THE majority of the Meranaws oppose the building of a new military camp inside the main affected area or ground zero of Marawi city where the five-month battle between government forces and Isis-inspired groups took place.
Resolutions from various fora organized by Meranaw CSOs and POs and more than 100,000 signatures spearheaded by Saksi Islamic Radio Forum opposed the establishment of a second military camp in Marawi.
President Duterte should not repeat his mistake during Marawi siege for his failure in not consulting the Meranaws so that he will get fair and truthful accounts of what is really happening on the ground (wag lang sa mga warmonger amd sipsip na Meranaws or Moros).
Memo 41 by the president is a proof that this camp will be forced or imposed upon us, violating our right for Free, Prior and Informed Consent, they have no plan to consult us, even our own LGUs (local government units) are not part of the Task Force created.
The additional military camp is the last thing we need after the devastation of our city along with the destruction of our properties not to mention civilians killed in the five-month battle.
The establishment of a new camp will endanger nearby communities as this is prone to attacks by militant or radical groups, like what they did during Marawi Siege.
In the case of Suicide bombers, looking in the cases in Basilan and Sulu they are targetting Military camps and detachments.
We urge BTA-Barmm (Bangsamoro Transition Authority-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), the GPH (Government of the Philippines) and MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) implementing panels and their Joint Normalization Committee, to review the Normalization Annex of the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro signed in 2014 on the deployment of troops. We believe that the establishment of a new camp is a blatant violation of the letter and spirit of the Agreement.
We also appeal to the Philippine government to respect our rights recognized under International Humanitarian Law (Article 58 of the additional protocol on the Geneva Convention of 1949) to avoid locating military objectives near densely populated areas.
Lastly, we fear that the establishment of a new camp will put the civilian residents of Marawi city in grave danger, taking our lesson from the May 23, 2017 siege that initially broke out within few blocks away between the Military Brigade Camp and Philippine National Police Provincial Headquarters.
Let’s stop this cycle of violence!
No to repeat of the Marawi siege!
Allow us to rebuild our own Marawi!
End martial law! – Drieza Abato Lininding, chairman, Moro Consensus Group
Trumped up charges
THE recent Change.org petition of more than a thousand individual rights advocates calling for the dismissal of the trumped up and malicious perjury charges against 12 leaders of Karapatan, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and Gabriela was submitted to the Department of Justice in Manila.
The charges were filed by National Security Adviser and concurrent vice-chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict General Hermogenes Esperon Jr, after the organizations filed a petition for the writs of amparo and habeas data before the Supreme Court, with Esperon and President Rodrigo Duterte as among the respondents.
Earlier this year, Esperon accused the human rights organizations of making perjurious claims on the basis of a “miniscule issue,” in an act to further persecute rights defenders. The government officials pressed perjury charges against twelve officers of the three organizations regarding the registration of the RMP as a non-profit non-governmental organization before the court when they filed their petition for the writs of amparo and habeas data to seek legal protection against government harassment and intimidation. But the groups insist that the accusations are false as the RMP continues to operate as an NGO to this day.
In an earlier statement, RMP said that it has filed for a renewal of registration back in 2010, and have subsequently submitted a General Information Sheet and Audited Financial Statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Thus, they assert that the attestation they have made were in good faith and borne out of diligence.
Individual advocates from the Philippines, Belgium, Hongkong, Saudi Arabia, Italy, United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Iceland, United States, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Finland, South Korea, Germany, South Africa, Sweden, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil, and Norway who sent the petition also demanded that the Duterte government desist from threatening and attacking all human rights defenders.
The individuals stated in the petition: “We are alarmed that human rights defenders have increasingly become targets of killings, malicious attacks and acts of reprisals by the government. Human rights defenders and their organizations suffer from political and judicial persecution and harassment, unlawful surveillance, restrictions, tactics of intimidations and suppression, and slanderous and smear campaigns. In all these cases, the government has evaded accountability, thereby reinforcing the climate of violence and impunity in the country.”
Among those facing the complaint, which is due for resolution by the Office of the Prosecutor in Quezon City are Karapatan Chairperson Elisa Tita Lubi, Vice Chairperson Reylan Vergara, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, Deputy Secretary General Roneo Clamor, and National Council members at large Dr. Edita Burgos, mother of disappeared Jonas Burgos, critically-acclaimed filmmaker and artist Kiri Dalena, Fr. Wilfredo Ruazol, and youth activist Jose Mari Callueng.
We are strongly alarmed in the way that those who are at the forefront for the defense, promotion and protection of human rights have become the targets of unwarranted and malicious acts of state reprisals. The perjury charges against officers of Karapatan, Gabriela and RMP represents the government’s policy of criminalizing human rights defenders to dilute the legitimacy and integrity of their work in obtaining justice for victims of human rights violations. This form of judicial harassment indicates the shameless manner by which government can abuse legal and judicial processes to render punitive actions against human rights defenders,” the petitioners said.
They called on Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to dismiss the perjury case malevolently filed against officers of Karapatan, Gabriela and RMP.
We must not allow the government to continue with the judicial harassment of human rights defenders by concocting unwarranted and trumped-up cases. We demand the immediate dropping of charges against them and for the government to desist from threatening and attacking all human rights defenders. –Karapatan
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
