Auckland Philippines Solidarity - message to friends and family of James Balao

Yesterday in the Cordillera region of the northern Philippines friends and family of James Balao gathered to mark his 49th birthday and the 580th day since his enforced disapperance. Philippine government security forces are widely believed to be responsible for his abduction. The organisers explain the programme:

"A message from the family, messages of solidarity, poems and prayers for James will be delivered and read during the short program. The program will culminate with the putting up of 49 prayer flags with messages for James within the Healing Gardens of the Sta. Scholastica Convent. The prayer flags are adapted from the concept of the Tibetan prayer flags which the people put up to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. There is a belief, too, that messages written on the flags will be brought by the wind to its recipient."

Auckland Phillippine Solidarity sent the following message to be read at the gathering in Baguio City. Its a little odd to write something about yourself in the third person, but I thought it would be easier to be read aloud that way.
--
Greetings from Auckland Philippines Solidarity in New Zealand. In October 2008 one of our members, Joe Hendren took part in the International Solidarity Mission to Surface James Balao. Since his return Joe has written articles about the case and spoke at a public meeting about the disappearance of James.

APS calls on the Philippine state to Surface James Balao and all victims of enforced disappearances. APS calls for the abandonment of the campaign of political repression known as Opan Bantay Laya, and believes the Filipino people will only be safe once those responsible
for human rights abuses are brought to justice. The responsible authorities should also be held to account for their lack of real effort to find James, and their constant denial and cover-up of the
military's hand in the abduction of James and over 200 victims of enforced disappearances under the Arroyo watch.

We would like to send our aroha (love/compassion) to the family and friends of James, and the long efforts to locate him. There are now people all over the world who know the name of James Balao, and we are all hoping for his safe return to his community.

Kia Kaha (stand strong),

Auckland Philippine Solidarity, New Zealand (Aotearoa)

My Surface James Balao article is now online

While I was in the Philippines last year I took part in an international human rights mission to highlight the case of activist James Balao who was a victim of an 'enforced disappearance' on September 17 2008. James has now been missing for over a year, and Philippine government security forces are widely believed to be responsible for his abduction.

I wrote an article on the Balao case for Kapatiran - the magazine of the Philippine Solidarity Network of Aotearoa, which has just been published online here. I also wrote a short legal update on the case. As part of the international mission our search for information on James' whereabouts took us to the regional police station of the Philippine National Police, a camp of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, as well as meeting with Bagiuo city councilors and members of James' family.

James Balao is a key member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) from its foundation in 1984. The CPA has been very active on campaigns opposing Government policies, particularly around mining and logging, opposing militarisation and organising community protests.

Fillipno Human Rights group Karapatan estimate 202 people were victims of enforced or 'involuntary' disappearance between March 2001 and March 2009. Over 1000 people were victims of extrajudicial killings or arbitary executions over the same period. Karapatan lays the blame at the state security forces of the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and their so called 'anti-terrorism' policy Oplan Bantay Laya.

In May 2009 Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings criticised the Arroyo regime for failing to put in place substantive reforms as he had recommended two years ago, and said any actions the government had taken so far were largely symbolic.

"While current levels are significantly lower than before, they still remain a cause for great alarm, and reflect the failure to make the recommended structural reforms," Alston said. "Moreover, forced disappearances and illegal detentions remain all too common, as does the bringing of trumped-up charges against Filipino activists and human rights abuse victims," he said.

GPJA Forum Tonight 7.30pm Politics of Mining in the Third World

Tonight I am speaking at the Global Peace and Justice Aotearoa Forum, along with Maire Leadbeater. The topic is the politics of Mining in the Third World - we will look at the situation in West Papua and the Philippines. In short - its local communities verses the mining multinationals.

Where: Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn
When: Monday 1 December 2008, 7.30

From GJPA newsletter.

GPJA FORUM – THE POLITICS OF THIRD WORLD MINING. Speakers include: Maire Leadbeater, human rights activist, will talk about the struggle for self-determination in West Papua and the impact of the Freeport mine operations, December 1st is the day the local people raise the West Papuan flag in defiance of their Indonesian occupiers who have banned the flag raising ceremonies in West Papua. Joe Hendren, New Zealand trade union activist recently returned from the Philippines and will talk will talk about the recent landslide at Itogon as an example of what damage mining can do and why people are concerned about the issue. He will then share some photos of the protest outside the Asia Pacific Mining Conference in Manila, where many speakers warned about the dangers of the Oceania Gold project. This will lead into an introduction of the campaign in the Philippines, the upcoming solidarity mission to the area and a discussion about what we might do in New Zealand in support. Oceania Gold Mining is an Australian NZ Gold Mining Company, with mines in NZ in Macrae and Reefton. It has members of the board of Directors in Auckland and is financed by the ANZ and the HSBC banks. There is currently a campaign lead by local indigenous communities to close the Mine and they are seeking assistance in doing so from activists here. We plan to discuss this at the meeting. Information and an online petition can be found here:

Fonterra Baby Milk scandal: Reaction in the Philippines

While the Fonterra baby milk scandal was big news in New Zealand, I did not appreciate its global significance until I saw the following in a 7-11 in Manilla, Philippines.

Yesterday New Zealand newspapers reported that three Fonterra products have been removed from the Philippine market by the Philippines Bureau of Food and Drugs. This includes Anchor Warm flavoured-milk products - Mango Magic, Orange Chill and Strawberry Spin - which the bureau said were not produced in New Zealand. The reason for the removal is to allow the products to be tested.

I can imagine some in New Zealand will see this as an overreaction. From here in the Philippines I sense it is not. People are genuinely concerned, if not a little worried. When people hear I am from New Zealand the issue often comes up in conversation.

Newspapers like the Philippine Daily Enquirer have been running half page advertisements with the results of the testing, listing the products found with melanin and the products that are safe.

When asked about the issue by the locals, I am not defending Fonterra, even if the rural sector millionaires would think it should be my patriotic duty. Perhaps if they had shown more care and attention about the welfare of their tiny Chinese customers, such as monitoring their subsidiaries more closely, their millions would not be at stake. It also would have helped if Fonterra had come clean about the issue earlier, even if China was not willing to fully co-operate.

Possible lack of bloggage

Tonight I am getting on a plane to the Philippines. Officially its a work trip, but I have extended my stay in order to meet some more of the locals and see a bit of the country. Looking forward to travelling again. Last night I began to remember all my quirky backpacker travelling tips, learnt while on the road in Europe a few years ago.

I hope to do some travel related writing while I am there, but I do not know how much time I am going to have with access to a net connection. I will let you know when I am back :)

Video: Progressive Workers support Dennis Maga and Fillipno Workers

Progressive distribution workers locked out for 28 days by their employer last year showed their support for visiting Fillipno unionist Dennis Maga and the people of the Philippines yesterday. It was a way for the Progressive workers to show their thanks for the massive international support they recieved during their struggle.



There is one realy funny bit where a Progressive worker shows Dennis how to do a union 'muscle' salute - in PI style Dennis gets told to "move it baby!"

Many union members in the Philippines have been murdered by arms of the state for exercising their democratic rights. While Dennis has been in New Zealand he has highlighted the terrible human rights record of the Philippines, especially the record of the current President Arroyo.

Dennis has been reliably informed that he may be killed or arrested when he returns home to the Philippines - no doubt for causing embarrassment to Arroyo while she was in New Zealand.

Dennis thanked the Progressive workers for their support, and said it was the essence of international union solidiarity.

Video: Dennis Maga protests against state lunch for Philippine President

On Monday I posted about the protest held outside Parliament as President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got a state lunch on the tab of Prime Minister Helen Clark. Filipino trade unionist and spokesperson for the Ka Bel campaign, with some friends, used the occasion to highlight the human rights abuses Arroyo has encouraged in her own country.

Update on Dennis Maga tour

As the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received a state lunch from Prime Minister Helen Clark, Filipino unionist Dennis Maga and friends held a protest outside to highlight the human rights abuses Arroyo has encouraged in her own country.

Maga stood inside a cage to highlight the continuing imprisonment of Congressman Crispin Beltran - locked up for daring to oppose Arroyo. Photos here.

Apparently 858 extrajudicial killings are not enough to put Arroyo or Clark off their lunch. The US and Chinese Ambassadors also joined in the lunch - but then these two countries don't have a stellar human rights record either. The Philippines are a key ally of the US in the 'war on terrorism'.

Congrats to the leadership of New Zealand's trade unions who walked out on the lunch.

Interviewed in New Zealand today, Arroyo claimed due process is being followed in the case of Mr Beltran. Bullshit. Arroyo is lying. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has called for Beltran's immediate release. Also, under the Philippine Constitution it is illegal for a member of Congress to be detained in the way Arroyo has locked up Ka Bel.

Arroyo admitted today that her country had a problem with political killings, but she failed to be completely upfront about this - a significant part of the problem starts with A and ends with O.

Dennis Maga says Mrs Arroyo's regime is the worst in his country's history, with the political death toll - about 130 a year - even worse than the 100 a year killed under dictator Ferdinand Marcos' in the 1970s and 1980s.

Helen Clark refused to condemn Mrs Arroyo's record, but said the Government was committed to providing help. Oh, and something about selling a lot of butter.

New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a 'police co-operation' agreement. I hope the New Zealand authorities are not looking for new ways to deal with happy valley protesters :) While Clark was looking for trade opportunities, and she has talked in the past of 'internationalising' SOEs, she should not let Solid Energy open up a mine in the Philippines. As we have seen this week, there appears to be no end to the methods they would use to protect 'their business'.

But protecting the business was exactly what Clark was doing today. The small matter of 858 deaths came up for little if any discussion.

Public Meetings: Resistance to State Repression in the Philippines

Come and hear Dennis Maga, trade unionist and spokesperson for the Free Ka Bel Movement. See my earlier post here.

AUCKLAND
Monday 21 May 7:30 pm
Trades Hall
147 Great Nth Road, Grey Lynn

WELLINGTON
Wednesday 23 May 7:00 pm
2nd Floor ANZAC House
181 Willis Street

CHRISTCHURCH
Thursday 24 May 7:30 pm
Trade Union Centre
199 Armagh Street

WHANGAREI
Sunday 27 May 7:00 pm
St John’s Church Centre
149 Kamo Road

PAIHIA
Monday 28 May 7:30 pm
Bounty Inn
Cnr Bayview & Selwyn Road

Philippines president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to attend an interfaith dialogue in New Zealand on Tuesday 29th of May. "Since she came to power six years ago, 858 people have died in extrajudicial killings – including left-wing politicians, rights activists, unionists, journalists and religious leaders. Among those detained is Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran".

Last week Dennis Maga met with the NZ ambassador in Manila and requested the following from the New Zealand Government.

1. Sponsor a cross-parliamentary delegation to investigate the human rights situation in the Philippines
2. Send a representative of the New Zealand Embassy to the court hearings on Rep. Beltran’s case.
3. Redirect the NZ ODA funding from the Philippine government to the people’s organizations actively promoting and defending human rights.
4. Offer the NZ embassy as a safe haven for victims of repression and assure them of refugee status in NZ.
5. Campaign against the nomination of the Philippines as member of the United Nation Human Rights Security Council for the unabating occurrence of extra-judicial killings, involuntary disappearances militarization, political harassments and persecution.

Two visitors from the Philippines

Next week New Zealand will host two visitors from the Philippines. One is responsible for the extrajudicial killings of 837 Filipino people. She has jailed members of parliament for the crime of opposing her.

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will co-host an “interfaith dialogue” with Prime Minister Helen Clark and the Indonesian Government at Waitangi. Clark will host a state lunch in Arroyo’s honour in Wellington.

Dennis N. Maga is the spokesperson for the Free Ka Bel Movement. He is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of several NZ trade unions to bring attention to the systematic human rights violations carried out by arms of the Phillippine state. Dennis is calling for the release of Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran an ailing 74 year old congressman and trade unionist arrested in February 2006. Too sick to be sent to jail, Ka Bel has been held in hospital detention for 16 months, awaiting trial on trumped up charges.

Dennis Maga says “The case of Ka Bel is an outstanding case of political repression under the Arroyo watch. We denounce the agents of the Arroyo government who now threaten to arrest Ka Satur Ocampo on fabricated murder charges just as they arrested Ka Bel on rebellion charges using fabricated evidence.”. Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur reported to the UN that “virtual impunity” prevails in the Philippines with regard to the extrajudicial killings which are “convincingly attributed” to the military.

Who is Ka Bel?
Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran is an ailing 74 year old Congressman arrested in February 2006 on charges dating back to the era of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This very same case against Ka Bel was quashed in 1988. Recently Ka Bel has also faced trumped up charges of sedition.

Ka Bel was elected to the Philippine Congress in 2004 as Anakawis Partylist Representative. As the chair of the trade union federation Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), he is recognised in at least 83 countries, as well as the International Labour Organisation and various trade secretariats of the United Nations.

On 24 February 2006 Ka Bel joined others to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the people’s uprising against the Marcos dictatorship. Earlier that day, President Arroyo declared a state of emergency and banned all demonstrations, on the pretext that a coup was imminent. Ka Bel was arrested the following day.

Another Congressman faced charges for murders in Leyte he could not have been responsible for, as Marcos had him in jail at the time. A total of six Congressmen face charges.

Helen Clark raised her concerns about the human rights situation in the Philippines with Arroyo, including Ka Bel’s detention, during the last East Asian Summit in Cebu. Arroyo assured her that “all proper legal and judicial processes were being followed”. Since then, the situation has only got worse.

Why is Helen Clark welcoming to New Zealand a political leader who jails her Parliamentary opponents and is complicit in hundreds of killings?

What is Sedition?
Sedition is broadly defined as speaking, writing or behaviour intended to encourage rebellion or resistance against the government. During the First World War Peter Fraser, later to become New Zealand Prime Minister, faced similar charges for speaking out against the war.

In May 2007 Helen Clark acknowledged the need to abolish the crime of sedition in New Zealand, as such a ‘crime’ is widely regarded as inconsistent with a free and democratic society. The Greens, The Maori Party, United Future and Act all support removing ‘sedition’ from New Zealand law.

What can I do?
Come to a public meeting to hear Dennis Maga. Write to Helen Clark, your local MP and your local paper. Call talkback. Talk to your friends!

Tim Howard on Human Rights Abuses in the Philippines: Radio link

This morning National radio interviewed Tim Howard, one of the New Zealanders who took part in an international solidarity mission to the Philippines in August this year. The team found considerable evidence of human rights violations, 'professional' assassinations and forced disappearances, carried out by the military and intelligence arms of the Philippine government against their own people.

The interview is available via a stream on the xtra website, but have to put up with 5 minutes of Linda Clark's blathering before she talks to Tim.

Also see my earlier post The forgotten second front of the War on Terror: The Philippines.

Tim will be hosting a session about the Philippines at the National Peace Workshops on Sunday 23rd of October. Another Kiwi member of the International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines, Mary Ellen O'Connor, will be intervied by "Earthwise" on Saturday 08 October at 9am on Christchurch Community Radio, PlainsFM 96.9.

Categories: War on Terror, Human Rights, Politics, New Zealand, Philippines

The forgotten second front of the War on Terror: The Philippines

Last night heard a report back from a couple of kiwis who took part in a 82 strong international solidarity mission to the Philippines in August this year. They spent a week visiting the front lines of the five worst areas for human rights violations and convened an International People's Tribunal in Manilla to report on their findings and call on their home governments, and the international community at large, to condemn the Philippine government for waging a War on Terror on its own people.

Following 9/11 President Bush, with the eager cooperation of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared the Philippines to be America's "second front" in the "War on Terror". Occasionally there has been some coverage of this in the NZ media, usually involving the long running war between the Philippine Military and Muslim separatists in the far south of the country. Muslims in the Philippines are called the Moro, a name dating back to the Spanish occupation of the country - Moro derives from 'moor'.

Four New Zealanders took part in the international mission - Tim Howard (Whangarei), Rod Prosser (Wellington), Mary Ellen O’Connor (Nelson) and Josephine O’Connor (Wellington). Tim and Mary Ellen addressed the Christchurch meeting, hosted by the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa

While the Philippines has never had a good human rights record - the situation under President Macapagal-Arroyo has become steadily worse and worse.

Recently many Moro people have been forced of their land in the south and forced to live at the other end of the country as refugees. They have also faced sustained harassment from the police. It is suspected NZ Aid money may have been used to translocation people (this is being looked into further by NZ activists). In Samar whole villages have been forced to evacuate. Some of these evacuations are purely political, others are to allow the Government to step up the mining and forestry in the area - the local people are denied any benefits of these developments. Samar is now a highly militarised area - with the mines come the military. Land reform never occurred in the Philippines, so villagers can be tossed about on a whim.

In order to maintain its hold on power the Government is using the military and the police to kill the opposition - including 58 members and supporters of the leftist Bayan Muna political party in the Samar region. The military accuse their opponents of being communists and members of the New People's Army, claims that are not particularly convincing. The military have confirmed the existence of a hit list. Bayan Muna, community groups and others are routinely targeted by military intelligence - one man found out through a relative in the military that his name was on a list of 36 people the powers that be wanted dead.

A key perpetrator of these politically motivated killings is Brig General Jovito Palparan, dubbed the Butcher of Mindoro by human rights groups, following the murder and harassment of political activists under his command on that island. He is reported to have threatened that 'if one of his soldiers dies, 10 civilians will be killed'. President Arroyo has recently promoted Palparan twice, so the President is also responsible for the appalling record of killings and human rights abuses in the Philippines.

Arroyo also attempted to use the rhetoric of the war on terror to threaten trade unions: "Those who terrorise factories that provide jobs"

Following the talks by Tim and Mary-Ellen we watched a short video - this included footage of a huge (I mean huge) rally of Filipinos marching with members of the international mission calling on President Arroyo to resign. The video also followed the story of a 15 year old boy, witness to the murder of his father by Palparan's armed thugs, and now clearly traumatised by the experience (it looked like a form of post-traumatic stress). The whole village participated in a re-enactment of the crime - more witnesses came forward as a result.

Despite the shocking realisation of the terrible oppression of the Filipino people by the Government, the really uplifting factor is that the Filipino activists remain so staunch. One activist told the military 'Go on kill me - we have the right to organise!'

In a country where ordinary people can not seek justice through official channels, re-enactments and "People's Courts" are the only way these issues get heard. They also provide some acknowledgement for victims - but true justice will only be served once Arroyo and her cronies are forced to step down.

Categories: War on Terror, Human Rights, Politics, New Zealand, Philippines