CAP-CPC demands an end to the Israeli massacre in Gaza

Montréal, Québec (1-1-09) -- The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) condemns in no uncertain terms the Israeli regime for its barbaric act of massacre against the people in Gaza. The CAP-CPC joins millions in demanding an immediate end to this crime against humanity.

The massacre in the last few days has resulted in three people killed and 14 wounded each hour. And there is no plan to stop the killing but instead the Israeli military forces armed with US weapons are being amassed along the walled borders ready for the signal to go into the Gaza for re-occupation and carnage. This is totally unacceptable. The United States has encouraged the Israeli regime to continue its aggression and President-elect Barack Obama has maintained a deafening silence. The Canadian government has tacitly approved of this action by its refusal to condemn the Israeli aggression. Once again the war on terror is being used in order to perpetrate genocide on people who have been cornered and walled in for the last three generations.

The CAP-CPC sends this message to all peace-loving Israelis: STOP your Zionist regime from committing continued acts of outright murder against the people in the Gaza. Let not your hands and the generations to come be soiled with the blood of old people, men, women, youth, children and infants because of the Israeli government.

It is utter hypocrisy for both the US and Israel to put the blame on Palestine and the Palestinian people for the ongoing large-scale crimes of aggression and oppression committed by Israel against them and for the impending Israeli invasion. This is not a war against Hamas, the elected government in Gaza, but a well-coordinated war of annihilation against the Palestinian people.

The current call of Israel for all-out war reminds us all of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in recent times and how far Israel can go in committing crimes against humanity with complete impunity with the encouragement and support of the US imperialists and the acquiescence of the other imperialist powers like Canada.

The CAP-CPC stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for national salvation and independence and for the defence of all their human and democratic rights against the onslaughts of the US-backed Israeli aggressors. We join the Palestinian and Arab people and the entire humankind in condemning the US-supported crimes of aggression of Israel and in demanding that the Israeli regime stop its all-out war in Gaza.

There can only be peace in Palestine if it is accompanied by justice and an end to 60 years of occupation and exploitation. The Palestinian people have the full right to resist and struggle for their liberation from oppression.The CAP-CPC also supports the call for a comprehensive campaign of boycott, sanctions and divestment against Israel. Such a campaign eventually helped bring down a similar apartheid regime in South Africa.

-- HR Desk of the Centre d'appui aux Philippines / Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC Montréal)

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns is an organization of Filipinos and non-Filipinos in Montreal, Canada. It advocates for the promotion of and respect for human rights in the Philippines and around the globe and supports the people's struggles for fundamental social, political and economic rights.

Dear Nanay… letters from Tamara Michelle Posa Dominado

Just after our return from the Philippines in April 2007 Marie Boti and I heard that our friend Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado, Luing for short, had been abducted on her way back from an election meeting of the progressive party, Bayan Muna. Her name and that of traveling companion Nilo Arado were thus added to the growing list of hundreds of Filipinos who have been killed and abducted since the present government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001. Marie and I are working on a film inspired in large part by Luing’s life and disappearance… and we have had the privilege of getting to know her amazing daughters, May Wan and Tamara. The following letters from Tamara were just published in the national newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which introduced her this way:

Tamara Michelle Posa Dominado, 16, is a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry freshman at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Miag-ao Campus. Her mother Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado, a Bayan Muna leader, was abducted by armed men on April 12, 2007 in Oton, Iloilo, together with Nilo Arado. Both are still missing to this day.

-- Malcolm Guy

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"What’s there to fear?"

By Tamara Michelle Posa Dominado
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:38:00 12/11/2008

Dear Nanay,

Today you turn 53. I really wish you were here to celebrate it. I’ve missed you so much, every day and always. And I guess everyone else has, too.

It has been hard not having you around.

I have been living in a dorm for the past two months now. It has been stressful and depressing living there. Some of my high school classmates are staying there, too. I get homesick every now and then because I don’t like the place. I don’t know why.

There was this one time when I really got sick because I cried for almost the whole night. Crying makes me weak. That night, my classmate got homesick and she cried because she missed her mom. That’s what triggered my fit of crying. You see, I won’t easily admit it and I sometimes forget it, but deep down inside, I miss you so much. I’ve missed you since the day you did not come back. I try my best not to talk about you because just a mere memory brings me to the verge of tears. Sometimes I wonder if the pain will ever go away."

Read more: What’s there to fear?

CAP-CPC extends full support to Adil Charkaoui

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) views with alarm the unfolding events surrounding the trial of Adil Charkaoui in Canada.

On December 9, in Montreal, Adil Charkaoui will go to trial again, even though it was just revealed that the Canadian spy agency CSIS has not yet given anyone - not even the judge - evidence to support its opinions about Adil. In addition, the hearings will take place under a judge, that Charkaoui's lawyers have already argued, should withdraw from the case on the grounds of bias. (More info: www.adilinfo.org/en/node/483).

The Charkaouis have been struggling for very basic rights for more than five years now - against racial profiling, secret trials, torture, arbitrary detention - in what feels like a treadmill of injustice. The endless court proceedings completely banalize the injustices, humiliations, threat of violence and intrusive state control Adil and the rest of his family are subject to on a daily basis.

If, through the secret trial process, the Federal Court finds the certificate "reasonable", Adil - a teacher and father of three children living in Montreal with his family since 1995 - could be deported to Morocco. Two Immigration Canada risk assessments - in August 2003 and October 2007 - found that he is at risk of torture, death or cruel and unusual punishment if deported. Government and courts have nevertheless continued the security certificate deportation proceedings against him, with the Supreme Court refusing in September 2008 to hear Charkaoui's argument that keeping him under a threat of being sent to torture is abusive.

On December 10, Canada will again mark International Human Rights Day, at the same time that secret rendition-to-torture hearings will be continuing. The public face of those secret hearings - show trials in which the individual is supposed to show that it isn't reasonable to believe that he has the profile of a potential "threat" without knowing the case against him ­ have already begun in some of the security certificate cases, like the trial of Adil Charkaoui.

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns is an organization of Filipinos and non-Filipinos in Canada. It respects the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights and advocates for the promotion of and respect for human rights of all peoples.

LET CANADA RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS ­ STOP SECRET TRIALS AND TORTURE DEPORTATIONS!

The HR Desk / Centre d'appui aux Philippines - Centre for Philippine Concerns (Montréal)
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END SECRET TRIALS AND TORTURE DEPORTATIONS
Action in solidarity with Adil Charkaoui

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at noon
Outside Federal Court, 30 McGill St. (Square Victoria Metro), Montreal

Montréal: Vigil and Forum December 10 / Vigile et conférence le 10 décembre

Press conference and vigil with Tamil community
Where: Complex Guy Favreau, 200 Rene Levesque W., Montréal, Québec (Metro Place-des-Arts – Green Line or Metro Place d'Armes – Orange Line)
When: December 10, 2008 11 am – 12 noon
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Conférence de presse et vigile avec la communauté tamoule
Ou: Complexe Guy Favreau, 200 ouest, René Lévèsque, Montréal, Québec (Métro Place-des-Arts - ligne verte, ou Métro Place d'Armes - ligne orange)
Date et heure: le 10 décembre 2008 11h - 12h midi
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Public Forum with Tamil, Philippine and Palestinian communities
Speakers from the Tamil, Filipino and Palestinian communities will present on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Palestine.
Where: 2149 Mackay – School of Community and Public Affairs, Condordia University (corner Sherbrooke), Montréal, Québec (Metro Guy-Concordia)
When: December 10, 2008 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Pot Luck
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Conférence-discussion - Sri Lanka, Philippines et Palestine
Des conférenciers des communautés tamoule, philippine et palestine présenteront la situation des droits humains au Sri lanka, aux Philippines et en Palestine.

Ou: 2149 Mackay - School of Community and Public Affairs, Université Concordia (coin Sherbrooke), Montréal, Québec (Métro Guy-Concordia)
Date et heure: Le 10 décembre 2008 18:30h – 20:30h
Souper communautaire- apporter un plat à partager.

Event sponsored by the Centre d'appui aux Philippines - Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC), International Migrants Alliance - Canada (IMA-Canada), Centre des travailleuses et travailleurs immigrants - Immigrant Workers Centre (CTI-IWC), Tadamon! and the Tamil Action Committee in coordination with the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) - Canada.

Activité organisé par le Centre d'appui aux Philippines - Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC), International Migrants Alliance - Canada (IMA-Canada), Centre des travailleuses et travailleurs immigrants - Immigrant Workers Centre (CTI-IWC), Tadamon! et le Comité d'action Tamoul /Action Committee, en coordination avec la Ligue international des luttes des peuples (LILP) – Canada.

CAP-CPC open letter to Philippine President: "Surface James Balao"

H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / erermita@pop.gov.ph
Fax: +63 2742 1641 or +63 2929 3968

Dear H. E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,

I am writing to you in the name of the Centre d'appui aux Philippines - Centre of Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) in Montreal, Canada. This organization, made up of Filipinos and non-Filipinos, has been working for over 25 years to build solidarity and understanding between the people of the Philippines and the people of Quebec and Canada. We are contacting you because we are very concerned about the news coming out of the Philippines. We have learned that from July-September of this year, there have been seven (7) documented cases of enforced disappearances in the Philippines making the total cases of enforced disappearances close to two hundred since 2001.

One of the victims is human rights defender James Moy Balao, son of Arthur and Jane Balao of the Kankanaey and Ibaloi indigenous peoples of Benguet, outstanding alumnus of the University of the Philippines Baguio and founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). He remains missing to this day.

According to reports we have received, Mr. Balao was abducted last September 17, 2008 in Lower Tomay, La Trinidad, Benguet in front of a church and school and a few meters from the Philippine National Police Regional Headquarters (Cordillera Administrative Region), Camp Dangwa. He was forcibly taken by five armed men who identified themselves as police and who immediately handcuffed him after they got down from a white Revo. Witnesses say that James pleaded to the bystanders before his abductors could muffle his mouth and drag him to the vehicle, “Ask them what I have done wrong!” .

Seventy two days have passed and we join thousands of others around the globe who are asking: where is James Balao? Why was he picked him up in this manner? Why are his whereabouts still unknown?

We believe that James Balao’s enforced disappearance is probably linked to the infamous Operation Plan Bantay Laya which unjustly brands legitimate people’s organizations as fronts of revolutionary organizations, of which the CPA is included. As a founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance tagged by the State as a "sectoral front of revolutionary organizations", it appears that Mr. Balao has been unjustly targeted.

We sincerely hope that James Balao is still alive as sources from within the state security forces themselves have confirmed. We demand that he be surfaced in immediately.

We ask you, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, to:

-- Surface James Moy Balao. No person should be subjected to enforced disappearance. There is no justification for this violation. Military and police camps and all detention facilities should be made open for thorough searches by the family, human rights organizations and the Commission on Human Rights.

-- Conduct an independent investigation on James' enforced disappearance and bring those accountable to the bar of justice.

-- Immediately terminate Operation Plan Bantay Laya which tags members and leaders of civil society organizations as sectoral fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines- New Peoples Army. We call on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to sincerely implement the recommendations of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston - “As Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the President must take concrete steps to put an end to those aspects of counterinsurgency operations which have led to the targeting and execution of many individuals working with civil society organizations”.

-- Observe the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and other international human rights laws and declarations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

-- Sign and fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances


Malcolm Guy
for the CAP-CPC in Montreal, Quebec, CANADA

Canadian trade unionists hit criminalization of Philippine labour leaders

"MANILA, Philippines--Murder and arson charges against labor leaders? Very hard to believe, according to visiting Canadian labor organizers.

The Canadian Trade Union Mission to the Philippines has slammed the criminal charges against labor leaders in the provinces, saying such actions bars them from defending workers' rights.

In a press conference on Tuesday, visiting unionists Peter Leibovitch and Daniel Kinsella called on the government to ensure the safety of labor leaders from physical harm and legal harassment.

“This apparent abuse of the legal system appears to be a change of tactics to suppress activists and critics,” the two Canadians said in a briefing in Quezon City.

Kinsella, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a government union, cited the case of Lawyer Remigio Saladero Jr. of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1 Movement), who has been detained at the Calapan provincial jail.

“Saladero is a full-time labor lawyer and has diabetes, while some of his companions have polio and other serious illnesses,” he told reporters in an interview.

Saladero and 72 others have been charged with multiple murder, frustrated murder and arson in connection with alleged left-wing rebel activities.

“These are very serious charges and are too far-fetched for any reasonable person to believe ... I hope the President is aware of them,” he added."

Read more at Inquirer.net: Legal harassment of RP unionists hit - 11/25/08

CAP-CPC demands surfacing of James Moy Balao

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) condemns in no uncertain terms the continuing disappearance of James Moy Balao. He has been missing since September 17, 2008.

James Balao is an activist advocating for the improvement of the conditions of the people in his community. He is a founding member of the Cordillera People's Alliance and the regional chapter of Bayan in the Cordillera region.

He is professionally a researcher of and for the people of the Cordillera. His selfless willingness to use his education and skills in the service of his family and his people has greatly contributed to the Cordillera's collectivity and connectivity.

It is reported that starting the first week of June this year, James and the rest of his family have been under regular surveillance by unidentified people. Vehicles with heavily tinted windows have been regularly seen tailing him and the family from their residence to wherever they went during the day. It is believed that his years with the legal progressive people's movement have made James the target of state terrorism.

This is totally unacceptable in a democratic society.

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns is an organization of Filipinos and non- Filipinos in Canada. It advocates for the promotion of and respect for human rights of all peoples.

The CAP-CPC therefore is one with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the human rights group Karapatan and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance in demanding for the surfacing of James Moy Balao.

The Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Center for Philippine Concerns demands that:

1. the Arroyo government create an impartial and independent body to investigate the disappearance of James Balao
2. the Arroyo government allow the UNITED NATIONS Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) under the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to conduct an investigation in order that the truth be found.

The HR Desk of the CAP-CPC
Ref: Tony