Two students from the
University of the Philippines (UP) - Diliman and a peasant organizer were
abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan last Monday.
Karen Empeño, a BA Sociology student of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and a member of the League of Filipino Students-UP Diliman, Sherlyn Cadapan, an award-winning triathlete from the College of Human Kinetics (CHK) and a former representative to the University Student Council of UP Diliman, together with Manuel Merino, were abducted by suspected military men at around 2 a.m, July 26.
The UP community
holds protest actions today, demanding the release of the three. Guiller Luna posts
a picture of Karen and a testimonial. (Update) Here's a report by Bulatlat.com and
here's the arkibongbayan.org coverage of the protest actions in UP and Mendiola today.
A fact sheet prepared by a human rights group in Central Luzon, tells how the three were abducted. The report says a 14 year old witnessed the abduction by hooded men who identified themselves as "vigilantes," forcibly entering the house where the three were staying. Here is the full text of the report:
Factsheet
TIPO NG PAGLABAG: Pagdukot, Pambubugbog, Pananakot
MGA BIKTIMA 1. Manuel Merino
2. Shierlyn Capalan
3. Karen Impeno
PETSA AT ORAS NG PANGYAYARI: Hunyo 26, 2006 alas 2:00 ng umaga
LUGAR NG PANGYAYARI: Purok 6, Brgy. San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulakan
MGA PINAGHIHINALAANG MAY KAGAGAWAN: Mga labinlimang kataong nakasibilyan, mga nakabonnet ng itim at nagpakilalang mga vigilante group daw sila.
BUOD NG PANGYAYARI:
Noong Hunyo 26, 2006, Lunes, alas 2:00 ng umaga ay sapilitang pumasok ang anim na mga di kilalang kalalakihang sibilyan armado ng mahahabang baril sa bahay ni Ginoong William Halili Ramos.
Anim na sibilyang naka-bonnet ng itim armado ng mahahabang baril ang kumatok sa kanilang bahay. Nag-alalang buksan ng huli ang pinto, sumilip muna siya sa bintana kasama ng kaniyang anak na si Wilfredo Ramos 14 na taong gulang. Nang di agad niya nabuksan ang pinto ay sumigaw ang isa na ?bumaba ang lahat ng mga tao sa loob ng bahay kapag hindi ninyo binuksan bibilangan ko kayo!? Dito na napilitang buksan ni Ginoong Ramos ang pinto.
Pagkabukas ng pinto, agad siyang hinablot ng isang malaking lalaki, ibinalya pahiga sa semento piniringan at inilabas ng bahay kasama ang anak na si Wilfredo. Si Manuel Merino na noo?y nasa itaas ng bahay ay bumaba kaya nang makita siya ng mga armadong kalalakihan ay agad siyang binayo sa tiyan gamit ang mahabang baril kung saan ang puluhan ng baril ang pinambayo. Pagkabagsak sa semento ay itinali siya, inilabas sa bahay at isinakay sa pampasaherong dyip na nakahimpil sa humigit kumulang 100 meter mula sa bahay nila Ginoong Ramos.
Ang batang si Wilfredo na noo?y nasa labas din ng bahay ay nakitang bitbit na din ng armadong kalalakihan sina Karen at Sherlyn. Ang dalawa ay kinuha sa bahay ng kanyang tiyahin, isang bahay ang pagitan mula sa kanilang bahay. Duon natulog ang mga nabanggit. Hinubaran si Karen ng pang-itaas na damit at ginamit na pampering sa kanya. Isinakay sila sa nabanggit ding sasakyan. Bumaybay ang sasakyan direksiyon patungo sa Iba, Hagonoy.
Note: Hunyo 26, 2006, alas 11:00 ng tanghali, naglunsad ng FFm
Dineny sa Iba HQ at Hangga
Prepared by ALMMA Alyansa ng mamamayan para sa Pantaong karapatan Barasoain Compound, Lias, Malolos City, Bulakan
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This morning, youth and student leaders trooped to the House of Representatives to file the fourth impeachment case against Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The youth groups, all under Youth DARE, were joined by Atty. Abigail Binay, daughter of staunch Arroyo foe Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.
For details, click here, here and here.
They filed the same document as the Citizens' Impeachment Complainants'. View the full text of the complaint.
They also launched iMonitor, a youth impeachment watchdog. (stay posted for announcement of the iMonitor blogsite)
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a fellow young radical jokingly said that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got an
upset stomach not from over-eating but from over-spending when there's no money to spend. millions of impoverished Filipinos can relate to this malady. ask any poor family breadwinner about dinner on the table tonight and he/she is surely to get his/her stomach all worked up.
Arroyo's binge, however, had nothing to do with food at all.
after alloting a whopping P76 billion (P1B for arms and weapon procurement and P75B for so-called 'regional development' to complement massive counter-insurgency in the regions) for her 'all-out war against the Reds,' Arroyo even in her, uh, indisposed state still managed to dish out an additional P1.5B for military housing.
this latest cash spree may well be a result of what Sen. Franklin Drilon calls the presidential blank check, after resigning to virtual re-enactment of the national budget for this year.
NEWS FLASH!!!: Arroyo's counter-insurgency now targetting campuses. UP students protest Marine presence inside the Diliman campus barely a week after UP Manila students got arrested by police INSIDE the Taft campus. PUP students have also reportedly seen military elements lurking inside their campus in Sta. Mesa.
Cong. Crispin 'Ka Bel' Beltran, meanwhile, called on the government to channel the P1B AFP fund to schools, medicines and peace talks. Today's Inquirer editorial expresses the same sentiment, but with a focus on the below average state of the education sector. Columnist Amado Doronilla thinks the president's all-out war has the makings of a campaign sliding into a bottomless pit into which troops and money will be sucked.
perhaps what really caused arroyo's upset stomach was realizing that a week-long binge will not wipe-out rebellion strategically. even an NCRPO chief had to admit that even if the government succeeds in killing every single rebel in the country, it will not be able to kill the insurgency. Who was it that said, "'Ideas are bulletproof?" ###
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This message of CBCP President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Archdiocese of Jaro, was read by Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Archdiocese of Lingayen and former CBCP head at the Interfaith prayer service, "Panalanging Bayan", 430 pm, Liwasang Bonifacio, 12 June 2006.
LIBERATING OUR COUNTRY FROM "UNFREEDOMS"
Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo
June 12, 2006
We celebrate today the Philippine Independence Day with
gratitude for everything that has been in our history. We honor the
heroes big and small, known and unknown, who have worked for our
liberation as a nation.
But while we succeeded in breaking the yoke and chain of
Spanish, Japanese and American colonizers, are we succeeding in
breaking the yoke and chain of fellow Filipinos? Ang masakit na
karanasan ng mga Filipino ngayon ay bagamat nakalaya na tayo sa
pang-aalipin ng mga banyaga, ay mayroon namang mga kapwa Filipino na
umaalipin sa kanilang kapwa Filipino.
Gathered in the atmosphere of prayer, we invite ourselves
to pray that we may be delivered from the many "unfreedoms" that we
are experiencing.
We have freed ourselves from the punishment of death
penalty. But we still have to free ourselves from drug addiction and
drug lords, from jueteng addictions and jueteng lords, from the
temptation to extort and to bribe, from exploitation of women and
children, from the killings of militants, labor leaders and
journalists without the benefit of just trial, from torture and
maltreatment of every kind, from graft and corruption and subtle
dictatorship. Without these the celebration of the Philippine
Independence Day in this Year of Social Concerns would be more
meaningful.
Civil society is moving on with a growing social
consciousness for what is truly good and just for the nation. We
recall what Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est wrote: "The
formation of just structures is not directly the duty of the Church,
but belongs to the world of politics, the sphere of the autonomous use
of reason."
What is the duty of the Church? "The Church has an
indirect duty (says Benedict XVI), in that she is called to contribute
to the purification of reason and to the reawakening of the moral
forces." What is the duty of the civil society? "The direct duty to
work for a just ordering of society, on the other hand, is proper to
the lay faithful. As citizens of the State, the Pope says, "they are
called to take part in the public life in a personal capacity? in the
many different economic, social, legislative, administrative and
cultural areas?for the common good."
The CBCP has already expressed in former Pastoral
Exhortations ("Building a Civilization of Love" and "Renewing Our
Public Life") its recommendations which I now briefly summarize as
follows: 1) that the reform and modernization of our electoral process
be continued; 2) that the election of 2007 be pursued in order to
offer our country a new breed and brand of leaders; 3) that if charter
change is to be pursued, it should be through a Constitutional
Convention, whose delegates are elected by the people. We are not
against charter-change per se; but we are against charter-change by
the present congress converting itself into a Constituent Assembly.
From history we learn that dictators are products of and supported by
parliamentary forms of government.
Philippine Independence Day is an occasion to promote "a
spirituality of citizenship" which fosters a sense of patriotism and
of being responsible for our country. "It develops Filipinos into
becoming active and constructive participants in social and political
life. It enables the laity to take their rightful leadership role in
the social transformation of our country" (CBCP Pastoral Exhortation,
"Building a Civilization of Love").
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there is something terribly wrong when one receives an email of news articles reporting three separate deaths within 24 hours:
June 9 (2 days ago)9 AM today -- Bayan Muna member in Sorsogon "gunned down by two motorcycle-riding assassins"5 PM yesterday - A tribal leader and officer of the Cordillera People's Alliance was shot dead "by people wearing bonnets on board a van? 1 teacher - the "principal of the Quezon National High School in Quezon town in Isabela, was also killed after she was hit by stray bullets."And Malacanang and Congress are ecstatic that they have agreed to pass a bill abolishing the death penalty!
something's horrendously disturbing when a few days after one reads another such report, this time of a forceful disappearance, hours after yet another bloody dispersal of an otherwise peaceful demonstration of farmers and students:
Published on page A15 of the June 11, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
But as the group protested, another member of a militant youth organization was reported missing.
Melanie Catipon, 21, a member of Anakbayan and a resident of Maria Aurora town in Aurora, was abducted by unidentified men on Friday night, the human rights advocate Karapatan said.
something's dreadfully amiss when people, innocents, are being killed by the hour on account of their political beliefs. this something inclines one to lose sleep at night -- over two extremely different reasons. one is out of sheer terror of not feeling safe anymore living under a so-called democracy. the other is out of pure unabashed unadulterated outrage, of wishing to retaliate but not wishing to add to the senseless bloodbath.
to this MLQ3 (no link. he is, after all, still linked to this blog) quickly posts a supposed FAQ in his article Why Most Filipinos Don't Care That Leftists Are Being Killed, "But why is it, that the majority don't seem to care?"
oh, but they do. they probably WILL more if people such as journalists and writers, ESPECIALLY journalists and writers, rid themselves of their anti-Left bias and quit justifying the nightmare in the process.
we do not wish to antagonize, or else mr. quezon will have confirmed his idea that Leftists are nothing but a bunch of close-minded cheerleaders. we wish to clarify, and yes, continue to give reason why MLQ3 is STILL linked to this PROGRESSIVE blog.
we agree fully with ina alleco, "Manolo, paki-bawi yung sinulat mo"
others, however, are entitled to their own outrage: What we've learned: MLQ3, Para kay Manolo.
Ang Taktika ng Pagpatay
NI GELACIO GUILLERMO
Inilathala ng Bulatlat (www.bulatlat.com)
Ang taktika ng pagpatay
Ay pagpapasulong sa istratehiya
Ng pagkubkob at paglipol
Ng rehimeng hindi na makapaghari
Sa dating paraan
Sampung taon, anila, ang kailangan
Para sugpuin ang subersyon
Mananahimik na ang bansa't
Patuloy na nakaluklok
Ang reyna sa kapangyarihan
Sa bukid at bundok
Ang pingkian ng armas at armas
Ngayon, maging sa lunsod at bayan
Pinupuntirya ang mamamayang
Tanging mga karapatan ang pananggalang
Ilang daan, ilang libo
Ang dapat patayin
Busalan, ikulong, bugbugin
Para tiyaking tagumpay
Ang kanilang istratehiya't taktika
Bawat araw ay may dagdag
Sa bilang ng pinapaslang
Tayo'y nagdadalamhati pagkat sila
Ang tagabandila ng paninindigan
Ng mamamayan
May mga bagay
Na kailanma'y hindi kayang unawain
Nilang naghahari
Kung bakit ang bawat paglilibing
Ay martsa ng diwang hindi mapapaslang
Kung bakit, sa harap ng panggigipit
Patuloy ang mamamayan
Sa paggigiit ng kanilang lunggati
Walang makapipigil sa daluyong
Ng lakas nila't pagkakaisa
Kung bakit hindi panukat ng lakas
Ang bunton ng kanilang pinapatay
O binabawian ng karapatan
Walang lakas ang rehimeng
Ang kaaway ay ang mamamayan
Binibilang natin ang bilang
Ng pinaslang ng rehimen
Sapagkat may dapat singilin
Walang patawad ang kasaysayan
Sa mga salarin
Binibilang din natin
Ang mga araw na itatagal pa ng rehimen
Pagkat ang taktika ng pagpatay
Na akala'y pansagip sa kanilang buhay
Ay kahinaang panghukay ng sariling libingan
Ang pagbuwag sa rehimeng bulok
Ay hindi na bago sa mamamayan
Binibigo nila ang istratehia't
Taktika ng kaaway
Ng istratehiya't taktika ng kanilang matwid
At tayo'y pinasisigla ng kasaysayan
Sapagkat ating alam
Sa hinaba-haba ng pakikibaka
Kung sino'ng susuko, sino'ng magwawagi
Sa malao't madali
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Bulatlat.com has a special report on the school opening featuring an article on the
Two-shift Classroom Scheme, another on the general
Picture of the State of Education, and other articles giving us regional tidbits on the education crisis.
And if you still haven't read about that cabinet meeting "classroom magic" fantaserye, here is your
YR linkathon.
Looks like they're opening a new episode to their "dagdag-bawas" education edition:
No tuition fee hike for SUCs - Palace. Yeah right, so that's why there's a P400 laboratory fee increase in UP. We've already demolished Malacanang and CHEd's propaganda in our
Mother's Day entry.Inquirer has interesting stories on the school opening:
First up is the column by Juan Miguel Luz, former DepEd Usec. which enlightens us on the real score on the classroom shortage. Yes, there is a shortage, and the real figure: 74,115. According to him, P29 billion is needed to address the real shortage of classrooms. Way far from the P4B our Congress is alloting.
The editorial for today: Learning from outbursts. Read also the Inq three part series on the class opening. If you still aren't convinced that the education system is deteriorating, see how the low the test scores are.
Juan Miguel Luz also confirms that the reason behind the Bridge Program's halt in 2004 was political. Apparently, the protests of high school activists and parents during that time really shook the Palace.
Stories from the regions: Teacher shortage in Eastern Visayas, this story points to "teacher quality", but you can't blame them, if they are teachers by day, vendors by night. Tuition monitor: 15 tuition hikes in EV.
On the political killings: first day of classes for college studes on June 13 also marks Cris Hugo's birthday.
I have been fond of reading Amado Doronilla's columns these past few days mainly because of his views on the extrajudicial killings. Here's his May 18 column, here's another last June 2, and today his article calls Arroyo a "Tin-pot dictator rising from EDSA 2."
Bulatlat.com asks if the Terror vs. Anti-terror strategy will work, and exposes Oplan Bantay Laya.
De Quiros defends Batasan 5 Rep Teddy Casino's outburst calling State Prosecutor Velasco "sira-ulo." Dapat lang naman no. And in his column today stresses Arroyo's responsibility in the killings.
On cha-cha: Bernas explains how Arroyo's initiative is a "revolution from within" like Marcos' cha-cha in '73. He explains that the military and the Supreme Court will play a main factor in deciding the success of Arroyo's quest for a longer term and greater power. Meanwhile, the CBCP and the anti-Chacha groups set a major "show of force" on June 12.
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The
Philippine Daily Inquirer's editorial cartoon today aptly depicts Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a tyrant with a short circuit, following her recent outburst over DepEd Head Fe Hidalgo's report on classroom shortages.
Meanwhile, youth and student groups assailed Ms. Arroyo for the bully boo-boo. Kabataan Sectoral Party cited data proving RP's classrooms are the
most crowded in Asia. Anakbayan, on the other hand, said that Ms. Arroyo's loss of temper was
'uncouth and uncalled for' -- no more than a cover-up for the government's incapacity to resolve classroom shortages for the comning school year.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) went on to point out that Ms. Arroyo has once again revealed her
'penchant for doctoring numbers and making deceptive claims.' Hello Garci, anyone?
But the gravest and perhaps most stinging criticism comes from none other than a
high school student, saying that "aside from flunking in good manners and right conduct, the President should also get failing marks for her "simple logic" on the shortage of classrooms.
"If that's (the President's) rationale, then there will also be no shortage in public school teachers. That's absurd. Even my classmates in high school can attest that that is not the case at all."
Ay, nakakahiya, pinangaralan ng high school student?? tsk, tsk. ###
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