Human Rights Observation in the Philippines

Hi my friends,

I am since September 2009 here in the Philippines – half a year now. In two and a half weeks me and my collegues fly back to Germany. We saw a lot and we experienced a lot, many things have been fantastic but due to our work we also saw the root problems here in this country. Corruption is one of the big obstacles and that caused frustration in various situations.

But as you might know, talking about negative issues is sometimes a waste of time. So let`s stick to the “fantastic experiences”. Even if we met and talked mostly to the poorest of the poor here in Bondoc Peninsula (the area we work in here on Luzon) and stayed in their very basic homes we saw them smile and being happy. On last sunday Feli and me were invited to a birthday party in San Narciso. We were happily surprised by the atmosphere over there. More than 100 people, mostly farmers and their families, celebrated the whole night and the place was located inside of the jungle. After a while you got the feeling that even all the coconut trees were dancing to the music. On the way back me and one farmer enjoyed the rough way back to our place to stay. We were sliding down one big and steep hill…yippie.

Due to the fact that we will go back to Germany in the next weeks, this was a great and memorable last “Jungle Party” for Feli, me and all the Filipinas and Filipinos!

...some farmers place in San Narciso. From here on it was a 4 km walk through the jungle...

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

I spend the last week in Nilantangan (big picture above) and unfortunatly I was faced with several violations.

Farmers were threatened, a case of arson (a house was burned down), a violation of the so called “gun ban” here in the philippines in time of elections and a case of qualified theft I observed and documented.

All this within one week…me and the people over there have seen better days, i guess.

So, what we did was taking many evidence pictures and filing cases at the police station against the suspects.

We continue working on it…

Stay tuned,

Eric

I wish you and your families “A Happy New Year”…

celebrating christmas in Candelaria...

May your wishes come true in this year and you have the chance to catch some smiles from the people you will meet.

stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

how are you? What`s happening in your places?

Here is happening a lot. Some things you can read in the news and some things I could tell you now. But it`s already christmas time so let`s celebrate and just talk about a few…

We are still working on our IPON cases these days. Maybe we can give us some vacations from next weekend on…sometimes you need to rest your head for a while to load your batteries.

What happened within the last weeks?

From December the 4 th to 8 th we visited the other IPON Team in Bacolod City (located in Negros Occidental) and we had have some nice days over there. Mostly discussing about how to combine our work to be more effective in our two teams but also having some spare time…

We went to some waterfalls and i can tell that it was very nice.

jumping at the waterfalls...nice...

What is happening before Christmas?

On thursday we will go to the Department of Jutice in Manila City to give them a filled out Application Paper regarding “Wittness Protection” for one of the farmers in Bondoc Peninsula. It took us weeks to get to this point, because we and the wittness were faced a lot of walls we had to break in. Let`s take a minute to send a prayer that the “Wittness Protection” will work out in the end.

What else can I say?

Merry Christmas my friends!

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

another time another blog! Every day makes us feel more homelike here in the Philis. Our work as Human Rights Observers is still very exciting and varied. On the one hand we meet farmers to ask for informations about the latest human rights violations experienced by them. And on the other hand we go to state actors and other stakeholders in the Philippines to inform them about the new incidents. Of course, it`s not easy to get satisfying results after meeting and talking to state actors. But at least we are happy to see them acting to achieve a result in future.

It`s all the about the small steps in life like “the way is the destiny”…

...we visited the "Supreme Court" in Manila City...

Ingat,

Eric

Hey my friends,

now I am in the Philippines for 8 weeks, wow 🙂

A lot of things happened in the last time, we had a lot of Area visits regarding our work as Human Rights Observers. And I wrote a some articles and one will be published in the next IPON Observer Journal in December 2009. The article focuses on the farmers and their struggle for their own agricultural land.

Another article you can find on Indymedia: http://de.indymedia.org/2009/10/264307.shtml and additionaly I wrote a short info for the official IPON website: http://www.ipon-philippines.org/

What else happened during my first 8 weeks in Bondoc, Quezon, Philipines?

I met a lot of new friends and we shared some good moments together 🙂

For example yesterday (01.11.2009) I joined them in their celebration of “Undas”, the “Day of the Dead”. All Filipinos spend the day on the cemetery at the tombs of their decedents. Everybody is eating, drinking and even making music directly on the cemetery. Of course, you see people making a prayer on the cemetery but the sense of the Undas is to spend the day like this to remind on your relatives who passed away…

I think this is a really nice tradition.

celebrating "Undas"...

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

time is passing by and the world moves on everyday 🙂

What a great start to a new blog. Here in Bondoc Peninsula is happening so much. Many kids, many coco nuts and smiling in the faces of the people we meet. Last week Tanja and me went into the so called area. We went to a farmer who is living in a small place two hours away from mulanay. We spent the night in his house – a pretty simple place. He told us about his life and the dangers he survived in his life. That were definitly tough experiences he had to face.

...a chess game in Lucena City...

The next day day we observed a hearing between in a farmer and a landowner at the department of agrarian reform in buenavista. The people were explaining their situation and an official staff member from the department was giving comments and making a report. We did this as well and for me it was a real new experience. I think you have to get used to the fact that you observe and report a situation which is more than serious to the participating persons.

On our way back to mulanay we drove with 4 people on a motorbike. Pretty amazing 🙂

The next day we made a trip to Lucena City 🙂

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

since one week we are in the philippines now. It`s great and you can feel the heat on your skin. The first days we have been in Quezon City. The City never seems to sleep. You have noise all day and night. But you can get used to it. 🙂 In the beginning we had a lot of seminars to get into the topic. Our topic is to observe human rights violations.

Meeting of Farmers and Farmerleaders with IPON

Today we met all important farmer leaders from the municipalities of bondoc. We discussed our collaboration for the next half a year. From tuesday to thursday we will go into the area. That means we will meet farmers and farmerleaders and will report and talk about there human rights violations.

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

the time is running. On Saturday we fly to the philippines. We are a team of 4 young people and all of us decided to work for the “International Peace Observers Network” for half a year in the region “Bondoc”. I like to introduce to you Felicitas, Tanja, Lukas and me (Eric). Our office is in the small town Mulanay. More details may follow in the next days.

Please feel free to comment this blog 😉

Stay tuned,

Eric

Hi my friends,

on the 5th of september I will fly to the philippines to observe human rights violations.

Stay tuned,

Eric