The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) unequivocably condemns the violence perpetrated by the owners and management of Goldilocks against the legal and just actions of striking workers at the Mandaluyong cake plant at 11 o’clock this morning.

Unprovoked, two Goldilocks vans ferried some 40 company “contractuals” to be pitted against the striking workers. The vans attempted to ram through the picketline, the scabs threw sand at the eyes of the strikers and the aggressors hurled rocks against those blocking the gates. Six of the striking workers were hurt.

The Philippine Government must implement UN recommendations on prohibition of torture

The United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)-Philippines, an alliance of human rights organizations against torture, calls on the government to follow and implement the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) Concluding Observations on the elimination of torture in the country.

The CAT monitors the compliance of State parties to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Philippines, as a State party, submitted its second periodic report, 2009 April 28-29 to the 42nd session of CAT in Geneva, Switzerland. The report was submitted sixteen years late.

Gregan Cardeno, 33 years old, a contract worker from Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay hired by SkyLink Security Agency, was reported dead last February 23, 2010 by police officer SPO3 Rangiris to Mr. Cardeno’s family. Gregan was said to have committed suicide inside a military camp in Camp Ranao, in Datu Saber town, the home of the 103rd Brigade of the Philippine Army.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) salutes all women and all those who defend their dignity, who assert women’s rights as human rights and who fight to end impunity against women as persons and against their struggles.