the former president Gloria Arroyo’s abuses as reason.

HACIENDA LUISITA

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HUMAN RIGHTS

DeATh ThReATS, LeGAL ASSAULT AND mILITARIZATION

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FEBRUARY

An environmental field research presented by Friends of Earth Japan and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment revealed that the river system in Palawan is already poisoned with unsafe levels of cancer-causing chemicals, which poses health hazards and possible effects on the fish resources in the area. The Togupon River is located downstream near the operations of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation and Coral Bay Nickel Processing Plant.

The levels of contamination in the river exceeded both the Filipino and Japanese safety standards, and have already affected the health of downstream communities and may also affect their fisheries.

Palawan river contamination

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Palawan river contamination

HACIENDA LUISITA

More than 300 members of Ambala foiled RCBC’s attempt to fence off the 300-hectare land at Balete village, inside Hacienda Luisita on February 20. The 100 RCBC security guards were escorted by 10 elements of the Tarlac provincial police and 15 members of the Philippine Army. In the face off, the security guards, police and military fired shots eight times. RCBC’s claim to a portion of the disputed Hacienda land is due to a loan payment of the Cojuangco-Aquino owners of the Hacienda Luisita to the bank. Balete village is the very site of the cultivation campaign of the farm workers.

More than 300 members of AMBALA foiled RCBC’s attempt to fence off the 300-hectare land at Balete village, inside Hacienda Luisita on February 20. The 100 RCBC security guards were escorted by 10 elements of the Tarlac provincial police and 15 members of the Philippine Army. In the face off, the security guards, police and military fired shots eight times. RCBC’s claim to a portion of the disputed Hacienda land is due to a loan payment of the Cojuangco-Aquino owners of the Hacienda Luisita to the bank. Balete village is the very site of the cultivation campaign of the farm workers.

fARm wORKeRS Defy RCBC, POLICe AND mILITARy

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On February 25 in Labo, Camarines Norte, the bamboo house of Benjamin Mancera was peppered with bullets by at least 20 soldiers, killing Benjamin and his two sons Michael, 10; and Richard, 7, according to daughter Ella, 14, eyewitness and lone survivor. There

were 231 empty shells recovered in the massacre site.

URBAN POOR wOmeN ARReSTeDEvelyn Legaspi, 53, and Pastora Latagan, 33, both members of urban poor group Kadamay Southern Tagalog regional chapter, were arrested by 50 elements of police and military in Bay, Laguna on February 7 and detained on multiple murder and frustrated murder charges in connection with separate New People’s Army (NPA) raids in Quezon and Mindoro.

fOUR yOUThS KILLeD IN LAGUNAChristian Roy Noceto, 15, and three other boys were foraging for food in the mountains of Atingay, Magdalena, Laguna on February 16 when soldiers fired at them. The military admitted they mistook the youth for NPA members.

NeGROS fISh VeNDOR KILLeDRogelio Seva, 53, a fish vendor, was killed by three men of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) on February 19 in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental. Seva belongs to a family of peasants and farmworkers who has lived and worked in Hacienda Baldevia for more than five decades. Seva himself lived in Gawahon village, Victorias City. The RPA-ABB, a breakaway group of the NPA, has been integrated into the Philippine Army’s Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), and the RPA-ABB are now funded and hired by local government and deployed to landlords as guards.

HUMAN RIGHTS

LABO mASSACRefARm wORKeRS Defy RCBC, POLICe AND mILITARy

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MARCH

Women and women’s rights advocates united to commemorate the International Women’s Day on March 8. Gabriela, the largest and oldest national women’s organization, led the commemoration to raise awareness among Filipinos on the plight of women in the country. Women leaders and members of Gabriela hit on soaring prices of petroleum and basic commodities and the US military intervention.

INTeRNATIONAL wOmeN’S DAy

#NOyNOyINGYouth group Anakbayan popularized the term ‘Noynoying’, a neologism made to mean and criticize the President’s alleged idleness or slow action to oil price hikes, disaster and other social issues that has required his attention. In the transport protest caravan, Anakbayan demonstrated ‘Noynoying’ by making effortless poses, lounging or looking tired and bored with hand propped on the chin. The group also defined the term as ‘when you do nothing when in fact you have something to do.’ The term and protest action gained international attention, went viral on social media and even earned a Wikipedia entry.

Public transport drivers, along with protesters from different sectors all over the Philippines led by PISTON (a transport sector group) stormed the streets and offices of the ‘Big 3’ oil companies to show their rage against oil overpricing. According to Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, oil companies profit P147 million ($3.4M) every day from overpricing diesel alone. Around 78-percent of this amount goes to the four biggest oil companies in the country—Petron, Shell, Chevron and Total.

PeOPLe’S PROTeST AGAINST OIL PRICe hIKeS

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PUP jANITORS’ STRIKe

The 180 contractual janitors of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) retrenched in February 2012 went on strike on March 6 to demand their reinstatement. The workers were laid off from work following the entry of employment agency Carebest. Many of the workers have served the university for decades but were employed by an agency contracted by the university for maintenance services.

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PUP jANITORS’ STRIKe

A fact-finding mission on March 10 revealed an alarming presence of soldiers in 10 villages within Hacienda Luisita. Soldiers have been occupying village halls, farm workers’ union offices and farmers’ huts. Farmers interviewed share the soldiers have constantly interrogated them looking for members of the NPA, the armed-wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Greater soldier presence in the hacienda has been noted since the farmers and farm workers constructed a picketline to prevent RCBC from fencing off a portion of hacienda land. On March 27, seven farm workers were arrested by Philippine National Police (PNP) on malicious mischief charges filed by RCBC.

hARASSmeNT IN hACIeNDA LUISITA

HACIENDA LUISITA

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Jimmy Liguyon, village chairman of Dao in San Fernando, Bukidnon and Matigsalob tribe leader, was assassinated in his house on March 5 by paramilitary group New Indigenous People’s Army Reform (NIPAR) after he refused the entry of mining operations in his town. The triggerman Aldy Salusad, who hails from the same town, was identified with Sanmatrida, the mining operations applicant. Salusad was said to be a rebel returnee, who after surrendering to the military, surfaced with fully-armed and newly-formed NIPAR.

ANTI-mINING TRIBe LeADeR KILLeD

BUKIDNON ‘BAKwITS’ DUe TO KIN’S SLAy At least 19 families from slain tribe leader Jimmy Liguyon’s clan were forced to flee from Dao village after his killers threatened to kill the rest of Liguyon’s family. They set up a protest camp in March 14 in front of the Bukidnon capitol to press the government to arrest the killers and dismantle NIPAR.

HUMAN RIGHTS

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BUTUAN

mILITARy OPeRATIONS SeNT TRIBeS fLeeING‘Bakwits’ or evacuees staged protests in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte provincial capitol to demand cessation of military operations in their hometowns Cabadbaran City and Kitcharao. The evacuees from the Mamanwa and Manobo tribes numbered to 257 families or 1,100 individuals and camped out in different areas in the city like the capitol and village basketball courts to wait for local government to heed their demands. The evacuees refrained from going back to their communities where they recently experienced threats, harassment and indiscriminate military bombings from the air and the ground.

fIVe ACTIVISTS ARReSTeDActivists Efren Delalamon, Andres Ely, Carla Bautista, Ambrosio Ileto and his 17-year old nephew Jan Michael Ileto were arrested in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija on March 28. Delalamon was a former political prisoner released only in February 2011 after cases filed against him were all dismissed. Ely is a peasant organizer, Bautista is a health worker and Ambrosio is a peasant leader. The five were at Ambrosio’s brother’s residence when 20 soldiers came firing at the house and arrested the five.

ThRee mINORS ARReSTeD, ABDUCTeDElmer Desoyo, 17; Rey Rodrigo, 17; and Reynaldo Delos Reyes were looking for work in coconut farms when soldiers of the 74th Infantry Battalion arrested them in San Andres, Quezon. They have yet to be surfaced and shown to their parents. Reports indicated that the three have been taken to Quezon Provincial jail and charged with illegal possession of firearms.

HUMAN RIGHTS

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APRIL

BLOODy AND VIOLeNT SILVeRIO DemOLITION

Thousands of residents of Silverio Compound occupied the national highway fronting theircommunity to resist the local-government initiated demolition on April 23. The governmentunder Mayor Jun Bernabe insisted that only the village’s market is to be demolished. Butresidents raged over this second demolition after they were able to obtain information ofBernabe’s plan to wipe out the households of 10,000 residents in Silverio Compound to buildmedium-rise buildings whose contractor is allegedly SM Development Corporation, owned by billionaire businessman Henry Sy. There has been a city ordinance under a previous mayor that Silverio Compound’s land is to be awarded to the residents via community mortgage program (CMP), which will allow residents to own the lot their houses sit on after they have paid the government. After negotiations, tear gas and water cannons failed to disperse the residents, police and SWAT opened fire at residents, killing a youth, Arnel Leonor.

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BLOODy AND VIOLeNT SILVeRIO DemOLITIONKILLeD IN A VIOLeNT DemOLITIONArnel Leonor, 21 years old, was in the line of defense of the residents during the barricade. He was found lying in the street with a gunshot wound in his head after the police opened fire at the residents. He was given a hero’s burial by the residents of Silverio Compound and their supporters.

PeOPLe’S INDIGNATION At dusk on April 23, progressive groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) rallied supporters in giving solidarity to the fight of the residents of Silverio Compound and condemning the killing of Arnel Leonor and the Metro Manila demolitions that has destroyed homes and livelihoods of the urban poor and have become increasingly violent in implementation since PNoy took office.

INDIGNATION VeRSUS CAPITALIST GReeDYouth supporters of Silverio Compound and Save 182 Baguio trees staged a protest in the grounds of SM Mall of Asia, the largest of all SM malls and all malls in the Philippines owned by Henry Sy.

CITy hALL PROTeST Days before the demolition, residents protested in front of their city hall to call on their local government leaders to halt all demolitions in Silverio Compound and go on with the awarding of the land to the residents via CMP, a government housing program where the government expropriates a property to sell to the people at low interest rates.

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jUNK VfA!

Thousands of US troops who arrived on April 15 to commence the Philippines-US joint military exercises or ‘Balikatan’ were met with a protest by youth, activists and peasants. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (Alliance of Farmers in Central Luzon) led a protest caravan to Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City. Despite attempts of armed security guards and police to stop the protest, protesters asserted their right to peaceful assembly. Satur Ocampo of Makabayan Coalition denounced the military exercises, that is part of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), as a betrayal of national sovereignty and a reversal of the Filipino people’s victory in 1991 when the people were able to drive US military bases out the country after a 50-year stay.

DON’T CUT The TReeSSM Development Corporation uprooted eight trees from Luneta Hill, Baguio City to give way to the mall’s expansion. The company’s plan to uproot 182 trees in Luneta Hill have been met with protests since January in Baguio streets, SM malls nationwide and online. Luneta Hill is among few areas in Baguio City where patches of trees remain.

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HACIENDA LUISITA

In a unanimous vote, the Supreme Court issued a final decision affirming its ruling on the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land to the 4,296 original farm worker beneficiaries. The high court also denied Hacienda Luisita Inc.’s ‘just compensation’ appeal that would require the farm workers to pay the owners P173 million based on 2006 land valuation. The 6,443- hectare sugar plantation was established in the 1950’s through a government loan to the Cojuangco-Aquinos with the promise that the land will be distributed to the farm workers. The Cojuangco-Aquino clan has evaded land distribution through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law that provides a stock distribution option to the owners. Such law was implemented during the term of President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. Until the Supreme Court decision is implemented, the half-century old land dispute is far from over.

SC hISTORIC DeCISION:DISTRIBUTe hACIeNDA LUISITA

HUMAN RIGHTSANOTheR NDfP CONSULTANT ARReSTeDRenante Gamara, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant, and his companion Santiago Balleta were arrested by joint police and military forces in Las Pinas City, Metro Manila on April 3. He was arrested via a post facto warrant of arrest where his name was recently inserted in a list of those charged with kidnapping with murder. Many political prisoners like him have been charged with non-bailable criminal cases. Being an NDFP peace consultant, Gamara should have been immune from arrest in accordance to agreements signed in the Philippine government’s peace talks with the NDFP.

ARReSTeD AfTeR A RALLyChristian Tuayon, 25, was arrested by police for a robbery in band case, right after he led aprotest action at the Bacolod City Plaza, Negros Occidental on April 3. He did not receive any subpoena or information on the case. He was released the following day on bail.

PeASANT LeADeR ABDUCTeD Alex Arias, 56, provincial chairman of peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, was abducted by suspected state agents on April 7. Arias was on his way home to Tuy Baanan, Liliw, Laguna when he was waylaid by armed men in Sta. Cruz town.

ThRee meDIA meN KILLeDThree media men were shot and killed in April by two motorcycle riding men. Aldion Layao, a radio broadcaster from dxRP Davao City killed in Calanan, Davao City on April 8; Michael Calanasan, journalist for Laguna Courier, killed in San Pablo City on April 24; and Rommel Palma of dxMC Bombo Radyo Koronadal killed on his way home on April 30.

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MAY

Under heat and rain, 20,000 marched from various points in Metro Manila on Labor Day, holding a program at Plaza Miranda and concluding the march on the foot of Mendiola. Labor leaders criticized Aquino for his anti-worker policies, labor export policy and demolition of urban poor homes that pushed working people to greater poverty. Protesters paraded and burned an effigy of a dog-faced PNoy to symbolize “PNoy’s puppetry and being a lapdog to US imperialism”. Around 100,000 marched in various cities of the Philippines on Labor Day.

LABOR DAy RALLy

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Workers of Co Ban Kiat Hardware in Paranaque City staged a strike on May 8-11 after 103 workers were illegally dismissed from the company. The dismissal of the workers on May 3 came on the same day that the workers successfully registered their union. Workers formed a union for job security. The company reinstated and regularized the workers in an agreement on May 11 and the workers dismantled their picketline. However, the company reneged on the agreement and dismissed the 14 newly-regularized workers. The workers rebuilt their picketline on May 24.

CO BAN KIAT wORKeRS ON STRIKe

DISmISSeD RmN mANILA wORKeRS fIGhT BACKMichael Cogas, Lawrence Tanjoco, Shane Juan and Emily Galdo, long-time workers of the Metro Manila operations of RMN, one of the largest radio network in the Philippines, were dismissed from their jobs just after they have successfully formed their union and got it registered with the labor department. The dismissed workers filed charges of illegal dismissal against RMN and remaining employees filed charges of union busting and unfair labor practices, which could serve as basis for strike.

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Farm workers and residents of Hacienda Luisita staged a protest in front of RCBC in Tarlac after the bank has been continually harassing the farm workers physically and legally. A minor was injured by one of the bank’s security guards while five more are slapped with cases. RCBC claims to own 182 hectares of land in Hacienda Luisita which is supposed to be the Cojuangco-Aquino’s loan payment to the bank. Farm workers urged RCBC to go after the Cojuangco-Aquinos and not the land that the Supreme Court has decided to be distributed to the farm workers.

fARm wORKeRS PROTeST BANKCLAIm ON hACIeNDA LAND

HACIENDA LUISITA

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ChIef jUSTICe CONVICTeDIn a 20-3 vote, the Philippine Senate sitting as an impeachment court convicted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona as guilty for failure to disclose his statement of assets, liabilites and net worth. Corona was the first Chief Justice removed from office on May 29. Groups under BAYAN also called for the prosecution of former president Gloria Arroyo and warned against a ‘Pnoy Supreme Court’ and the reversal of the HLI distribution Supreme Court decision.

fARm wORKeRS PROTeST BANK

HUMAN RIGHTS

ANOTheR DemOLITION-ReLATeD SLAyOf URBAN POOR LeADeR

Ernesto Gulfo, 52, an urban poor leader from Catmon, Malabon was killed on May 30 while having breakfast in front of their junk shop. Gulfo was known as the ‘most vocal local leader’ against the impending demolition of homes of at least 1,500 families in their community, reportedly to give way to the city’s government housing project. He was also a member of transport group Piston.

mINDANAO eNVIRONmeNTAL ACTIVISTS KILLeDFrederick Trangria was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley on May 6. Trangria opposed the Mineral Processing Zone and large-scale mining that will affect the biodiversity of Mainit National Park.

Margarito Cabal was shot inside his rented house in Palma, Kibawe, Bukidnon on May 9. Cabal was known for his firm resistance to the establishment of Hydroelectric Mega Dam project of First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative (FIBECO) that will affect 22 villages of Bukidnon and North Cotabato.

PeACe TALKS CONSULTANT NABBeD AGAINJaime Soledad, 63, a consultant of the NDFP, was arrested at his house in Inopacan, Leyte and charged with murder on May 2. He was arrested in 2008 and had just been released in July 2011 as part of the Philippine government’s compliance with immunity guarantee agreement in the peace talks.

RADIO ANNOUNCeR KILLeDNestor Libaton, 47, radio announcer for Catholic-run dxHM station in Mati, Davao Oriental, was shot by two motorcycle riding men who tailed the victim when he left a fiesta in Ompao village on May 8. He was brought to a hospital where he succumbed to his gunshot wounds.

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JUNE

BONDOC PeNINSULA TeRROR

Exceeding Martial Law horror, eight battalions of the Philippine Army was deployed in 22 towns in South Quezon and Bondoc Peninsula, in the areas of the hacienda belt, power plant and dam project and mining sites. Documented human rights abuses involved at least 127 individual victims. Schools and village halls became the military’s sleeping quarters. Vilified and harassed peasants were forced to evacuate to other towns and to Manila to avoid constant harassment by the military.

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Fisherman Joel Pejos from San Francisco, Quezon was accosted by soldiers and accused of feeding the NPA. The soldiers took his family’s boat and rice supply.

SOwING feAR AND hUNGeR

Farmer Cesar Garganta was on his way home when he was halted by soldiers and subjected to physical and psychological torture.

Farmer Eduardo dela Pena was held at gunpoint by soldiers, being forced to admit being a member of the NPA. He and his wife fled their land.

Mirasol Balaston continues to search for her husband Felix Balaston. He was taken by soldiers to the Philippine Army’s 85th Infantry Battalion camp on March 27, 2011. He remains missing to this day.

HUMAN RIGHTS

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JulyBroad formation of human rights and sectoral groups launched a Mercy Mission and Peace Caravan to call for the pullout of military troops in Quezon and to provide the residents medical and psychosocial assistance.

meRCy mISSION TO SAVe BONDOC PeNINSULA

Eleven NPA guerrillas were killed in a military operation of the 74th Infantry Battalion in San Narciso, Quezon on June 30 after a three-hour firefight. Accodring to the guerilla’s kins and human rights workers who arrived at the scene, the bodies of the NPA guerrillas were brutalized.

11 GUeRRILLAS BRUTALLy KILLeD

HUMAN RIGHTS

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While looking for junk to recycle, Ruel, 16; Eduard, 15; Miguel, 13; and Mar, 12 (not their real names) were accused of stealing a bike and arbitrarily arrested by village executive officer Meniteryo Endozo in Marilag, Project 4, Quezon City on June 23. The four were asked to undress, electrocuted, threatened and made to clean up the village hall. Endozo was relieved from his post as the investigation commenced.

Hacienda Luisita farm workers staged yet another protest in Mendiola on June 28 following what they call the President and his family’s maneuvering and the executive branch’s Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) verification scam. After the April 2012 Supreme Court final decision to distribute the land to farm workers, DAR interviewed for verification 8,400 farmworkers when the tentative list of beneficiaries included only 6,296 farmers and 6,000 of the 8,400 they interviewed come from two villages when the beneficiaries are scattered in the 10 villages inside the hacienda. Farm workers also complained that agents of the Cojuangco-Aquinos have also been peddling the lie that each farm worker is entitled to only 0.2 hectare of land and they offered to buy it for P 350,000 ($8,139).

fARm wORKeRS hIT PNOy AND fAmILy’S mANeUVeRING

HACIENDA LUISITA

HUMAN RIGHTS

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JULY

Thousands of protesters gathered in the streets to hold their own State of the Nation Address (SONA) to ‘counter the downpour of lies and half-truths’ that the President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) delivered during the SONA. The protesters burned a two-faced effigy of PNoy. One side of PNoy represented his beautifully packaged flagship programs like PPP (Public-Private Partnership) and CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) offered to the people, while the other side represents the true nature of these programs and his administration: neglect of working people’s rights and welfare, demolition of homes and continued human rights violations under the counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan.

The PeOPLe’S jUDGmeNT:A TwO-fACeD PNOy GOVT

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Police arrested Arturo Capellan, 20, member of Anakbayan-Marikina chapter. Capellan was assisting other protesters and protecting them from being hit by police truncheons when he was dragged by police and consequently detained.

The People’s SONA turned violent when the police blocked and dispersed protesters who attempted to get through the barricades the police set up to prevent the protesters from getting near the House of Representatives where PNoy delivered his State of the Nation Address. Around 100 protesters were hurt while one was arrested.

PROTeSTeR ARReSTeD AND DeTAINeD

A TwO-fACeD PNOy GOVTVIOLeNT PROTeST DISPeRSAL

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July 2012 marks a year since the farm workers of Hacienda Luisita launched a ‘bungkalan’ or cultivation campaign in the village of Balete, a portion of hacienda land in dispute between the farm worker beneficiaries of the hacienda and RCBC, to which the Cojuangco-Aquino supposedly paid this part of land for a bank loan. The farm workers cultivated the idle land using a few hand tractors and bolos so they could plant rice, vegetables, and mango and santol trees. The farm workers, led by AMBALA and United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU), also set up a picketline to defend the area.

SAUDI OfwS GO ON hUNGeR STRIKeFamilies of at least 180 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia and migrants’ rights group Migrante International picketed in front of the government office Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) on July 17 to protest the stalled repatriation of their relatives in Saudi Arabia. The 180 OFWs then staged a hunger strike on July 23, the day of PNoy’s State of the Nation Address, to protest labor violations and government neglect. The 180 OFWS have lodged verified complaints that they were maltreated, denied their wages and subjected to other labor rights violations by their employers. All OFWs were deployed to Saudi Arabia by recruitment agencies licensed by the POEA. The OFWs have sought assistance from the Philippine government after they were forced to hold a ‘stop work’ protest and leave their employers.

HACIENDA LUISITA

fIRST yeAR Of BUNGKALAN

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wILLem GeeRTmANDutch development worker and environmentalist Willem Geertman was shot to death by two men in L&S Subdivision, Sto. Domingo, Angeles City, Pampanga on July 3. Geertman was a missionary and executive director of Alay Bayan Inc. He was a staunch advocate of indigenous people’s rights and supporter of Hacienda Luisita farmworkers’ just claim to the land.

mARILOU VALLeA day before President Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address, Marilou Valle was shot by two village watchmen in front of her house in Sitio Damayan, Tondo, Manila. Valle is the president of local group Samahan sa Sitio Damayan ng Nananambakan. Her 16-year old son witnessed the killing.

A mONTh Of KILLINGS

GLORIA ARROyO fReeD ON P1m BAIL Former president Gloria Arroyo was freed from her 8-month hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on July 25 after the Pasay City court allowed her to post one-million peso bail for her temporary freedom for the electoral sabotage case filed against her. The release of Arroyo came two days after the SONA of current president Benigno Aquino III who swore and speechified to hold Arroyo accountable for her many abuses during her nine-year term.

Protesters outside the heavily guarded hospital waylaid the release of Arroyo, who left amid chants of ‘Gloria ikulong!’ (Jail Gloria), ‘Gloria panagutin!’ (Prosecute Gloria) and ‘Magnanakaw’ (thief).

AUGUST

Metro Manila and other provinces in Luzon were submerged in flood due to heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon or “habagat”. Torrential rains poured over Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog for more than three days. While the southwest monsoon is a natural phenomenon experienced year by year, this time around it was intensified by then-passing Typhoon Haikui. “Habagat” claimed 112 lives due to flashfloods and landslides. Environmental groups blamed logging and poor urban development planning for the widespread flooding. Aggravating the effects of the calamity was poor disaster preparedness.

hABAGAT

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philex

Heavy rains caused the tailings dam failure in the Padcal mining project owned by Philex Mining Corporation, resulting in the discharge of at least 20,689,179.42 metric tons of mine waste into the Balog and Agno rivers.

In an independent scientific investigation led by the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Center for Environmental Concerns - Philippines, Cordillera People’s Alliance and AGHAM, preliminary findings confirmed that the Balog River was now biologically dead, and bearing signs of possible toxic contamination.

Despite being reported by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as arguably the largest mine disaster in our history, the destruction caused by the Philex dam failure has yet to make headlines in the Philippines.

PhILex TAILINGS DAm LeAK IN BeNGUeT mINe

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4-yR OLD KILLeD By mILITARy STRAy BULLeTAsmayra Usman, 4, was instantly killed by a stray bullet that hit her stomach on August 21. She and her parents were sleeping inside their tent in the evacuation center in Salbo, Datu Saudi Ampatuan Maguindanao when members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) encamped in Bagan village, Guindulungan allegedly fired their guns in the direction of the evacuation center. Asmayra’s family is among the 400 internally displaced families who were forced to evacuate due to military operations in their town.

TwO mORe PeACe TALKS CONSULTANTS NABBeDJesus Abetria, 50, and his staff, Restituto Galicia, 27, were abducted by members of the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry Battalion) and Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 4A in Longos, Kalayaan Laguna on August 5. The two who are NDFP staff, involved in peace talks and covered by immunity agreements, were brought to an undisclosed detention facility.

LABO mASSACRe whISTLeBLOweR KILLeDMerlyn Diones Bermas, chairwoman of Malaya village and whistleblower on the Philippine Army’s (49th Infantry Battalion’s) involvement in the February 2012 massacre of farmer Benjamin Mancera and his two children, was shot and killed while aboard a ‘hauler’ on her way home on August 7 in Labo, Camarines Norte. Co-passenger Gerald Oreza, a 4-year old preschool pupil, also sustained gunshot wounds and died.

PhILex TAILINGS DAm LeAK IN BeNGUeT mINe

HUMAN RIGHTS

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CONSULAR DemOLITIONAnother public-private partnership caused loss of homes and displacement. Retired and active military men cried foul over the demolition of their houses at Consular Area, Taguig City. Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and police implemented the demolition on September 20, even though they failed to present a court order to the affected residents. Families were offered relocation in Rodriguez, Rizal but they refused and said that their area is not a danger zone and transferring to that relocation site means moving to a death zone. According to the residents, BCDA plans to construct a condominium building, a partnership between the government and Megaworld Corporation.

Some 256 families were forcibly evicted and demolished at Guatemala Street, San Isidro, Makati City on September 25, but not before the residents barricaded the entrances to their community to prevent the local government and police from demolishing their homes. The demolition was conducted to pave way for the construction of multi-million peso community complex and basketball court in the area. The resistance of the residents lasted for a few hours and three rounds of battle. Tear gas canisters were fired at the residents, causing them to disperse and police to advance. Eight were arrested. Guatemela Neighborhood Association denounced the demolition and the arrest and said that they refused relocation site in Calauan, Laguna because no houses were constructed and the lack of basic services and livelihood in the area.

GUATemALA DemOLITION

SEPTEMBER

On the 40th year of Martial Law declaration by former President Ferdinand Marcos, different groups marched to Mendiola to remember the martyrs of Martial Law and lessons in the struggle, hail the heroism of those who fought against the dictatorship, and call for the indemnification of Martial Law victims and to end the persisting culture of impunity. Members of the First Quarter Storm Movement tag today’s persisting culture of impunity as a present and undeclared Martial Law.

mARTIAL LAw AT 40

STUDeNT wALKOUTStudents from the Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) staged a walkout to protest campus repression and ‘illegal fees’ collection. Student leaders have been suspended due their vocal stance against the said measures. Under the Aquino administration, the neoliberal policy of privatization and budget cuts is being pushed in state colleges and universities thru the ‘Roadmapfor Public Higher Education Reforms’ (RPHER).

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PUP wORKeRS ReGAIN TheIR jOBSAfter five months of strike, the janitors of PUP regained their jobs upon the signing of an agreement with the new PUP administration. The PUP workers lifted their picket to conclude the strike and held a mass and a program to thank their supporters in the last week of August. While reinstated, the PUP janitors said they still suffer from the oppressive conditions of work contractualization. They went back to work on September 16.

New COjUANGCO-AqUINO PLOySThe Cojuangco-Aquino owners of Hacienda Luisita Inc. sent representatives to offer farm worker-beneficiaries the amount of P300,000 to P350,000 ($ 7,00 to $ 8,300) to waive their right over the land. Another group linked to the Cojuangco-Aquinos is enticing farmworkers to apply for individual certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) and offer a lease agreement for a period of ten years, after such time the Cojuangco-Aquinos may legally buy back the land. Ambala decried the rich family’s attempt to exploit the poverty of the farm workers. They also denounced the continued harassment of their leaders by soldiers who have set up detachments in all villages. The legal assaults also continued. As of this month, more than 50 leaders and members of Ambala was slapped with criminal charges.

HACIENDA LUISITA

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17Th TRIBe LeADeR KILLeD UNDeR PNOyGenesis Ambason, a member of Banwaon tribe and leader of Tangdumahan, a Lumad organization in San Luis, Agusan del Sur, was resting on September 13 when members of the paramilitary group CAFGU and soldiers (from the 26th Infantry Battalion) of the Philippine Army fired at him and his companions. CAGFU claimed that Ambason’s group was a group of NPA rebels. Tagdumahan had been resisting the entry of large-scale mining in their ancestral lands since the 80s.

11-yR OLD KILLeD IN AmBUShSubanen chieftain Timuay Locencio Manda sustained minor wounds but his 11-year old son Jordan Manda was killed when they were ambushed by unidentified men in Conacon village, Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur on September 4. Timuay Manda leads the Subanen’s ancestral domain claim and protection from excessive and illegal logging and mining since his cousin Timuay Giovanni was assassinated in 2002.

4Th TRANSPORT LeADeR KILLeD IN 2012Ponciano Infante, president of the transport group Pasada-Angeles City and the Pandan-Angeles Driver Operators Association, was killed by two motorcycle-riding men on September 3. He was at that time taking a nap at the Hausville Jeepney Terminal in Angeles City, Pampanga. In his stead, Infante’s group joined and launched successful transport strikes and also protest actions that pushed the city to roll back its common carrier tax.

HUMAN RIGHTS

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Netizens, youth, media, lawyers, local and international rights groups and the vast public protested online and offline the President’s signing into law of the Cybercrime Prevention Act. Sustained protests in the Supreme Court, in social media and online pushed the eventual issuance of a 120-day temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court on October 9. The TRO will expire on February 6, 2013, before which the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide on the constitutionality of the law. Controversial portions of the law include the ‘simple’ acts constituting cybercrime (e.g. sharing a ‘libelous’ post), online libel and its penalties, real time data collection and other violations of right to privacy and taking down websites in pursuit of suspected law violators among others. Oppositionists to the law saw it as a measure that criminalizes freedom of speech and civil liberties enshrined in the Philippine Constitution.

e-mARTIAL LAw

OCTOBER

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#NOTOCyBeRCRImeLAw#NoToCybercrimeLaw became a Twitter trending topic. The online and offline protests gained international support and recognition. Authors of the law in the two branches of Congress and all who voted for the passage of the bill were criticized online. Anonymous Philippines hacked various government websites to show their contempt for the law.

CyBeR-PeRLING Esperlita Garcia, 62, a retired teacher and an anti-black sand mining activist from Gonzaga, Cagayan, became the first “victim” of a still-suspended law, the Republic Act No.10175 or the Anti-Cybercrime Act of 2012. She was arrested on October 18 and detained overnight for libel charges filed against her by Gonzaga mayor Carlito Pentecostes, Jr. (also her rival in the May 2013 mayoralty race). Pentecostes charged Garcia with libel for her Facebook posts about a violent dispersal of an anti-mining protest action her group participated in 2011.

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Pregnant Juvy Capion and sons Jordan, 13, and Mark John, 8, were killed in a military raid of their home in Tampakan, South Cotabato by at least 13 soldiers of the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army on October 18. The soldiers were said to be after Daguil, Juvy’s husband, who was not in the house when the raiding soldiers came. Witnesses said that the bodies of the slain Capion family members were dragged outside and exposed to elements to force Daguil to surrender.

Daguil is a B’laan tribe leader who with his brothers Batas and Kitari have declared ‘pangayaw’ or tribal war on Sagittarius Mines Inc.-Xstrata (SMI-Xstrata). The pangayaw is in defense of the tribe’s ancestral land and resources, said Erita Capion, sister of the three brothers. The Capion brothers have taken responsibility for their attacks on SMI-Xstrata and its workers earlier this year as part of their tribal war while local government leaders deny that the tribal war is against the mining firm. The Capion clan has strongly opposed SMI-Xstrata’s extraction of rich gold and copper deposits in the boundaries of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat. The mining firm’s Tampakan project is set to displace an estimated 30,000 Blaan people out of their ancestral land.

TAmPAKAN mASSACRe

HUMAN RIGHTS

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John Cali Lagrimas, 14, was directly shot by an unidentified gunman as he stood by the bar-ricades of the residents resisting demolition in San Roque, Tarlac on October 1. Members of the PNP fired shots at the crowd, killing Cali and wounding many others. Cali was an out-of-school youth whose widow mother is a farm worker at Hacienda Luisita.

14 yeAR OLD BOy KILLeD IN VIOLeNT DemOLITION

ANOTheR mINDANAO TRIBe LeADeR KILLeDGilbert Paborada, 47, chairman of Pangalasag (Indigienous Shield) was shot five times by two motorcycle riding men in San Nicolas, Puntod, Cagayan de Oro City on October 3. Paborada, who opposed American company A. Brown Company’s oil plantation expansion in their ancestral do-main, died on the spot. Paborada’s group was harassed, fired at by security guards and ordered arrested by the city mayor since 2011.

HUMAN RIGHTS

mISTAKeN IDeNTITyRolly Panesa, a civilian security guard, was abducted by the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division and the PNP in Quezon City on October 5 and was tortured to admit he is a high-ranking member of the CPP. He was arrested with his partner of 10 years and two companions, but the three were released after a day. Panesa continue to be detained in Camp Bagong Diwa for charges of rebellion and frustrated murder.

wheRe IS TeACheR LANIe?Mrs. Lanie Latuga, a teacher of Dumagat children, and five other civilians were illegally arrested and detained by soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 16th and 59th Infantry Batallions in Sitio Uron, Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal on October 7. She was accused by the military of being either NPA members or soldiers. The six remained in military custody in an undisclosed military location.

SURVIVING A SLAy TRyMen riding in tandem fired three gunshots at Daisy Ayo, a resident of Sambungan, Calatagan, Batangas, as she was selling fish in the market on October 14. Ayo, along with her neighbors, has fought for their right to the land that they have lived and tilled for more than 30 years, now being claimed by powerful and rich clan Ayala-Zobel. Ayo survived with a gunshot wound in the leg.

eNVIRONmeNTALIST SURVIVeS AmBUShDr. Isidro Olan, an anti-illegal logging and mining advocate from Lovers of Nature Foundation, Inc., survived an ambush while on his way home with his wife on October 29 in Carmen, Surigao del Sur. Dr. Olan has a long history of opposing illegal logging and large-scale mining in Surigao del Sur.

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ABSeNCe Of jUSTICeOne year has passed since the death of Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, a missionary who has lived in Mindanao for 30 years educating and organizing the indigenous peoples, but no perpetrator has been prosecuted. Fr. Pops was slain by two unidentified men on October 17, 2011 in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato. A new witness came forward and implicated Alamara, a paramilitary group linked with the Philippine Army. But, the Philippine government told the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland that the missionary’s death ‘has not been validated as an extrajudicial killing’ a day before the first death aniversary. In his work, Fr. Pops was able to set up more than 80 daycare centers in indigenous peoples communities, benefitting more than 2,000 scholars in Mindanao.

hOSPITAL PRIVATIZATIONThe Alliance of Health Workers and Health Alliance for Democracy held a series of protests including lunch break walkouts, rallies and petition signing against the planned privatization of at least 26 hospitals under the Aquino government’s public-private partnership program. The public health workers are against the plan for it could result to higher hospital fees, while health care services have already been expensive in some government-owned and controlled corporations like the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, the Lung and the Heart Center of the Philippines and National Kidney Transplant Institute. The lunch break protest on October 25 resulted to the President’s office airing an assurance on October 28 that there would be no privatization (only professionalization by way of restructuring government-funded medical facilities).

HUMAN RIGHTS

1ST yeAR Of DeATh Of fR. POPS

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eLeCTION feVeR Aspirants for the May 2013 elections brought out the usual fanfare and gimmickry in the filing of candidacy on October 1-5. Voters rushed to get registered until October 31, way ahead the law-mandated 120 days before election day. This time around, however, as the 2013 elections come to fore, voters and advocates shoved to politicians the issues of political dynasties, cleansing the partylist system of bogus and fake partylist groups and self-promotion through projects funded by taxpayers’ money.

BOGUS PARTyLIST GROUPS AND The OVeRRePReSeNTeDYouth group Anakbayan challenged the Commission on Elections to cleanse the partylist system off groups that, from their charter and nominees, do not belong and represent the marginalized sectors. The group also stormed the press conference of Akbayan, a political party and incumbent partylist group, to protest Akbayan’s continued membership in the partylist system when at least seven of their officials have been appointed by the President to key positions in government.

ANTI-ePALThe public converged in social media and vented ire on the ‘indecency’ of politicians posting their faces and names to announce government projects such as waiting sheds, street signs and lampposts as if to credit themselves, when it is the people’s money that funded the projects. ‘Epal’ is colloquial for an intrusive person or an attention-grabber or displaying such behavior.

ANTI-POLITICAL DyNASTIeSAlso on social media and elsewhere, the public expressed dismay on the continued reign of political dynasties in the country. Most frontrunners in the 2013 elections come from political dynasties. The Philippine Constitution prohibits political dynasties but needs an enabling law passed by Congress to define ‘political dynasties.’ No such law has been passed in more than two decades. Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casiño, an independent Senatorial candidate in the May 2013 elections, authored a bill against political dynasties but the bill has not made progress in Congress. In the current 15th Congress, 19 of 23 senators and 181 of 285 representatives come from political dynasties.

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NOVEMBER

mAGUINDANAO mASSACRe:STILL NO jUSTICe

Three years after the Maguindanao or Ampatuan massacre, kin of the 58 killed still see and know no justice. The legal battle against the Ampatuan clan drags on, as only two of eight primary suspects have been arraigned. Despite the promise of President Benigno Aquino III to bring justice over the carnage, 99 out of 197 suspects remained free. Families of victims have turned down compensation offers and then received death threats, while some witnesses have been killed after the massacre. The date of the massacre, November 23, was declared in 2011 as the International Day to End Impunity.

mAGUINDANAO mASSACRe:STILL NO jUSTICe

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Working people, youth, activists and other progressive organizations marched under the scorching heat of the sun on November 30, the birthday of revolutionary leader and hero Andres Bonifacio, now also celebrated by them as the Araw ng Anakpawis (Day of the Toiling Masses). Rallyists called for substantial wage hike, end of contractualization and neoliberal policies in labor, land for the peasants, and housing and livelihood for the urban poor. In Metro Manila, more than 6,000 commemorated Andres Bonifacio’s 149th birthday by a protest march from Liwasang Bonifacio to US Embassy to Recto Avenue and a program at Mendiola. The working people and activists called for continuing Bonifacio’s revolution with a similar purpose: to free our country from foreign domination.

ARAw NG ANAKPAwIS

URBAN POOR LeADeR ARReSTeDOn November 29, San Juan police arrested Maritess Bacolod, an urban poor women leader and a disabled person, on charges of ‘simple disobedience to a person of authority’ with an arrest warrant dated May 24, 2012. Nine other leaders of SAMANA (Sandigang Maralitang Nagkakaisa - United Urban Poor), the group that led the resistance to the Pinaglabanan demolition in January 2012, were named in the ‘reserved’ warrant. Case against the ten were filed by police. President Benigno Aquino delivered a speech at Pinaglabanan Shrine on November 30 for the government’s celebration of Bonifacio Day.

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DAy Of The TOILING mASSeS

Group of artists Gerilya (Guerilla), Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1st Movement) and Anakpawis Partylist (Toiling Masses Partylist) teamed up to popularize revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio. Gerilya painted murals of Bonifacio on walls along busy streets. One mural painted in the Philcoa overpass was instantly defaced by territorial graffiti artists. Gerilya then repainted another Bonifacio mural in time for November 30.

The GReAT PLeBeIAN RememBeReD

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Victims and their kin, farm workers and residents of Hacienda Luisita still has not attained justice for the massacre that instantly killed seven farm workers, while seven other leaders, witnesses and supporters were killed after the massacre. No one has been brought to justice to answer for the crime. Tainted with blood are the hands of then-Tarlac congressman now-Philippine president Benigno Cojuangco-Aquino (whose security forces were said to be at the massacre site at the time it happened), his mother former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino (who evaded land distribution for 30 years by putting her clan’s hacienda under stock distribution option), then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (commander-in-chief of the army, principal of the Labor secretary), then-labor secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas (who issued an assumption of jurisdiction in the farm workers strike, allowing for their forced dispersal and deployment of police and military) and the commanding officers of Northern Luzon Command of the AFP and Tarlac/Central Luzon police who opened fire at the farm workers, leading to a bloody and intentional massacre. The massacre was eight years ago. But longer still is the farm workers’ wait for land distribution in an agrarian dispute that has spanned half a century. While the Supreme Court has affirmed its 1980s decision for land distribution in a final and executory decision in April 2012, the scheming of the Cojuangco-Aquinos to regain the land before they have been distributed has become more vile and violent from April until November 2012. Commemorating the massacre and asserting their rightful ownership to the land, farm workers with their supporters call for justice and the immediate implementation of the Supreme Court order to distribute the land.

HACIENDA LUISITA

hACIeNDA LUISITA mASSACRe:

8 yeARS AND NO jUSTICe

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Soldiers of the 86th Infantry Battalion reported to the villagers of San Miguel, Echague, Isabela the death of two farmers Vic and Rosario Valenzuela living in a lone hut on a hilltop in the village. Soldiers claimed they were killed in crossfire with the NPA on November 22, but the villagers said they heard no encounter. (One of the soldiers who informed villagers of the death of the two was heard apologizing for mistaking that there were NPA members in the hut of the killed couple.)

Ely Oguis, 60, village councilman of Cabaloaon, Guinobatan, Albay and member of Albay People’s Organization was shot five times in the chest, ears hacked off and beheaded by suspected soldiers. Before his killing, he was last seen drinking with neighbors and then joined by Cpl. Gilbert Ramos and another soldier named ‘Patoy’ of the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Batallion. The military issued different statements on the circumstances of Oguis but both surmised that he was killed by the NPA to which, they say, he worked as tax collector. Oguis had reported in August 2011 of being harassed and accused by the military as a member of the NPA. Heavy military deployment in 11 villages in Guinobatan, Albay started in July 2011.

RADIO COmmeNTATOR KILLeDJulius Cauzo, 51, a commentator for dwJJ 684 was shot dead in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija while on his way to the radio station on November 8. Cauzo criticized graft and corruption in his program. Nueva Ecija governor and a foundation offered a P2-million reward for information leading to the capture and resolution of the case. He is the 6th journalist killed in 2012, 14th under the Aquino government and 154th since 1986 (post-Martial Law era).

KILLINGS Of ALLeGeD NPA SUPPORTeRS

HUMAN RIGHTS

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DECEMBER

Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha) left 1,067 dead (as of December 25) in Southern Mindanao and 844 missing in its wake, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Most of these deaths were caused by landslides and flashfloods. There are 226,497 families or 973,207 individuals evacuated from their communities. More than 217,817 homes were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. Damage to properties estimated at 36.9 billion pesos.

TyPhOON PABLO AfTeRmATh

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Tribes and indigenous peoples from Mindanao, who were in Manila for International Human Rights Day on December 10, held government and mining companies accountable for the tragedy brought by Typhoon Pablo. Towns such as Manay, Baganga and Caraga towns in Davao Oriental, and New Bataan, Pantukan, Nabunturan, Maragusan, Maco, Mabini, Laak and Compostela in Compostela Valley province where deaths occurred are heavily mined.

The typhoon entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on December 2 and made landfall in Davao Oriental on December 3. Typhoon Pablo raged over Mindanao for two days before moving to Palawan and then Northern Luzon, weakening on its second and third land fall.

TyPhOON PABLO AfTeRmATh

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mINING PLUNDeR, PPP AND OPLAN BAyANIhANOn International Human Rights Day, December 10, all sectors of society marched in the streets of Manila and converged at Recto-Mendiola to protest the reigning culture of impunity and the perpetuating human rights violations in PNoy’s time that could almost rival the record of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (a reign activists also called ‘undeclared Martial Law’). One culprit of Aquino’s bloody human rights record is his regime’s counterinsurgency plan, Oplan Bayanihan, wreaking havoc among peasant and indigenous peoples communities to serve the centerpieces of his economic program: public-private partnership (PPP), infrastructure-building and land conversion, export-oriented and foreign-owned agri-industry and mining.

INTeRNATIONAL hUmAN RIGhTS DAy

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In Aquino’s time (since July 2010), there have been 129 extrajudicial killings, 224 illegal detentions, 12 disappearances and almost 30,000 victims of forced evacuation; Arroyo has not been made to answer for the bloodiest human rights record ever; and fugitive Gen. Jovito Palparan and other fugitives remain free.

Organizations led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and human rights advocates led by Karapatan led the rally and program. Ironically, police blocked their way to Mendiola and stalled the rally for an hour. The Lakbayan para sa Karapatan (Voyage for Human Rights) of indigenous peoples and peasants from all parts of Mindanao culminated in this rally. The Lakbayan of peasants and activists from Southern Tagalog also joined the protest, but were still set to camp out in front of the Commission on Human Rights and Mendiola in the days after December 10.

INTeRNATIONAL hUmAN RIGhTS DAy

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Teachers from the National Capital Region led a nationally-coordinated ‘Black Lantern’ protest in Mendiola on December 14 to signify a gloomy Christmas after PNoy cut in half the P10,000 Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) government workers have been receiving since 2010. PNoy signed Executive Order 80, the Performance Based Bonus (PBB) which justified the decrease in the PEI in lieu of a P35,000 PBB. Yet, only a fraction of employees in only the office named the ‘Best Agency’ are qualified to receive the PBB. Teachers also reiterated their demand for the approval of the Salary Upgrading Bill.

BLACK LANTeRN PROTeST

mmDA wORKeRS PROTeST IN eDSAMetro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) employees walked out from their office on December 3 to call on the government agency to pay their Collective Negotation Agreement (CNA) incentive signed in 2011 through their union, the Kapisanan para sa Kagalingan ng mga Kawani ng MMDA (KKK-MMDA). Employees are entitled to receive P24,000 (or $595 each). To voice out their grievance, the employees blocked all five lanes in EDSA. MMDA employees range from street sweepers (receiving a meager salary of P9,000 or $220), traffic law enforcers, etc.

TwO GOVT emPLOyeeS ORGANIZeRS NABBeD AND jAILeDRandy Vegas and Raul Camposano, organizers of government employees’ union federation Courage based in Metro Manila, were abducted by state agents in separate incidents on December 3, in Quezon City and Cavite respectively. They were surfaced on December 5 at the Camarines Norte Provincial Jail in Daet. The two have been charged with five counts of murder, one count of theft and one count of frustrated murder in connection with their alleged participation in an NPA ambush in Labo, Camarines Norte. Thirty others were named in the arrest warrant, two of them leaders of BAYAN National Capital Region chapter, Roy Velez and Amelita Gamara.

ThRee KILLeD BefORe INTeRNATIONAL hUmAN RIGhTS DAyRolando Quijano, a farmer and anti-illegal logging and large-scale mining advocate in Zamboanga del Sur, was shot to death by suspected elements of the 53rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army on December 7 at Ocapan, San Miguel, Zamboanga del Sur. He was an active member of Alliance of Farmers Union in Zamboanga Del Sur.

Anti-mining advocates Cheryl Ananayo and cousin-in-law Randy Nabayay were killed by unidentified assailants on December 7 in Dipidio, Nueva Vizcaya. Ananayo is a member of Dipidio Earthsavers’ Multipurpose Association opposed to the ongoing implementation of the 17,626-hectare Dipidio gold copper project in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya owned by Australian OceanaGold Corporation. The death of the two brings to 13 the toll of environmental activists killed this year.

HUMAN RIGHTS

URBAN POOR PROTeST hARASSmeNTResidents of Corazon de Jesus, San Juan threw tomatoes at the Manila house of ex-San Juan City Mayor and ex-Philippine President Joseph Estrada on December 2 to condemn the harassment against urban poor leaders in Corazon de Jesus and the continued detention of Maritess Bacolod. Estrada bought a house in Manila in 2012 to be eligible to run for mayor in the city of Manila. 57