URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
PHL 001 / 0515 / OBS 039
Surveillance /
Threats / Harassment
Philippines
May 18, 2015
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in The Philippines.
Description of the situation :
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the surveillance, threats, and harassment suffered by several human rights workers at the Southern Mindanao Region Chapter of the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights (Karapatan), as well as several peasant leaders and their families victims of human rights violations in Davao City Paquibato District, and Bukidnon Province, Mindanao, who had sought shelter in Karapatan office.
Human rights defenders targeted include Karapatan staff : Ms. Edessa Sandra Camposand, Ms. Leonora Ricafort, together with Ms. Ricafort’s son, as well aspeasant leaders : Ms. Aida Sanduman-Seisa, Secretary General of Paquibato District Peasants Alliance (PADIPA), Mr. Eduardo Regidor, acting Chairperson of PADIPA, and his three sons, Mr. Primjun Oblianda-Cabatuan and Ms. Roselyn Tausa, both members of PADIPA.
According to the information received, on April 26, 2015, at 10 a.m. several men with a military haircut and wearing light fatigue shirt and short pants, and who appeared to be soldiers, showed up in the neighbourhoods of Karapatan office in Davao City.The men walked back and forth on the roadand stood in front of the building trying to look through the gate at the people inside. Oneof them was heard commenting by phone to an unknown interlocutor the exact location of the NGO office and of the peasant leaders who had sought refuge there.
Moreover, when Mr. Eduardo Regidorleft the office with his three sons, three men armed with 45 caliber pistols followed them and one of them, the same one that made the phone call, told him “Aha, dito lang pala kayo nagtatago (So, you are hiding here)”. Alarmed by the man’s statement, Eduardo and his sons flagged down a taxi, got into the car, and instructed the driver to speed up. The three armed men also rode their individual motorcycles and tailed the taxi, but eventually lost track of it.
On April 27, after 7 p.m., Mr. Eduardo Regidor arrived at Karapatan office. A few minutes later, three men went to the office’s gate and attempted to get inside. One of the men carried with him something wrapped with a towel, possibly a gun. When asked, they refused to identify themselves. When those inside the Karapatan office did not open the gate, one of the men pushed the gate and the two other men attempted to climb the concrete wall to get inside the compound. One of the men was the same person who the day before was conducting surveillance outside the Karapatan office.
The attempts of the men to barge into the Karapatan office stopped only when a Karapatan staff member called for police assistance and members of the media. After the media and police interview, the police brought the Karapatan staff to the San Pedro Police Station to file a report of the incident.
The Observatory would like to point out that Karapatan staff members in the Southern Mindanao Region are constantly subjected to surveillance, threats, and harassment from the military. They are labeled by the military as “enemies of the State” and “front organisations of the communists.” Karapatan attributes these violations to the intensification of military operations, especially in Mindanao, where 60% of the total troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are deployed under the counter-insurgency programme Oplan Bayanihan.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern over the ongoing acts of harassment and surveillance faced by members of Karapatan office in Southern Mindanao Region and peasant leaders and their families. The Observatory calls upon the authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of the members of Karapatan and peasant leaders and their families and to conduct a swift, thorough, and impartial investigation on the above-mentioned acts.
The Observatory also calls upon the authorities to immediately put an end to any form of harassment against human rights defenders in the Philippines.
Action requested :
Please write to the authorities in Philippines, urging them to :
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological of the members of Karapatan and peasant leaders and their families and of all human rights defenders in the Philippines ;
ii. Order an immediate, thorough, transparent, effective and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned facts in order to identify all those responsible ;
iii. Put an end to any kind of harassment against the members of Karapatan and peasant leaders and their families and of all human rights defenders in the Philippine, and in general against all defenders who work for the protection of land rights and human rights in Philippines ;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially regarding the following Articles :
– Article 1 : everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels ;
– Article 12.2 : the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his or her rights [...] ;
v. Ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Philippines.
Addresses :
· H.E. Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines, New Executive Building, Malacañang Palace, JP Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila 1005, Philippines. Fax : +63 2 736 1010, Tel : +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80 ; Email : corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph ;
· Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR),Visayas Avenue, Diliman, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines, Fax : +63 2 920 4301 , Tel : +63 2 920 4352 ; +63 2 926 2688 ; +632 926 2535 ; +63 2 925 8275, Email : osec@denr.gov.ph
· Hon. Loretta Ann P. Rosales, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights, SAAC Bldg., UP Complex, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. Fax : +632 929 0102. Email : chair.rosales.chr@gmail.com / mtm_rodulfo@yahoo.com ;
· Hon. Vicente "Tito" Castelo Sotto III, Senate President, Office of the Senate, Office of the Senate Secretary, Hon. Emma L. Reyes, 6th flr. Senate of the Philippines, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, Tel : +63 2 552-6601 loc. 6129/23 & 24 / +63 2 552-6676, Email : osec@senate.gov.ph ;
· Hon. Leila de Lima, Secretary, Department of Justice (DOJ), DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura, Ermita, Manila 1000, Fax : +632 523 9548, Email : lmdelima@doj.gov.ph / lmdelima.doj@gmail.com
· Hon. Jose Midas Marquez, Court Administrator, Supreme Court of the Philippines, 3rd Flr., New Supreme Court Bldg., Annex, Padre Faura St., Ermita 1000, Manila, Tel : +63 2 522 590 to 94, Fax : +63 2 526 8129, Email : pio@supremecourt.gov.ph / sc.judiciary@gov.ph ;
· Police Director General Alan LA Madrid Purisima, Chief, Philippine National Police, Camp General Rafael Crame, Quezon City, Philippines, Fax : +63 2 724 8763/ +63 2 723 0401, Tel : + 63 2 726 4361/4366/8763, Email : feedback@pnp.gov.ph ;
· Hon. Emilio Gonzalez, Deputy Ombusdman, Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military And other Law Enforcement Offices, 3rd Flr., Ombudsman Bldg., Agham Road, Diliman, 1004 Quezon City, Fax : +63 2 926 8747, Tel : +63 2 926 9032 ;
· H.E. Mr. Evan P. Garcia, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva, 47 Avenue Blanc, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax : +41 22 716 19 32, Email : geneva.pm@dfa.gov.ph ;
· Embassy of the Philippines in Brussels, 297 Avenue Moliere, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel : +32 2 340 33 77 / 2 340 33 78, Fax : +32 2 345 64 25.
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Philippines in your respective country.
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Geneva-Paris, May 18, 2015
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an OMCT and FIDH venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.