MANILA, Philippines — The human rights organization Karapatan wants the United Nations to undertake an independent investigation into what it said were recent attacks on rights defenders and their kin.
A statement released Tuesday by Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said from May 3 to 10 alone, they documented the illegal arrest of a former worker of the group and her brother-in-law, the abduction of the son of a peasant leader, and the harassment by soldiers of human rights workers investigating alleged abuses in Lopez town, Quezon.
“Karapatan condemns these recent attacks against human rights defenders, as the climate of impunity worsens in the Philippines,” Palabay said in the statement. “While the Duterte administration has been busy promoting butcher generals to Cabinet posts, furthering the militarization of the civilian bureaucracy, human rights defenders and their families are experiencing graver forms of human rights violations.”
She was referring to the appointment of several retired generals to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet, the latest of these former military chief Roy Cimatu to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and current Armed Force chief General Eduardo Ano, who was named the next Interior secretary.
On May 3, Palabay said, a joint team of police, Air Forces and military intelligence agents arrested Edwina Alog as she was at a relative’s wake in Batangas. Her brother-in-law, Roderick Alog, on the other hand, was arrested when other security agents raided their home in San Carlos, Pangasinan in search of Edwin.
Alog, said Palabay, is a former regional council member of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog and currently a volunteer with the women’s organization Gabriela in the region. She was among 72 activists previous slapped with “trumped up” charges that have since been dismissed.
Palabay said Alog was only shown the warrant for her arrest on murder charges the day after she was picked up.
On the evening of May 8, Rey Anton Olayvar, 21, a student of the Trinidad Municipal College in Bohol who father Adolfo is an officer of the Hugpong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon and staff of the Farmers Development Center, was abducted by six armed men suspected to be military intelligence operatives who forced him inside a black van.
The young Olayvar managed to escape when the van stopped for a short break and sought help from farmers who brought him to the police station in Talibon town.
His mother Regina was also abducted by military agents in 2008, said Palabay, while his uncle Victor, who charied the provincial chapter of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, was murdered during the Arroyo administration.
On May 10, 69 members of a fact-finding mission led by Karapatan were surrounded by troops of the Southern Luzon Command as they investigated reported military abuses in Sitio Alat-alatin, Barangay San Francisco, Lopez.
He soldiers, said Palabay, insisted on taking pictures of residents and took with them farmer Ruel Segui who they subsequently released.
“Such attacks remain unabated due to continuing counterinsurgency programs that bring unpeace to rural and urban communities. We demand the immediate release of Edwina and Roderick Alog and the halt to all forms of harassment against human rights defenders and our families,” Palabay said.
She urged the government to formally invite Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders, to visit the country and undertake an investigation. Karapatan submitted a letter of allegation to Forst in April over the 32 killings of human rights defenders murdered under the Duterte administration. These are on top of the 614 rights defenders slain during the Arroyo and Aquino governments.