Progressive groups protest Arroyo release, blame Aquino for filing weak case

Progressive groups protest Arroyo release, blame Aquino for filing weak case

“It was so easy for the Aquino administration to let Arroyo get away with her crimes while political prisoners continue to languish in jail.” – KMU
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been granted bail. Set at P1 million ($23,255), the Pasay City Regional Trial Court has allowed Arroyo to post bail on the electoral sabotage case filed against her. Various groups condemned the court’s decision blaming the weak case filed against Arroyo.

“We condemn the granting of bail to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, criminal mastermind of election fraud in 2007, as well as the election prior to that. While we are definitely upset at this development, we are not surprised. This may well have been the result of the rushed case filed in November last year to prevent Arroyo from leaving the country as the Supreme Court upheld its restraining order on the DOJ (Department of Justice) travel ban,” said Renato M. Reyes, Jr., secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Arroyo has been under hospital arrest since November 2011 for alleged electoral sabotage.
The case of election sabotage brought before the Pasay court was the result of a joint probe by the Commission on Elections and the Department of Justice. The case was filed to pre-empt the Supreme Court’s decision upholding its temporary restraining order against a travel ban imposed by the DOJ on Arroyo. At the time, with Aquino already 500 days in office, no case against GMA had yet been filed in court to justify a travel ban..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/26/progressive-groups-protest-against-arroyo-release-blames-aquino-for-filing-weak-case/

Rights activists slam ‘impunity’

Rights activists slam ‘impunity’

“And so this is justice under Aquino – torturers are given plum positions in the military, and the rich, powerful and notorious human rights violators like Palparan and Arroyo are mockingly free as preying vultures.” – Karapatan
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Human rights advocates do not see President Benigno Aquino III’s avowed “righteous path” but rather “a crooked path of impunity.”

Human rights group Karapatan issued the statement following the granting of bail to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the promotion of another military officer implicated in the arrest, detention and torture of 43 health workers, popularly known as the Morong 43.

Then colonel, now Brigadier General Aurelio Baladad, will replace Major General Josue Gaverza as commanding officer of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division.

“And so this is justice under Aquino – torturers are given plum positions in the military, and the rich, powerful and notorious human rights violators like Palparan and Arroyo are mockingly free as preying vultures. No wonder, Noynoy [Aquino] deliberately omitted saying anything on human rights and peace in his SONA, a tacit and dangerous signal for state security forces to continue to prowl, with terror and violence against the people,” Karapatan spokeswoman Cristina Palabay said.

Arroyo, now representative of Pampanga’s second district, is respondent to two separate damage suits filed by Morong 43 and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) for human right violations. In their complaints, both groups asserted that Arroyo, as then commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, is accountable to thousands of cases of human rights violations. She is also respondent to the torture charges filed by Morong 43 before the Department of Justice..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/26/rights-activists-slam-%E2%80%98impunity%E2%80%99/

Tit for tat? Written by Ninez Cacho-Olivares

Tit for tat?

• Written by  Ninez Cacho-Olivares
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

Judicial and Bar Council representatives of Congress, Sen. Francis Escudero and Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., have been ordered pulled out of the JBC by their respective leaders, owing to the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) ruling that said only one representative from Congress is mandated by the Constitution to sit in the JBC.

The Senate and House leaders no doubt want a representative from their chambers to represent them in the JBC, and as a result, they have questioned the ruling the SC made in the matter of, one, the so-called acting Chief Justice (CJ) convening the JBC for the selection of candidates for the top post in the judiciary when the Constitution clearly states that it is the CJ who is the ex-officio head of the JBC; and two, the same ruling also saying that, by way of line of succession, according to a 1948 Judiciary Act, even a junior SC justice can preside over the JBC proceedings, which certainly goes against the Charter, apart from being illogical.

There is too that question of the President of the Republic substituting for the Justice chief, Leila de Lima, ex-officio member who had inhibited herself, an undersecretary to replace her at the JBC, when the Constitution clearly states that it is the Justice Secretary who is the ex-officio member..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/item/2151-tit-for-tat?

USA: Large, profitable companies employ most minimum-wage earners

[USA]: Large, profitable companies employ most minimum-wage earners

By GEORGE ZORNICK, The Nation | Report
Truthout
If you’ve ever had a conversation about the minimum wage with friends and family, you invariably hear an argument about how raising it would hurt small businesses.

There is compelling academic research that increasing the minimum wage doesn’t dramatically impact employment levels, but a new study underscores another important point—most people earning minimum wage work for large, profitable corporations.

The National Employment Law Project looked at Census data from 2009–11 and found that 66 percent of low-wage workers are employed by large businesses with over 100 employees. Moreover, it found that the fifty largest employers of low-wage workers have all recovered from the recession and are in strong financial positions:

• 92 percent were profitable last year.
• 78 percent have been profitable for the last three years.
• 75 percent have higher revenues now than before the recession,
and 73 percent have higher cash holdings.
• 63 percent have higher operating margins than before the recession.

Also, the study found that at these fifty firms, executive compensation averaged $9.4 million, and they have returned $174.8 billion to shareholders in dividends or share buybacks in the past five years..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/27/large-profitable-companies-employ-most-minimum-wage-earners/

Replacing government 101: Syrian rebels learn democracy in Germany

Replacing government 101: Syrian rebels learn democracy in Germany

A group of top Syrian opposition figures took courses in governing a country in Berlin. The training, partially sponsored by the US State Department, is meant to come in handy after the Bashar al-Assad regime falls.

­The group consisted of over 40 individuals, including Syrian defector generals and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They learned economics, law, security practices and other areas of governance, which would be needed in the transition period..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/government-rebels-training-us-301/

DHS gears up for civil unrest prior to presidential elections

DHS gears up for civil unrest prior to presidential elections

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered masses of riot gear equipment to prepare for potential significant domestic riots at the Republican National Convention, Democratic National Convention and next year’s presidential inauguration.

The DHS submitted a rushed solicitation to the Federal Business Opportunities site on Wednesday, which is a portal for Federal government procurement requisitions over $25,000. The request gave the potential suppliers only one day to submit their proposals and a 15-day delivery requirement to Alexandria, Virginia..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/dhs-unrest-gear-283/

Heaven on Earth Written by Archbishop Oscar V.Cruz

Heaven on Earth

• Written by  Archbishop Oscar V.Cruz
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

The State of the Nation Adress (Sona) spoke not only of an exquisite present but also of a sublime and majestic future.

It did not simply take note of a distinctly favored people here and now but also foresees them as very much more fortunate and blessed in the days yet to come. It sees a country that is not only wallowing in benefits and accomplishments now but also projects it as overflowing with wealth and honey in the days ahead.

In short, the Sona sees the Philippines as one big emerging heaven on earth.

But there were then the poor people in the streets that were hungry and angry. There were the elderly who knew not where to live, what to eat. And there were the children whose present is miserable, whose future is dim and grim.

In fact, there were protest rallies in different parts of the country. They said the same things: Living is hard, work is lacking. Food is expensive. Here in imperial Manila, some of them even became violent due to exasperation..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/item/2147-heaven-on-earth

Pnoycchio, the boy with an elongated nose

Pnoycchio, the boy with an elongated nose

• Written by  Jacinto ‘Jing’ Paras
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

During the State of the Nation Address delivered by P-noy  at the Batasan, several militant organizations such as Bayan, Piston, KMU and its allied NGOs staged protest rallies  denouncing the Noynoying ways of P-noy Aquino.Militants  brought with them an effigy of P-noy with an elongated nose. They said that P-noy should really have this long nose to show that everytime he speaks about his accomplishments which are really lies, his nose becomes longer and longer like  the wooden boy toy Pinocchio.

The militants accused P-noy of fooling the nation as they shouted that P-noy bragged about his accomplishments but the truth is, these were merely sugar-coated motherhood statements. His so-called accomplishments did not in fact trickle down to the vast majority of Filipinos who have remained poor and downtrodden. His alleged economic advancement leading to a growth of 6.4 percent was merely the product of inventions by  his new Economic Czar named Balicasan. Had it been true that there was a growth rate of 6.4 percent, why did not Secretary Paderangga of National Economic and Development Authority announce it before he left his post?.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/item/2148-pnoycchio-the-boy-with-an-elongated-nose

AFP fields more troops in Basilan to run after Abus

AFP fields more troops in Basilan to run after Abus

• Written by  Tribune
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday deployed a C-130 plane loaded with Army troops in Zamboanga City to conduct offensive operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

The move came  following an encounter on Thursday night that killed at least 10 soldiers and wounded 17 other members of the Army.

Report reaching the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City said  soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion arrived in Zamboanga City yesterday at around 3 p.m.

They were brought to Camp Arturo Enrile in Barangay Malagutay.

The C-130 plane also carried coffins for the soldiers killed in the clash.

A send-off ceremony for the fallen soldiers will be held inside the Air Base.

However, the Western Mindanao Command has been strict in allowing media to cover the ceremony..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/2177-afp-fields-more-troops-in-basilan-to-run-after-abus

Noynoy hits Kabayan, refers to his VP stint

Noynoy hits Kabayan, refers to his VP stint

• Written by  Tribune
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

PROBLEMS INHERITED FROM REGIME IN WHICH DE CASTRO WAS PART OF

President Aquino was all over taking potshots at media again last Friday even making a political connection on the way news stories are being delivered by a news anchor of a broadcast firm which is perceived to be a big supporter of the Aquino family.

Former Vice President and now TV Patrol anchor Noli de Castro, popularly known as “Kabayan,” was the focus of Aquino’s jabs at media during a speech at the 25th anniversary of the news program as Aquino lambasted De Castro who was in the crowd over his supposed negative comments even on positive news stories.

Aquino cited a TV Patrol story last October 2011 on higher passenger arrivals at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) which Aquino claimed De Castro belittled by raising the problems faced at the old NAIA 1 terminal..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/2180-noynoy-hits-kabayan-refers-to-his-vp-stint

Bacoor, Las Piñas folk clean up Zapote River Written by Gina Peralta-Elorde Sunday, 29 July 2012 00:00 font size decrease font size increase font size Print Rate this item 1 2 3 4 5 (0 votes) Around 500 local officials and residents of Bacoor and Las Piñas cities yesterday started the regular synchronized cleanup of the once-pristine 18.3-kilometer Zapote River. The joint cleanup activity in the two cities at Barangay Pulang Lupa Uno was the result of the dialogue between and among the barangay leaders of Bacoor and Las Piñas and representatives of the two city governments, the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s National Capital Region and Region IV-A offices. The dialogue was made after DILG-NCR Director Renato Brion issued a show-cause order to the barangay governments of Las Piñas to justify the continuous flooding in the barangays near Zapote River caused by garbage that accumulated along its riverbanks.

Bacoor, Las Piñas folk clean up Zapote River

• Written by  Gina Peralta-Elorde
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

Around 500 local officials and residents of Bacoor and Las Piñas cities yesterday started the regular synchronized cleanup of the once-pristine 18.3-kilometer Zapote River.

The joint cleanup activity in the two cities at  Barangay Pulang Lupa Uno was the result of the dialogue between and among the barangay leaders of Bacoor and Las Piñas and representatives of the two city governments, the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s National Capital Region and Region IV-A offices.

The dialogue was made after DILG-NCR Director Renato Brion issued a show-cause order to the barangay governments of Las Piñas to justify the continuous flooding in the barangays near Zapote River caused by garbage that accumulated along its riverbanks..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/nation/item/2171-bacoor-las-pi%C3%B1as-folk-clean-up-zapote-river

Calabarzon DENR bans transport of logs at night Written by Efren B. Chavez Sunday, 29 July 2012 00:00

Calabarzon DENR bans transport of logs at night

• Written by  Efren B. Chavez
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Calabarzon gathered recently the region’s field officials at the Calamba City office for a strengthened anti-illegal logging stance a day after President Aquino delivered his third State of the Nation Address.

DENR Calabarzon Regional Executive Director Reynulfo Juan presided over the meeting which included personnel from the provincial environment and natural resources office (PENRO) and the community environment and natural resources office (CENRO).

“Transport of forest products will be done during the day and will not be allowed at night,” Juan said. He said this will make monitoring easier since this is in broad daylight..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/nation/item/2173-calabarzon-denr-bans-transport-of-logs-at-night

Environmental Ombudsman’s reactivation gets support Written by Arlie O. Calalo Sunday, 29 July 2012 00:00

Environmental Ombudsman’s reactivation gets support

• Written by  Arlie O. Calalo
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

The reactivation of the Office of the Environmental Ombudsman will give the citizens’ environmental rights a more prominent position in the Aquino administration’s crusade against graft and corruption, according to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje.

“By resurrecting the office of the Environmental Ombudsman, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has made, in one stroke, protecting the citizens’ environmental rights a centerpiece of her agency’s mission,” Paje said in a statement e-mailed to the Tribune.

Reiterating his gratitude for the Ombudsman’s “display of political will to enforce environmental laws,” Paje said the reactivation of an environmental team by Morales “has taken the next step further in building institutional support within the bureaucracy to DENR’s initiatives for environmental justice.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/metro-section/item/2155-environmental-ombudsman%E2%80%99s-reactivation-gets-support

Stop breaking seized TV sets used in ‘video karera’ — Ecowaste Coalition

Stop breaking seized TV sets used in ‘video karera’ — Ecowaste Coalition

• Written by  Jason Faustino
• Sunday, 29 July 2012 

A waste and pollution watchdog has appealed to local government and police officials to stop the practice of breaking confiscated TV sets used in illegal “video karera” (VK) gambling activities.

The practice of smashing TVs with mallets or sledgehammers by concerned officials, the EcoWaste Coalition pointed out, is turning the gambling problem into a real chemical pollution with far reaching implications.

“While it seems to make a good photo op for government and police authorities, the crushing, dumping or burning of TVs and other gambling paraphernalia is extremely injurious to human health and the environment and sends the wrong message about the management of unwanted electronics,” said Thony Dizon, coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.

“Improper destruction of gambling apparatuses and materials, particularly the TVs, causes their hazardous components to scatter not only in the immediate surroundings, but even in remote dumpsites and landfills where these are finally disposed of and thus polluting the air, soil and water,” he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/metro-section/item/2153-stop-breaking-seized-tv-sets-used-in-%E2%80%98video-karera%E2%80%99-%E2%80%94-ecowaste-coalition

SONA 2012: Reporting housekeeping and half-truths

SONA 2012: Reporting housekeeping and half-truths

In closing the 2012 SONA, President Aquino asked rhetorically: “Isn’t the agenda for change moving forward?” Unfortunately after two years, there is clearly no fundamental change and no systematic economic reforms taking place.

By SONNY AFRICA
IBON executive director
MANILA — State of the nation addresses (SONAs) are typically exercises in political advertising rather than government road maps for genuinely addressing the needs of the majority of Filipinos. President Benigno Aquino III’s 2012 SONA on Monday was no exception. The severity of the country’s social and economic problems was not just unmentioned but actually sought to be glossed over with an enumeration of supposed achievements. The SONA, the most important and widely publicized policy speech of the year, would have been memorable had it defined a break from the economic policies that cause severe poverty and inequality in the country.

Housekeeping rather than change

Much was reported in Pres. Aquino’s SONA– around two thirds of the SONA was abundant detail about various government economic and social programs. Yet a large part of every administration’s work is about normal housekeeping tasks. It is in this sense unremarkable to report building roads, airports, trains, terminals and schools, hiring health professionals, paying government salaries and pensions, and others. More so if the quantities involved are not even extraordinarily larger and were just built on the accomplishments of previous administrations.

A candid reporting of the social and economic well-being of Filipinos would have been much more meaningful particularly because admitting the seriousness of the problem is the start of taking real steps to resolve this. On the other hand, painting a picture that all is well on the economic front is at the very least irresponsible and at worst deceitful.

As expected the president cited positive international credit rating actions (eight in two years), record stock exchange index highs (44 times), relatively rapid economic growth (6.4 percent first quarter growth in gross domestic product) and ostensibly becoming a creditor nation as proof of an economic upsurge. The president also mentioned the country’s favorable image internationally.

Even granting the glowing numbers their significance to the daily lives of the people cannot be assumed. The most eloquent refutation would come from tens of millions of Filipinos who know that their lives have not correspondingly improved in the last two years. But another way to put the self-congratulatory account into perspective is to mention some details that the SONA remained silent on.

The 2012 SONA was selective in the data it presented and dealt in half-truths. A few stand out for the misleading picture of the economy that they seek to create.

Half-truths: Social development

When the speech declared “once, we were the debtors; now, we are the creditors” it actually meant something much less impressive. More precisely, all that could be claimed is that the Philippines had technically attained creditor member nation status within the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Even more specifically, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) lent foreign exchange to the IMF which is very different from saying that the national government (NG) lent the IMF money or that the Philippine economy is so awash with cash that it is now a creditor economy..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/27/sona-2012-reporting-housekeeping-and-half-truths/

Political dream or nightmare?

Political dream or nightmare?

• Written by  Tribune Editorial
• Saturday, 28 July 2012 

Looks like the Liberal-Nacionalista parties’ coalition isn’t the dream team they thought it would be, what with political talk now making the rounds that the NP isn’t too happy with the inclusion of former Sen. Jamby Madrigal in the administration coalition senatorial slate.

Apparently, Sen. Manny Villar, president of the NP, refuses to have her in the same slate, and understandably so, as it was Madrigal who had made sure she would destroy Villar’s presidential dream, with her non-stop negative campaign against him on the alleged C-5 scam in which she had claimed Villar as the brains.

Madrigal was already seen as a loser in the presidential race, and had more chances of being reelected as a senator. But she made it clear that she was joining the presidential race because she would have that opportunity to wage a full scale negative campaign against Villar, whom she didn’t want to see win the presidency.

The rift in the administration coalition may be likened to a similar situation the United Nationalist Alliance faced when Sen. Koko Pimentel made an issue of not wanting former Sen. Migz Zubiri on the same slate, where UNA leaders had to make a decision, ending up with Pimentel getting out of UNA, and apparently joining the administration LP coalition..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/commentary/editorial/item/2107-political-dream-or-nightmare?

Will political reform occur in the United States only after a catastrophe?

 

By Lawrence Sellin

Pravda.ru photo

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States.

He was tried for treason, the murder of five pro-slavery Southerners, and inciting a slave insurrection, found guilty on all counts, and was hanged on December 2, 1859.

On the day he died Brown wrote: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done."

Less than two years later the U.S. Civil War began, the American casualties from which exceeded those of World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.

The United States is now facing its greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. As Abraham Lincoln asked, will a nation conceived in liberty and a government of the people, by the people and for the people perish?.... MORE

Source:  Pravda.ru

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/27-07-2012/121769-usa_political_reform-0/

Saudi riot police fire live rounds on Shiite protesters in Qatif - reports (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Saudi riot police fire live rounds on Shiite protesters in Qatif - reports (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Several demonstrators have been wounded in Saudi Arabia’s eastern district of Qatif after security forces opened fire on protesters.

Officers fired live rounds at demonstrators, who carried posters of detained protesters who were injured and arrested earlier this month.

Spokesmen for the Saudi Interior Ministry said several people were burning tires during the protests, and several arrests were made..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/saudi-police-fire-protestors-qatif-wounded-212/

Bhopal victims stage own ‘Olympics’ to protest Dow sponsorship (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Bhopal victims stage own ‘Olympics’ to protest Dow sponsorship (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Dozens of disabled kids affected by the 1984 Bhopal disaster, one of the world’s worst-ever industrial catastrophes, have held their own Games to protest against the London Olympics sponsorship by Dow Chemical.

­The children, aged five to 16 and cheered by their nearest and dearest, have participated in 10 sports in Bhopal during the “Special Olympics". The move was aimed to attract attention to the responsibilities of the company, which has a contract with the IOC until 2020 and, in particular, is a sponsor of London Olympics.

Dow Chemical has repeatedly denied any involvement in the tragedy and refuses to add to the $470-million compensation paid out in 1989..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://www.rt.com/news/olympics-bhopal-games-dow-disaster-160/

Ilocos environmental advocates face harassment

Ilocos environmental advocates face harassment

By JOAN GARCIA

ILOCOS — Political activists and journalists are endangered species in the country. With the renewed push of the Aquino government for the encouragement of foreign, large-scale mining operations in the country coupled with the president’s order for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to protect mining companies, environmental, anti-mining advocates have been added to the list of targets of attacks of state security forces.

Donna Rabang Peta, convenor of the Peoples Solidarity Against Large-scale and Destructive Mining in Ilocos Norte (PSALM-IN) and secretariat member of the Defend Ilocos Against Mining Plunder (Defend Ilocos), is the latest environmental advocate to be subjected to threats, harassment and intimidation due to her work.

Since late last year, Rabang Peta has been monitored by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of Ilocos Norte with supposed orders coming from Provincial Director Marlou Chan due to her involvement in the growing anti-mining campaign of the people of the province.

The latest incident happened last June 20, 2012 when Ms. Rabang Peta was included in a police blotter in the office of the PNP in Dumalneg, Ilocos Norte.

At around 4:00 p.m. of that day, Dumalneg Municipal Councilor Maylin Santos received a letter signed by chief of police PSI Freddie Evangelista inviting her to his office because several issues have reached him and Association of Barangay Council (ABC) President Faustino Tomas and that they wanted to clarify it with Santos.

Santos asked the letter bearer PO2 Eddie Mar Yadao what the problem is. Yadao explained that the PNP received reports about her supposed activities and trips outside of Dumalneg and that an activity of the New People’s Army (NPA) was purportedly conducted in her house.

Yadao also explained that their “big boss” wanted to know why Rabang Peta constantly goes to her house. Yadao reportedly said Rabang Peta is an activist and an organizer of anti-mining activities in Adams, Ilocos Norte. The “big boss” that Yadao referred to is Dumalneg Mayor Francisco Espiritu.

Santos questioned Yadao why her activities were being monitored and probed. She also explained that the activity conducted at their house is a discussion on organic farming and proceeded to show Yadao the visual aids they are using.

After the incident, she received a sketchy report from a reliable source that there was a police blotter, referring Rabang Peta as “Ka Donna” and described her as an organizer of anti-mining advocates.
According to Rabang Peta, she is frightened by the continuous threat against her life especially when the news of the blotter and surveillance reached her. “Our democratic space as environmental advocates, the places where we want to reach out to and share the cause and destructive effects of mining in the province, is decreasing because of these threats. This harassments and intimidations curtails the right of the people to organize and peaceable assembly,” Rabang Peta added.

Vested interests


Asked why she is being targeted, Rabang Peta explained that the issue of mining in the province is something that the people have always been vigilant about, the anti-mining activities and mobilizations have made the pro-mining politicians angry because their vested interests are affected. In Dumalneg, for example, Rabang Peta’s presence has been consistently questioned by Mayor Espiritu and that he even warned other Mayors regarding Rabang Peta’s anti-mining stance..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/21/ilocos-environmental-advocates-face-harassment/