KABATAAN Partylist 3rd nominee harassed in Catbalogan, Samar, Philippines

5/07/2010 01:10:00 AM

On April 16, 2010, Atty. Katrina Castillo’s mother received an envelope addressed to her daughter with a note that says, “To: Atty. Katrina “Kat-kat” Castillo, second nominee (sic) Kabataan Partylist” from a certain Ronaldo I. Picardal of Brgy. Tizon, Tarangnan, Samar.
The envelope contained a black ribbon and a printed note that says:

It seems that you are not truthful and serious in serving the public. We found out that you continue your alliance with the enemies of democracy, progress and peace - the CPP-NPA-NDF and its partylists. Your alliance with them is an admission that you are one of them who adhere to the nonsense communism. WITH THIS LETTER IS A BLACK RIBBON THAT WILL REMIND YOU THAT YOUR LIFE, AS WELL AS YOUR FAMILY, IS ONLY A PRIVILEGE. IF DEATH BECOMES YOU, MAY YOU REST IN PEACE. For the Filipino people, country, and democracy.
It can be remembered that the harassment of Atty. Castillo began when she became a lawyer in 2007 and served as the concurrent secretary general and legal counsel of KATUNGOD Sinirangang Bisayas. She was informed by her clients (political detainees who are mostly farmers illegally arrested and detained for allegedly being part of the underground movement) that military intelligence agents visited them in prison to solicit information about her. These intelligence agents also tried to intimidate her by making their presence felt during hearings of Atty. Castillo’s cases. Read the rest of the urgent action alert from the Karapatan website.

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.