Terrorist-tagged in Philippines: New surge in arrest of indigenous activists, advocates

Statement by the Global Secretariat, International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation

***

In just one day, several Indigenous Peoples and advocates in the Philippines were arrested, terrorist-tagged, and issued criminal charges, including doctor-to-the-Lumad Natividad “Naty” Castro; three Indigenous Igorot leaders of Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) Jennifer Awingan, Windel Bolinget, and Steve Tauli; and development workers Sarah Abellon, Lourdes Gimenez, Florence Kang, Niño Oconer, and two other individuals.
The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) announced on January 30 the designation of community health worker Doctor “Naty” Castro as a “terrorist individual” under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). Also, last January 30, Jennifer Awingan was arrested on the grounds of Rebellion or Insurrection, a non-bailable offense, with a Warrant of Arrest issued on January 24, 2023, by the Regional Court in Abra Province. Included in the warrant were Bolinget, Tauli, and six others from North Luzon.
“We express our condemnation and utmost concern over this arbitrary terrorist tagging and the rebellion charges. When was it ever an act of terrorism to be a community doctor in far-flung Indigenous Lumad communities? Why is the government criminalizing Igorot leaders with a long track record of defending Indigenous lands and rights?” says Jiten Yumnam, International Coordinating Council member of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL).
CPA Chairperson Bolinget faced a trumped-up murder charge and a shoot-to-kill order last 2020. Tauli, a CPA regional council member, was abducted in August 2022 by what CPA believed to be state security forces.
Similarly, on February 18, 2022, Dr. Naty was also arrested over charges of alleged kidnapping and serious illegal detention. Her charges were dismissed by March 2022 for violation of her right to due process and lack of evidence and probable cause.
“From the former Philippine President Duterte to the new one, Marcos Jr., what remains the same is the practice of weaponizing the law to vilify and silence any perceived enemies of the government. For Indigenous activists vocal against land grabbing by multinational corporations, political elites, and states, against heavy militarization and repressive government policies, we are the number one target of judicial harassment and attacks,” Yumnam stressed.
Dr. Naty’s tagging as a “terrorist individual” and freezing of her property or funds, including her related accounts, operates under the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020, which was signed into law under former president Rodrigo Duterte. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee earlier expressed concern on how the Anti-Terror Law (ATL) “legitimize the targeting of government critics, human rights defenders, and journalists, including through ‘red-tagging,’ and its consequent chilling effects on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.”
“We will hold the government, the ATC, the police, and military accountable for any danger and harm that may happen towards our Indigenous Peoples and activist colleagues. In its most extreme, terror-tagging often leads to torture, enforced disappearances, or extrajudicial killings,” Beverly Longid, IPMSDL Global coordinator, warns.
“Jennifer, Doc Naty, Windel, and all these terrorist-tagged and maligned Indigenous rights defenders who serve the underprivileged are not terrorists but heroes. The modus of using the courts and laws against those exercising their democratic right to dissent must stop,” she added.
“Terrorist-tagging or ‘red-tagging’ endangers our lives, our families and colleagues, our organization, and our entire community. It reeks of a tyrant and fascist dictatorship government eager to silence all dissenters instead of addressing the root cause of discontents like poverty, corruption, and injustice,” Longid said.
The International IPMSDL issued its global call for international human rights groups and institutions, including the UN and the International Criminal Court mechanisms, to investigate the surge of attacks on Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights Defenders. It also called for the immediate dropping of all charges, terrorist designations against these activists, and the junking of the ATA.

Comments

Abrogation of Art 370: Increasing alienation, relentless repression, simmering conflict

One year after the abrogation by the Central Government of Art. 370 in Kashmir, what is the situation in the Valley. Have the promises of peace, normalcy and development been realised? What is the current status in the Valley? Here is a detailed note by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties , “Jammu & Kashmir: One Year after Abrogation of Art. 370: Increasing Alienation, Relentless Repression, Simmering Conflict”:

Repeated failure to appoint Chief, other commissioners undermining RTI Act

By Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri* The post of the Chief Information Commissioner of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has fallen vacant with the retirement of Bimal Julka with effect from August 27, 2020. This is the fifth time in the last six years that the Commission has been rendered headless. Four posts of information commissioners are also vacant in the CIC. Currently more than 35,000 appeals and complaints are pending in the commission resulting in citizens having to wait for months, even years for their cases to be disposed, thereby frustrating peoples’ right to know. Since May 2014, not a single commissioner of the CIC has been appointed without citizens having to approach courts. The failure of the government to make timely appointments of commissioners is a flagrant violation of the directions of the Supreme Court. In its February 2019 judgment, the apex court had categorically stated that if the CIC does not have a Chief Information Commissioner or required strength

Ultimate champion in crisis, arguably best ever skipper: Created history in Aussie cricket

By Harsh Thakor In the history of cricket few cricketers knit and propelled a cricket team or had such profound influence on the game as Ian Chappell. Ian Chappell was responsible for converting a bunch of talented individuals into a world beating side, giving a dramatic turn to Australian cricket. Few cricketers ever led such a renaissance.

BSF's unconstitutional, whimsical order violates life, livelihood of Dalits, minorities

Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), writes to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission: *** I want to attract your attention towards the illegitimate restrictions on the life and livelihood of the villagers of Paschim Sahebganj village under Dinhata - II Block and Sahebganj police station in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal by the Border Security Force personnel attached with Dharala Border Out Post under 138 Battalion BSF. The population of Paschim Sahebganj village is around 1480, where almost 75 percent of the villagers belong from Hindu Scheduled Caste (Dalit) and 25 percent from minority Muslim backgrounds.The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. About 260 acres of cultivable land in the village that belongs to the villagers is located outside the border fencing, which is heavily guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF). The BSF regulates the ingress and egress of the villagers to their fields through the fencing gates that a

Largest democracy in world has become weakest at hands of fascist Hindutva forces

Note on “The Nazification of India”, a report released By Justice For All: *** This report, the Nazification of India, compares how Hindutva ideology not only is inspired by Nazis and Fascists of Europe, but their treatment of the Muslim minority closely follows developments that resulted in pushing Jews to the gas chambers. Situation is indeed quite alarming. The report says that the largest democracy in the world has become the weakest at the hands of the fascist Hindutva ideology. India today is ruled not just by a political party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but its mother organization the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Because the BJP’s government policies are linked to extra-legal enforcement by RSS paramilitary street power, this report has coined the term “The BJP-RSS regime” to reflect their intrinsic links and collaborative relationship. The Nazification of India report marks the anniversary of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002 against Muslims which propelled the BJP-RSS

Varanasi social worker who has devoted her life for the ultra-poor and the marginalized

Passion Vista and its partners profile Founder and Managing Trustee Shruti Nagvanshi as someone whom women leaders look up to: *** Shruti Nagvanshi, a social worker and human rights activist based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has devoted her life to reaching out to the ultra-poor and marginalized communities in India. Born in Dashashwmedh, Varanasi on 2 January 1974, she married Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi on 22 February 1992 and has a son, Kabeer Karunik, a Business management Graduate who is also a national level snooker player.

An approach to lake/pond restoration by Ramveer Tanvar, Pond Man of India

By Monami Bhattacharya*, Mansee Bal Bhargava** Lakes/ ponds are often referred to as an elixir of life, a living ecosystem that adds incremental value to the larger biota. Across the tropical landscape of the country lakes/ ponds are a common sight. Lakes/ponds have always shaped the life and livelihood of those dwelling in and around it. The dependence of the local population on these natural resources of water is noticeable since time immemorial. However, they are fading fast in both rural and urbanscapes from the popular parlance with the advance of humanity. It has been a popular notion to value land more than the waterscape and hence these nurturers of life are under stress in several areas. In many instances, these once beautiful waterscapes referred as the ‘Eye of the Earth’ are mostly now only dilapidated garbage dump yards emitting foul smell with no sign of a healthy ecosystem.

Urban crisis: Impact of erosion of democratic framework on Indian cities

By IMPRI Team On 13th February, 2023, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi in collaboration with ActionAid Association India arranged a book launch followed by lecture series under the title “India’s G20 Presidency & the Urban Agenda for the Developing Countries”. The event was held in Indian International Centre (IIC) Annex, New Delhi. The event began with the book inauguration session, under the honorary presence of Mr Sitaram Yechury, former Rajya Sabha member and General Secretary, CPI (M), accompanied by Mr Sandeep Chachra, executive director, ActionAid Association India. Session 1 | Book Launch: ‘Cities in Transition’ by Mr Tikender Singh Panwar The book launched was “Cities in Transition”, written by Mr Tikender Singh Panwar, former Deputy Mayor, Shimla and a Senior Fellow at IMPRI. Beginning with brief remarks on his book, Mr Panwar outlined the basic subject matter and the purpose behind writing the book, which he considers as a by-product of his experien

Riverscapes: mythology, iconography, folklore and origins amidst rising water problems

By Proshakha Maitra*, Mansee Bal Bhargava** Rivers are not just bodies of water and resources flowing across a landscape, but they are flows supporting a variety of cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life by linking people, places, and other forms of life (Anderson, et al., 2019). Since ancient times, rivers have been the ‘cradle of civilizations’ where the major civilizations of the world developed along the banks of the rivers. Even the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent, the Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilization developed along the banks of the Indus River that flows from the mountains of Tibet through India and Pakistan. Every river has its tales of mythology, iconography, folklore and origins which are worth knowing, especially in the current times when they are under severe distress of development. Since knowing these intangible aspects of the tangible resource/heritage is crucial to instigate emotional and spiritual connect which may in turn make people an

Panchayat funds defrauded: Roads without potholes a fundamental right but not here

Kirity Roy, Secretary Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), and National Convenor (PACTI) Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity, writes to the chairman, National Human Rights Commission: *** Through this complaint, I want to draw your attention to the plight of the villagers of Nawdapara in the District of North 24 Parganas. The village is situated under the Bagdah Police Station, Bagdah Block and Mama Bhagina Post Office respectively. Nawdapara is a Muslim minority populated village. Indo Bangladesh Border Road (IBBR) passes through the middle of the village. There is a naka checking post of the BSF inside the village and BSF associated with Mama Bhagina Border Out Post, 68 Battalion, ‘B’ Company guard 24 hours in that check post. People have lived in this village since the independence of India. The market is about three to four kilometres away from Nawdapara village. One primary school is situated within the village but the high school is about five to six kilo

Search This Blog