0		travel advisory, manila, bangkok, red shirts, thailand, thaksin

Manila's Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Filipinos to defer "non-essential travel" to Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand, citing the protest actions set for March 12.

In a brief travel advisory issued Tuesday, the DFA also told Filipinos who are already in Thailand "to avoid areas that have been identified as meeting areas and staging areas for the rallyists."

In response to the March 12 protest actions called by "red shirt" supporters of deposed premiere Thaksin Shinawatra, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has decided to impose the strict Internal Security Act in Bangkok and seven provinces surrounding the Thai capital.

Thailand is among the favorite tourist destinations of Filipinos.

The presidential Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) places at 14,880 the number of Filipinos living and working in Thailand, as of 2008.

	0	1	Morong 43, human rights, torture, rule of law, due process, supreme court, court of appeals

The Court of Appeals ruling dismissing the petition for the writ of habeas corpus filed by relatives and colleagues of the 43 illegally arrested, detained and tortured health workers is a visual aid to why a culture of impunity reigns in the Philippines.

The writ of habeas corpus is a legal recourse of citizens against illegal and arbitrary arrest and to protect them as well from authorities' further violations of their rights while under that unjust condition. Despite the presentation of evidence and testimony that the Armed Forces of the Philippines committed grave violations of human rights and due process, the CA not only disregarded these but used Marcosian jurisprudence in denying the Morong 43's petition.

It was the easiest and most convenient thing to do, to dismiss a very controversial case involving the powerful military. Now the ball is going the way of the Supreme Court where lawyers Racel Pastores and Romeo Capulong are set to file an urgent appeal.

The military's acts against the Morong 43 are so indefensible, the CA's decision had to depend on Marcosian jurisprudence to trump the detainees' pleas. Indeed, only tyrannical rules could justify the maltreatment of the Morong 43.

The ruling is clearly disappointing to the Morong 43, their relatives and colleagues who have put their faith in the Court of Appeals. But this is also disappointing to the rest of us because it gives us a realization that we cannot depend on the country's appellate court to jealously guard our fundamental and constitutional rights.

According to the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), the CA is "not only perpetuating injustice, it is undermining ‘sacred constitutional rights’ by using a doctrine that legalized the abuses of the military during the Marcos dictatorship. It is now condoning the contemptuous disregard for due process and human rights of [President] Arroyo’s state security forces.” 

What the CA decision means is that the military could freely arrest anyone and as many as 43 people on the basis of a spurious warrant, lock them up in a military camp, torture them and make them undergo degrading treatment. To "cure" these illegalities, the military could just belatedly file trumped up cases against them and manufacture evidence. A top military official would also make noises like the Morong 43 raising their fists as proof positive that they are New People's Army fighters. 

If you wonder why the many instances of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrest, torture and other human rights violations do not reach the courts, the CA decision gives a partial explanation. The public cannot fully trust the courts to side with them in restoring the rule of law. In other words, the CA ruling is a defeat for everyone else, except the abusive military.

The lawyers' prescription now is to file an appeal before the Supreme Court. We hope that high court would look favorably on the Morong 43's appeal, end the military's madness, knock some sense in the heads of the CA justices and bring back some faith in the justice system as a bulwark of fundamental and constitutional rights.

 

 

 

	0	1	Paramore, Manila, concert, VIP tickets, refund

UPDATE: The local producers have apologized and offered to give VIP ticket holders autographed Paramore photos. Curiously, three bloggers took down their posts containing full text of the organizers' apology.   Meanwhile, aggrieved ticket-holders started a blog which thankfully contains the organizers' statement, said to be coming from Charlemagne Lim, which I am reprinting here in full: 

 

First of all, I wanna apologize for what happened last night. We didn't want that to happen, the Paramore management and security decided a few hours before the show started to move the VIP section further back for the safety of the band and for their security reasons. We were against it and we didn't agree, but they told us that the show won't push thru if we won't listen to them. We had no choice but to comply. I know you guys want a refund, so we talked to their management again, unfortunately they didn't agree as we expected. What can we do is to compensate all our VIP buyers only.

We made a deal with Paramore's management and they will give all our VIP buyers an Official Paramore autographed picture and it will be personalized. It will arrive end of this week or next week, because it will come from the USA and they will just ship it here. Also, we will give you the Official Paramore Concert T-shirt in the Philippines. the shirt was never on sale but was used during the concert last night, so the people who will have this are all VIP Buyers only and that's YOU!

Wear it with pride :) to my customers, pls txt me the names of your autographed pictures and sizes of your shirts. Pls. include the gender because it will be a baby tee for the girls and shirts for the guys. To my good friend Royd's customers, pls contact him directly and I'm gonna talk with him with all the VIP tickets that he sold. I will make sure that all his customers will get them.

Again, we want to apologize for what happened, we are so sorry and humiliated for what happened. Hope you understand what happened last night was beyond our control and jurisdiction, last night was a LESSON on our part. We will make sure that it will never happen again. We will include that on our contract next time.

Pls. forward this message to all the VIP buyers only. Hoping for your understanding and kind consideration.

 

Irate music fans who paid the most expensive tickets to the March 9 concert by the band Paramore at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds are up in arms over the decision of the concert organizers to take them out of the concert's VIP section where second-class Gold ticket-holders were told to take their place.

VIP tickets were the most expensive at P10,000 ($219). As a premium, buyers of VIP tickets were promised to occupy the area of the Mall of Asia grounds nearest to the stage. 

Gold tickets meanwhile cost P3,950 ($86) and their place, as announced, were at the back of the VIP section.

Concert organizers also sold Silver and Bronze tickets priced at P1,550 ($34) and P550 ($12) respectively. We could just imagine how far Silver and Bronze ticket-holders were from the stage. 

Good thing that the concert organizers have apologized. But giving out autographed photos is not enough. The VIP ticket buyers paid a premium price for the privilege of being as near as possible to the Paramore concert stage. I have heard no violations of concert rules on the part of the VIP ticket holders. The concert organizers should refund all the paid tickets or at least the difference between the Gold and VIP tickets. Music fans should demand no less, otherwise concert organizers would soon routinely do this kind of bad behavior. The Department of Trade and Industry should intervene and help out the VIP ticket holders who did not anything to deserve being bumped off the place alloted to them.  

Check out the official ticket prices at Paramore Philippines.

Read more at Azrael's Merryland and at Manila Concert Scene!

 

	0		Non-Aligned Movement, ministerial meeting, Manila, peace, development

 

Manila's Department of Foreign Affairs today announced that the Philippines will host a special Non-Aligned Movement ministerial meeting on interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace and development on March 16-18 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

A senior official from the Arab Republic of Egypt and a representative of the NAM chair will open the meeting.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be delivering the keynote address.

Originally set for December 2009, the meeting was rescheduled after the Philippines suffered from supertyphoons in the last quarter of the year.

The DFA said over 40 countries have confirmed their participation in the meeting.

"The Philippines considers that intercultural and interfaith dialogue policy framework paves the way for the coming together of people of different cultures and faiths to build, through dialogue and action, a shared environment of peace and security based on mutual understanding, trust and respect," said a DFA statement.

"The Philippines has been leading international initiatives on interfaith dialogue and has hosted three global events on the subject matter since 2005.  These are: the Philippines' successful chairing of the First Informal Meeting of World Leaders on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace in the United Nations in September 2005; the hosting of the Second Dialogue on Regional Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, Development and Human Dignity on March 2006 in Cebu; and the launching and chairmanship of the Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace," the statement added.

Manila is fighting a civil war on two fronts: against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front on a nationwide scale; and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which is fighting for a separate, independent Muslim state in southern Philippines.

Arroyo's counter-insurgency war against the CPP-NPA-NDF has resulted in the extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arrest and torture of civilians and activists tagged by the military as "communists".

The CPP-NPA-NDF's representatives in formal peace negotiations with Manila said talks may have to wait until the election of a new president replacing Arroyo, whose term of office ends on June 30.  Arroyo has scuttled the talks in favor of her counter-insurgency program and suspended 11 bilateral agreements Manila signed with the insurgents. The agreements include the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. 

The irony about the country's active role in the so-called Non-Aligned Movement is not lost on Filipinos: Under the Arroyo regime, the Philippines again allowed semi-permanent and permanent presence of United States military forces in the country.

 

 

	0		Ampatuan massacre, Maguindanao massacre, IFJ, NUJ, Amnesty International, CHRP, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

	0		ampatuan massacre, maguindanao massacre, human rights, political killings, journalism, Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, NUJP, CMFR

Today, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) marks 100 days since the infamous Ampatuan massacre, allegedly perpetrated by the clan that carries that name. 

In a statement, NUJP chairperson Nestor P. Burgos called on his colleagues to wear ribbons to remind themselves and the public of the November 23, 2009 incident "until justice is attained" for the 57 massacre victims, 35 of whom were journalists.

"The call for justice remains as the murderers remain unpunished 100 days after the gruesome crime. We stand with the families of all victims of the massacre in fighting for justice until all those responsible are put behind bars," said Burgos.

The separate cases of rebellion and murder -- legal goblins when filed for one and the same crime, if you ask lawyers -- are still in the courts and the pace of justice is making snails look like sprint champions in the Olympics.

The massacre placed the Philippines on top of international press groups' lists of most dangerous places for journalists and the massacre is now known as the single biggest mass killing of journalists in modern history.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has largely been silent on the incident, with a spokesperson insisting days after the massacre that her friendship with the Ampatuans remains strong. The Ampatuans were said to be instrumental in massive cheating operations in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the 2004 presidential elections which Arroyo won with a million-vote lead.

Up to now, months before the next presidential elections in May, that electoral victory is under serious question.

More than a thousand politically-motivated slayings perpetrated by death squads under the Arroyo administration also remain unresolved, with the masterminds and murderers largely scot-free. Very few cases have prospered in the court, no thanks again to the climate of fear and impunity that hampers any successful prosecution, encourages sloppy police work or scares witnesses from moving forward.