2014 Human Rights Report

Since 2010-2014, the Philippine government under Benigno Simeon Aquino III has
denied, neglected and repressed the Filipino peoples rights. This is enough basis to
declare as void, its legitimacy to rule.
The resources are still controlled by the elite in the name of profit whose interests are
protected by those in State power. Thus, while profit is concentrated in the hands of a
few, poverty and hunger dehumanize the people. There is widespread unemployment,
landlessness and unjust trade of agricultural produce for peasants and unjust wages for
those who labor. The most basic social services such as health and education have been
abandoned with the privatization of institutions such as schools and hospitals that should
respond to the peoples needs. The plunder of the peoples resources and the nations
coffers continue unabated. The Cordillera region, like other indigenous territories in the
country, has been treated as a resource base for extractive industries especially for
mining and energy projects, in disregard of the indigenous peoples right to self
determination.
The Aquino government surrendered the peoples patrimony and sovereignty through
unjust agreements of trade and security benefitting foreign powers especially the United
States of America. A clear example of this is the Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA).
As the people resist these oppressive policies and assert their rights, the State responds by
violating human rights and international humanitarian law. The continuing fascism,
militarization of communities, criminalization of political dissent, extrajudicial killings
and grave war crimes committed with impunity by the Philippine government and its
State security forces have worsened in 2014.
The people actively and legitimately seek for significant changes to the unjust social
system, in their rightful claim of the right to dissent and rebel against an oppressive and
tyranny. A civil war is raging in the country and peace can only be born through working
for justice.
This 2014, the following cases depict the Philippine governments failure, disregard and
disrespect of peoples rights:
1. The Violation of the Right to Ancestral Land and Self Determination
the manipulation of government processes by the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples (NCIP) for obtaining free, prior and informed consent has caused human rights

violations and divisions in indigenous communities targeted by mining and energy

corporations. Community consent for destructive projects is forcibly secured by the
government and private corporations, rather than freely given by the people. Concrete
experiences of communities and recent studies show that the Indigenous Peoples Rights
Act (IPRA) and the NCIP have been used as instruments for development aggression by
large corporations, rather than for the protection of indigenous peoples rights.1
In 2014, there was an escalation in the violation of the Free Prior Informed Consent
(FPIC) in the region. Systematic and widespread are the use of manipulation, total
disregard of the FPIC processes, coercion, threat, harassments, intimidation, and other
forms of dirty tactics and violations by the project proponents, local government units
and the NCIP.

The Cordillera Hydroelectric Company (Coheco) which plans to construct a P12

billion worth of power plant along the Amburayan, along with the local
governments of Kapangan and Kibungan and the NCIP are accused by the people
of numerous violations in their FPIC process. Among these are: the inclusion of
non-affected barangays during the FPIC election, the alteration of result from NO
to YES, cases of harassment including threats of filing cases against those who
resist the project.
In Pasil, Kalinga, the Guinaang tribe filed complaints and petitions against the
NCIP-Kalinga and Makilala Mining Company (MMC) regarding the deliberate
exclusion of a Guinaang barangay in the FPIC process, selection and formation of
a bogus council of elders, failure of the MMC to divulge all projects-related
information in community meetings, and the use of grave threats against vocal
leaders of the Guinaang tribe. There is still no action to resolve the complaints.
In Tinoc, Ifugao, the NCIP and few elected officials and employees of the
municipality are accused of manipulating the FPIC processes conducted in all
affected barangays to facilitate the entry of Quadriver Energy Corporation.
Among the complaints are: fast tracking of the FPIC process without the full
participation of the people, withholding of complete project information, and
premature signing of the Memorandum of Agreements.
In Sabangan, Mt. Province, the procedure adopted by NCIP-Mt. Province for the
Hedcor minihydro project disregarded the participation of the elders sitting in the
At-atowan2 of Dumanegdeg and Napua and the indigenous socio-political
structure itself. The elders of each At-Atowan were never convened as a council
in the FPIC process. Only the landowners whose properties would be affected by
the project were consulted and allowed to participate for the consent to be given.
The downstream communities were not included during the FPIC processes.
In Lacub, Abra, to impose on the people the entry of the Golden Lake and Philex
mining application, local officials led by Mayor Estelita Bersamina, Vice Mayor

DECLARATION OF THE CORDILLERA PEOPLES DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE signed last

November 9, 2013 in Baguio City
2

At-atowan is an indigenous socio-political structure wherein elders sit as a council and make decisions for
the Dumanegdeg and Napua.

Leo Barona, elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines then the 41st IBPA
and now the 50th IBPA and other goons interfere with the FPIC processes.
Community leaders and members are constantly threatened and harassed,
community people are coerced and villages are militarized resulting to the signing
of the Memorandum of Agreement between the mining company and the local
government unit last Nov 27 and despite active peoples protests.
2. The Difficult Quest for Reparation and Recognition of Martial Law Victims
After decades of the committal of violations, Martial Law victims relive their
experiences. But repression and injustice continue as victims of Martial Law are once
again victims under the regime of BS Aquino.
779 applications for reparation and recognition of violations were filed by victims in the
Cordillera region. The applications are very minimal compared to the extent of Martial
Law repression then, and do not reflect the reality of fascism committed by the State
against the Filipino people during that time.
There is an evident lack in public information with regards the filing of claims. The
explanation on the process and requirements needed should have been done earlier and
more so in the grassroots level, considering that many villages in the Cordillera that
suffered Martial Law atrocities are in very remote communities. Victims coming from
peasant communities also need assistance in the filling-up of forms and preparations of
supporting documents.
For victims in the Cordillera region, access to indemnification has been difficult. The
burden of proof is with the victims, the filing of application is without logistic support
given the difficulty of transportation and terrain in the region and is done within a limited
time. The process does not recognize that recalling the details of the difficult Martial Law
experiences and seeking justice for these is painful enough.
3. Violations of Civil and Political Rights and Violations of International
Humanitarian Law
The strongest condemnation cannot amount to the peoples rage with the eight
extrajudicial killings six of which were perpetrated under Oplan Bayanihan, two
frustrated extrajudicial killings and other grave violations against the people this year
alone.
Police and POSD brutality
Two incidents of physical assault resulted to two cases of extrajudicial killings in the
region due to police and POSD brutality.
In Baguio City, vendor Oscar Caranto was mauled last June 24 by elements of the Public
Order and Safety Division (POSD) while they were conducting anti-peddling operations

at the City Market. Caranto was hospitalized at the Baguio General Hospital and died
from multiple organ failure due to the incident. Though the case has been settled outside
court, there is a need to pursue the accountability of the POSD and the city government.
The case is just among the numerous violations of the POSD which is under the office of
City Mayor Mauricio Domogan.
In Mountain Province, Stefene Galidan, a sophomore student of the Mountain Province
State Polytechnic College died on November 5, a day after he was arrested and physically
assaulted by elements of the Philippine National Police last November 4.
The incidents reflect how State security forces and agents conduct themselves as being
above the law in blatant disregard of human rights.
Attacks against Civilians in the Implementation of Oplan Bayanihan and in the
Conduct of War
The State policy Oplan Bayanihan, claimed to be the Aquino governments peace and
development policy and a departure from the militarist Oplan Bantay Laya has further
been exposed as a policy of repression not different from the past national internal
security policies.
Impunity remains as its stamp. In the region, James Balao continues to be missing and
other cases of extrajudicial killings perpetrated since the rule of Gloria MacapagalArroyo remain unsolved with perpetrators scot-free.
The attacks against activists continue in various forms. Jude Baggo of the Cordillera
Human Rights Alliance and Beverly Longid of Katribu Partylist along with the Ifugao
Peasant Movement and leaders of Makabayan were politically vilified as enemies of the
State in a poster circulated in Ifugao starting February this year. Also because of
redtagging, the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera was also barred from
conducting development work to increase food security in Daguioman, Abra.
Not content with threat, harassment or intimidation, graver forms of repression are
committed by the State.
Ten political detainees continue to languish in various provincial jails in the region, all
accused of criminal offenses pertaining to legitimate military hostilities between the two
parties of the civil war the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the New Peoples
Army (NPA). The ten are all political dissenters - all are advocating for a Philippine
society where workers, peasants and other democratic classes live a healthy life, with
dignity and security. While some of them are active officers of the armed movement, one
a commander of the New Peoples Army while another one is a consultant to the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines on Cordillera Affairs - the rest are engaged in
various arena of open, unarmed and legal political movement.

Virgilio Corpus and Rene Boy Abiva, now almost two years incarcerated in Ifugao, are
activists in Cagayan Valley and are maliciously accused of participating in the ambush of
AFP troops in Ifugao last April 2012. This year, 60 year old Eduardo Esteban, from Jaro,
Iloilo, who was arrested due to mistaken identity is now detained in Abra.
President Benigno Aquino is going out of control in his illusion of ending political
dissent to the extent of overruling national and international human rights and
international humanitarian laws. Part of his unethical discretionary fund - the
Development Acceleration Program is providing bounties to informants and arresting
officers of political dissenters. This year alone, the Philippine government shelled out at
least P51 M for this. Instead of speeding up arrest and prosecution of all involved in the
pork barrel scam, including speedy prosecution of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and others
who have amassed billions of the Filipino peoples wealth, President Aquino blatantly
violates the right to political dissent, a right universally recognized.
Aside from the criminalization of the right to political dissent, civilians have become
targets of AFP combat operations and the violations are ruthlessly perpetrated to instill
fear in communities, especially those in resistance against development aggression.
In Baay Licuan, Abra, Ama Licuben Ligiw, 70 years old, and his sons Eddie (42 years
old) and Fermin (30 years old) were brutally killed and found buried in one shallow
grave. They went missing since March 3 and their grave was found on March 7. Their
bodies were recovered on March 8. The community people who found them and ensured
that their bodies be dug up with dignity said that the body of Eddie was at the bottom. He
was shirtless when found. On top of him were the bodies of his father, Licuben and his
brother, Fermin. The hands of Eddie and Fermin were bound by thick nylon ropes.
There were rope marks around the neck of Ama Licuben. Eddie had dark marks in the
chest area. Fermins head was nalumo (iloko term) meaning that some parts of his head
were macerated. Their bodies did not bear gunshot wounds but indicated how much they
were made to suffer before they died.
On the same month, William Bugatti was on his way home to his family at Bolog,
Kiangan, Ifugao when unidentified assassins treacherously shot three bullets piercing his
heart last March 25. William had been receiving threats to his life and security from
State security forces and their agents since the start of Oplan Bayanihan implementation.
This heightened after a Target List of the 5th ID and the 86th IB in Tinoc was obtained in
October 2012. Bugatti was listed as #21 in the roster of 28 people tagged as brains,
members and supporters of the NPA who are now also vulnerable to attack by State
security forces and their agents. William was a Regional Council Member of the
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance-KARAPATAN, a Regional Council Member of the
Cordillera Peoples Alliance representing the Ifugao Peasant Movement and the Provincial
Coordinator of Katribu Partylist.
Last July, 2 farmer-hunters were almost killed by elements of the 54th IBPA in Paracelis,
Mt. Province had they not ran and hid in the forest. The two were rescued by village
mates a day after community leaders insisted that a search be conducted despite the AFP

operations. The victims and their families were threatened against filing a case against
the perpetrators after the AFP unit gave victims P600.00 and butchered a dog in an effort
to appease the community.
Soldiers continue to encamp in villages, occupying schools, barangay halls and homes,
inflicting harm on women and children and desecrating indigenous socio-political
structures and practices.
PFC Rafael Sapon of the 41st IBPA under the command of 1st Lt. Mark de los Santos,
stationed at the outpost in Mataragan, Abra last November, was found guilty by tribal
elders of oral defamation victimizing six women in the community. Though the unit was
made to pay P60,000.00, P54,000.00 of which was paid by April this year, the damage to
the reputation of the women and their families remains.
Last April 20, the 54th IBPA illegally and forcibly entered and searched a home of a
resident in Barangay Numpaling, Asipulo, Ifugao. At gunpoint, the resident was made to
open his house which the soldiers used as sleeping quarters for the night. On April 21,
the soldiers transferred to the space below their house and stayed within the vicinity of
their residence. On April 22, the soldiers, in grave disrespect, attempted to open three
coffins of the residents ancestors that were placed under their house saying that these
contained firearms and not the bones of the dead. The family protested and told the
soldiers that a ritual must be conducted before opening these coffins.
The militarization of communities has significantly affected the livelihood of the people.
Access to food and resources has become more difficult as people could no longer go to
their farms or small-scale mines, hunt or even trade freely with nearby municipalities
because their security and lives are endangered. Twenty percent of their meager produce
is lost because of the decreased time for production due to military operations. People
fear becoming targets of military operations or targets of reprisals of State security forces
especially during and in the aftermath of their armed engagements with the NPA.
Violations committed in Lacub, Abra
A number of human rights and international humanitarian law violations were perpetrated
by the AFP in a Northern Luzon Command-led military operation in Lacub, Abra
participated in mainly by the 41st Infantry Battalion last September 3-6.
Seven NPA members were killed in the AFP combat operations in violation of rules of
engagement and international humanitarian law. Recca Noelle Monte who was killed
without any gunshot wound, and Arnold Jaramillo whose body was riddled with bullets
were willfully killed with five 5 other NPA members: Brandon Magranga, Ricardo
Reyes, Pedring Banggao, Robert Beyao and Roberto Perez. Their bodies, upon retrieval,
bore signs of torture, willful killing and desecration of remains.

Two civilians became victims of extrajudicial killings. Engr. Fidela Delle Salvador,
was on a monitoring visit for various socio-economic projects implemented by the
Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services Inc. (CorDiSRDS) and the
Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) in Lacub, Abra when she
was killed by the AFP in their operations. Delle was 50 years old, a mother of three
children, a consultant of the CorDisRDS and CDPC. The autopsy report conducted by the
National Bureau of Investigation cited that she suffered from nine gunshot wounds,
multiple contusions and lacerations and a head injury caused by a blunt object. The
findings indicate that she was tortured before she was killed. The AFP insists that she
was a member of the NPA in their attempt to justify the extrajudicial killing.
Noel Viste, the other civilian killed during the military operation was among the 24
civilians coerced to be human shields at the height of military operations last September
5, 2014 by the 41st IBPA under the command of 2Lt. Jose Mari Landicho. The 24 men
are from Barangays Poblacion and Bakag, Lacub, Abra. The 24 civilians were retrieving
the dead when the AFP unit accosted them. They were coerced to walk in line between
soldiers for almost an hour.
From the same incident, they coerced Nicasio Asbucan to act as guide and detained him
from September 5-7. Asbucan was only surfaced and turned-over to the Chief of Police
of Lacub on the noon of September 7. He manifested symptoms of acute stress disorder
(ASD). The AFP attempted to coerce him to name Jay-ar Balaoag, Brgy. Capt. Of Lanag, Lacub as the NPA who fired and killed Noel Viste.
On September 3 at about 8:30 am, Richard Borgonia, a resident of Brgy. Guinguinabang
was looking for his carabao when he was apprehended by a unit of the AFP at Mt.
Kiboot. He was detained, accused and forced to admit that he was a member of the NPA.
He was also used as a guide during the military operation that day. He was released at
around 9 pm when his villagemates were able to locate and vouch for him.
On September 5 between 9:00-10:00 pm Army personnel stationed at Sitio. Bantugo,
Poblacion, Lacub belonging to 41st IBPA directly fired upon residential homes in
Talampac Proper and Pacoc, Talampac. An M203 shell landed in Bobon, a farming area.
This resulted in the following:
a. 3 farmers manning the irrigation were forced to sleep in the fields for fear
of being strafed;
b. 6 families in Sitio Pacoc evacuated from their houses and stayed with
their neighbors for the night; and
c. the suspension of classes in Bantugo Elementary and High School and Our
Lady of Guadalupe High School on September 5 and 8.
In the duration of the military operations, leaders and members of TULBEK, a peoples
organization in Lacub, were threatened and harassed by the AFP. The 41st IBPA even
used children in the surveillance of the said leaders and members.

The people of Lacub were also denied the right to conduct indigenous ritual, bagongon
after they retrieved those who died within their ancestral domain.
The impact of the military operations weighed heavily upon the men, women and
children of Lacub. A significant part of the population manifested acute stress disorder
with some, chronic depression. For the adults, psychosomatic symptoms and panic
attacks attributed to trauma were noted such as; insomnia, hypervigilance, nightmares
and fidgeting. Also noted were headaches, intense fear associated with loud noises,
memories of those who died and while passing through the site of incident. Some have
hypertension and palpitations.
Doubly affected are the vulnerable population of women, children and elderly.
Psychosocial debriefing of Grades 5 and 6 children aged 9-14 studying at the Bantugo
elementary school which is right beside the military camp showed that they fear the
military and secretly wish that they vacate Lacub immediately.
Confronting Oppression and Repression Through the Courageous Assertion and
Defense of Peoples Rights
The people confront repression by asserting their rights. No amount of tyranny will
prevent the people from doing so.
Each act of resistance against State fascism is an act of working for peace as it is an act of
building a society where there is social justice.
This year, the peoples indignation against violations has been consistently mounting into
courageous acts of defiance in the villages, town centers and cities with support from the
international community with support from the international community.
Political prisoners refuse to be silenced even behind bars. They continue to denounce
repression and call for change through statements even from prison and through their
hunger strike.
Families and communities, who became victims of State terrorism have turned their grief
into further strength and courage as they demand that the State and its forces be held fully
accountable for human rights violations and war crimes.
The right to self - determination is fought for by the Cordillera people in various ways
they can to defend their land, lives, and resources.
The message to the State is clear. The people will no longer endure this unjust system. #