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JOHN S. HEREDIA, IN MEMORIAM
2021 AMBON Mural
John S. Heredia, in memoriam
5 X 10 feet
Acrylic on Canvass
The mural is an offspring of collaboration by creative fellows of the honoree, PG Zoluaga, Boy Dolar, Jeline Laporga and Nelson Licoto. They depicted and memorialized their comrade-in-brush-and-paints, John Heredia of the Artista kag Manunulat nga Makibanwahanon (AMBON), himself is a socially sensitive painter and a dedicated public servant.
Heredia’s treacherous murder is an anagnorisis: it announces the deathlessness of his art, the immortality of shared aspirations that captives of oppression and inequality will be finally set free. The killers were abysmal fools, they can never be proud of their deeds. The mural depicted the communion of dreams, a high salute to the artist’s well-lived life and death like “mountain Tai”.
The mural makers unmistakably painted him singing with his guitar, “Ang kalinong nga akon ginahandom/ isa ka kalisod sang tagipusuon/ ang kasanag sang paalabuton/ luyag ko maangkon sa sining panahon” while sailing to the haven of all yearnings. In our archepelagic setting, the flowing river is a transcendent motif of what passes for time, spaces, generations of energies that were aroused, organized and mobilized. As such the mural depicts the characteristic of our people’s war.
Bouquets of flowers are send off gifts by those left behind now carried by waters as solemn ornaments of John Heredia’s final journey. Thus our eyes behold a signature of studied beauty, an expression of quiet elation, the template of what isn’t yet that will soon be.
From his group AMBON the perfect honor for John Heredia is in its public testimony: “His composition and art works are reflective of his unwavering stand to serve the people, especially the workers and the peasants”.
The grand design is to depart when the sun sets to certainly arrive with the trembling dawn. # # #
BAYAN-AKLAN’S DIALOGUE WITH AKELCO, A SUCCESS
KALIBO, AKLAN – The dialogue launched by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) – Aklan with Aklan Electric Cooperative (AKELCO) on December 10 was a success. The said dialogue was part of their activities in line with the commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of International Human Rights Day.
BAYAN-Aklan laid out their suggestions regarding the Power Supply Disconnection Freeze signed by the members of different organizations who are also consumers of the AKELCO.
AKELCO immediately responded to some of the group’s appeals such as agreeing to accept a promissory note addressed to AKELCO’s administrator from its consumers for a staggered basis of payment or an installment based on the capacity of the consumers to pay.
The said dialogue was pushed through as many consumers were worried about their combined bills from April 2020 to December 2020. AKELCO also agreed to reduce the cost of the installment of electricity meters.
Moreover, AKELCO promised that their administration will discuss other matters and concerns submitted to them by their consumers through BAYAN-Aklan, and that it will be open for future dialogues as soon as possible.
According to Kim-Sin Tugna, BAYAN-Aklan’s spokesperson, victory can only be achieved through the unwavering support and mobilization of the people. He added that such victory of the Akeanon people will serve as an inspiration to achieve real social change./PT
RED-TAGGED CITY HEALTH OFFICER, HUSBAND GUNNED DOWN IN NEGROS ORIENTAL
ILOILO City – Guihulngan City top health officer Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan and husband Edwin Sancelan, also a government employee, were shot dead around 5:20 this afternoon by a riding-in-tandem near their residence at Carmen Ville Subdivision, Brgy. Poblacion, Guihulngan City. Dr. Sancelan served as an incident commander of Guihulngan’s Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID).
According to human rights group Karapatan Negros Island, Dr. Sancelan was named number one in the so called “hitlist” of Kawsa Guihulnganon Batok Komunista (KAGUBAK), an anti-communist vigilante group in Negros Oriental in 2017.
Dr. Sancelan was tagged as JB Regalado, the spokesperson of Leonardo Panaligan Command of NPA-Central Negros.
Karapatan condemned the killing and believed that this is part of the liquidation operation of the NTF- ELCAC.
The “hitlist” also included Public Attorney’s Office lawyer Atty. Anthony Trinidad who was killed on July 2019 and activist Haide Malalay Flores who was killed on August 2018./www.panaytoday.net
(Photo from from Dr. Sancelan Facebook account)
72ND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY PROTESTS, SUCCESSFUL AMID THREATS, INTIMIDATION, AND ARRESTS!
ILOILO CITY – On the very day of International Human Rights Day, Duterte demonstrated his fascist nature and committed human rights violations in the form of syndicated raids, planting of evidence and filing of trumped up charges against union organizers and a member of the media.
According to Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, Duterte haphazardly scandalized the International Human Rights Day following the arrest of the seven activists.
Palabay added that the main objective of such raids and baseless arrests by Duterte would be to silence the people from voicing out and the media from exposing its corrupt administration.
Despite the crackdowns, thousands of people marched towards Mendiola calling for the ouster of Duterte. They condemned the Duterte administration’s crackdown against its critics.
In Panay, different organizations and sectors have successfully gathered in the city of Iloilo and Roxas, as well as in the town of Kalibo, to commemorate the International Human Rights Day.
In Iloilo City, progressive groups gathered inside the University of the Philippines Visayas despite the deprivation of the city government to give a permit, series of intimidation, and the efforts of the police forces to stop the said activity.
The persistence of the people to conduct such protests, in various parts of the country, only shows Duterte’s isolation from the interests of the wider population.
According to those who participated in the protests, hunger, landlessness, low price of palay, unemployment, and the expensive prices of basic commodities, pushed them to join the protests despite the threats of the government.
For Bayan Panay, Duterte should be ousted because of his useless response to the crisis while being busy with spreading violence to silence the people and to cover up his inutile response.
In order to do this, the conveners of the Panay Peoples’ Coalition called for the people to unite to end Duterte’s tyrannical rule./PT
TUMANDOKS FORCED TO SIGN PERSONA NON GRATA AGAINST CPP-NPA-NDF
ILOILO – The NTF-ELCAC is now forcing the Tumandoks (Indigenous Peoples) to sign a declaration stating the CPP-NPA-NDF as persona-non-grata.
According to Barangay Captain Jobelyn Giganto of Barangay Lahug, Tapaz, Capiz, they have been visited or summoned, several times already, by members of the NTF-ELCAC and the military to force to them to declare the CPP-NPA-NDF as persona non grata in their barangay.
Barangay Lahug is the only remaining barangay in the municipality of Tapaz that have not signed nor agreed in the said declaration.
According to Captain Giganto, they have no bases to work it out. If they have to ban somebody from entering their community, it should be the members of the military and the NTF-ELCAC who have been spreading fear and panic among the people since they entered the village in June.
The council and the people have presented the problem to Mayor Roberto Palomar of Tapaz but the Mayor himself also forced them to sign the declaration.
The people were disappointed with the Mayor’s reaction, who they thought would defend their rights even more as the military pressures them.
According to the threats of the military, they may increase their forces in the community or replace their forces with even more violent groups, however, the Tumandoks are firm with their stand to defend their rights and be free from the dictates of the military and the NTF-ELCAC.
In Tacayan, also in Tapaz, the military took control of the Barangay Council and ordered the people to relocate near the center of the barangay or along the road. They were only given until December to move and the Tumandoks view that it will have an intense impact on their farming.
Many leaders of the Tumandok organization have been summoned and interrogated by the military several times already.
The victims sought refuge in the office of the Commission on Human Rights last week to seek assistance for the ongoing military harassment in their community./PT
ILONG-ILONGANONS PROTESTED AGAINST THE ANTI-TERROR LAW
ILOILO CITY – Progressive groups led by Bayan-Panay have again protested to register their resistance against the RA 11479 also known as Anti-Terror Act of 2020.
According to Bryan Bosque, Deputy Spokesperson of Bayan-Panay, Duterte is using the Anti-Terror Law to silence his critics who are exposing his corrupt administration.
Bosque added that the Anti-Terror Law will be a tool for Duterte to legitimize his crackdown against activists who are fighting for their rights guaranteed by the constitution.
He said that even without the said law, the widespread human rights violations such as torture, arrests by fabricated cases, ang state-sponsored killings, remain unresolved.
The group also condemns the baseless red-tagging of the military through senate hearings joined by fake witnesses.
According to Bosque, the senate hearing held, where Jeffrey Celiz and the military freely red-tagged legal organizations, is a huge violation of the due process.
According to Bayan, if their allegations are true, why didn’t they present this in court? The time they’ve wasted for such non-sense hearing could have been used to help the victims of typhoon Rolly.
Bayan is calling on the people to strongly fight the Anti-Terror Law so they would not have to sacrifice their lives like Jory Porquia and Zara Alvarez, who were victims of widespread red-tagging by the state forces before they were killed.
Bayan added, the 37 petitions against the Anti-Terror Law only show the resistance of the people against the repressive law that should be junked by the Supreme Court./PT
EX-SOLON APPEALS WITH SUPREME COURT FOR WRIT OF AMPARO
ILOILO City – Former Bayan Muna Representative Siegfred Deduro has asked yesterday, November 4, the Supreme Court to grant his petition for the writ of amparo after it was dismissed by the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court Branch 24 last October 26.
Deduro filed the petition on October 22 but RTC Judge Nestle Go dismissed the petition for “lack of substantial evidence”. The court further ruled that the petition was “baseless and untenable”.
In a statement, Deduro believed that his petition for the writ of amparo and the evidence submitted with it was sufficient for the issuance of the writ.
Deduro was accused by the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army of being the third-ranking official of the CPP-NPA in Panay, in its so-called “terrorist threat” at the June 19, 2020 meeting of the Iloilo Peace and Order Council at the Old Capitol Building of Iloilo Province.
The said meeting was attended by Iloilo Province Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr., members of the AFP, employees from the provincial capitol and members of the media, among others.
On the same day, the media outfit Bombo Radyo Iloilo thru its Facebook page posted photos wherein the 3rd ID presented a diagram of CPP-NPA leadership in Panay. Deduro’s name appeared twice in one of the slides.
The human rights group Panay Alliance Karapatan said they are alarmed over the quick dismissal by the RTC of Deduro’s petition.
“Given these recent murders and considering the more insidious red-tagging presently undertaken by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and their agents, we fear that Deduro and other human rights defenders are in similarly grave danger,” said Reylan Vergara, the group’s secretary general.
The group added that their concern is not without basis.
Zara Alvarez, another prominent activist in Negros became a victim of extra-judicial killing in Bacolod City early this year. Prior to her murder, Alvarez experienced red-tagging and threats to her life for her work as a human rights defender.
After being included by the Armed Forces in the list of persons subject for proscription as a member of an alleged terrorist organization, Alvarez was a member of human rights organizations that sought protection through a petition for a writ of amparo filed with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court delegated to the Court of Appeals the task of hearing their petition. Last year, the Court of Appeals denied the petition for amparo.
Zara Alvarez was murdered on the evening of August 17, 2020. She was shot multiple times when she went out of her house to buy food. Her assailant left her body lying on the ground amidst the pouring rain.”
Before Alvarez’s murder, on the morning of April 30, 2020, another one of Deduro’s colleagues, Bayan Muna Iloilo City Coordinator Jory Porquia was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. He was also the subject of repeated red-tagging dating back to December 2018.
“We appeal to the courts to be more considerate of the circumstances of those who seek protection under special proceedings such as the Writ of Amparo. In these times, when the Executive is blatantly targeting citizens who stand up for democratic rights, we look upon the Judiciary as a refuge for those who, as a result of their work, find their lives in peril,” said Vergara.
Deduro added that “even the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cited, in its report released in June 2020, the pervasive red-tagging in the country and its detrimental effect to civil society.”
“I now turn to the Supreme Court and ask it to set aside the RTC’s order of dismissal and issue a writ of amparo in my favor,” Deduro said.
The Writ of Amparo, as a special proceeding, is meant to be a recourse for those whose lives, liberty and security are under threat.
“I will not cease to seek protection from the court to stop the impunity of the military and PNP from red-tagging activists like me,” said Deduro.
“The recent killings of my colleagues, Porquia and Alvarez, show that the threats are very real, and not baseless,” Deduro stressed./www.panaytoday.net
MGA ESTUDYANTE, MANUNUDLO KAG GINIKANAN NAG LUNSAR SANG BACK TO SCHOOL NETWORK
SYUDAD SANG ILOILO – Ginlunsar ang Back to School Network, isa ka alyansa sang mga estudyante, manunudlo, mga Sangguniang Kabataan kag mga Brgy Officials, mga Parents and Teachers Association, kag madamo pa, sadtong Oktubre 24, sa Nuestra Seniora MH Del Pilar Parish.
Gintambungan ang ini nga alliance launching sang nanarisari nga mga indibidwal halin sa mga estudyante, mga imol sa syudad, mga ginikanan nga pesante, mga manunudlo, kag mga baranggay officials.
Kabahin sang launching sang Back to School Network ang pagdiskusyon ni Phillippe Hinosa sang Rise for Education – Panay sa kahimtangan sang edukasyon sa pungsod kung sa diin ginpalala kag ginbuyagyag sang pandemya ang garuk nga sistema sang edukasyon, kabudlayan sang online kag modular learning, kag ang alternatibo nga ligtas balik eskwela sa mga kampus.
Gani bilang alternatibo, dapat hatagan sang mas dako nga badyet ang sektor sang edukasyon para matugonan ang mga resikitos para sa ligtas balik eskwela sa mga kampus, kaangay sang dugang nga classrooms, manunudlo, health personnel, sanitation areas kag mga bulong kag bitamina sa health clinics.
Ginsaysay man sang mga tumalambong ang ila nangin eksperyensya sa online kag modular learning.
Suno sa isa ka nanay halin sa hanay sang mga imol sa syudad, tuman ang iya kabalaka para saiya bata bangod indi man ini sya makabulig kay manubo ang iya antas sang edukasyon kag wala sya sang tiempo kay naga sako man ini saiya palamugnan.
Kag para naman sa mga ginikanan nga mangunguma,nagapati sila nga dako ang kinahanglan sang mga estudyante nga magbalik sa ila mga eskwelahan bangod mas dira sila sigurado nga maka tuon sang maayo kag bangod man budlay para sa mga manunudlo ang mag dul-ong sang mga modyuls sa mga layo nga kaumhan. Dugang man nila nga wala man sang maayo nga signal sa kaumhan para sa online learning kag bangod gamay ang kaso sang COVID-19 sa kaumhan, mahimo gid nga makahiwat sang pisikal nga klase sa mga kampus basta naga sunod lang sa minimum health protocols.
Nagbilin man si Councilor Candice Tupas sang Iloilo City sang iya mensahe nga apesar nga madamo ang nagapangabudlay, basta naga ugyon ang tagsa-tagsa ka mga Ilonggo kag naga duso sang ila kinamatarung sa edukasyon, malampuwasan gid nila ang ini nga kabudlay.
Temporaryo nga gintakpan ang programa paagi sa pagpakita sang mga tumalambong sang suporta sa simbolikal nga pag pirmahanay sang tarpauline para sa Ligtas Balik Eskwela.
Ginpromisa man sang BTS Network, nga indi mag untat ang kampanya sa ligtas na balik eskwela, kag magapadayon sila paagi sa ila mga nakahilera nga aktibidad kaangay sang massive information dissemination sa mga baranggay kag iban pa nga lokalidad, massive signature campaign, kag pag lobby sa mga local government units kag mga administrasyon sang mga unibersidad./PT
MILITAR NI DUTERTE, WALA-UNTAT ANG ATAKE SA PROGRESIBO NGA GRUPO; ANAY AKTIBISTA SA PANAY, PINAKAULIHI NGA GINPRESENTAR NGA STAR WITNESS
[EDITED]
SYUDAD SANG ILOILO – Bangud sang wala-tuo nga pagpanagang ni Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade halin sa mga artista, kritiko, miyembro sang oposisyon kag progresibo nga grupo batuk sa iya pataka nga redtagging, napilitan ang kampo sang militar nga ipakilala ang ila kuno star witness nga makapamatuod sang kaangtanan sang CPP-NPA-NDF sa mga legal kag progresibo nga grupo.
Nagwa sa publiko kahapon nga adlaw si Jeffrey Celiz nga nauna nagpakilala nga Eric Almendras agud pamatud-an kag susugan ang akusasyon sang militar nga kuno mga katapo sang CPP-NPA-NDF ang ara sa likod sang Makabayan Bloc, Bayan kag mga sectoral groups.
Si Celiz ang anay aktibista halin sa pamatan-on estudyante kag nangin chairperson kag spokesperson sang Bayan Panay. Apang sang tuig 2005, naghalin ini sa grupo kag nangin tinawo sang mga kilala nga pulitiko kaangay nanday Raul Gonzalez kag Jed Patrick Mabilog. Pagpungko ni Duterte sa poder, isa si Celiz sa ginpangalanan sini sa iya narcolist kag umpisa sadto nadula na si Celiz sa mata sang publiko. Sining damlag lang liwat nagtuhaw nga ara na sya sa paghinakop sang militar sa idalum sang secretariat sang NTF-ELCAC.
Para sa Bayan Panay, matapos naghalin sa ila grupo si Celiz, nagpagamit na ini sa kon kay sin-o man para luwason ang iya kaugalingon kag sa proseso gin-traidoran sini ang mga naggamit sa iya. Gapati ang Bayan Panay nga ang pagpagamit ni Celiz bilang whistleblower sang AFP isa ka desperado nga tikang agud salbaron ang iya kabuhi matapos siya ginbutang sa narcolist ni Duterte.
Nagapati ang Bayan Panay nga kinamatarung sang pumuluyo nga magpalayag sang iya disgusto sa gubyerno kag magdemanda para sa ila kaayuhan. Ang ini nga kinamatarung nagpagkit sa konstitusyon.
Gina-athag man sang Bayan nga imbes nga redtagging kag pagpakalain sa ila kubay, dapat tutukan sang gobyerno ang paglubad sang ugat sang kaimulon kag kapigaduhon nga amo ang nagaduso sa pumuluyo nga magbato kag sa iban nga indibidwal ginpili ang armado nga paghimakas.
Nagapati naman ang Bayan nga ini nga tikang sang militar kabahin sang ila kaugot matapos mabuyagyag nga wala gali sang liquidation ang ila pondo sa NTF-ELCAC kag nabuyagyag ang P19 bilyon nga budget nila nga ginbansagan nga “general’s pork” nga ginakampanya subong nga sayluhon sa social services agud mapuslan sang pumuluyo.
Sa esensya, ang bira sang militar kag ni Celiz sa progresibo nga grupo dugang sang Bayan kabahin sang crackdown sang Duterte administration sa mga kritiko sini gamit ang Anti-Terrorism Law.
Ginhangkat sang Bayan ang militar kag si Celiz nga kon nagapati sila sa ila mga kabutigan, mag-file sila sang kaso sa korte agud mapamatbatan, nga kaangay sang masami nga gina-ubra sang militar kag kapulisan, wala basehan, puro kabutigan kag ginabasura sang korte ang ini nga mga kaso./PT