LETTER OF APPEAL TO HELP VICTIMS OF TYPHOON ONDOY

September 27, 2009

Dear Friends of Bayan Muna,

Typhoon Ondoy caused so much devastation in Metro Manila and the nearby provinces and rendered many helpless families without food, clothing and shelter. Many communities, including those in Marikina, Pasig, Manila and Quezon City, were among the most heavily affected as floods swept away their meager belongings and destroyed their homes. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable victims especially since rains continued in many of these devastated areas.

Bayan Muna, with its active and organized members in many communities, plan to hold relief operations in Metro Manila starting Wednesday by distributing rice, canned goods, clothes, potable water, medicine and other relief materials to those seriously affected by the flood. We ask for your utmost support and donations in these trying times so that, together, we can help alleviate the plight of the flood victims.

Please send your donations to the Bayan Muna Office at #45 K-7th Street, West Kamias, Quezon City, Philippines. For more information, please call Tel (632) 921 3473 and coordinate with Ms. Grace Saguinsin or Ms. Gemma Bunag.

Thank you for your support.


Very truly yours,


REP. SATUR OCAMPO
President

Third Bayan Muna Solon: Rep. Neri J. Colmenares

Office of Bayan Muna Rep. Neri J. Colmenares
House of Representatives
Quezon City



3rd Bayan Muna solon sharpening legal sword for House battles vs. Arroyo

The veteran human rights lawyer and constitutional expert who successfully argued before the Supreme Court the unconstitutionality of the "First Party Rule” that disenfranchised scores of winning party-list organizations is set to become the third Bayan Muna party-list representative in Congress.

Neri Javier Colmenares, who was among the youngest political detainees under martial law, and secretary-general of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), brings his legal expertise to Bayan Muna's contingent in Congress and is expected to play a leading role in mapping out strategies to thwart the legal hocus-pocus of pro-Chacha administration congressmen.

“I am honored to represent Bayan Muna's constituents in Congress. I vow to use all legal means available to the party and the people to advance our national interests and to stop attempts of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to perpetuate her illegitimate rule via Charter Change,” Colmenares said.

Colmenares was lead counsel of the party-list organizations that filed a suit before the Supreme Court questioning the “First Party Rule” that unduly cut down the number of winning party-list representatives after the 2007 elections.

According to third-term Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, now a deputy minority leader in the House, “we are immensely proud to have Neri in our team. He is definitely a representative of the marginalized and oppressed. He has long sided with the poor people and served them even amid the hardships of detention at a young age and the loss of huge potential income as a bright lawyer.”

“The Cha cha battles on the House floor will immediately test Neri's mettle as a people's lawyer in the parliamentary arena., eri's belated entry in Congress along with Joel Maglunsod of Anakpawis and Raymond Palatino of Kabataan can only mean a louder and bolder voice for the common people,” Ocampo said.

A graduate of the UP College of Law, Colmenares took up graduate studies with the Melbourne University and consciously chose to take the load less traveled – to offer legal services to clients from the marginalized and oppressed sectors and organizations.

In recent years, Colmenares led the formation of the Committee for the Defense of Lawyers (CODAL) which highlighted the cases of murder, frustrated murder and harassments against lawyers and judges.

The group later renamed itself as Counsels for the Defense of Liberties, as it took on the Arroyo administration's violation of civil liberties, especially in 2006 during the height of the calibrated preemptive response and the issuance of Proclamation 1017.

CODAL later figured prominently in the drafting and filing of impeachment cases against President Arroyo.

As Secretary General of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), a national association of human rights lawyers in the country, Colmenares continued his commitment to defend, protect, and promote human rights, especially of the poor and the oppressed, as he, among others, tirelessly lectured and explained the importance of the Writ of Amparo and Writ of Habeas Data in the fight against impunity among lawyers throughout the country. ###

International Solidarity Mission

International Solidarity Mission
A Journey of Solidarity in Defense of the People Resisting
Oppression in Southern Mindanao
Philippines * May 15-19, 2009


Join the peace advocates, human rights defenders, parliamentarians, leaders of peoples' organizations, students, artists, political parties, church people, academic institutions, and other individuals committed to the cause of peace, justice and human rights.

Invitation is open to all interested persons and groups from all over the world.

We enjoin peoples' movement activists, civil libertarians, human rights defenders, concerned parliamentarians and everyone working for the defense and promotion of human rights from different parts of the country and the world to join us in our quest for peace and justice and likewise bear witness to the gravity of the effects of Arroyo's twin evil: militarization and imperialist aggression.

The organizers and host of the ISM are basically mass-based, self-reliant, non-government, non-profit organizations. A registration fee of Php 500 per organization is required to cover for the cost of transportation, food and lodging expenses. Local participants are likewise expected to contribute reasonable amount to cover their expenses.

Concept

An International Solidarity Mission (ISM) will be organized to visit Davao Region in the Philippines. The ISM will be divided into six (6) teams, each of which will focus on an area where the grossest HR violations have been perpetrated just recently: Compostela, New Bataan and Diwalwal in Compostela Valley, Paquibato District- Davao City, Davao del Sur, and in Tampakan, SOCSKSARGEN.

Each team will present its findings during the Data Collation in Davao City. Then a Media- Public Forum will be held in Davao City to present the findings of the ISM. The ISM will end with a march rally to Freedom Park to denounce the US-GMA regime for the state terrorism.

Gross HRV cases in other areas in the region may be submitted to the ISM and victims/witnesses may be made available for interviews so they can also be included in the ISM report which is to be presented and submitted to all concern agencies in the country and in International Community.

ISM Areas:

1. Compostela Valley Province – (New Bataan, Compostela, Diwalwal- Monkayo)

In Compostela Valley alone, Karapatan-Southern Mindanao has documented 73 cases of human rights violations, where 699 families and 4, 512 individuals were victimized from January to August 15, 2008. These human rights cases included extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests and detention, use of public places for military purposes, threats to civilians, indiscriminate firing, aerial and artillery bombardment, physical assault and injuries, illegal search and seizure, forcible evacuation and displacement, forcible and fake surrenders, destruction of properties, divestment of properties, use of civilian as guides in military operations, torture, and violations of children’s rights. Karapatan points to the state security forces and paramilitary groups having a hand in these violations.

The 10th Infantry Division of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) of the AFP was installed in Southern Mindanao in 2006 with at least six brigades and 15 battalions and their primary target area of military operation had been the Compostela Valley since they have tagged the province as NPA-infested area.

Having already experienced strong military presence in their community, a new wave of panic began when military operations began again in March this year. Residents from New Bataan and Compostela had again fled for safety but the military prevented them from leaving.

The residents of Brgy. Diwalwal are also facing imminent threats of being forcibly displaced from their homes due to the recent declaration of the Government that Diwalwal is a no man's land to paved way for the the large-scale mining corporations that has been eyeing the gold rush in Mount Diwalwal.


2. Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur

Ailing the Bagobo-Tagabawa lumads of Sta.Cruz, Davao Del Sur is the militarization of their communities and the destruction of their ancestral grounds. Around nine (9) villages in Brgy. Sibulan are now hosts to the Reengineered Special Operations Teams of the 39th Infantry Battalion while the construction of the Tudaya Hydro-Power Plant continues, ravaging farmlands and destroying the sacred waterfalls of the Bagobo-Tagabawa lumads.

As this community continues to oppose this aggression, their voices are quelled with the current military operations.

The local residents are also being forced to join Barangay Defense System which is a part of the AFP's counter-insurgency program that runs violative of the International Humanitarian Law.

3. Paquibato District, Davao City

The city’s largest district of over 40,000 people, Paquibato has become a virtual garrison these days. People cannot move around the place without identification cards bearing the signature of soldiers.
On the veranda of the village hall of Barangay Mabuhay, government soldiers mounted an M60 machine gun, a menacing reminder among its residents of the silent war in their midst. In a place called Crossing Hasil towards the border with Panabo, soldiers at a checkpoint stopped all vehicles for inspection.
Since January this year, Paquibato District became subject to military operations. Most appalling, farmers was forcibly used a guide in actual military operations, instigating enormous fear among the community and the other residents that had already fallen victim to death and injury due to military's ire.

4. Tampakan, South Cotabato in SOCSKSARGEN

Base on a report, earlier this year, the government scaled down its mining investment target to $800 million from $1 billion. The new target, however, is still more than the $650 million investment inflow in 2008.
Most foreign investors opt to be minority partners in joint ventures with Filipino firms, especially in the early phase of exploration.
A foreign investor Swiss firm Xstrata Plc had signed Financial Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA), which allows 100 percent foreign ownership in large mining project in Tampakan and considered now the operator of the 27,945-ha Tampakan gold-copper mine in South Cotabato together with the much opposed Sagittarius Mines.
Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of the Diocese of Koronadal and other Church leaders said the recent killing of Ellezer Billanes, leader of the Socsksargends-Agenda (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos City, Davao del Sur-Alliance for Genuine Development) had something to do with his vocal opposition against the large-scale mining operations in Tampakan.

Billanes, 46, was gunned down four hours after attending a three-hour dialogue with barangay officials and an Army lieutenant following death threats he received allegedly coming from military personnel. Billanes was on his way to buy a newspaper when he was shot in the head at close range near the public market fronting the fire station on Osmeña Street at about 4 p.m. on March 9, 2009.

Socsksargends-Agenda is an anti-mining group that is opposing the Tampakan copper-and-gold project being implemented by the Sagittarius Mines Inc., a foreign-backed company operating in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Schedule of Activities

May 2009
• 14: Arrival of delegates and Regional-level Briefing
• 15-16: ISM proper in the areas; in mining areas (Diwalwal and Tampakan), a short ceremony re:declaration against Large-scale Mining and declaring the areas as ALARM! Sites will be held
• 17: Team reports and media statement drafting; submission of draft reports and materials to the Drafting Committee though the ISM Secretariat for consolidation and drafting of the ISM report; team evaluation and solidarity night
• 18: Press conference/ Media/Public Forum; Media Interviews; March to Centennial Park; Solidarity Dinner
• 19: Departure of foreign-based participants; evaluation by the ISM 2009 Organizing Committee

Details

Foreign-based participants to be invited:
Trade union, peasant/farmer, women, indigenous, fisher, youth and other peoples' movement leaders; civil libertarians, human rights activists; lawyers, jurists, judges, justices and law students; academicians; artists, writers, journalists and broadcasters; scientists; medical and other professionals; religious leaders; members of Parliament and other national government officials who are known to be critical of anti-people policies in their countries; members and supporters of solidarity organizations; and other human rights defenders.

Since we would like our fact-finding mission to generate pressure, there should be at least 2-3 international or foreign personalities in each team, who wield extraordinary influence in their countries or field of expertise. Certainly, the judgment of these people will lend additional credence to the ISM and influence public opinion in their and other countries. This will help generate public pressure against the GMA regime and call on her to put a stop to the HRVs committed.

The opportunity lent by the presence of the foreign-based participants in the Philippines should be maximized in terms of having them share the situation in their countries and what they or their organizations/movements are doing to change it.

Members of Philippine mass organizations abroad and solidarity groups are enjoined to join the ISM and help attend to the foreign participants from their countries of residence. It is likewise suggested that they hold a forum when they get back to their countries of residence to share and project the results of the ISM.

Participating organizations at the national level will invite their international contacts to participate in the ISM. A list of names, contact addresses as well as email addresses of the international friends will be submitted to the Secretariat so invitations and other ISM materials can be sent to them. The organization will sound out their international contacts and inform them in advance regarding the ISM and the invitation to follow.

ISM Convenors

ISM will be spearheaded by the Exodus for Justice and Peace, an alliance of civil libertarians, religious groups, the academe and other professionals.

The EJP network has a common aspiration to respond to the needs of internally displaced communities, and victims of human rights violations due to militarization and development aggression. It also stands by human rights defenders and works for attainment of justice for all victims of political persecution.

The EJP's Main Conveners are Bp. Delfin D. Callao Jr., of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Bp. Constante Claro of the UCCP-SEMJUR, Sr. Luz Mallo, m.a. , Coordinator of the Missionaries of the Assumption, Sr. Dolores Diaz, csc of the Carmelite Sisters, Bro. Noelvic H. Deloria, sc and Bro. Jose Godofredo G. Sapigao, sc of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Fr. Jonathan Casimina of the Southern Mindanao Regional Ecumenical Council, Rev. Jurie Jaime of the Promotion of Chruch People’s Response, Sr. Irene Caharian. M.a. , Sr. Elsa Compuesto, MSM of the Sister’s Association in Mindanao, Pstr. Amancio Binigian of CONCORD and Atty. Ding Estorres of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao – Davao Chapter.

Also providing vital support for the Mission:
Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights), Kalipunan ng Mga Katutubo sa Pilipinas (KAMP), Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao KALUMARAN, PCPR (Promotion of Church People's Response), Bayan (New Patriotic Alliance), Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM)
Bayan Muna (BM) PartyList, Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples (SAGIP), Promotion of Churh Peoples' Response (PCPR)


***
The ISM Secretariat
EJP Contact Information:
Tel No: 082-221-6920, Mobile: 0928-6059209
Email: ejp_davao@yahoo.com
Mailing Address: Haran House, UCCP, Fr. Selga St. Davao City
Please look for Beth or Nancy.

Postcard Campaign to President Obama to Free the Cuban Five

Update on the Postcard Campaign to President Obama to Free the Five

It has not even been a week since we picked up 21,000 postcards at the printers to send to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and other elected officials calling for the freedom of the Cuban Five. The orders coming in have already greatly exceeded our expectations. We have sent out most of the cards from this initial print run and we are now discussing how we can print more.

What appears to be making this project of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five take off is its international grassroots appeal. This is a hands-on project with people meeting people and getting others to take that step forward to sign the postcard, get a stamp on it and send it to Washington . It is a concrete expression of solidarity with our 5 Cuban brothers.

We have sent batches of postcards in English and Spanish to many countries, including Argentina , Canada , Cuba , Lebanon , Mexico , Peru , and the United Kingdom . In the United States many people are also using the card that can be addressed to their Congressperson. Cards have gone to Florida , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Minnesota , New York , Oregon , Texas , Wisconsin , and many cities in California .

Committees in other countries have already translated the postcard and are printing them to distribute them locally. We know for sure that in Russia the postcard has been translated and is now being printed. It is also being translated into German, Catalan, Swedish and Portuguese.

Now that the case has been filed before the U.S. Supreme Court, it is more important than ever to get the word out about this miscarriage of justice. We must let the new administration know that, despite the ongoing media blockade, there is an international movement calling for the freedom of the Cuban Five.

Now is a great time to get involved in this campaign. You can order postcards by writing to info@thecuban5.org and let us know how many you want. You can also send a tax deductible donation to help with the printing and shipping costs made out to: IFCO/Awareness Project and mailing it to International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, P.O. Box 22455 , Oakland , CA 94609.