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** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE *** NEWS RELEASE **

Tribesman sheds light on ‘Kalinga massacre’

1 July 2007. Breakfast is being prepared. As usual, people are farming, gardening and just trying to earn a living. It was 7:30 in the morning June 25 when all of a sudden residents saw people in white shirts backed by policemen who are armed with M203 rifles and B150 machine gun.

After surrounding the area, the demolition team torched two huts and that triggers the explosion of gasoline inside the house that led to a ‘massacre’ in Sitio Malapiat, Brgy. San Pascual, Rizal, Kalinga.

“May baril sila!” a policeman shouted while firing shots that wounded fellow policemen. In terror, residents fled everywhere and hide. But contrary to what police thought, the residents don’t have guns.

“Hindi kami lalaban,” a resident said as he surfaces. A police handcuffed the man then shot him dead. With the presence of Rizal Mayor Marcelo dela Cruz, policemen open fired at a house where Abok Tayaan and his wife were hiding. Shanties had been razed to the ground. When the smoke cleared, at least nine people lay dead including the Tayaan couple. At least 50 residents were wounded. The policemen were reinforced by a group of soldiers.

This is the real story, according to Solomon Inaw, a local tribesman. About 300 meters away from the bloody scene, Inaw stayed safe in a hut together with a woman, a child and an old man.

Residents started building huts in the area in 1986. Tribesmen claimed it was their ancestral land until the family of Vicente Madrigal came and turned it into hacienda. Tribesmen went to courts to fight for ownership of the land. It was declared public land by the Supreme Court in 2003. However, under the government’s land reform program, the disputed land is also being claimed by farmers who come from other provinces and who used to work with the Madrigal family.

After the first demolition in 2004, tribesmen went to Tabuk Regional Trial Court. Failing to secure a court order, Mayor dela Cruz asked the Sangguniang Bayan to make a resolution that will evict the residents. “Syempre yung lupa na iyan talagang fertile kaya gusto nilang okupaduhin. Tapos ang ginawa nila hindi pumunta sa korte kasi matatalo sila. Hindi makuha sa legal na paraan kaya gumamit ng karahasan at yung power niya sa pagka-Mayor,” Inaw said.

As of June 30, the dead who belongs to different tribes were already buried. Charges will also be filed against the policemen and the town mayor. “Maghihintay kami sa Korte at itatatag namin yung dokumento na talagang pag-aari namin itong lupa na ito,” Inaw added.

The Urban Poor Associates (UPA), a non-government organization working to promote and protect the right to adequate housing, expressed sadness over the incident and called on the government to order an impartial and independent inquiry into the violence and promptly make the findings public. “Ensure that all officials, government agencies and police personnel who are responsible for human rights violations, including the excessive use of force, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, are prosecuted,” the UPA said in a statement.

UPA also asked to immediately cease all forced evictions and comply with treaty obligations incumbent upon the Philippines to submit a report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the Philippine government has not done since 1995. -30-

Urban and rural poor dwellers under siege by demolition-freak government

The Urban Poor Associates (UPA) is a human rights non-government organization working to promote and protect the right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere, including preventing or remedying forced evictions.

UPA is concerned about reports of brutal forced evictions and unlawful demolitions happening in and out of the Metro, the latest of which killed a muslim in Baclaran and 9 tribesmen in Kalinga province.

UPA is concerned that these evictions breach both domestic and international human rights law.

Article XIII, Section 10 of the Philippine Constitution explicitly provides that "Urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwellings demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner."

The legal process intimated by Article XIII, Section 10 was in turn adopted through statute under Republic Act No. 7279, otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (UDHA).

Section 28 of the provision states that "Eviction or demolition as a practice shall be discouraged." However, under certain circumstances evictions may be allowed, but must comply with eight mandatory requirements, including: "Adequate consultations on the matter of settlement with the duly designated representatives of the families to be resettled and the affected communities in the areas where they are to be relocated;" and " Adequate relocation".

Furthermore, Executive Order no. 152, issued on December 10, 2002, instructs all government officials to secure a Certificate of Compliance (COC) from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) to ensure that procedures for a just and humane demolition, as mandated by the Constitution and as set out in the UHDA are followed.

As a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Government of the Philippines is legally obliged to respect the right to adequate housing, including the prohibition on forced evictions, as guaranteed under Article 11(1).

According to General Comment No. 7 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is mandated to monitor compliance with the Covenant, forced evictions can only be justified in very rare and exceptional circumstances and even then must occur in the context of specific procedural protections.

Furthermore, and in any event, forced eviction shall not result in rendering individuals homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights.

Indeed, the Philippines is obligated to ensure that adequate alternative housing and compensation for all losses is made available to affected persons.

In terms of international human rights law, for forced evictions to be considered as lawful, they may only occur in very “exceptional circumstances” and “all feasible alternatives” must be explored. If and only if such “exceptional circumstances” exist and there are no feasible alternatives, can evictions be deemed justified. However, in those rare cases where eviction is considered justified, it must be carried out in strict compliance with international human rights law and in accordance with general principles of reasonableness and proportionality.

These include, inter alia:
۰ Genuine consultation with those affected;
۰ Adequate and reasonable notice for all affected persons prior to the scheduled date of eviction;
۰ Information on the proposed evictions, and where applicable, on the alternative purpose for which the land or housing is to be used, to be made available in reasonable time to all those affected;
۰ Especially where groups of people are involved, government officials or their representatives to be present during an eviction;
۰ All persons carrying out the eviction to be properly identified;
۰ Evictions not to take place in particularly bad weather or at night unless the affected persons consent otherwise;
۰ Provision of legal remedies; and
۰ Provision, where possible, of legal aid to persons who are in need of it to seek redress from the courts.

Therefore, UPA urges the government to:
1. Immediately cease all forced evictions and reconsider any plan that would result in forced eviction;

2. Identify, in consultation with those affected, adequate alternative accommodation and relocation to all those rendered homeless by the recent forced evictions, and establish adequate mechanisms for compensation and other remedies to those previously evicted;

3. Order an impartial and independent inquiry into the violence and promptly make the findings public;

4. Ensure that all officials, government agencies and police personnel who are responsible for human rights violations, including the excessive use of force, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, are prosecuted;

5. Comply with treaty obligations incumbent upon the Philippines to submit a report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the Philippine government has not done since 1995.

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