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PHILIPPINES: Further killings - seven people including a judge

February 6, 2007

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

6 February 2007
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UA-040-2007: PHILIPPINES: Further killings - seven people including a judge

PHILIPPINES: Extra-judicial killings; violence against activists; a need for effective police investigation; protection to families of the dead; collapse of rule of law
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AHRC 2006 Human Rights Report on the Philippines
http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2006/Philippines2006.pdf

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you about the continuing killings in the Philippines this time of seven people including one professor who was shot in the University in front of the students, and an acting presiding judge of Quezon City; both were killed on 19 January 2007. We have also been informed about the killings of five other people including three members of political party, Bayan Muna in Bicol between 21 and 23 January 2007. We wish to draw your attention to the continuous and growing number of killings in the country.

CASE DETAILS:

On 19 January 2007, Professor Jose Ma Cui of the department of history and communication arts of the University of Eastern Philippines, Northern Samar, was shot dead by two armed men hooded with bonnets in front of his students. Cui’s students were at the time taking their mid-term exams when he was shot.

According to the information we have received from the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) and several media sources, at around 3:35pm and 3:45pm, the gunmen came to a classroom at Cui’s College of Engineering building of the said University. Cui suffered fatal gunshot wounds to his head and chest from a .45 calibre pistol. He died on the spot.

After the shooting, the gunmen were seen escaping on a motorcycle in the direction of Mondragon town. It is reported that there is a military camp within two kilometres from the university campus and that the assassins were seen travelling in this direction. There has been no significant progress in the police investigation into the incident. Moreover the police said that it is the unwillingness of the witnesses to provide information about the incident that is causing the delays in their investigation.

There are allegations that the motive behind the killing of Professor Cui could be due to his active involvement in human rights advocacy, including employee’s welfare and anti-corruption activities. 

Professor Cui, a 53-year-old father of three was a former secretary general of the human rights group called Katungod-Eastern Visayas, a regional chapter of the human rights organization of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights). He was also a chairman of the Employee Association of the University of Eastern Philippines, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees-Northern Samar (COURAGE-NS), and Anti-Corruption Network (ActNow!). He was also one of the founding members of the political party group Bayan Muna in Northern Samar.

Long before the incident, the victim had already been reportedly targeted by an Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) smear campaign. Cui had been charged with libel by the former commanding officer of the 63 rd Infantry Battalion, Colonel Manuelito Usi in 2004.

On 19 January 2007, Judge Nathaniel Pattugalan, an acting presiding judge of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 35 was shot dead at around 6pm in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) building while on his way home. The victim was sitting in a passenger jeep near the driver when shot in his chest; the bullet pierced his heart.

According to media sources, two armed men were riding on a motorcycle and shot judge Pattugalan while the passenger jeep he was riding on stopped. It is reported that the two men were apparently following Pattugalan from his office at the Hall of Justice before shooting the victim. Judge Pattugalan was taken to the East Avenue Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival.

In 27 October 2005, Judge Pattugalan’s survived an attempt on his life after several unidentified armed men attacked the vehicle he and his driver were riding in. Judge Pattugalan was wounded and his driver was killed during the attack. He then sought transfer to Quezon City for security reasons from his post in the lower court of Baggao, Cagayan. The Judge’s relatives claim that he has been followed by unknown persons when using public transportations in the city following the first attempt on his life.

One of Judge Pattugalan family member reported that prior to his killings he had issued arrest warrants for several policemen and a local politician in Buguey, Cagayan. The issuance of the warrants was reportedly prior to the attempt on his life in 2005. The case is presently under investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) however the two perpetrators have yet to be identified.

The victim’s family members have shown their concern and fear for their own lives as the perpetrators have not been identified nor arrested yet. The family members have also appealed to the police to provide them with sufficient protection. However, this request has yet to be acted upon by the authorities.

In separate incident, a report from the Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) also claimed that five activists, including three members of the political party Bayan Muna, have also been killed between 21 and 23 January 2007 in Bicol region. Two of whom were reported earlier as disappeared persons but were later found dead.

The disappeared victims who were later found dead were Miguel Dayandate and Julio Camero, both are members of Bayan Muna in Tabaco city, Albay. Their bodies, which bore several gunshot wounds, were found in Barangay (village) Amtik, Ligao City on January 23. Julio and Miguel had been reported missing since January 17 and 18 respectively.

On January 21, Ananias Burce, chairman of Brangay Oras in Tabaco City, was also killed by unidentified attackers. On January 23, Ruben Ermino was also killed in Tabi village, Gubat town. Ermino was driving his tricycle at 12 noon.

On the same day, armed men hooded with bonnets also shot dead Demetrio Imperial in front of his family while they were taking dinner. Imperial’s wife and child were present when the attackers shot him in his house in Barangay Sogoy, Castilla, Sorsogon. He died in front of his family members.

None of the perpetrators of the above mentioned cases have yet been identified by the police.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities requesting them to conduct thorough and impartial investigation into all the above mentioned cases immediately. Please also urge them to provide all necessary protection and assistance to the victims’ families. In addition, please emphasise the expected role of the government to take appropriate measures to bring extrajudicial killings to an end soon. 

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

PHILIPPINES: Further killings - seven people including a judge

Case 1:
Name of victim killed: Jose Ma Cui (53), professor of the Department of History and Communication Arts of the University of Eastern Philippines.
Alleged perpetrator/s: Two men riding on motorcycles
Place of incident: College of Engineering building, University of Eastern Philippines, University Catarman, Northern Samar
Date of incident: at around 3:30pm on 19 January 2007

Case 2:
Name of victim killed: Judge Nathaniel Pattugalan, acting presiding judge of Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court, Branch 35
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified two men on a motorcycle
Place of incident: in a passenger jeep in front of the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Quezon City
Date of incident: at around 6pm on 19 January 2007

Case 3:
Name of victim killed:
1. Miguel Dayandate of Tabaco City. He was a member of Bayan Muna
2. Julio Camero of Tabaco City. He was a member of Bayan Muna
Alleged perpetrators: Unidentified
Place of incident: both of them were found in dead in Barangay (village) Amtik, Ligao City
Date of incident: On 23 January 2007

Case 4:
Name of victim killed: Ananias Burce, chairman of Barangay Oras in Tabaco City
Alleged perpetrators: Unidentified
Place of incident: Unknown
Date of incident: On 21 January 2007

Case 5:
Name of victim killed: Ruben Ermino of Tabi village, Gubat town, Bicol
Alleged perpetrators: an unidentified person on a motocycle
Place of incident: Tabi village, Gubat town, Bicol
Date of incident: at around 12 noon on 23 January 2007

Case 6:
Name of victim killed: Demetrio Imperial of Barangay Sogoy, Castilla, Sorsogon
Alleged perpetrators: several unidentified persons hooded with bennets
Place of incident: at the victim’s house in Barangay Sogoy, Castilla, Sorsogon
Date of incident: 23 January 2007

I am writing to you to express my grave concern over reports of further killings of human rights and political activists, including a judge between 19 and 23 January 2007.

I find it truly regrettable that Professor Jose Ma Cui of the department of history and communication arts of the University of Eastern Philippines, Northern Samar was shot dead in front of his students during the mid-term examination that the Professor was supervising in the class on January 19. The two unidentified perpetrators came to the classroom by motorcycle and shot the victim’s head and chest. The gunshot was fatal and the victim died in the classroom immediately.

After the shooting, the gunmen were seen escaping on a motorcycle in the direction of Mondragon town. It is reported that there is a military camp within two kilometres from the university campus and that the assassins were seen travelling in this direction. There has been no significant progress in the police investigation into the incident. Moreover the police said that it is the unwillingness of the witnesses to provide information about the incident that is causing the delays in their investigation.

In another incident, at around 6pm on January 19, Judge Nathaniel Pattugalan, an acting presiding judge of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 35 was shot dead while riding in a passenger jeep. He was shot in his chest when the jeep stopped in front of the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

According to reports I have received, the two men who shot the judge were reportedly following him after coming out from his office at the Hall of Justice. The judge was brought to the East Avenue Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival. I have learned in October 2005, several unidentified armed men also attacked the vehicle where Judge Pattugalan and his driver were riding on. Pattugalan was wounded while his driver was killed. The attempt on his life prompted his transfer in Quezon City for security reasons. I am extremely shocked of the absence of security and protection afforded to him following the attempt on his life. I strongly believed that had he obtained adequate protection, the said could have been prevented.

After Pattugalan’s killing I have learned that his family has already raised serious concerned and fears about their security and safety, in particular that the attackers have not been identified, arrested yet. This situation further exposes the victim’s family into serious risk and should the government once again is unable to effectively respond to this is completely unacceptable. I therefore urged you to ensure the safety of the victim’s family while his case is properly being investigated.

In another incident, I have also learned that five other people were killed in Bicol region between January 19 and 23. Among those five victims, the dead bodies of Miguel Dayandate and Julio Camero, who were members of Bayan Muna in Tabaco City, were found in Barangay Amtik, Ligao City January 23. They were both reported to have disappeared prior to the incident. The bodies bore several gunshots. It is reported that Julio had been missing since January 17 while Miguel since January 18.

On January 21, Ananias Burce, the chairman of Brangay Oras in Tabaco City, Albay, was killed by unidentified gunmen. Just two days later on this incident, Ruben Ermino and Demetrio Imperial were killed in separate incident. Ermino was killed by an unidentified gunman on a motorcycle in Tabi village, Gubat town while driving his tricycle. On the other hand, Imperial was shot dead when he was taking dinner at around 6pm with his wife and child in his house in Barangay (village) Sogoy, Castilla, Sorsogon by several armed men hooded with bonnets. He died in his house in front of his family members.

I am deeply concerned that the numbers of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines have continued unabated in recent time. The extremely disappointed of the absence of security and protection for the victims and later the inability of the police authorities to identify and make arrest in this particular case.

I therefore urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that these killings are prevented and to encourage by showing actions witnesses to come forwards. The police’s effectiveness to conduct thorough investigations that would lead to identifying and filing of charges in court against the perpetrators is extremely important. Once again, I would like to give emphasis of the importance of providing sufficient protection to witnesses and families of victims.

I look forward your immediate intervention into this important matter.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 736 1010
Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80

2. Ms. Purificacion Quisumbing
Commissioner
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 2 928 5655 / 926 6188
Fax: +63 2 929 0102
Email: drpvq@yahoo.com 

3. Director General Oscar Calderon
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 2 726 4361/4366/8763
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Email: bluetree73@gmail.com 

4. Mr. Raul Gonzalez
Secretary
Department of Justice
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614

5. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Atten: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 ((ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRA JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS)

6. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Attn: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-040-2007
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.