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.
43 health workers that provide primary health care in the poorest areas of the Philippines were illegally arrested, detained, and tortured. For more information about this incident, see my links on delicious.com/dmaranan/morong43, including news items from the Philippine Daily Inquirer (1), ABS-CBN (2, 3, and 4), the New York Times (5), and Bulatlat (6 and 7). Their case has caught international attention.
The UNESCO National Commission-Communication Committee and Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication expressed outrage over the brutal killing of journalists and civilians in Maguindanao in southern Philippines last November 23.
In condemning the horrific murders, UNESCO and AIJC called for speedy justice for the victims and for the resolute enforcement of the rule of law and protection of human rights.
The massacre brings to the fore the significance of the ongoing multidisciplinary study on the “Culture of Impunity in the Killing of Filipino Journalists” being conducted by AIJC with UNESCO support.
UNESCO NatCom and AIJC called on all sectors to be vigilant in safeguarding our democratic system by making those in power accountable for violations against universal freedoms and assaults on persons.
Citing the UN definition of impunity as “the impossibility of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account,” Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, NatCom communication committee chair and AIJC president emeritus, said that government should be able to protect its citizens and journalists in particular against becoming targets of impunity.
The world's most dangerous place for journalists is not Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia. It's the Philippines. Alastair Leithead reports for the BBC world service. (If you can't see the media player below, click here.)
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today pledged its full support to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in an urgent campaign on news safety as reports emerged that up to 20 media people died in yesterday’s massacre of journalists and political campaigners in the Philippines.
Some 46 people were killed in the atrocity in the troubled Maguindanao province in the south of the country, among them at least 12 journalists and around eight media staff, according to the latest information from the NUJP branch in Mindanao. It is reported that 22 bodies have been recovered so far.
Under the current government the Philippines has become the most dangerous place in the world for media workers. At least 74 journalists have been killed during its eight-year tenure, yet the Government has not acted to end the culture of impunity. At last count, only four convictions had been secured.
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.
