Davao groups gear for Human Rights Day protest
DAVAO CITY—After the nationwide protests against corruption on Sept. 21 and Nov. 30, militant groups in this city, dominated by the family of former President Rodrigo Duterte, are again urging the public to go to the streets on Dec. 10, the 77th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Corruption is a violation of human rights because it deprives people of basic social services, as well as their civil and political rights,” said Pastor Elly Cayao, chair of Karapatan Southern Mindanao.
He said that unlike in the past when people in Davao City could still march on the streets and hold rallies at Rizal Park, they are now confined to holding their activities at the Freedom Park, which only reflects “the narrowing democratic space,” particularly in this city.
“On the (International) Human Rights Day, we underscore that corruption is also a human rights issue,” echoed Rauf Sissay, public information officer and liaison of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao.
“Trumped-up charges continue to be filed against activists, concerned citizens and human rights defenders. In Southern Mindanao region alone, quite a number of trumped-up charges are being filed against activists, including the secretary general of Karapatan and the six peasant organizers in Agusan del Sur, also called the ‘Agusan 6.’ These charges sponsored by the state are lodged against activists to silence dissent,” Sissay added.
Continuing harassment
The groups said that they would be celebrating the 77th International Human Rights Day this year amid the continuing harassment, Red-tagging and intimidation of activists.
Jeffry Uypala, spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, also alerted the media about the three men they identified as nonuniformed military personnel who had arrived on Dec. 5 at the community in Davao City, where Larry Argilles, the spokesperson of transport group Transmission-Piston lived, asking for personal details and tagging the activist’s wife as a New People’s Army (NPA) member in the Surigao area.
“It appeared they were profiling him and had asked for his personal details and those of his family,” Uypala said. “The fact that they linked his wife to the NPA already constituted Red-tagging,” he added.
As the spokesperson of Transmission-Piston, Argilles had been very vocal in opposing the impending public utility vehicles’ (PUVs) phaseout in Davao City, a project that would not only displace more than 6,000 PUV drivers and operators, but is expected to also jack up the prevailing fare in the city.
Argilles, who last led the protest towards the end of 2023 and a series of terminal hopping campaigns against the PUV phaseout in April last year, was not around when youth groups here protested the arrival of the first modern buses in the city, a project funded by a loan from the Asian Development Bank.
