Month: June 2020

The program at UP Diliman wraps up without any arrests

Lian Buan @lianbuan
Published 1:10 PM, June 12, 2020
Updated 11:20 PM, June 12, 2020

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The morning on Friday, June 12, started out a little tense – police checkpoints were set up along Commonwealth Avenue to scrutinize the people trying to enter the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus where protesters were set to converge for the Independence Day rallies.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) vehicles patrolled the area, and a couple of them stopped in front of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) where dozens started to gather.

Before 9 am, QCPD chief Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo stopped by the CHR and told reporters they would be forced to make arrests if crowds would not disperse on their order.

Montejo was echoing the day’s warning from Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Archie Gamboa that they would strictly enforce a prohibition on rallies. They have the legal backup of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra who cited, albeit not specific, “penal sanctions under public health laws.”

“Kakausapin natin sila to disperse. Kung hindi, mapipilitan tayo. Papunta doon [sa arestuhan] kung hindi nila susundin ang guidelines ng IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force,” said Montejo, and immediately left to inspect the area further.

(We will tell them to disperse but if they don’t, we will be forced. We are heading toward [arrests] if they don’t follow IATF guidelines.)

The morning was still relatively quiet, when a small crowd from the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights (PAHRA) gathered at the roadside of Commonwealth Avenue near UP’s University Avenue, and chanted against the anti-terror bill.

A cop told them to disperse, and they readily complied. Rappler asked the cop, what if it had been a larger crowd? The policeman said, “Ibang usapan na ‘yun (That’s a different ball game).”

By 9 am, members of Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Kabataan, and other allied groups started to fill University Avenue.

There were visual markers on the ground so protesters can maintain physical distancing. A man went around with a placard reminding them to always wear their masks.

Fearful but defiant

As the program progressed and there were no cops in sight, the atmosphere grew more relaxed.

There were people going around giving free party food. After all, they called the demonstrations the “Grand Mañanita” – a jab at Metro Manila police chief Major General Debold Sinas whose birthday party attended by dozens when the capital region was on lockdown, was forgiven by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte.

Rain came and went, but did not deter the mostly young crowd energized by party music – a version of pop song “Señorita” which pokes fun at the words “terorista (terrorist) and pasista (fascist).”

Artist Mae Paner, more popularly known as Juana Change, came as Sinas, pumping up the crowd.

Spoken word artist Juan Miguel Severo, who is quite the influencer on social media, admitted that he was scared to be arrested.

“Of course I am (scared). Wala namang naging matapang na hindi natakot (No one becomes brave without having felt fear),” said Severo, who performed a defiant spoken word version of Lupang Hinirang that set the mood for the rest of the program.

“Dahil sa sandali na nagpapigil tayo eh para na rin nating isinusuko ‘yung civil liberties natin…. Nakakalungkot lang na sa mga panahong ‘to, ang manlulupig ay hindi ibang bayan. Minsan ang sarili nating gobyerno ang manlulupig sa taong bayan,” said Severo.

(Because the moment we give in to fear, it would be like surrendering our civil liberties…. It’s sad that at this time, the oppressors are not foreigners. Sometimes, our own government is oppressing the people.)

There were whispers in the crowd that if the police arrived, some of the protesters were going to assert their legal right to hold an assembly. There was palpable relief as the clock wound down and there were no cops.

“Siguro dumikit sa mga pulis na there is no law that prohibits rallies. ‘Yung sinasabi nilang puwede kang ikulong sa mass gathering, e ‘di dapat kinulong na nila ‘yung nagbabayad sa Meralco, o sa SSS. Hindi naman nila puwedeng sabihin na mas importante ang magbayad sa Meralco kaysa sa karapatang magpahayag,” said prominent human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares.

(The police probably realized there is no law that prohibits rallies. If they say they will arrest everyone in a mass gathering, they should arrest those who pay their bills. They cannot say that paying bills is more important than freedom of speech.)

By: Cathrine Gonzales – Reporter / @cgonzales
INQUIRER.net / 11:01 AM June 12, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Protesters could not be silenced by the coronavirus pandemic or warnings from authorities on possible arrest as they held protest rallies on the celebration of the Philippine’s 122nd Independence Day.

Various progressive groups gathered at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City for the “Grand Mañanita” protest, a jab at the May birthday celebration of Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Sinas’ mañanita which was attended by dozens of police officers, violated the ban on mass gatherings as ordered by quarantine protocols. However, despite this, he was able to keep his post.

Rallyists are expected to hold protests on two main issues: the controversial anti-terror bill which is now only waiting for the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte to be enforced as law, and the government’s supposed lack of sufficient response to the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

Among the groups that lead the grand “mañanita” protest include the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy, Movement Against Tyranny, Gabriela Youth, Anakbayan – Albertus Magnus, Kilusang Mayo Uno Metro Manila, Concerned Artists of the Philippines(CAP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), and Anakpawis Partylist among others.

Rain poured briefly just minutes before the program started at 10 a.m., as tropical depression Butchoy threatens to bring scattered rain and thunderstorms in some parts of the country.

Several protesters also brought party props with them to mimic Sinas’ birthday mañanita.

On the eve of the Independence Day protests, the Department of Justice warned that physical protest rallies are “temporarily banned” during the pandemic because of public health concerns.

“Solely for public health reasons and nothing else, mass gatherings, including protest rallies, are temporarily banned to avoid direct transmission of the COVID-19 virus,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters on Thursday.

“Violations may give rise to penal sanctions under existing public health laws, not under criminal laws. As (Interior) Sec. (Eduardo) Año said, there are safer ways to express one’s protest during this period of a public health emergency,” he added. However, the National Union of People’s Lawyers said the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the law on mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases do not have provisions allowing the conduct of arrests because of alleged violations of quarantine rules or a prohibition on mass gatherings.

Ang Dala Nito ay Ligalig

Sa ilang mga simpleng larawan na ito ay ipinapahayag nang Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas ang aming mariing pag-salungat sa panukala ng ating mga mambabatas na lalong naghahasik ng takot at ligalig sa ating mamamayan, sa halip na madaliang tumugon sa mga pangunahin at pinaka-mahalagang panganga-ilangan ng ating bayan.

Sa mga panahong ito, sino ba ang ang dapat protektahan? Bakit sa halip na agaran nilang protektahan at ayudahan ang bayan, minadali pa nila ang pag-protekta sa pamahalaan?

Sinasabi ng panukalang ito na: “The State shall uphold the basic rights and fundamental liberties of the people as enshrined in constitution.”  Ngunit bakit sa tweet at larawang ito ay pinasok, pinaghahabol at “dinampot” ang mga kabataang nagpapahayag ng kanilang mga saloobin sa UP Cebu Campus?

The Anti-Terror Law, at its core, is a return to draconian times, a subversion of our fundamental rights and liberties, a farcical attempt to quell an ensuing dissent from the marginalized sectors largely due to the government’s failure to respond to the needs of the people in the time of pandemic. It is a measure to safeguard the old economic and political system that is the lifeline of its current privileged and elite rule. A safeguard to the “OLD NORMAL”.

The Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI) believes that the “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 is the government’s legal mantle to shield itself from the discontent of people due to a bungled response to the pandemic – their ill intervention to cope with the pandemic and to direct its indecisive state health agency, its lack of aggressive and forward plan to have massive testing and support to the frontline workers, its militaristic approach to manage people from following the lockdown rules,  its lack of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds and borrowed money and its dismal and meager support to the most vulnerable sectors of society have resulted to hunger, fear, and violation of people’s rights. These are some of the issues that will be dealt with, simply as matters of peace and security by the Anti-Terror Bill.

We believe this law will further institutionalize the OLD NORMAL of putting profit over ecology and the right to health. We were witness to its partiality to profit over people, when even in the midst  of the threat of the pandemic – the community of Homonhon Island, Eastern Samar and the island of Semirara fell victim to the caprices of the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB), the Department of Energy in the case of Semirara Island, which allowed the transport of mineral ore and coal by the mining companies from these islands, despite appeal against it by the local people and local government. Through the AntiTerror Bill, we believe this administration will now have the legal basis to muscle its way through to implement development projects that are detrimental to Indigenous Peoples and the ecology like the Kaliwa Centennial Dam Project in Quezon and the Sagittarius Copper and Gold Project in South Cotabato.

WE believe the “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020” has the potential to increase nonaccountability and non-transparency of this Administration’s in its exercise of power.  This government, through its OLD NORMAL of addressing deeply rooted and complex social issues, have shown us that it can choose to be non-accountable, harsh, and punitive.  In dealing with drug related issues, it has launched a “War On Drugs” program called “Operation Tokhang”, implemented in secrecy and with impunity but has yet to show substantial results of putting a stop on drug trade in the country, but instead only victimized further the poor and marginalized as EJK victims. 

Put simply, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 will not address poverty, ecological destruction, and climate crisis, nor will it address our current predicament that is Covid19 and its after effects, nor will it address terrorism itself, rather, it has now created an environment of terror to silence any form of opposition, with everyone a potential suspect.

Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI)  
6 June 2020

Church People-Workers Solidarity supports calls for resumption of jeepney operation and immediate release of cash aid to jeepney drivers

We from the Church People-Workers Solidarity join in solidarity with thousands of jeepney drivers who are still left with no sources of livelihood since the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine amidst the Covid 19 pandemic.

We air the concerns of our jeepney drivers regarding memorandum circular 2020-017 of LTFRB on the operation of PUB’s and PUJ’s during the General Community Quarantine.  In the said memorandum, public utility buses is the preferred means of transportation and in areas where PUB’s could not operate, the following hierarchy of transport service shall be observed; tourist bus, OFG compliant PUJ (modernized jeepney), UV Express Service and traditional PUJ which have already consolidated as cooperative or are fleet managed and tourist vans. According to PISTON, the abovementioned memorandum will not allow many jeepneys to operate and for those which can operate many restrictions and limitations are being set by the LTFRB.  It also increases the fear of jeepney drivers and small operators on the phase out of traditional jeepneys. 

We are saddened that for more than two months, many of them are still waiting for the cash aid particularly the Social Amelioration Program from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.  Even before the pandemic, jeepney drivers and their families are already in difficult economic situation.  And now, the situation even worsens.

In this light, we urge the government to take heed to the call of our jeepney drivers and small operators:

1.      Allow the resumption of Public Utility Jeepneys as it will revive the livelihood of thousands of jeepney drivers and small operators and will provide transport service to frontliners, workers among others.

2.      Cash assistance that will fill in the shortage of income due to only 50% passenger capacity for PUV’s.  This will also help the drivers to pay for gasoline, maintenance of their vehicles and most importantly basic needs for their families.

3.      Conduct mass testing to jeepney drivers and other public transport workers to ensure their safety and the commuting public.

By the Movement Against Tyranny
June 1, 2020

Last May 29, 2020, the House of Representatives approved at the committee level its adoption, in toto, of the Senate version of the new anti-terrrorism bill titled “An Act To Prevent, Prohibit And Penalize Terrorism, Thereby Repealing Republic Act No. 9372,

Otherwise Known As The “Human Security Act Of 2007.”

By adopting the Senate version, the joint committees in the House dispensed with the various versions filed in the House and ignored the proposed amendments of its own members. House Committee on Public Order and Safety Narciso Bravo, Jr. candidly admitted during the hearing that this was being done upon the orders of the House leadership who wanted the bill approved immediately.

The measure is expected to be taken up in the House plenary for 2nd and possibly 3rd reading before Congress adjourns its second session on June 5. If approved without amendments, the bill will go straight to Malacañang for the Presidents signature and enactment into law.

A vague and overbroad definition

The bill aims to expand the already vague and broad definition of terrorism found in the existing anti-terrorist law (Human Security Act of 2008). This it does by replacing the strictly defined predicate crimes constituting terrorism (e.g. murder, arson, kidnapping, rebellion, etc.) with the following general categories, regardless of the stage of execution, as provided in Section 4 of the bill:

a) acts intended to cause death, serious bodily injury, or endangering a person’s life;

b) acts intended to damage or destroy a government or public facility, public place or private property;

c) acts intended to extensively interfere with, damage or destroy critical infrastructure;

d) developing, manufacturing, possessing, acquiring, transporting, supplying or using weapons, explosives, biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons;

e) releasing dangerous substances or causing fire, floods or explosions.

The above-mentioned acts, when the purpose, by its nature or context, is to intimidate the public or its segment, create an atmosphere or spread a message of fear, intimidate the government, seriously destablize or destroy the fundamental political, economic and social structures of the country, or create a public emergency or seriously undermine public safety, will be punishable with life imprisonment without benefit of parole.

While Sec. 4 provides that terrorism excludes advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, industrial or mass action, and other similar exercises of civil and political rights, the exemption only applies if such acts are not intended to cause death, serious physical harm, endangers a person’s life, or creates a serious risk to public safety. Otherwise, such legitimate actions can still be considered as terrorist acts or acts in furtherance of terrorism.

Based on such a vague and over-broad definition, the bill proceeds to list several related crimes that further expands the crime of terrorism, all with extremely heavy, disproportionate penalties:

Under this new definition of terrorism and its related crimes, organizers and participnts of a transport strike can be charged with terrorism for “extensively interfering” with the public transportation system, “intimidating the government” to give in to their demands, and creating a “serious risk to public safety” due to the resulting traffic and commuter congestion.

Likewise, anti-Duterte protesters who resist a violent dispersal operation can be charged with terrorism for “endangering the life” of the police and “seriously destablizing” the political order. Speakers in the said rally can be charged with threatening, inciting, or conspiracy to commit terrorism.

Finally, persons or groups who provide food, water, shelter, office space or financial support to the participants of the above activities, even their children and spouses, can be charged with “providing material support” to them or implicated as accessories.

A blow to due process and human rights

Under the biill, even the mere suspicion of involvement in terrorism and its related crimes already unleashes a string of violations of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Sec. 29 allows the warrantless arrest and detention without charges of suspects of anywhere from 14-24 days as opposed to the explicit constitutional limit of 72 hours.

Sec. 16 allows the secret wiretapping and surveillance of a suspected person’s or group’s private communications, conversations, data, ordinary or electronic mail, information, messages “with the use of any mode, form, kind or type” of technology “in whatever form, kind or nature.”

Sec. 25 gives the Anti Terrorism Council (ATC) the power to unilaterally and arbitrarily, without proper hearing and on the mere basis of probable cause, designate an individual, group of persons, organization or association as terrorist and for the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to freeze the assets of said individuals or groups.

In addition to Sec. 25, Sec. 26 also gives the Courts the power to proscribe an organization, association or group of persons as terrorists via a “preliminary order of proscription” based on probable cause. Members of such proscribed organization can be penalized with life imprisonment without parole due to mere membership in that organization, even if they are not engaged in any overt terrorist act.

A weapon for tyranny and dictatorial rule

The anti-terrorism bill’s vague and over-broad definition, coupled with its draconian provisions, make it an ultimate weapon for abuse and tyranny. In the hands of the Duterte government, it can and will be undoubtedly used to intimidate and imprison critics, members of the opposition and political dissenters, the media, social reformers, civil libertarians and human rights advocates, and anyone that gets in the way of its tyrannical rule.

It is a threat to those opposing Duterte’s surrender of our national sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, his murderous yet sham “war on drugs”, the criminal bungling of the Covid-19 response, the crackdown on human rights defenders, the appointment of a virtual military junta running the government, and the favored treatment of presidential relatives, business cronies and political loyalists.

Already, we are witness to how the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has linked almost all groups and institutions critical of the administration to the “communist terrorist” movement. They have maliciously accused such groups as “communist- terrorist fronts” or conspirators in imagined plots like the fantastic Red October Plot of 2018. This law will transform such malicious and absurd accusations into an open, fascist crackdown.

With Duterte in firm control of Congress and the Courts, his generals and cronies occupying the highest positions of power and influence in the Executive, mainstream media intimidated and cajoled into silence and his extensive troll operations distorting social media, the last thing we need is a law to further unleash state terror on our people.#

Dear Friends,

Greetings!

We would like to invite you to sign a multi-sectoral joint statement against the passage of the Terror Bill, which the House of Representatives is expected to vote on soon.

While we may not succeed in blocking its passage, let us register very strongly our opposition to this legislation that could well spell the end of democracy and freedom in our country.

We would like to emphasize that this is not a statement of media alone but one that we feel should be joined by as broad a segment of civil society and as many freedom-loving individuals as possible.

May we also suggest that, on the day we release this statement, we launch a social media campaign in which we post selfies or portraits with our mouths taped shut with messages written on the tape. These could be the following – CRITICISM IS NOT TERRORISM; FREE SPEECH IS NOT TERRORISM; JOURNALISM IS NOT TERRORISM; ACTIVISM IS NOT TERRORISM – and other messages you may wish to make.

May we also suggest that we maintain this alliance should they enact this odious piece of legislation so that we can continue our collective defense of our rights and freedoms.

Kindly send this to your networks and please comment on this thread if there are others who want to sign on.

Deadline for submission of signatories is tomorrow, June 3, 7 am. We are posting this statement tomorrow at 9 am.

Mabuhay Ang Ating Kalayaan!
Mabuhay Ang Ating Karapatan!

Maraming salamat po!

For the NUJP Board,

Nonoy Espina
Chairperson

STATEMENT

We Reject the Terror Bill

Why do our government officials always think law and order, peace and security can be realized only at the expense of our rights?

We, journalists, media organizations, civil society groups, academics and other concerned individuals unequivocally reject the anti-terror bill that the House of Representatives railroaded through the wholesale adoption of Senate Bill No. 1083, to do away with the bicameral committee conference hasten its passage and enactment into law.

Let us be clear about one thing: We are against terrorism.

However, bad as the Human Security Act of 2007 is, this bill, should it become law, would be much worse, so much that it would be more apt to call it the Terror Bill.

Not only does this proposed law grant an “Anti-Terror Council” the power to designate, on mere probable cause, persons or entities as terrorists or terrorist groups, it also allows the Anti-Money Laundering Council, an ATC member, to freeze the assets of these persons or groups, all without granting them the opportunity to defend themselves and refute any information against them.

Worse, the proposed law would also allow the ATC to authorize the detention without judicial warrant of arrest of suspects for up to 14 calendar days, extendible by another 10 days.

These clearly violate the Constitution’s guarantee to due process and constitutes a usurpation of judicial power.

Worse, this bill would worsen the impunity with which many of our laws and rights are violated by the very ones sworn to protect and uphold these by doing away with the stiff penalties intended to prevent any abuse of this legislation’s most draconian measure, the extrajudicial arrest and detention of suspects.

The bill also poses mortal danger to the principles of freedom of the press and of expression in Section 9 defining the crime of “inciting to terrorism,” which can be committed “by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations of the same” and is punishable by 12 years in prison.

This provision is, however, prone to broad application much like this and previous administrations have used the existing offenses of inciting to sedition and rebellion to quell free speech and intimidate critics.

In effect, reportage on persons and groups deemed terrorist, or even merely repeating what they say, could be interpreted as committing inciting to terrorism.

While we all agree that the fight against terrorism is important and needs the participation and cooperation of everyone, we maintain that the proposed law is open to abuse by despotic governments to visit terror against critics and the people in general.

If a law to fight terrorism is to be contemplated, let the respect and defense of human rights be the paramount consideration.

Initial Signatories to the Joint Statement:

1. Most Reverend Broderick Pabillo, D.D.
2. Rev. Mariesol Villalon of United Methodist Church
3. Rev. Irma Balaba of National Council of Churches in the Philippines