Almost after three years, the Department of Justice finally recognized Reynaldo Geneblaza Momay as the 58th victim in the Ampatuan Massacre–the massacre that did not only shock the world but also caused the downfall of one of Mindanao’s most feared clans–most feared because of their power, influence, and apparently insatiable appetite for blood. Momay’s daughter, Nenen, [...]
Tag Archive > human rights
Where Murders Go On
Next month, Genesis Ambason and wife Almira will be having their first baby, a year after they got married. But the 23-year old would-be father, an anti-large scale mining Banwahon activist in Barangay Balit, would no longer be able be to see his baby. Ambason was slain on September 13 at km 39 in Barangay [...]
Is It Safe To Go To Malaysia?
In the Philippines, gayspotting is as easy as breathing. I can, for one, tell if the person sitting next to me in some public transport is gay or straight. I can sense. I can feel. I can smell that special scent of gayness. It’s not about the way he looks or he dresses [...]
Murderous Spree
At last, after two months, Esmael Emil Enog was found last week. He’s one of the witnesses in the grisly Ampatuan Massacre of November 2009. But the man’s body was already reduced to many pieces, rotting. Authorities said he could have been dismembered with a chainsaw. A Chainsaw? That of course sends something chilling: they are [...]
13 Murders
In the Philippines, one sure thing that is not fun is to be an environmentalist. It’s either your are destroyed or you are killed. Or destroyed and eventually get killed. There’s not much choice. Under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, the son of two democracy icons of the country, at least 13 environmental [...]
Job Castro: A Child of War
Two years ago on June 19, I met Job Castro. He was 17 years old but he looked even younger, his body very frail and too small for his age. His mother, Luzler, showed me a copy of the birth certificate. He was born November 7, 1992. Surrounded by journalists and some strangers, he silently [...]
Court stops military from taking custody of wounded rebel
Whether to transfer Vanessa delos Reyes to a police detention cell or not is a question that authorities must answer with human rights lawyers in Davao and–Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. There is warrant of arrest for the young female cadre of the New People’s Army who was wounded in a gunfight with government soldiers in [...]