FORWARDED APPEAL FROM "TASK FORCE DETAINEES FOR PHILIPPINES" GROUP

11th June 2000

AHRC is very concerned about the continuing war in Mindanao, Philippines, and wishes to urge all parties to pursue a peace dialogue to bring the war to an end. Thousands of people in the rural communities of Mindanao have been killed, injured and/or displaced since the war began.

We have received two appeals which seek to prevent the war being used as an excuse to violate the human rights of Muslim and Moro people in Philippines. We have included both appeal - the first is an urgent appeal from Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, received June 5 2000; the
second is a petition from the RCPD, Resource Center for People’s Development, Quezon City, received June 8, 2000.

We are forwarding these action requests to you as we received them. Please read and respond as you think appropriate.

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APPEAL 1 - LETTER-WRITING

Received by AHRC from "Task Force Detainees of the Philippines"
<tfdp@info.com.ph> on June 5, 2000.

TITLE: Repression against Moro population

VICTIMS: Filipino Muslims in Mindanao and other parts of the country

DATE OF INCIDENT: Ongoing since March 2000

PLACE OF INCIDENT: The provinces of Maguindanao, Basilan, Jolo and Cotabato
in Mindanao and in Metro Manila

PERPETRATORS: The Philippine government and combined elements of the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police

MOTIVE: Suppression of struggle for self-determination

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The ongoing war in Mindanao between the government forces and the Muslim separatist groups is turning for worse as elements of the Philippine National Police launched its campaign to apprehend alleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members in Metro Manila. In their desperate effort
to solve the series of bombings in the city the past weeks, the police in full battle-gear and ski masks raided the Maharlika Village in Taguig, south of Manila early last week. Dubbed "Little Mindanao", Maharlika Village is home of thousands of Muslims.

The police flushed people out of their homes, tied the hands of
menfolk behind their backs, and forced women and children down on their knees with their hands up on their heads. The "raid" netted 25 men without warrants, which were loaded into police vans and taken to the Camp Crame.

These latest police actions followed two earlier ones supposedly in search of suspects in the recent bombings. The police offered no explanation on why does the bombings in Metro Manila relate to the Mindanao conflict or that the perpetrators were Muslims.

On May 30, investigators from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) visited the Philippine Anti-organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) Detention Center to talk with the detainees on reports of torture and forced-eating of pork, a violation of Muslim practice. But despite having presented their mission orders, they were refused entry by the jail guards. The CHR
investigators were told that they needed permission from the Chief PNP Gen. Panfilo Lacson to see the Muslim detainees. The CHR has since been protested this shabby treatment, but up to this writing the suspects are held incommunicado at the PAOCTF headquarters.

Relatives of these detainees sought the help of human rights
lawyers and organizations, claiming that the detained are fall guys, some of whom are overseas workers awaiting their flight schedules or calls from their employers.

Related incidents include planned implementation of the
identification card (ID) system in all Muslim areas in Metro Manila, supposedly to distinguish them as members of their respective organizations. But civil libertarians and human rights advocates see this as discriminatory, not unlike the Star of David of the Nazis against the Jews during the time of Hitler. Moreover, periodic saturation drives on Muslim-dominated areas are being conducted, aside from surveillance
operations the police have also set up against the Muslim populace in Metro Manila.

On June 1, newspaper front-pages photos displayed government soldiers waving the Philippine flag atop a destroyed mosque in Mindanao, desecrating a holy place of worship. The CHR likewise condemned this grave disrespect and apparent ignorance of the soldiers of the cultural and
religious complexities of Philippine society.

In the evacuation centers in Mindanao, hundreds of children are suffering from various ailments such as diarrhea and acute respiratory problems exacerbating their hunger for food and milk

AN APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:

PLEASE SEND LETTERS OF APPEAL TO THE Philippine government urging them to:
STOP the War in Mindanao and indiscriminate prosecution of Muslims;
CONDUCT thorough investigation and prosecute perpetrators of illegal searches and surveillance against Muslim communities
EXHAUST all means to a just and lasting Peace for Mindanao
EXPEDITE and prioritize development for the island of Mindanao
STOP the provocation of a Muslim-Christian conflict in the country

Send your letters of appeal to:

President ERAP ESTRADA
Malacañang Palace
Manila, Philippines
Fax #: [632] 731-1325 / 712-4100
e-mail: erap@erap.com

Gen. ANGELO REYES
Chief of Staff
Armed Forces of the Philippines
Camp Aguinaldo
EDSA, Quezon City
Philippines
Fax #: [632] 911-7783 / 911-7708

Sec. ORLANDO MERCADO
Department of National Defense
Camp Aguinaldo
EDSA, Quezon City
Philippines
Fax #: [632] 911- 6213
E-mail: dnd@erap.com

Gen. PANFILO LACSON
Chief, Philippine National Police
Camp Crame,
EDSA cor. Santolan Rd.
Quezon City
Tel. # [632] 723 8108 / 722 - 0802
Fax # [632] 722 5443

Sec. ALFREDO LIM
Department of Interior and Local Government
Francisco Gold Condominium II
EDSA cor. Mapagmahal St.
Diliman, Quezon City
Fax #: [632] 925 - 0332
E-mail: dilg_co@hotmail.com

Comm. AURORA NAVARETTE-RECIñA
Commission on Human Rights
State Accounting and Auditing
UP Complex
Commonwealth Ave.,
Diliman, QC
Philippines
Fax # [632] 929-0102

Thank you for your continued support and concern for human rights in the Philippines. Please send a copy of your letter to <tfdp@info.com.ph>