(First of two parts) A week after assuming office, neophyte senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa proposed the reinstatement of the death penalty through Senate Bills (SB) 207 and 226, respectively. Two incumbent senators refiled what they had proposed before: Ping Lacson sent in SB 27, Manny Pacquiao SB 189. Before filing SB 226, Dela Rosa verbally expressed his desire to have criminals guilty of drug trafficking executed in public by firing squad with live media coverage. He assumed that it will be a deterrent:”Yung gawing public na maging katakot-takot sa mga tao na gumawa, para hindi pamarisan.(To make it publicly gruesome to the people who committed it so others will be deterred from committing the same crime.) ” The bill that he filed, though, specifies no measure on how convicts should be executed or whether the execution should be made public at all. He said he changed his mind on the matter after hearing out … [Read more...] about How we kill: Notes on the death penalty in the Philippines
Why human trafficking
GZERO VIDEO: Defector recalls escape from North Korea
NEW YORK (GZERO MEDIA) - Defector Yeonmi Park describes why she left home and how she escaped North Korea. "In the hospital, we saw so many bodies... we could see rats eating the humans," she recounts. She says that was when she and her mother decided they wanted to leave in search of a better life. She survived becoming a victim of human trafficking and walking across the Gobi Desert, and is now a human rights activist in the United States. This video, part of a special series by GZERO World, is made available to The Straits Times under a partnership with GZERO Media, a subsidiary of the Eurasia Group. … [Read more...] about GZERO VIDEO: Defector recalls escape from North Korea
Wang Kelian RCI: More than one syndicate ran transit camps
PUTRAJAYA: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the discovery of temporary transit camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis today was told that more than one human trafficking syndicate were suspected to have set up the illegal base discovered four years ago. ASP Mohd Yusof Ariffin, from the Vat 69 Commando team and the 45th witness in the RCI, said he came to this conclusion based on his observations on the layout of the 16 bases (locations) that were turned into temporary transit camps in Wang Kelian when he joined the operations in May 2015. “There were food trays in one base, while in another, no trays were found. Items found also differed from one base to another. There were bases secured with barbed wires while some others were left unfenced. We found no graves in all of these bases,“ he said. Mohd Yusof said other items found in all 16 bases were Thai rice, stale cooked rice, a teddy bear and clothes. The teams also found a tent in one base which had been … [Read more...] about Wang Kelian RCI: More than one syndicate ran transit camps
Iron fist
With the help of the house helper who survived the carnage last Sunday, the killer of an octogenarian couple in Quezon City was arrested with impressive speed by police in Caloocan on Tuesday. Carl Joseph Bananola, 37, was presented to the media late Wednesday morning. House helper Editha Fernandez identified him as the one who broke into the home of Nicolas Austria, 86, and his wife Leonora, 87, in Barangay San Agustin in Quezon City, and fatally stabbed and bludgeoned the couple with a pipe. Fernandez reportedly recognized Bananola because he used to deliver eggs to the couple. About seven hours after the media presentation, Bananola, who reportedly took P16,100 in cash from the house, was himself dead. The cops gave conflicting details of what happened. But the emerging official version, it seems, is that while being transported in a police vehicle from the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, where he was brought for inquest, back to Camp Karingal, Bananola asked to have … [Read more...] about Iron fist
Police personnel allege rebuke for arrests
PUTRAJAYA: A Police General Operations Force personnel was scolded by his company commander for making more arrests after the discovery of the Wang Kelian human trafficking camps by police in January 2015. The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) probing the matter was informed by Corporal Mat Ten during closed door proceedings last week that after the police arrested 32 individuals during a recce-cum-raid in Wang Kelian on Jan 19, 2015, he nabbed six more illegal immigrants after he chanced upon them that night. However, Mat’s action was allegedly met by disapproval from his superior, assistant superintendent M. Joeking, who was recalled to the stand as a witness today. Reading out part of Mat’s testimony today, RCI chairman Tun Arifin Zakaria said that Mat was at a petrol station in Wang Kelian filling up his motorcycle when he saw six illegal immigrants walking by the road side. He then made a phone call to the station before having them arrested. “However, Mat … [Read more...] about Police personnel allege rebuke for arrests