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PHILIPPINES: Police kill farmer in front of his family; another activist disappears

October 30, 2007

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

30 October 2007
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UA-311-2007: PHILIPPINES: Police kill farmer in front of his family; another activist disappears

PHILIPPINES: Extrajudicial killings; disappearance; human rights defender; lack of effective investigation; no rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another farmer has been killed and a community organizer disappeared. Policemen shot dead farmer Arturo Tolentino in front of his wife and children on October 26 2007 in Samal, Bataan. Another activist, Pedro Calilung, had been reported missing after he was last seen in Guagua, Pampanga in October 24 2007. These are yet further incidents in a series of extrajudicial killing and abductions taking place in the country.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on the information received from the Kilusan Para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (Movement for National Democracy))

CASE 1:

It was on October 24 when Pedro Calilung was last seen at around 9am at a public market in Guagua, Pampanga. Calilung was a community organizer of market vendors in the area. After he was last seen, he could not be contacted until his colleagues were able to speak to him on October 26 via his mobile phone. Calilung sounded frightened and could not properly speak. When asked about his whereabouts, surprisingly he did not elaborate. However, he claimed that he was staying with his relatives. But when follow-up calls were made to his relatives they confirmed that he was not staying with them. Neither, they said, were they aware of his whereabouts.

Following that Calilung could no longer be contacted on his mobile phone. It is learned though that prior to his disappearance, Calilung had already shared with his colleagues and some people in his community of his security concerns. He once mentioned that: "the military agents are spying on me". His suspicion was prompted by several occasions in which unknown persons were inquiring about him and his activities.

Calilung came from a family of farmers who are natives of Bacolor, Pampanga. Calilung himself had been deeply involved in activism even before Martial Law was declared in the early 70s during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. He had been arrested and detained for almost two years as a political detainee. He too had experienced brutal torture in the early years of his activism.

Calilung was also deeply involved in organizing displaced calamity victims when the Mt. Pinatubo volcano exploded in the early 90s. It may be recalled that thousands of villagers were displaced from several municipalities in Pampanga province during the devastating volcanic eruption. His personal contribution was organizing the displaced villagers and helping them to assert their right to welfare during the calamity.

CASE 2:

On October 26, at around 5am Arturo Tolentino, his wife and children were sleeping inside their house in Samal, Bataan when policemen attached to the Balanga and Samal Municipal Police Stations respectively entered their home. It is reported that the policemen had come to Tolentino's house purposely to serve arrest orders on him at the time.

According to Tolentino's wife, when the police entered their house, no explanations were given to them regarding the purpose of their entry. Soon after they entered, everyone was handcuffed and forced to drop to the floor facing to the ground. Shortly after, a commotion took place inside and shots were heard. For almost two hours, the police did not remove the handcuffs they had put on them.

Shortly after, Tolentino's wife stood up and she saw her husband's dead body leaning against a nearby concrete wall. Tolentino's handcuffs had already been removed. Days later the policemen accused Tolentino of shooting at them first as they approached his house to serve the arrest order. They claimed the shooting prompted them to return fire. The police' version, however, was completely contrary to the victim's wife and those present inside the house.

The police have accused Tolentino of being a leader of an illegal armed group and was the object of their "order of battle". They claimed to have obtained arrest order for murder for him.

However, the police' theory that it was the victim who shot at them first had been highly questioned by the victim's wife and those present when the police entered the house. According to his wife, the commotion and shooting took place soon after the policemen entered into their house. It is to be noted that Tolentino was handcuffed upon the entry of the police.

The policemen involved in Tolentino's death have also been accused of having complicity in the disappearance and subsequent murder of another activist, Audie Lucero, in February 2006. It may be recalled that it was the policemen from Balanga who were last seen talking to Lucero before he was taken by another group of policemen and soldiers into their custody. Lucero was found dead the following day. For details please read: UA-078-2006

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to concerned government agencies requesting for them to ensure that an effective investigation are conducted into these cases. Those responsible in conducting surveillance operations on Pedro Calilung must be identified. The policemen involved in the killing of Arturo Tolentino must also be investigated and imposed with sanctions. Appropriate charges must also be filed against them. Adequate protection and assistance must also be afforded to Tolentino's family without delay.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

PHILIPPINES: Police kill farmer in front of his family; another activist disappears

CASE 1:
Name of disappeared person: Pedro Calilung, 60 years old, community organizer of market vendors, one of the leaders of the Movement for National Democracy
Alleged perpetrator: Unknown
Place of incident: Last seen at the public market in Guagua, Pampanga
Date of incident: From 24 October 2007 to present

CASE 2:
Name of the victim killed: Arturo Tolentino, 64 years old, a resident of Samal, Bataan
Alleged perpetrator: Policemen attached to the Balanga and Samal Municipal Police Stations, Bataan
Place of incident: At the victim's place of residence
Date of incident: At around 5am on 26 October 2007

I am writing to express my outrage of yet another incident of extrajudicial killing and disappearance of Arturo Tolentino and Pedro Calilung respectively in separate incidents.

I have been informed that activist Calilung of Guagua, Pampanga, have disappeared and could no longer be located after he was last seen in October 24 at a public market. Though Calilung's colleagues had been able to speak to his mobile phone on October 26, he did not elaborate his whereabouts nor answer their questions. He appears to be frightened and could not properly speak to his colleagues who had spoken to him before he hung up.

Though Calilung claimed that he was staying with his relatives, follow up inquiries made on his relatives however disclosed he is not. His relatives too are not aware of his whereabouts. I have also learned that prior to his disappearance, Calilung in several occasion have mentioned of having been subjected to surveillance by unknown persons. The said persons have been asking about him and his activities in his community.

In another incident, farmer Tolentino was shot dead in front of his family by the policemen attached to the Balanga and Samal Municipal Police Stations respectively on October 26. The policemen entered into his house, where he was sleeping with his wife and children, and subsequently handcuffed each of them and ordered them to drop facing to the ground. No explanations were given to them of why the police entered the house. It was learned later that they had come to serve arrest order on Tolentino.

According to Tolentino's wife, his dead body was found leaning against a concrete wall after a commotion and shooting took place soon after they were handcuffed. I have learned that the policemen claimed it was Tolentino who first shot at them while approaching to his house prompting them to return fire. The police' version, however, is contrary to the victim's wife and those inside the house when the incident happened.

I therefore urge you to look into the victim's wife allegations against the policemen involved. Should there be irregularities in serving the supposed arrest order on the victim, which had subsequently led to his death, they must be held to account. The policemen must be investigated to answer the serious allegations against them and that necessary sanctions must be imposed once the inquiry commences. It must be established whether or not they have acted lawfully in the process of performing their duties.
 
Furthermore, I urge you to exhaust all means to locate the whereabouts of disappeared victim Calilung. His family, relatives and those helping his case must be actively involved once concerned agencies had been tasked to locate him. The disappeared victim's claims that he had been subjected to surveillance by unknown persons must also be looked into. This is essential in determining his plight and the circumstance behind his disappearance.

I trust that you take immediate action in this case.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS 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
Email: corres@op.gov.ph

2. Mrs. 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. Deputy Director General Avelino Razon
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. Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera
Officer in Charge
Department of Justice (DoJ)
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614
Email: agnesdeva@yahoo.com

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

6. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Room 1-040
C/o 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 (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-311-2007
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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.