Beyond Reforms: Overhauling the Judiciary

Letter to the Editor
20 April, 2018

Like other basic necessities under the current dispensation, justice is escaping the reach of victims of state abuses.

It is not just that access to the courts remains expensively prohibitive. It is more because of the diminution of the tattered integrity of the reactionary justice system to mere tokenism woven to fit the elitist caprices of whoever gets hold of the reins of power.

The current intramural within the halls of the so-called court of last resort demonstrate this fact. The infighting between magistrates of factions of the ruling class reveals the sickening depths of horse-trading and political accommodation that have infected to the core this primary “pillar of justice.”

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NUPL-CEBU STATEMENT ON THE KILLING OF ATTY. JONAH JOHN UNGAB

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) Cebu Chapter condemns the senseless killing of Atty. Jonah John Ungab by unidentified men after he attended a court hearing this morning. (Feb.19, 2018)

REPRINT: AFP ABDUCTS PEACE ADVOCATE

(This was first published in  https://hrwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/afp-abducts-peace-advocate/)

URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION! URGENT ACTION!

We, in the Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights (KARAPATAN)-Cebu, are gravely concern over the safety of former Roman Catholic priest Rustico Tan, 76, who was abducted by Philippine Army soldiers and military intelligence agents in Santander town(138 kilometers south of Cebu City), Cebu on November 9, 2017, at about 5PM.

In 1986, Tan served as chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in local peace negotiations in Cebu until 1987, when the talks were scuttled by the Cory government. Currently, he is a prime mover of President Duterte’s Kilusang Pagbabago, a fledgling grassroots-based movement supposedly initiated by the Cabinet Secretary. Yet, he remains a target of political persecution and trump up charges by the US-Duterte Regime.

Initial reports received by KARAPATAN-Cebu revealed that Tan was at the house of his sister-in-law in the same town, when military intelligence agents aboard two multi-purpose vehicles backed by a truckload of battle-ready soldiers arrived and surrounded the house where Tan and companion were in. The agents purportedly handed Tan with a paper and immediately whisked him inside their vehicle.

Since then, Tan’s safety and whereabouts’ remain uncertain as the local police denied any knowledge of the military operation.

KARAPATAN-Cebu has dispatched today (November 10, 2017) an investigative team to Santander to gather more information on Tan’s abduction and trace his probable location.

Attacks against peace advocates and human rights defenders are on the rise in the country since President Rodrigo Duterte launched his counter-insurgency Oplan Kapayapaan.

To express protest over these attacks and demand release of Rustico Tan, please course your concern through the following:

HON. HILARIO P. DIVIDE III
Governor,
Province of Cebu
(032)254-3454888-2334/ 888-2311
888-2312/ 888-2305/ 888-2306/ 888-2328
pio@cebu.gov.ph

LT. GEN. OSCAR T. LACTAO
Commander,
AFP Central Command
Lahug, Cebu City
(032) 233-9052
piocentcom@gmail.com

PCSUPT JOSE MARIO M ESPINO
Regional Director, PRO 7
PNP Regional Headquarters,
Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City. Philippines 6000
(032)256-2032/ 254-9146/ 416-5074
ropd_r07@pnp.gov.ph, ritms_r07@pnp.gov.ph, rtoc_07@pnp.gov.ph

KARAPATAN urges independent probe on civilian deaths in Bohol raid

An independent probe on civilian deaths in Brgy. Napo, Inabanga, Bohol, should be held immediately amidst howls of protest from their relatives and neighbors denying military claims that elderly couple Crisanta and Constancio Petalco were members of the Abu Sayyaf bandits whom the military attacked in the area on April 11, 2017.   Both in their 70s, the couple were said to be retrieving their livestock for safety from the firefight when they were shot dead in front of their house.