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Iglesia Filipina Independiente
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist
Bonifacio-Gonzaga Streets, Bago City,
Negros Occidental, Philippines

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT AQUINO

August 30, 2010

His Excellency Benigno C. Aquino, III
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila, Philippines

Justice for Benjamin Bayles – Justice for all Victims of Human Rights Violations

Dear Mr President:

Greetings of Peace based on Justice from Bago City, Negros Occidental.

In the outset allow me to qoute the verse: But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! -Amos 5:24 (NIV). This is the passage from the Bible intended to the ruler and king of Judah as to how to judge his constituent.

I am Rt. Rev. Felomino N. Ang, Interim Bishop of the Diocese of Negros Occidental of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Today, I want to share with you my feelings over the cold-blooded killing of our brother, Benjamin “Benjie” Bayles. My heart is still so heavy. And my rage is ever growing. I am a man of peace – I am not at ease with this emotion. But please understand I am so disappointed and feel angry because men of our army are turning against us, the people. They are mocking our rights. Having killed so many of the best we have amongst us, they mock God. Those are your men now, Mr. President! Call them back NOW! Please!

The killing of our brother Benjie happened during the last days of the term of the Arroyo administration. Now, your administration is called to solve this Bayles case and bring justice to our nation. It is upon you to end this disgusting spate of terror and impunity. We are tired of all those atrocities. We cannot bear anymore those killings, tortures, displacements and disappearances for the sake of power and greed.

Mr. President, why don’t you hear us – we are crying out loud for justice. For the sake of peace in our country, for the sake of justice, for the sake of our values as a Christian nation – for God’s sake – do not turn your back to us but be human enough and do your part for justice to prevail!

Look at the masses, they are suffering. They are reaching out for nothing less than hope. Do not disappoint them. Mr. President, please do not misunderstand the people – we are not asking favors. We demand from you to live and act to your constitutional duties and obligations!

We do not deserve the ongoing disgraceful travesty of democracy. The military is out to kill wherever we stand for our rights. They have done so more than 1,200 times since 2001. Mr. President, can you recall the feelings you had when you learned about your father’s death? Those are the feelings of the victims’ families. We sympathize with them as we sympathized with you back in August 1983. The victims of extra-judicial killings and your father are the same to us. We are waiting for you to prove that you are a compassionate man. Hear them mourning over the killing of their spouses, sons, daughters, parents!

The accused in the Bayles case introduced themselves as organic members of the Philippine Army and gave their names as (i) Roger Bajon and (ii) Ronnie Caurino. Bajon later claimed to be a fisherman from Purok 4, Barangay Tiling, Municipality of Cauayan, Negros Occidental, while Caurino claimed to be a driver and resident of Barangay Cayhagan proper, Sipalay City, Negros Occidental. The Philippine Army denied that the two are in its ranks or somehow connected to the military.

We now uncovered who the accused really are: the true identity of Roger Bajon is Private 1st Class Reygine Laus, member of 61st IB, PA from Barangay Bunga, Mambusao, Capiz Province. The accused Caurino also is a Private 1st Class, member of 61st IB, PA. Mr President, we are sorry to say but it is clear now: those are your men!

Both Laus (aka Bajon) and Caurino belong to a unit of the Philippine Army that was assigned at Barangay Basak for a period of about three months to maintain peace and order during the 2010 national election. That is why the local residents are familiar with them and identified them through a picture taken on June 18 during the inquest at the city prosecutor’s office at Himamaylan City. We take the liberty to share with you the same picture just for the foreseen and most likely case that the military administration at Camp Aguinaldo will refuse obedience to your request of forwarding to your desk the military ID pictures of Private 1st Class Laus and Private 1st Class Caurino.

The motorcycle used in the Bayles killing was registered under plate number 7BD718 at the Land Transportation Office under the name of Reygine Laus dated August 9, 2009. It was bought at the DUEK SAM outlet in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental.
Mr. President, it may be difficult to believe but we need to bring to your knowledge what was told to us. Please do your immediate investigation and tell the people that it is not true that:

1.Col. Bayhon, commanding officer of 61st IB, and his S2 (intelligence staff) Lt. Vida approached the manager of DUEK SAM outlet in Sipalay City in order to silence the manager regarding the records of the motorcycle used in the Bayles killing;

2.The Philippine National Police of Himamaylan City is already clinched and influenced by the military as seen in their lousy and mediocre procedures in extracting the truth and unwillingness to investigate the case. Even until now they were not able to visit and investigate in the crime scene.

3.The military bastardized the standard protocols and ethics by exerting dirty tactics so that the final decision of the court will be in favor of their men. The probability that the case will be whitewashed.

Mr. President, whenever an office is held by a person who does not comply with the legal obligations of the office, the question arises whether he or she is unable or unwilling to do so. Regarding some local authorities in Himamaylan City, we have ample information that they are unwilling. Having the constitution and law on your side, we are confident and expect that you will prove of having the actual power, indeed, as well as the necessary determination to enforce the law.

We demand what in civil societies is done in grave instances like this: we demand the immediate suspension of Col. Bayhon, commanding officer of 61st IB, and his S2 (intelligence staff) Lt. Vida, and an investigation under international observation on the above stated accusations.

We demand an immediate suspension of the commanding Himamaylan PNP officer and the investigation of the case under international observation.

Immediately, it needs to be cleared why the 61st IB denied having the accused among their ranks.

Immediately, it needs to be cleared why the police did not follow the leads. With all due respect, it is an evidence of total incapacity if it needs civic society groups to unearth both the background of the accused as well as the illegal case manipulations.

Immediately, it needs to be cleared what particular role Col. Bayhon played in the killing of Benjamin Bayles.

We have hints and do believe that military hit men are out to eliminate key persons in the Bayles case. These are (i) Mr. Caña from Karapatan; (ii) Atty Benjamin T. Ramos, Jr., the legal representative of the Bayles family, (iii) the prime witness of the Bayles killing, as well as (iv) Tito Mejorada, the local National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) organizer and Anakpawis coordinator (v) Mr. Larry Trinidad of Radio Mindanao Network and (vi) Jaime Lim, a Bacolod-based journalist. Mr. President, enough is enough. We would like to keep them with us for a while!

Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Deuteronomy 16: 19 (NIV)

Yours sincerely.

THE RIGHT REVEREND FELOMINO ANG
Bishop, Diocese of Negros Occidental
Iglesia Filipina Independiente

Click here for a signed copy of Bishop Ang’s letter to President Aquino.

The proclamation said that the “deaths are a great loss to the peoples of Hong Kong and the Philippines, and call for the most solemn commemoration and respect at a time of grief for our two peoples.”

It calls on all government offices and Philippine consulates and embassies abroad to lower the Philippine flag to half mast to signify national mourning.

Aquino’s issuance of the proclamation comes at the heels of strong national and international condemnation of the hostage-taking incident that killed  eight tourists from Hong Kong, and the response of Philippine authorities.

China and its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have demanded that the Philippines make a thorough investigation and provide “satisfactory answers” to questions of the people of Hong Kong.

Sonia Roco, the widow of former Senator Raul Roco, first ran and lost in the 2007 senatorial race.

“Para naman silang mga autistic … may sariling mundo.”

This is what senatorial candidate Sonia Roco said in a TV interview in 2007, as she commented on Team Unity’s reaction to poll surveys on the Senate race. She followed her statement with a hearty laugh.It wasn’t funny and I couldn’t find the humor. She said this in 2007 and I still couldn’t let it go.

Yes she apologized but only because some sectors called her out. Had she been not called out because of it I doubt it if she’ll apologize. I’m disappointed because she is an educator.

I was angry by her statement, given in the context it was said. I read her apology and to be honest there is no sincerity on Sonia Roco’s apology for her remark on autism. She said she would work for the cause of autism — if elected. Since she wasn’t elected, I doubt that the she made any commitment to the cause of autism. If she did well I want to see it. As it is Roco’s apology was conditional. A sincere apology knows no condition.

We tend to use analogies when we want to express something. Sometimes it can be careless and can hurt some people who hear it. We all know what Mrs. Roco meant when she said that, but she could’ve left out that part alluding to the autism. This happened in 2007 and she lost because of it and I know that she’ll still lose this election because of that faux pax.

It’s not enough that she’s a widow that has been pushed into the limelight with her bid for the Senate to continue her husbands legacy. She’s no Cory Aquino if I may say so myself. She should have chosen her words carefully. It’s also something that all the candidates should take into consideration. I’m not saying that they should twist the truth, but rather present it without having to offend anyone.

[This is not a hate post. This is not meant to demean someone or put someone down. This is a post of a mother who wants to remind the candidates of the coming election. Be careful and think about what you say because it might really hurt you in the end. -  Leirs]

President Arroyo's son Mikey Arroyo (left, wearing blue checkered shirt) used to be a movie actor. Grabbed from tkshare.com

The Commission on Elections has released a complete list of nominees as submitted by the 175 partylist organizations participating in the May 10 elections.

Among the nominees are: presidential son and Lakas-Kampi Rep. Mikey Arroyo (Ang Galing Pinoy) and former AFP chief and former secretary of defense/environment/energy Angelo T. Reyes (1-Utak).

Official List of Partylist Nominees

CAGAYAN DE ORO — Today, April 9, 2010 marks the national celebration of the Araw ng Kagitingan or the Day of Valor. It is the commemoration of the Fall of Bataan at dawn of April 9, 1942 which started the infamous Death March that claimed the lives of almost 20,000 prisoners of war in the barbaric hands of the invading Japanese Imperial Army.

We celebrate the day to the honor the Valor of the Filipino soldiers who Japanese in the second World War.

As the 2010 elections draw closer, we should reflect on the two traits that we thought are worth emulating for all Filipinos: valor and honor. Valor is a noun that means courage and bravery especially in battle. Valorous men and women are people who show courage in a fight with single-minded purpose of defending what they thought is right, even if death is a certainly.

In the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the highest distinction a soldier can have is the Medal of Valor. One such awardee is now politically persecuted and imprisoned by the Arroyo administration for his advocacy against corruption in the military. Many also believe that Medal of Valor Awardee Col. Ariel Querubin of the Philippine Marines was imprisoned to silence him because he knows a lot about the election cheating that happened in the 2004 elections. Querubin who was then assigned to lead the Marines in Lanao del Sur and stationed at the Camp Ranao in Marawi, Lanao del Sur.

From his jailhouse, Querubin is now running for Senator under the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manny Villar. The imprisonment of people like Querubin is instructive of how decadent the Philippine government under Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo has become. The candidacy of Querubin who is known for his exploits in the battlefield under the NP-Villar ticket is also an indication that the black propaganda linking Sen. Villar as the secret candidate of GMA is nothing but a smear drive to pull down Villar’s ratings in pre-election surveys.

I do not believe that at this point in his life, Querubin will sell-out or even venture into a camp that has anything to do with the GMA administration, in the same way that although his Marines were heavily outnumbered in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 18-19, 2000, as Commander of the Marine Landing Batallion team he led the battle against the Bangsamoro rebels for more than 24 hours until the outnumbered Marines broke the last line of defense of MILF in the area, the Camp John Mack.

Honor on the other hand determines a person’s trustworthiness. It manifests in the person’s respect, honesty and integrity.

GMA no doubt has questionable honor. Truth of the matter is that any association with her during this elections is a “kiss of death.” And Sen. Manny Villar was right in saying that “hindi kami bobo,” and emphasized that they never want any association with the pretender in Malacanang nor is the NP-Villar camp asking anything or expecting to receive anything from Gloria or her cohorts.

The biggest irregularity in the 2010 presidential election however is the candidacy of CONVICTED PLUNDERER Erap Estrada. It would be a very huge dishonor to those who fought and died for this country should Estrada be again voted as president. A known womanizer, Estrada was charged of Plunder and was convicted of it after he was ousted from power in February 2001.

The ouster of Erap was made possible after Sen. Manny Villar, then Speaker of the House, transmitted the Impeachment Complaint against the errant president.

The Plunder Changes of Erap includes acceptance of 545-million in Jueteng Money, misappropriation of 130-million pesos from the Tobacco Excise Tax, receiving 189.7-million commission from the sale of Belle Corporation, a real estate firm and owning about 3.2-billion pesos in the bank under the name Jose Velarde.

Plunder is a high crime. Convicted of plunder, Erap was sentence to reclusion perpetua, the highest sentence a criminal can have in the Philippines after the abolition of the Death Penalty. He was however pardoned by GMA for her to survive all the controversies hounding her administration.

I hope people will take stock on this reality in the Estrada candidacy. It is not only demeaning to have him back, but it will totally destroy the integrity of our democratic institutions and dishonors beyond repair the office of the Presidency.

Comments can be sent to bency.ellorin@gmail.com.

An OFW practices shading the ovals on a magic slate-cum-sample ballot. Overseas absentee voting starts on April 10.

The biggest Filipino organization in Hong Kong today assailed the Commission on Elections for belatedly “reconfiguring” election precincts just days before April 10, the start of overseas absentee voting for Filipinos working and living abroad.

Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil) said the Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (OAVS) in Hong Kong revealed new precinct assignments at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Centre just four days before polls open on Saturday.

“Because of this reconfiguration of precincts, thousands of OFWs who have been given their sequence and precinct numbers in the past few weeks now have useless information in their hands. The bottleneck that was a problem in 2004 will most possibly repeat itself again and may even cause disenfranchisement to OFW,” Balladares warned.

According to Balladares, the process of looking up for the precinct and sequence numbers adds up to the time it takes for an OFW to vote.

Balladares said the precinct “reconfiguration” would complicate matters for 96,000 Filipino voters in Hong Kong who already have to scrimp on just 20 machines.

“This was the reason why many OFWs wanted to know their precincts and sequence numbers in advance – to make voting faster and more convenient. This was also why even Consul-General Claro Cristobal himself urged us to get these numbers prior to voting to make the OAV ‘hassle-free’. They are the ones creating nightmares for us Filipino migrants,” she said.

With the “reconfiguration”, Balladares said that they feel less confident that the OAV will work out smoothly as the COMELEC has vowed in the past.

Nobody cared what Noynoy Cojuanco Aquino did or not do when he was congressman representing the Second district of Tarlac for nine years. Nobody cared when he run for Senator in 2007. Perhaps, people thought, another Aquino in the Senate is no big deal.

In a Nacionalista Party press release on March 19, 2010, Mindanawon and Senatorial candidate Adel Tamano accused the younger Aquino of doing a Gloria after the New York Times came out with a story that exposed the real intentions of the Cojuanco family in the Hacienda Luisita.

That despite all the Liberal Party (LP) candidate’s spinning that their family is planning to distribute the more than 6,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita to the farmers as mandated by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) may have inadvertently exposed the young Aquino’s duplicity on the Luisita issue.

The presidential candidate’s cousin Fernando Cojuanco, HLI CEO was quoted by one of the most credible newspapers in the world as saying when asked about whether the Cojuanco’s plan to distribute the land to the farmers as mandated by the Agrarian Reform law, “No, we’re not going to… I think it would be irresponsible because I feel that continuing what we have here is the way to go. Sugar farming has to be; it’s the kind of business that has to be done plantation-style.”

Caught with his hands in the cookie jar, Noynoy Aquino immediately issued a spin, accusing the New York Times of quoting his cousin out of context. But this spin blew in his face as the NY Times offered to make public the audio recording of the interview and denied ever twisting out of context what the HLI CEO had said.

Tamano had likened this action of the young Aquino with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who at first denied that she was the woman who ordered then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to ensure that her lead in the Mindanao count against the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. be not less than one-million votes. That was early June 2005. Later on June 27, 2005, she said sorry for making lapses in judgment for making a telephone call to an election Commissioner at the height of the 2004 Presidential election vote count in a nationally televised address.

I however find Tamano’s GloriAquino tale a little over-stretched metaphor which led me to research on the stand of then Tarlac Representative Noynoy Aquino in the Hello Garci hearings and his role in the Luisita.

I found out that Noynoy Aquino voted against the playing of the wiretapped telephone conversation dubbed the Hello Garci tapes in the June 30, 2005 hearings in the House of Representatives. The House eventually voted to play the controversial tapes.

The “No” vote of Noynoy to the playing of the Hello Garci tapes, I think was on the behest of Malacanang’s occupant. And I think, in order to protect their feudal interests, the Cojuanco-Aquinos have betrayed public trust in the Hello Garci hearings.

It should be remembered that in November 2004, striking workers of the Hacienda Luisita were massacred, claiming the lives of 12 protesting farmers and two children and wounding hundreds more. Farmers pressing for the land distribution of the more than 6,000-has hacienda were mowed down by hails of gunfire when police and military troops stormed the picket lines.

As a result of the public opinion backlash after the massacre, the government through the Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR) was forced to review the controversial Stock Distribution Option (SDO) which is a queer agrarian reform scheme that converts into stocks the value of lands which should have been distributed physically to qualified farmers. In March 2005, the Task Force Luisita was formed to review the Luisita SDO.

With the interests of the Cojuancos’ and Aquinos’ in Luisita at stake, it is not farfetched that a quid quo pro of sorts was brokered between them and the distressed occupant of Malacanang and thus the adversarial stand of Noynoy to the playing of the Hello Garci tapes.

Although the LP presidential candidate does lip service of giving their huge landholdings to the farmers as legally mandated, his role in the Luisita is more than what meets the eye. In fact, in the killings and violence that followed the November 2004 massacre, some of his security aides have been allegedly linked to the shooting of peasant leaders in their hacienda like the shooting of protesters George Loveland and Ernesto Ramos on January 5, 2005.

The killings and violence perpetrated on the farmers longing for genuine agrarian reform in the Hacienda Luisita has continued long after the massacre. This included the assassination of a retired soldier who was about testify on the November 2004 massacre Marcelino Beltran, councilor Abel Ladera, Aglipayan priest William Tadena, HLI workers/farmers Flor Collantes, Ben Concepcion and Ric Ramos. These killings have been included in the long list of human rights violations in the 2008 Impeachment Complaint against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo which accused her, among others of turning a blind eye to the Luisita issue.

Long before Noynoy declared his intention to run for President but already certain power brokers in Manila started their crazy run to thrust him into the presidency after the death of the well-loved Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino, I have already said my piece on Noynoy’s apparent run for the highest position of the land.

In my Sept. 4, 2009 column Rizal’s Tasio and Noynoy , I invoked Rizal’s writing in Noli mi Tangere about our misplaced loyalties or “bilib” mentality to the scions of well-to-do families when he wrote through the character Protacio “I honor the father on account of the son and not the son on account of the father.”

This is what I see in the candidacy of the Cojuanco-Aquino scion. It is as an attempt of the traditional power block in Manila to push elite, oligarchic rule in the country.

And who better represents this than this lackluster politician with presumed pedigree but represents the marriage of the old feudal lords and bourgeois comprador classes.

Recommended reading: Rizal’s Tasio and Noynoy, Sept. 4, 2009

Comments can be sent to bency.ellorin@gmail.com. The writer is a community organizer, environmentalist and peace advocate based in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.

Mikey Arroyo in Congress. Photo from EllenTordesillas.com

Veteran partylist representatives Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Liza Maza of Gabriela filed on Thursday a disqualification case against presidential son Mikey Arroyo who was named first nominee of a partylist group purportedly representing security guards.

Arroyo is currently a Member of the House of Representatives representing the second district of Pampanga. He has decided not to run for reelection to give way to the candidacy of his mother, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Dataline Philippines reports that Ocampo and Maza called Arroyo’s entry into the partylist system “a mockery” of the constitutional provision that states that the partylist system is for the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of the country.

The report said that:

Unlike the income of lowly security guards, Arroyo’s net worth has ballooned by more than 1,600% in seven years, from P5.7 million in 2001 to P74.4 million in 2004, and then to P99.2 million in 2008, according to an Inquirer report.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling on the Bagong Bayani case, the lawmakers said “it is not enough for the candidate to claim representation of the marginalized and underrepresented, because representation is easy to claim and to feign. The party-list organization or party must factually and truly represent the marginalized and underrepresented constituencies mentioned in Section 5. Concurrently, the persons nominated by the party-list candidate-organization must be Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties.”

Ocampo and Maza are guest senatorial candidates of the Nacionalista Party.

The younger Arroyo last year called for the regulation of Facebook.

Read the Dataline Philippine report here.

Such a project would be a showcase for the companies that made them and make a great resource for students and fans of Philippine advertising. For voters, we would always have a reminder of the claims and promises of all candidates, especially those by the winner.

There is such an online archive in the US called The Living Room Candidate which has all TV ads by presidential candidates since the 1952 elections won by Ike Eisenhower

until 2008 when Barack Obama was elected as first African-American president

About time we have one so we keep these gems for posterity: