COMPEL THE DOJ TO FREE ERICSON ACOSTA NOW!

PHOTO: Ericson Acosta with 79-year-old father Isaias Acosta, who is also undergoing treatment for a spinal ailment. Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/K0E0EHyTFVk

Poet-songwriter Ericson Acosta, detained for 23 months at the Calbayog sub-provincial jail in Samar on trumped-up criminal charges, is undergoing medical treatment at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) through a court order.

ERICSON ACOSTA IS STILL NOT FREE. His Petition for Review, citing serious irregularities and human rights violations in the conduct of his arrest and detention, has been pending before the Department of Justice for more than a year.

Almost two years have passed since his illegal arrest on February 13, 2011 -- there is still no immediate favorable resolution in sight for Ericson's review petition. We need to urge DOJ Secretary de Lima to drop the trumped-up charges against Ericson Acosta.

The government is not obliged to shoulder his medical expenses at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) since his medical check-up was granted by the court on account of a motion prepared by Ericson's lawyers.

Ericson's family needs to raise a substantial amount of money to cover his medical expenses, over and above his parents' who are themselves currently undergoing medical treatment for various ailments.

The Free Ericson Acosta Campaign enjoins your support in this very challenging phase of our campaign to free activist poet Ericson Acosta and all political prisoners.

FREE THE ARTIST!
FREE ERICSON ACOSTA NOW!

HOW YOU CAN HELP

You may deposit your financial support may to this account:

Isaias Acosta
BDO The Block
SM City North branch
Savings Account # 0251065464

For international donations:

Isaias Acosta
BDO The Block
SM City North branch
Savings Account: 00-0251065464
Routing #: 021000089
Swiftcode: BNORPHMM

WRITE TO DOJ SECRETARY TO PRESS FOR ERICSON'S IMMEDIATE RELEASE


You may use this template to write to Secretary Leila de Lima:

____________________________________________________


Secretary Leila de Lima
Department of Justice
Padre Faura Street, Manila
PHILIPPINES



Secretary de Lima,


Ericson Acosta is a poet and cultural worker. He has dedicated his life to serving the people. He was arrested without warrant February 13, 2011 while conducting human rights research in Barangay Bay-ang, San Jorge, Samar. He was brought to a military camp where he was interrogated and tortured for three days, before he was levied with a trumped-up charge of illegal possession of explosive to justify his arrest and continued detention.

His arrest, torture and almost two years in detention have resulted in the deterioration of his health. After Ericson's current medical treatment at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, it will be unacceptable and lamentable for him to recover only to be brought back to the Calbayog Sub-Provincial Jail. We must put an end to this mockery of justice.

As citizens longing for justice, we await your prompt action on the Petition for Review of Acosta's case filed by his counsel, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) before the DOJ in September 2011. We respectfully urge your honorable office to set aside the earlier resolutions of the local prosecutor in Samar, and to effect Acosta's release with the withdrawal of the fabricated complaint against him as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours,


Name______________________

Address____________________


____________________________________________________


FREE THE ARTIST! FREE ERICSON ACOSTA NOW!

Sign the online petition at change.org

http://www.change.org/petitions/release-detained-filipino-artist-ericson-acosta-now

Tanikala at Talinghaga

"Tanikala at Talinhaga" (Chains & Metaphors) is a documentary on artist-political prisoners in the Philippines, with interviews from National Democratic Front consultant Alan Jazmines, a poet and visual artist; activist poet-songwriter Ericson Acosta; and film student Maricon Montajes.

Appeal from Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights

Mr. President, your father’s memory as a political prisoner, hopes to bring you to take action to promote the protection of human rights of Filipino people. One of the very first acts of the late Pres. Corazon Aquino, your mother, was to free political prisoners. It was an action matched with her words to restore the Filipino people's democratic rights.

7 September 2012

His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III 
President Republic of the Philippines 
Malacañang Palace JP Laurel Street, San Miguel Manila 1005 Philippines

Transmitted via Electronic Mail and Telefax:
corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph
(+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968

Dear President Benigno Simeon Aquino III:

On behalf of the Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR), I would like to bring to your attention, the case of ERICSON ACOSTA, an artist, poet, cultural worker, former editor of the University of the Philippines’s school Paper, and human rights activist—who is illegally detained at the sub-provincial jail of Calbayog City, Samar province.

While doing a study on the human rights situation in militarized communities with the Small Peasants Association of Western Samar and the Alliance of Concerned Samarenos (ACOS), Acosta was arrested without warrant by members of the 34th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in February 13, 2011. A grenade was later produced by the military who accused him of illegal possession of an explosive, which is a non-bailable offence.

According to the counter-affidavit that was filed by the National Union of People’s Lawyers on Acosta’s behalf:
a. He was arrested without warrant while not committing any crime or doing anything illegal;
b. He was not informed of the reason for his arrest at the time of his arrest;
c. He was denied the right to counsel;
d. He was denied a phone call and prevented from contacting his family or his lawyer;
e. He was subjected to prolonged interrogation for 44 hours;
f. During tactical interrogation, he was physically and psychologically tortured;
g. He was deprived of sleep, threatened, intimidated, coerced and forced to admit membership in the New People’s Army;
h. The grenade subject of the case was planted;
i. The complaint against him was filed in court only after 72 hours and 30 minutes;
j. He was detained in a military camp, which is not of civilian jurisdiction.”

Acosta’s incarceration is a violation of Article 9 of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights which protects a person from arbitrary arrest and detention, to which the Philippine government is a signatory.
In a recent open letter written by Acosta’s father, Isaias, it was revealed that Acosta is suffering from abdominal and back pains, is passing blood in his urine and may possibly have a prostate problem due to bad prison conditions. For humanitarian reasons, political detainees like Ericson Acosta, ought to be freed immediately because he is sick.

Mr. President, your father’s memory as a political prisoner, hopes to bring you to take action to promote the protection of human rights of Filipino people. One of the very first acts of the late Pres. Corazon Aquino, your mother, was to free political prisoners. It was an action matched with her words to restore the Filipino people's democratic rights.

CPSHR adds our collective voice to the legions of individuals and organizations in the Philippines and abroad such as the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, the Philippine Center of the International PEN, and Amnesty International in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Acosta. His continued detention is a colossal injustice to Acosta and to the Filipino people whom he has chosen to serve through his courageous and creative involvement in the people’s struggle for their economic, political and cultural rights.

Thank you and we hope for your immediate attention and action on this case.

Sincerely yours,


SGD. Orval K. Chapman
Founding Member
Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights


Copy furnished:
Mr. Jose Arthur P. Ampeso, Consul General 
700 West Pender, Suite 1405 Philippine Consulate, Vancouver BC

Hon. Leila M. De Lima Secretary, Department of Justice (DOJ)
Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila, 1000 
Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph / doj.delima@gmail.com

Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin Secretary, Department of National Defense (DND) 
Camp Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo Quezon City 1110 
Fax: +63 2 982 5640; Tel: +63 2 982 5638 
Email webmaster@dnd.gov.ph

Chairperson Loretta Ann P. Rosales Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue U.P. Complex, Diliman Quezon City 
Tel: +63 2 928 5655, +63 2 926 6188; Fax: +63 2929 0102 
Email: rosales.chr@gmail.com

General Eduardo SL Oban Jr. Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) 
DND Building, Camp Gen Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City 1110 
Tel: +63 2 911 6001 local 8414; Fax: +63 2 421 3531 
Email: bacsecretariat@dnd.gov.ph

A Father’s Plea: Medical Attention for Ericson Acosta

July 31, 2012

DEAR FRIENDS,

Political prisoner Ericson Acosta is in need of medical attention. Please forward, blog, tweet and share this letter of appeal from the Acosta family. We also encourage everybody to write to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request the resolution of the Ericson Acosta case review which has been pending for almost a year. You may also address appeals to concerned government officials to drop trumped-up charges against Ericson and effect his immediate release.

A Father’s Plea

I am Isaias Acosta, father of detained artist and activist Ericson Acosta. I am writing this while I recuperate from a minor surgery pending further medical tests. Prior to my operation, I was all set for another visit to the sub-provincial jail in Calbayog City, Samar where my son has been detained for more than a year now.

I am now 79 years old, not in the best of health but would not pass up a chance to visit Ericson if I could help it. My wife, Liwayway, is turning 80 this year. She would have gone to Calbayog without me but she can hardly walk without support.
We are both physically suffering due to our respective conditions but nothing compares to the torment of knowing that our son continues to be unjustly imprisoned.

My recent medical setback ironically and agonizingly emphasizes the reason behind our intended urgent visit. Lately, Ericson had been complaining of a nagging pain in his abdomen and lower back. The pain, he says, intensifies whenever he urinates. Now he has also noticed spots of blood in his urine. My cousin, Ericson’s uncle, displayed similar symptoms before he succumbed to prostate cancer.

Ericson rarely complains when he is sick. Even when he was arrested last year, his first words to me were, “Daddy, huwag kayo’ng mag-alala.” He always tells his mother not to fuss over him. Ganyan si Ericson. Hindi niya iniinda hangga’t kaya niya. Once when he was still in grade school, he waited until a “stomach ache” had become too unbearable before he finally told us to take him to the hospital. It turned out he immediately needed to undergo an appendectomy. The doctor said we got there in the nick of time.

Ericson’s last check-up two years ago revealed a renal function abnormality and a possible prostate affliction. So as soon as we received word that he is in pain, we arranged for a visit and asked our lawyers to immediately file a motion before the court seeking urgent medical attention for my son.

We had to skip the visit because of my condition. But after we filed the motion, we were told that the judge in charge of his case had just retired. How long would it take until a new judge is installed? It is as if our frustration with the slow resolution of Ericson’s case is not enough. We are once again left bereft of immediate legal options.

I write this letter of appeal to the jail warden, to the Department of Justice, to Secretary Leila de Lima, and to all other concerned branches of government. I am an old man with no shortage of illnesses as expected of anyone my age, but I would gladly forfeit any trip to the doctor if it could only be traded for much-needed medical treatment for my son. His mother and I fear that his latest hunger strike has further worsened his condition. Ericson must get the medical attention he needs.

I am writing this letter a few days after former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was released on a million-peso bail. I cannot but be distressed by the continuing prejudice of our justice system against my son and other political prisoners like him.

Arroyo was placed under hospital arrest in consideration of her illness. Si Arroyo, sa kabila ng kanyang mga kasalanan sa taumbayan, ay pinayagang manatili sa de-aircon na ospital, regular na inaasikaso ng mga doktor at nars gamit ang buwis ng mamamayan. Ngayon siya’y pinalaya pa. Si Ericson at iba pang tulad niya na ang tanging kasalanan ay magsakripisyo para sa maliliit na tao, nasa kawawang kalagayan at hindi kinikilala ang mga karapatan. No, we do not seek preferential treatment like Arroyo. What we demand is that Ericson and all other political prisoners – who are ailing precisely because of dismal prison conditions – also be accorded the right to medical attention as necessary.

We appeal to all freedom-loving citizens and human rights advocates to once again help us in our latest plea for Ericson. During these disconcerting times, we shall continue to fight for Ericson’s release from detention. We add our voices to all others whose sons and daughters are unjustly imprisoned – free all political prisoners.

Yours,

ISAIAS P. ACOSTA

Details for letter-writers:

Department of Justice

Padre Faura Street,

Malate, Manila,

PHILIPPINES, 1000

Telephone: (02) 532-8481, (02) 523-6826

Email: communications@doj.gov.ph

Website: www.doj.gov.ph

LEILA M. DE LIMA

Secretary, DOJ

Telefax: 523-9548

Direct Line: 521-1908

Trunkline: 523-8481 loc. 211, 214

Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph; lmdelima_doj@gmail.com 

H.E. Benigno Simeon Aquino III

President of the Republic of the Philippines

Malacañang Palace

JP Laurel St., San Miguel

Manila 1005

PHILIPPINES

Voice: (+632) 735-6201 / 564-1451 to 80

Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968

E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Directory of Philippine consulates and embassies:

http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/about-the-dfa/rp-embass

consulates-a-rcos/phl-embassies-and-consulates-general

Belgian group INTAL interview on Ericson Acosta

Interview with BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr  by Belgian solidarity group INTAL.

On June 22, INTAL will hold an action calling for the release of Ericson Acosta in front of the Philippine embassy in Brussels. They will also have a solidarity jam after.

SERVE THE PEOPLE: Lugawan para sa Kalayaan

   

SERVE THE PEOPLE: Lugawan para sa Kalayaan
Sunday /  27 MAY 2012 / 3 - 8 pm 

UP Diliman Balay Kalinaw Dining Hall

On May 27, a year and three months after his illegal arrest, detained artist Ericson Acosta marks his 40th birthday inside the walls of the sub-provincial Jail in Calbayog City, Samar.

The Free Ericson Acosta Campaign (FEAC), in cooperation with Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto) SELDA and the All-UP Academic Employees Union, will be hold “SERVE THE PEOPLE: Lugawan para sa Kalayaan”, a fund-raising event to help sustain Acosta’s legal defense funds, at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Balay Kalinaw Dining Hall.

Please join us, his friends, family, colleagues, fellow artists and supporters, as we wish Ericson freedom from unjust detention on his 40th birthday. Fresh, hot lugaw will be served at 3pm and 6pm by fellow artists and former political detainees. Artworks, books, and crafts by political prisoners and their supporters will also be sold and auctioned at the event.

Serve the people!

This event coincides with the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, where the Philippines is expected to be "grilled" for its human rights record. There are more than 350 political prisoners in the country today, most of them victims of arbitrary arrests, torture and trumped-up criminal charges. More than 90 of them, including Ericson Acosta, were arrested under President Aquino's watch. 

FREE THE ARTIST!

FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

PHILIPPINES: Poet, journalist and activist remains detained without trial

The PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) International, a world association of writers, appeals for the immediate release of Filipino poet Ericson Acosta. Please visit links at

PEN International

PEN American Center

PEN UK

International Freedom of Expression Exchange

The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International is seriously concerned about the prolonged detention of poet, journalist and activist Ericson Acosta, who has been held without trial since February 2011. PEN International fears that he may be targeted for his legitimate human rights activities, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release if held solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the Philippines.

According to PEN’s information, Ericson Acosta (39) is a poet, songwriter and activist. He is a former editor of the student publication Philippine Collegian, and chairperson of the student cultural group Alay Sinin. He also worked as cultural writer for the Manila Times, and has acted in and directed a number of theatre plays. On 13 February 2011, Acosta was arrested by the military, in San Jorge, Samar, east of the country, on suspicion of being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA). At the time of his arrest, Acosta was said to be unarmed and conducting research on human rights and environmental issues in the area. He was reportedly held incommunicado for three days, during which he was ill-treated, tortured and threatened with death. On 16 February 2011, the charge of illegal possession of explosives was filed against Acosta at the Regional Trial Court Branch 41 in Gandara, Western Samar. Under Philippine law, this is a non-bailable offence. Acosta remains in custody pending action by the investigating prosecutor. Under Philippine law, the time limit from an arraignment to trial is set at 180 days by the Speedy Trial Act (RA 8493). However, over one year after Acosta’s arrest and arraignment, the prosecutor has yet to file a formal complaint to the court.

Acosta is currently detained at the Calbayog sub-provincial jail, which is a civilian detention facility. Since Acosta’s arrest, there has been a constant presence of officers from the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army outside the prison, who reportedly intimidate his family and other visitors. His defense team filed a complaint about this matter before Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (PCHR), but has received no response. In September 2011, Acosta filed a petition for the review of his case before the Philippines’ Department of Justice (PDOJ), alleging irregularities and rights abuses; however, despite the 60 days deadline to respond to the petition, the PDOJ’s decision remains pending.

While in prison, Acosta has continued to write and to give press interviews. For further information on his case, see Amnesty International’s statement; check the campaign site for his release where you can also read some of his recent poems, and the Free Ericson Acosta facebook page. The Philippines PEN Centre has been active in supporting his case.

Please send appeals:

Expressing serious concern for the prolonged detention without trial of poet, journalist and activist Ericson Acosta;

Calling for his immediate and unconditional release if held solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the Philippines.

Send appeals to:

His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
Manila
Philippines
Fax: +63 2 735 6167
Email: corres@op.gov.ph

Hon. Leila M. De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice (DOJ)
Padre Faura Street
Ermita, Manila, 1000
Philippines
Fax: +63 2 523 9548
Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph / doj.delima@gmail.com

**Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 30 April 2012** For further details contact Cathy McCann, 50/51 Brownlow House, High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, United Kingdom, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: + (0) 20 7405 0339. Email: Cathy.McCann@pen-international.org

Open Letter in Support of the Immediate Release of Filipino Artist Ericson Acosta - CHRP-UK

As published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer -- "Aquino's Disturbing Indifference"

We at the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines in United Kingdom are deeply concerned with the Philippine government’s seeming lack of interest on reported irregularities and rights abuses in the conduct of the arrest and continued illegal detention of Filipino artist Ericson Acosta.

Acosta was arrested without warrant on 13 February 2011 in San Jorge, Samar. Government soldiers nabbed him in an upland militarized village where Acosta was conducting research on the local human rights and environmental situation in the region. According to Acosta’s counter-affidavit, he stayed in a military camp for three days where he was interrogated and tortured for 44 hours straight. Illegal possession of explosives was charged against him to justify his illegal arrest. He is currently detained at the Calbayog sub-provincial jail where troopers from the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army has camped-out within the jail premises, causing sustained harassment and intimidation to Acosta, his family and visitors.

Acosta has made direct complaints and appeals to visiting local officers of the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) in the Eastern Visayas. These PCHR officers bore direct witness to the highly-irregular military deployment within the civilian detention facility. However, the PCHR has failed to make any report public, more so to publicly condemn these rights abuses.

A Petition for Review which cites serious irregularities and rights abuses was filed by Acosta’s counsel, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) before the Philippines’ Department of Justice (PDOJ) in September 2011. Acosta’s complainants have failed to file any comment on this petition. Without such opposition, the review petition should have been resolved within 60 days. However, upon inquiry at the PDOJ, resolution to the said petition is still currently pending. The NUPL has recently filed a motion for the immediate resolution of the review.

No less than the alternate voice of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, spokesperson Edwin Lacierda has told local reporters that “there are no political prisoners” in the Philippines. When asked about government response to the plight of Acosta and some 350 other detainees incarcerated because of their political beliefs, the President’s spokesperson can only offer empty rhetoric. This indifference has brought very real suffering to detainees like Acosta and their families.

We urge concerned Philippine authorities, especially the PDOJ to act without delay on Ericson Acosta’s review petition and effect his immediate release. His rights continue to be violated each day he remains incarcerated. Consequently, reported rights abuses and irregularities must be thoroughly investigated and acted upon.

Indeed, it has become disturbing to observe how a government led by the son of a revered political prisoner and democracy icon could turn a blind eye to the plight of Ericson Acosta and other political detainees in the Philippines.

Rev Canon Barry Naylor
Honorary President – Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP-UK)
Urban Canon and Parish Priest of the Abbey and Holy Spirit Ministries, Leicester

Statement of People’s Art Network and ICPC on 1st anniversary of detention of artist and political activist Ericson Acosta

February 13, 2012 — Bound by our commitment to people’s rights forged in the International Conference on Progressive Culture (ICPC) held in Manila in July 2011, we join our fellow artists, writers and cultural workers in the Philippines and beyond in their clamour to release Filipino artist Ericson Acosta from unjust detention.

Ericson Acosta was arrested by the Philippine military in Samar province one year ago on February 13, 2011. Ericson is known to his peers at the University of the Philippines as a poet, thespian, singer and journalist. He was an active member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines during its re-establishment in the last decade. He was seized during a visit to Bay-ang in San Jorge, Samar, a highly-militarized village, as a volunteer researcher on human rights and the environment for a local peasant group. Such arrests have become commonplace under the US-inspired Oplan Bayanihan counterinsurgency plan that targets civilians working with the poor and underprivileged.

We admire Acosta’s unwavering commitment to the cause of justice and freedom as an artist and cultural worker. It is this sense of responsibility to people and society that has led him to work in the grassroots and create art with the people.

Even in detention, Ericson Acosta continues to craft poetry and songs highlighting the plight of political prisoners in the country. Online, his prison diary JAILHOUSE BLOG and the PRISON SESSIONS recording of his songs from behind bars have generated interest from listeners and readers around the globe. His work as an artist and activist is recognized by various cultural and human rights groups in the USA, Canada, Asia and Europe.

We urge Philippine authorities to free Ericson Acosta immediately as we reaffirm our pledge to create people’s art and work to shape the society of the future.

The People’s Art Network, which was established following the ICPC, believes that, like Ericson Acosta, artists must go to the grassroots and bring art to our communities, to the people, to our people. Artists must resist curtailment of our freedom of expression, fight for the peoples’ rights and welfare, remember our history and ancestors and continue their struggles for freedom and walk along with our peoples to end injustice in our world.

Oppose attacks on artists and cultural workers, particularly those facing repression, imprisonment and worse due to the link between their art and their involvement in the people’s struggle.

FREE THE ARTIST!

FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN THE PHILIPPINES!

News Release: February 13, 2012

Please share, blog, tweet, email this post and sign the online petition for Ericson's immediate release at Change. org

NEWS RELEASE:

February 13, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reference: Atty Jun Oliva (NUPL)

(02) 9206660

A year after illegal arrest

Groups clamor for detained poet’s release

NUPL files motion for immediate resolution of Ericson Acosta case before DOJ

A year after the illegal arrest of poet and former UP Collegian editor Ericson Acosta, his family, colleagues, human rights advocates and supporters “demand nothing less than his immediate and unconditional release.”

“Ericson’s sense of responsibility as Iskolar ng Bayan has led him to work in the grassroots and create art with the people. (His) right to participate productively as a free citizen of this country is violated each day he remains in detention,” read a statement released by the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign (FEAC) in a press conference and music jam at the University of the Philippines Palma Hall lobby last Friday, February 10.

The event was organized by the All-UP Academic Employees Union and Acosta’s former colleagues at the university, and was attended by prominent Filipino cultural icons – US-based cultural critic and thinker Prof. Epifanio San Juan, Jr; women’s studies author Delia Aguilar; award-winning scriptwriter and author Ricky Lee; actress, screenwriter and UP Regent Bibeth Orteza; UP College of Mass Communications Dean and popular culture critic Roland Tolentino; and protest songwriter and poet Jess Santiago, among others.

“The illegal arrest and continued unjust detention of cultural worker Ericson Acosta is concrete proof of the existence of political prisoners. There is nothing righteous with having our artists like Acosta suffer in incarceration,” Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) Secretary-General Angie Ipong said in a news release.

Acosta was arrested without warrant by the military on February 13, 2011, in Brgy. Bay-ang, San Jorge, Samar just because the laptop he carried roused the suspicion of soldiers. Due to serious irregularities and rights abuses in the conduct of his arrest, his counsel led by Atty. Jun Oliva of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), filed a Petition for Review before the DOJ in September 2011, and moved to defer court proceedings pending resolution of the said petition. Ideally, a review petition should be resolved within 60 days.

“It is important for us to bear witness to the truth of the injustice done to Acosta,” Prof. E. San Juan, Jr. said.

Exactly a year after Acosta’s illegal arrest, the NUPL will today file a motion for the immediate resolution of the Review Petition. Aside from difficulties faced by his family after Acosta’s detention in Samar, they also protest continued military harassment and intimidation by troopers from the 8^th ID deployed within the jail facility.

“Instead of settling for a stable, well-paying job, or going abroad like his brothers, our son Ericson chose to teach literacy and work for the oppressed in far-flung provinces. Something is terribly wrong when he is made to suffer a year in prison for doing what he thinks is right,” lamented Acosta’s father Isaias, who is now in his late ‘70s.

Acosta was named finalist of the 2011 Imprisoned Artist Prize at the Freedom to Create Awards Festival in Cape Town South Africa last November, along with imprisoned artists from Burma and Tibet. Various human rights groups and cultural institutions, including the Amnesty International, Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines-United Kingdom, University Council of UP Diliman, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Philippine Center of the International PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) support the call for his release.

“Even if it has become dangerous to integrate with the masses, the scholars of the nation know it has to be done,” Dean Roland Tolentino said in his speech at the UP.

Acosta’s songs and writings from prison is posted by the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign in his JAILHOUSE BLOG (http://www.acostaprisondiary.blogspot.com). Pictures can be downloaded from the Free Ericson Acosta Facebook page and campaign blog (http://www.freeacosta.blogspot.com).

2011 Philippine PEN Resolutions support release of detained writer Ericson Acosta

Resolutions of the 54th Congress of the Philippine Center of the International PEN

(Dec. 1-2, 2011, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City)

We, the members of the Philippine Center of the International PEN, gathered for our 54^th Congress, hereby resolve the following:

· Restate our resolution passed during our 52^nd Congress condemning in the strongest terms the massacre on November 23, 2009 in Maguindanao, Mindanao of more than 60 civilians, many of them journalists and writers, who were apparent victims of political violence in connection with the May 10, 2010 national and local elections. We urge the Executive and the Judiciary to carry out a swift and effective trial of those accused of the killings. Delay in the dispensation of justice would endanger the lives of witnesses and worsen the injustice suffered by the victims and their kin. Moreover, justice delayed would, reiterating our 2009 Resolution, abet “the culture of violence and impunity that has been engendered by government’s rapprochement with warlords and their armies in Mindanao and elsewhere,” very evident in the state’s historic “lackluster efforts to investigate killings of and violence against journalists and other victims of human rights abuses.”

· Join and support the call for the release of writer and political prisoner Ericson Acosta. We urge the Philippine government to abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Since the Philippine PEN is a member of the Writers in Prison Committee International PEN, it resolves as well to call for the release of all prisoners monitored by the International PEN.

· Urge the Cultural Center of the Philippines to continue funding and supporting the publication of Ani, the CCP literature journal.

· Work more closely with the education sector, its leaders, planners and administrators, its teachers and students, and the education publishing industry, to improve literature education in the country. The Philippine PEN recognizes that literary taste is shaped in the schools, especially the public school system; it is where generations must be taught to appreciate the outstanding works of our very own writers, works that constitute the soul of our nation. Therefore, the Philippine PEN, with some assistance from the International PEN in London and the Swedish International Development Agency, resolves to conduct seminars and workshops around the country to improve literature teaching in the schools. Furthermore, it will strive to work for a comprehensive listing of quality translations of literary works in the different Philippine languages and make the inventory available to Associations of Textbook Publishers.

· Join and support the call for measures to bring down greenhouse gas emissions in order to stem climate change and its disastrous effects on the biosphere. Taking the challenge made by writer Rony V. Diaz in his keynote address of our 2011 Congress, we are specifically monitoring the developments of the summit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change taking place in Durban, South Africa up to December 9, 2011. We expect it to come up with specific recommendations to address climate change that we will urge governments, especially of industrialized nations with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, to adopt and implement. “Statements of support and endorsement of specific recommendations of the IPCC,” said Rony V. Diaz, “will be a powerful voice from the poets, essayists, novelists, playwrights and editors of the world.” The 2011 Philippine PEN Congress concurs with the declaration of our comrade-in-the-pen. Since the issues revolving around the issue are technical and geopolitical, beyond the immediate comprehension of laymen and non-politicians, we, as writers and artists, have the artistry and the obligation to make them immediate and compelling. Therefore, we vow to use the powers of the pen and the energy of the imagination to exalt nature and humanity, painting their interconnectedness and evoking their mutual integrity. Through our verses, stories, reports and reflections, we will portray the disastrous consequences of severing the symbiosis that should exist between ecology and mankind. Writers often pit man against nature: Nature is depicted as impersonal and ruthless, man is represented as puny and defenseless. But it is more obvious from the destruction of the environment and the worsening effects of climate change that nature is the victim and man who is the victimizer. Through our writings, therefore, we will serve stern warning to humanity to change their way or else face annihilation. Through our discursive and creative writings, we will invoke the need for the restoration of the proper equation that should obtain between man and nature and of the need for them to complement one another. In this case, we will not only produce a literature of survival, which is the theme of our 2011 Congress, but also a literature of communion.

Passed during the closing ceremonies of the 54^th Congress of the Philippine Center of the International PEN, December 1-2, 2011, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City, Metro Manila, the Philippines.

ERICSON ACOSTA IS ON HUNGER STRIKE!

SUPPORT!

Through your help, we can see to it that Ericson will be reunited with his family and the people he serves.

You may donate through the account:

Isaias Acosta
BDO The Block SM City North branch
Savings Account # 0251065464

For international donations:

Isaias Acosta

BDO The Block SM City North branch
Savings Account: 00-0251065464
Routing #: 021000089
Swiftcode: BNORPHMM

Detained artist Ericson Acosta begins his hunger strike today, December 3, 2011, as part of the campaign to free all political prisoners in the country. Acosta’s hunger strike intends to expose the particular circumstances of his arrest and continued unjust detention.

Acosta’s supporters have called on authorities, particularly the DOJ, to immediately withdraw the fabricated illegal possession of explosive complaint lodged by the military against the poet. Acosta stresses that it utterly baseless for him to undergo a full-blown trial for this trumped-up charge. Instead, he says it is he who should have the right to charge the state elements responsible for violations of his human rights.

One of his particular demands is to pull out the highly irregular if not illegal presence of a squad of military men near his place of detention. A platoon of soldiers from the 87^th IB were first deployed in the nearby barrio since July in the pretext of military operations, but it has become apparent that the soldiers are there to “guard” Acosta. Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano in his recent visit to the Calbayog jail directly witnessed how soldiers listen in to Acosta’s conversations with visitors.

It is necessary to maintain the civilian nature of the Samar sub-provincial jail. It is also a challenge for civilian authorities to assert their power over these military “invaders.” This troop deployment, and the overkill security arrangement during Acosta’s first court appearance where he was made to ride the jail vehicle as a lone detainee in the midst of soldiers in full battle gear “(these) are symptoms of one affliction of paranoia named Fascism.”

“Fascism is the most dangerous type of paranoia,” Acosta said.

­ C A S E T I M E L I N E

February 13, 2011 – While on his way to San Jorge town from Barangay Bay-ang proper around 10 am, Acosta was arrested without warrant by elements of the 34^th IBPA led by 2^nd Lt. Jacob Madarang. Acosta was accompanied by a barangay official and was carrying only a laptop and some personal belongings at the time of his arrest. With threats, soldiers instructed Acosta’s companions from the barrio to carry on, as they were only interested with the “Tagalog” whom they suspected of being a high-ranking NPA rebel. Acosta was conducting human rights research in the militarized barrio for Kapunungan han Gudti nga Parag-uma ha Weste han Samar (KAPAWA – Small Peasants Association of Western Samar) and the Alliance of Concerned Samarenos (ACOS).

Acosta was brought to the 34^th IB Charlie detachment in Brgy. Blanca Aurora, San Jorge. They arrive at about 9pm. Acosta was interrogated, coerced and tortured for 44 hours straight with only 2 hours of sleep. He was denied communication to his family as well as access to a lawyer, despite his repeated assertion of his rights. Arresting military officers file a report on Acosta’s arrest on the same day.

February 15 – Around 7pm, Acosta was brought to the PNP Municipal Headquarters in San Jorge. While Acosta was still in the vehicle with military escorts, a grenade was presented by the military to the police. Inside the building, Acosta was later told by police officers that he was being charged with illegal possession of explosive. He was brought to a hospital for medico-legal procedure and was detained overnight at the PNP San Jorge.

February 16 – Police completes the blotter procedure against Acosta. He was brought to the Calbayog Hall of Justice around 9am by military escorts in civilian clothes. Acosta was finally able to call his family when he asserted his rights in front of civilian employees in the building. A complaint of illegal possession of explosive signed by the San Jorge PNP Chief Oscar Pagulayan was directly filed to the Regional Trial Court of Gandara, Samar, Branch 41 at 10:30 am, or seventy two (72) hours and thirty (30) minutes after Acosta’s arrest on February 13, 10 am. Acosta was then remitted to the Calbayog sub-provincial jail around 1:30 pm.

February 17 – The AFP publicizes the capture of a “top ranking CPP personality,” Ericson Acosta aka “August Lim.” The AFP releases state that “..troops recovered from Acosta one (1) laptop notebook with complete accessories and spare battery, an external hard drive, Globe tattoo (USB globe broadband), one (1) unit Nokia 3530, 6 pcs SIM cards, a cash amounting to Four Thousand Eight Hundred pesos (P4, 800.00) only and his personal belongings.” As for the grenade subject of the illegal possession complaint, reports said that “(Acosta) … attempted to draw a hand grenade from his pocket.”

March 1 –The Acting Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Gandara, Samar, Branch 41, Hon. Subanah E. Usman, instead of issuing a Commitment Order, issues an Order referring the case to the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor, Calbayog City for Preliminary Investigation.

April 11 – Acosta through his counsel, a legal team from the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) led by Atty. Jun Oliva, files his counter-affidavit, which states: "a. He was arrested without warrant while not committing any crime or doing anything illegal; b. He was not informed of the reason for his arrest at the time of his arrest; c. He was denied the right to counsel; d. He was denied a phone call and prevented from contacting his family or his lawyer; e. He was subjected to prolonged interrogation for 44 hours; f. During tactical interrogation, he was physically and psychologically tortured; g. He was deprived of sleep, threatened, intimidated, coerced and forced to admit membership in the NPA; h. The grenade subject of the case was planted; i. The complaint against him was filed in court only after 72 hours and 30 minutes; j. He was detained in a military camp, which is not of civilian jurisdiction."

April 15 – The Free Ericson Acosta Campaign (FEAC) is launched in Quezon City. A statement calling for his immediate release is signed by hundreds of artists, journalists, human rights advocates and other supporters.

June 7 – Acosta receives Prosecutor Agustin Avalon’s resolution dated April 20, recommending the filing of the illegal possession of explosive case in court.

June 21 – NUPL files a motion for reconsideration before the prosecutor.

July – Delegates to the International Conference on Progressive Culture held in the Philippines sign the support statement calling for Acosta’s immediate release. Signatories include prominent artists and cultural groups from the USA, Canada, Asia and Europe. Troops from the 8^th ID begin to station near Acosta’s place of detention.

August 12 – Amnesty International calls for the end of Acosta’s detention and cites rights violations.

August 17 – NUPL receives Prosecutor Avalon’s resolution dated July 12, denying the motion for reconsideration.

September 1 – NUPL files a Petition for Review before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

September 21 – Acosta is brought to court for a scheduled arraignment. Court grants his counsel's motion to defer proceedings pending the DOJ’s decision on the review petition. Acosta is again harassed by the military when made to ride the jail vehicle as a lone detainee along with military escorts in full battle gear.

October 14 - The state’s National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) ties up with the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (DOJ), in a gathering of artists calling on the DOJ to promptly review Acosta's case.

November 19 - Acosta is named finalist of 2011 Imprisoned Artist Prize at the Freedom to Create Awards Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, along with filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen of Tibet. Musician Win Maw of Burma wins the Prize.