Adventures of Isabel

More than two years after the families of two murdered human rights activists filed a complaint against the Philippine government, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled the Arroyo government is guilty of violating the activists’ right to life, and was negligent in providing remedy after they were killed.
Eden Marcellana, photo courtesy Karapatan

On April 21, 2003, [...]

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
Human bone in Bataan camp by Nikko Dizon LIMAY, BATAAN—Braving rains, a fact-finding team Tuesday dug up a yellow rubber slipper, a laced shirt and burned fragments of what they suspected was a human [...]

Mountain Province, Luzon, Summer 2006
I finally have a confirmed ticket to and from the Philippines this summer. Philippine Airlines certainly made me sweat a bit (I didn’t know until this morning whether I had to be ready to leave on Sunday) but in the end, I got exactly the itinerary I wanted — [...]

President Arroyo was just awarded the “Medalla de Oro” from Universidad de Alcala in Spain, in recognition of her work to improve the human rights situation in the Philippines.
This makes me, quite literally, feel sick.
Yes, she abolished the death penalty. But to me, that seems a little irrelevant when she has condoned hundreds of extrajudicial [...]