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  • hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
  • hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
  • hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
  • hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
  • hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
  • hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
  • hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
  • hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
  • hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
  • hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
  • jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
  • sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
  • sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
  • sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
  • guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
  • guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
  • jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
  • guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
  • jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
  • erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources :) thank you ulit. :)
  • erika marie : P.S. :)
  • guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
  • guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources :) you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
  • jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
  • jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
  • guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
  • meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
  • meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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Miscellaneous

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Arroyo sued before UN rights body
over child prisoners’ issue

Posted by: Alecks P. Pabico | December 12, 2005 at 9:22 pm
Filed under: Governance

NOTWITHSTANDING the happy news of the passage on third reading of the Senate version of the juvenile justice bill, children’s rights advocates are not letting Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo get away easily on her apparent inaction on the issue of child offenders languishing in deplorable conditions in Philippine jails.

Last Saturday, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the Coalition to Stop Child Detention Through Restorative Justice electronically filed a petition before the Human Rights Committee of the Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, suing the Philippine government for what it claims as the "institutionalized, widespread, and continuing" practice of incarcerating some 20,000 poor children every year under deplorable conditions all over the country.

Assisting five child prisoners in filing the class suit on behalf of children accused of violating the law (CAVL), the coalition has asked the Committee to "break the wall of impunity surrounding the twin evils of police child detention and the lumping together of children with adults in police jails."

The petition was filed pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that the Philippines ratified on August 22, 1989. Under the Protocol, individual victims of Covenant violations are allowed to sue before the Committee. A hard copy will be mailed this week to the UN headquarters in Geneva to comply with the requirement for petitions filed online.

The said petition seeks redress of the "widespread, continuing, and institutionalized" violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly the mandatory requirement for the segregation of children and adult prisoners. Also listed are the following violations:

  • Children being held under sub-human conditions — subjecting them to torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment [Article 7];
  • Children stripped of their dignity and humanity and exposed to greater risks of being sodomized, raped, tortured, tattooed, and subjected to various despicable forms of abuse[Article 10(1)];
  • Children denied their right to equal protection of the law as law enforcers refuse them access to psychosocial, health, and legal services  [Article 26];
  • Children’s right to be informed of their right to remain silent and to have an independent and competent counsel of their own choiceroutinely violated by law enforcers [Custodial Investigation Act (Republic Act 7438), Article 9(1)]. 

Coalition convenor and lawyer for the child-prisoner petitioners, Perfecto Caparas, said they have exhausted all possible domestic remedies to no avail, including a personal appeal and meeting with Pres. Arroyo to stop the illegal detention of children with adult crime suspects. A petition filed with the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) resulted in the commission issuing a resolution in December 2003 condemning the Philippine government’s violation of its treaty obligation to segregate children from adult crime suspects. The Philippines ratified the Covenant on October 23, 1986.

In fact, the CHR, as far back as January 1992, had already asked the Office of  the President to provide separate facilities for children. Yet the police practice has persisted, Caparas said, due to the "callousness and child-insensitivity of the Office of the President, Secretary of Interior and Local Governments, Secretary of Justice, and Chief of the Philippine National Police."

A similar class suit filed by the coalition before the Ombudsman in December 2003 was dismissed this September. In two separate orders signed by Victor Fernandez, Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, dated June 21 and September 7, the Ombudsman ruled that the "sub-human conditions" of  detained children in cramped police jails did not constitute "undue injury" and was merely "speculative." The Ombudsman also shielded the President and other top government officials from any culpability as they were "far removed" from the violations. Instead, it referred the matter to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the CHR.

Caparas lamented the Ombudsman’s decision, saying it "further fortified the wall of impunity and gave law enforcers a green light to carry out the practice with impunity."

Read the coalition’s petition before the UN Human Rights Committee here. Confidential information about the child-prisoner petitioners were removed to protect their identities.



1 person has left a comment

[...] The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 was approved yesterday by a bicameral conference committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. The reconciled version is expected to be ratified this afternoon, and then will be sent for signing to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Last December, the Arroyo government, however, was sued before the United Nations Human Rights Committee for “institutionalized, widespread, and continuing” practice of incarcerating some 20,000 poor children every year under deplorable conditions all over the country. [...]

INSIDE PCIJ: Stories behind our stories » Congress passes juvenile justice measure wrote on March 23, 2006 - 11:47 am | Visit Link

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