LETTERS

Justice for Jocelyn Dulnuan and other OFW victims

On Oct. 24, the body of Jocelyn Dulnuan was laid to rest in their parent’s backyard in Namulditan, Hingyon, Ifugao. About 350 community people, sympathizers and their relatives attended the prayer in the morning.

What happened to Jocelyn will remain a nightmare to her family, relatives, the people in her community and her co-compatriots abroad. The family will not find peace until the killer is identified and brought to justice.

Community people and relatives who attended the wake have only one question to ask. “Who murdered Jocelyn?” The family cannot explain either but have tried to tell the community people: “let us wait for the investigation of the case”.

Jocelyn’s body was repatriated in 16 October and arrived in Manila on the18th October. The Canadian authority has raised $5,000 and the Philippine government contributed another $5,000 only for her repatriation.

As of this time, other commitments from the Ifugao LGUs and OWWA were not yet available, thus, all expenses were shouldered by the family. The Filipino community in Canada was able to raise $4,664 after the OWWA denied support to Jocelyn. According to the Jocelyn Dulnuan Support Committee in Canada , an independent initiative, moral and financial support has been continuously been pouring in for the family..

Jocelyn, 27 years old was found dead in October 1 by her female employer in their Mansion in Missiiiauga City , Ontario , Canada . Canadian police confirmed Jocelyn’s death involved “foul play” but did not make public all the details surrounding the incident.

Migrante Metro Baguio Chapter and Migrante International traveled all the way to Hingyon to attend the wake for Jocelyn for two nights in Ifugao upon the arrival of the body.

The Migrante shared the situation of the overseas Filipinos abroad to the community people. The local government present during the sharing committed to make resolutions in the pursuit of jocelyn’s justice.

Migrante vows to seek justice for Jocelyn and be vigilant to any attempt to whitewash the case.

As an organization composed of Overseas Filipino Workers and their families from the Cordillera, Migrante-Metro Baguio commits to seeking justice for Jocelyn Dulnuan, a fellow Cordilleran found murdered in Ontario, Canada .

We urge the Canadian authorities to disclose details about the full investigation into her case and we remain vigilant against any attempts to whitewash the investigation. We assert that Jocelyn’s family has the right to be fully informed about the progress of their investigation.

We also urge the Arroyo administration to ensure justice for Jocelyn, one of the million Filipinos forced to leave the country because of poverty, absence of jobs and very low wages. We do not want Jocelyn’s case to be another addition to the growing number of unsolved murders committed against Filipino workers around world.

Jocelyn and countless other migrant workers prop up the ailing Philippine economy by infusing more than US$12 billion annually into the country’s dollar reserves. The Arroyo administration must therefore ensure that justice for Jocelyn and her family is duly given to them.

We denounce OWWA refusal to provide assistance to Dulnuan. Her case highlights yet again how the Arroyo administration exacerbates the injustices suffered by overseas Filipino workers. Instead of blaming Jocelyn over her membership status with OWWA, the real problem is the OWWA Omnibus Policy passed by the OWWA Board in September 2003.

Jocelyn was brutally murdered in her room inside a mansion in the city of Mississauga , Ontario , Canada last October 1st. Jocelyn is from Namulditan, Ifugao. She worked in Hong Kong before she transferred to Canada under the Live in Caregiver Program.

Her remains were expected to be flown to the Philippines from Canada on Oct. 18 direct to Ifugao. Canadian police had reportedly confirmed that she died from “foul play”.

Migrante Metro-Baguio vows to intensify efforts to obtain justice for Jocelyn and all Filipino migrant workers. As a member of Migrante International, a global alliance of organizations composed of overseas Filipinos and their families, we commit to ensuring actions for Jocelyn are launched across the Philippines and around the world. Justice for Jocelyn Dulnuan!

Flora Belinan
Migrante Metro
Baguio Chairperson

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NPA denounces ‘illegal arrest’ of alleged member
Even on the flimsiest of reasons, the Arroyo regime and its rabid minions keep on arresting, incarcerating, and killing activists. Last Sept. 15, Jose Cawiding, a member of the progressive Cordillera Peoples Alliance was arrested by the police.

He was falsely accused of being a member of the Leonardo Pacsi Command of the New People's Army in the Mountain Province. Moreover, he was maliciously and falsely tagged as the intelligence officer of the LPC.

Just before his arrest, the police put up P500,000 as reward for his capture. Obviously, the police wanted the reward money for themselves while at the same time trampling on the democratic and civil rights of activists.

The Leonardo Pacsi Command categorically declares that said Cawiding was never a member of the NPA. Thus, he could not have participated in the successful tactical offensive of the NPA at Talubin, Mountain Province on July 14, 2003.

Cawiding's arrest was part of the PNP's counter-insurgency campaign that has been marked by a series of fiascos and bloopers. Just to chalk up its accomplishments, gain pogi points, rewards and promotions, the police is resorting to the harassment of activists such as the arrest of UCCP Pastor Franciso Bonuan last April 20 for allegedly participating in the NPA's punishment of Conrado Balweg.

The charges against Bonuan were recently dismissed by the court for lack of evidence. Also dismissed for lack of evidence were the charges against three militant farmers of the STOP-EX in Ilocos and the Punks 11 for allegedly participating in the NPA's tactical offensives. The case against Cawiding will surely be dismissed also in any fair court.

The harassment of activists through false accusations and trumped-up charges is the modus operandi of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group. This is part of the Arroyo regime's so-called legal offensive, a major component of Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL), Arroyo's vicious end-game strategy to crush the national democratic revolution before 2010.

The Arroyo regime's rampant violation of human rights further elucidates its complete moral and political bankruptcy. As the corrupt regime is buffeted by successive scandals and battered by intensive and extensive NPA tactical offensives, Arroyo is whipping her dreadful tail like a cornered crocodile does.
Arroyo and her corrupt stooges in the AFP/PNP shamelessly resort to false accusation and vilification in a vain attempt to cover up the defeats of their demoralized puppet army in the battlefields in the hands of the determined New People's Army launching tactical offensives to hasten the downfall of this much hated regime.

The Leonardo Pacsi Command calls on all patriotic junior officers of the AFP and PNP, and likewise to the rank and file to withdraw their support for their fake commander-in-chief who has no compunction to use them as cannon fodder if only to save her skin and corrupt regime.

The Leonardo Pacsi Comand joins the rest of the revolutionary forces and the oppressed Filipino people in denouncing this fast decaying and obnoxious Arroyo regime with its kilometric record of human rights violations.

Ka Magno Udyaw
Leonardo Pacsi Command
New People's Army –
Mountain Province