I want to urge you to help us in the effort to demand that the Philippine military release the 43 healthcare workers that were illegally arrested and detained on February 6, 2010 in Morong, Rizal, Philippines.

This issue is close to my heart because I know what it feels like to be held incommunicado, in solitary confinement, denied of my right to legal counsel, and denied access to my family and loved ones.  I know what it feels like to be blindfolded and handcuffed, threatened, and not knowing what will happen next.  I also know what it means to be tortured.  It is as harrowing of an experience as it is traumatic.

Just a few weeks ago I was in New York City to talk about my experience of abduction and torture perpetrated by the Philippine military and to condemn the continuing human rights violations in the Philippines.  Now there is news again of the arrest of the 43 healthcare workers, amongst them doctors and nurses.  This just shows that the Arroyo government has every intention on escalating the violence against the people and committing gross human rights violations.

These doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers are the ones that go to poor and underserved communities and volunteer their time to provide much needed healthcare services and have saved lives.  They are health workers affiliated with the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) and Council for Health and Development (CHD). They help train healthcare workers and they work with Community Based Health Programs (CBHPs) that have been present in most parts of the rural communities all over the Philippines since the 1970’s.  CBHPs are present in areas where government services lack or are simply nonexistent. They provide primary healthcare and train and organize communities to set-up alternative healthcare systems that are people-managed and self reliant.

The Philippine government has paid back their thanks to these doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers by arresting, detaining, and torturing them.  To justify their acts—despite the invalid search warrant and pretense used to raid the farmhouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte where the health training was held—the military has accused the healthcare workers of being NPA rebels.  It seems that every time the Philippine military is caught committing human rights violations they label anyone “NPAs” and plant evidence and witnesses against them to file false criminal cases.  As if this would justify the torture and the violation of their rights, but the fact is that regardless, they are still protected under the Geneva conventions and International Human Rights Laws.

The military is getting caught in its web of lies and deceit in their attempt to justify the illegal arrest, detention, and torture of the 43 healthcare workers.  This allows them to continue to act with impunity and to target civilians and anybody that is critical of the government. This incident further shows the arrogance, brutality, and ruthlessness of the Arroyo government.

It is reported that some of the 43 healthcare workers, 26 of whom are women, have experienced sexual abuse while detained.  Also, when the Philippine military finally presented the 43 healthcare workers before the Court of Appeals on February 15, 2010 due to the petition of habeas corpus filed by the families of the 43 and the mounting public pressure, Dr. Alex Montes gave his testimony.  He described the inhumane conditions he endured, about being handcuffed and blindfolded for 36 hours, held in solitary confinement, and not being able to utter another word after being asked how this experience has affected him, witnesses said he returned to his seat seemingly broken.

I am afraid for what Dr. Montes was unable to say, and about the other torture he and others probably endured.  After all, he still has to go back to the military camp after his testimony and he is still at the mercy of his captors.  Let us prevent any further violation of his rights, let us demand the end to the torture of the 43 healthcare workers and demand their immediate release.

No one has been prosecuted for human rights violations and the Philippine government continues its brutal policy unabated even as international condemnation of the Philippines for its gross human rights record has been expressed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other international bodies.  What is especially disturbing to me is that our taxpayer dollars here in the United States are being used to fund and train the Philippine military who is guilty of committing these human rights violations.  We can say “no to more human rights violations in the Philippines” by saying “no to more military aid” and urging our government to cut military funding to the Philippines.  We can also bring these human rights violations and the case of the 43 healthcare workers to the attention of our local representatives and Senators by writing to them and signing petitions like the one below.

The 43 healthcare workers include doctors like Dr. Montes and Dr. Merry Mia Clamor who chose to stay in the Philippines instead of going abroad.  In a country where 7 out of 10 Filipinos do not even see a doctor before they die, and where the majority of the people lack access to public health services and facilities, these doctors and healthcare workers that have dedicated their time and skills to serve the poor and marginalized communities of the Philippines are doing their heroic duty and sworn mandate to serve and attend to the medical needs of the poor and the most vulnerable in society.  They deserve not only our praises, but they need our continued support and our outcry for justice.

FREE THE 43 HEALTHCARE WORKERS NOW!
NO TO IMPUNITY IN THE PHILIPPINES!
STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES!
STOP TORTURE NOW!
STOP MILITARY AID TO THE PHILIPPINES!

Sincerely,
Melissa Roxas

Please sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/Free43

For more information and to find out what you can do please visit:
www.karapatan.org
www.bulatlat.com

NEW YORK– Nearly 100 concerned New Yorkers gathered at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor Center this past Saturday to listen to Melissa Roxas, the first US citizen under the Obama administration to be subjected to a gross human rights violation in the Philippines, and veteran Philippine human rights activist Marie Hilao-Enriquez, speak about the worsening human rights situation in the Philippines under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

Marie Hilao-Enriquez and Melissa Roxas

Both Roxas and Enriquez were guest speakers at the second annual Pagpupugay (Tribute), an event honoring anti-martial law activists and human rights defenders sponsored by the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP). This year’s event was also co-sponsored by SEIU/Local 1199 United Healthworkers East.

Melissa Roxas

Re-living Torture

Still fighting back tears, Roxas shared her story of abduction at gunpoint followed by six days of torture before surfacing in Quezon City last May 25th, while conducting community surveys in preparation for a volunteer medical mission in a rural town in La Paz, Tarlac.

Roxas, who is based in Los Angeles, is a founding member of the national Filipino-American alliance known as BAYAN USA.

“It is very hard for survivors to speak out in the Philippines because most are still harassed and threatened by the Philippine military and police and threatened with death and harm to themselves and their families,” Roxas explained. “Torture survivors, like myself, also find it very hard because every time I talk about the experience its like re-living it again. But because many more have been silenced and because one of the main objectives of torture is to silence and create fear, and to debilitate people, it is important to speak about it.”

Roxas pointed directly to the culpability of the 7th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in perpetrating her abduction and torture. Last year, the Philippine Supreme Court granted a writ of amparo (protection) to Roxas and validated her claim of abduction and torture, despite attacks from former military generals that Roxas’ ordeal was “stage-managed”. However, the same high court ruling denied the request for an investigation of Fort Magsaysay, the alleged military camp where Roxas was detained.

Attorney Leonard Weinglass

International human rights lawyer Leonard Weinglass, a member of Roxas’ legal team, presented on Roxas’ pursuit of justice in the international courts, filing complaints with the US State Department and United Nations last year.

Counter-Insurgency Campaign

Enriquez, Chairperson of the Philippine national human rights organization Karapatan, presented Karapatan’s most current human rights report which identifies the Arroyo government’s national counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL), as the framework for a “reign of terror” in the Philippines.

“Oplan Bantay Laya is by far the bloodiest and most brutal counter-insurgency campaign unleashed on the Filipino people by any Philippine president,” Enriquez stated.

According to Karapatan, OBL’s objective of annihilating the ongoing armed insurgency in the Philippine countryside is being pursued by targeting legal, aboveground civilians critical of the policies of the Arroyo government. This has resulted in the politically-motivated killings of over 1000 government critics since Arroyo assumed power in 2001.

“The three tiers of opposition to the Philippine government–the armed rebellion in the countryside, the unarmed civil society groups, and the progressive block in the Philippine Congress–are all lumped into one target for Philippine state security forces to go after,” Enriquez explained.

Enriquez also reported that extrajudicial killings in 2009 surpassed the previous annual totals since the Arroyo government assumed power in 2001 due especially to the shocking, “unparalleled” massacre in Maguindanao which claimed 58 lives last November 23rd. The November massacre also serves as a gruesome salvo to election-related violence in the Philippines with the upcoming national elections this May. Meanwhile, the Arroyo government set a target deadline for the second stage of OBL by June 2010.

Funding State Terrorism in the Philippines

Both Roxas and Enriquez addressed the role of US military aid to the Philippines in funding Philippine counter-insurgency operations, such as Oplan Bantay Laya.

“It is disturbing to me that the White House has been quiet about the human rights situation in the Philippines,” Roxas stated. “And Mrs. Clinton’s recent visit to the Philippines did not really address the current human rights violation and instead she expressed her solid support for the Philippine government and the military.”

Both made strong statements for the cutting of further US military aid to the Arroyo government for its ties to the Philippine military’s perpetration of gross human rights violations, as examined in a 2007 US Senate hearing on the Philippines.

Audience members in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor Center

“For us who live here in the United States, the issue of torture and our own government’s involvement in torture, whether directly in places like Guantanamo, or indirectly through the funding and training of the military in countries that are guilty of human rights violations, like the Philippines, is a reality we can no longer continue to deny, be ignorant, and choose to be indifferent,” stated Roxas.

While in New York City, NYCHRP arranged for Roxas and Enriquez to meet with several human rights lawyers as well as a courtesy visit to the office of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston, who reported on the Philippine military’s involvement in human rights violations when he visited the country back in 2007.

Anticipating the escalation of election-related violence and electoral fraud in the Philippines this year, the local human rights advocacy organization is also promoting an international election-monitoring mission to the Philippines this May 2010 known as the People’s International Observers Mission (PIOM). For more information on how to join the PIOM or about NYCHRP, email nychrp@gmail.com.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Yoko Liriano
NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP)
Email: nychrp@gmail.com

NEW YORK–The first US citizen under the Obama administration to be subjected to abduction and torture in the Philippines will be speaking in Manhattan this weekend to tell her story and help raise funds for and awareness on the plight of victims of gross human rights abuses under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Melissa Roxas, 32, of Los Angeles, is headlining Pagpupugay 2, the second annual tribute to anti-martial law activists and human rights defenders sponsored by the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) this Saturday, January 30th, 1 PM at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor Center, located at 310 West 43rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in midtown Manhattan.

The location also serves as the headquarters of SEIU/Local 1199 United Healthworkers East, the largest local union in the United States and official co-sponsor of the event.

“Melissa is a hero. We draw inspiration from her strength and courage to speak the truth about what is happening in the Philippines, even if it entails relentless McCarthyist red-baiting attacks against her character launched by those seeking to cover it up,” states NYCHRP member Gary Labao.

Roxas, who has filed official complaints with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and US State Department, will join Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Chairperson of Karapatan, the largest human rights organization in the Philippines at this year’s Pagpupugay. After surfacing in Quezon City following six days of forced captivity and subjugation to physical and psychological torture by her captors last May, Roxas, who still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, was able to receive the physical and psychological help she needed with Karapatan’s assistance.

“I am grateful to Karapatan for not only helping me, but for helping thousands of others in the Philippines who have suffered the brunt of the Arroyo government’s military counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya 2 (OBL2).” Roxas, a founding member of the national Filipino-American alliance, BAYAN USA, shared. “My story is not mine alone, it is shared by countless others and with loved ones of those who have been killed or have never been found.”

Various international bodies, including the United Nations, have denounced OBL2 and supported Karapatan’s demand for its withdrawal on the basis that it has led to the perpetration of an acute human rights crisis in the Philippines that in many ways has surpassed the atrocities committed under the Marcos dictatorship.

In his 2007 report on the Philippines, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston pointed to the culpability of the Philippine military in committing a range of human rights abuses against unarmed civilians, including politically-motivated killings, abductions, torture, and forced displacement.

Shortly after his celebrated inauguration last year, President Barack Obama publicly pledged continued support to the Arroyo government and its military, including financial support and the deployment of more US troops to train Philippine military in counter-insurgency operations.

This year’s Pagpupugay 2 will also be a benefit fundraiser for Karapatan. For more information or to RSVP to this event, email nychrp@gmail.com.

I am writing to you because you are going to visit the Philippines to meet with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I would like to appeal for you to discuss the gross human rights violations happening under the Arroyo administration. I am a United States citizen, a human rights advocate, and also a victim of abduction and torture in the Philippines.

I was abducted and tortured in May 2009 as I was conducting medical surveys in preparation for a medical mission in La Paz, Tarlac, Philippines. Based on the evidence, my own experience, and the pattern in which the incident occurred, it strongly points to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the perpetrators.

As a writer, a poet and a human rights activist, I feel really committed to the cause of human rights and the plight of the poor and under-privileged. I went to the Philippines to learn more about my roots and heritage and to do volunteer work in various poor and under-privileged communities with the organization Bayan Philippines.

I never imagined that my efforts to help these poor and under-served communities and to advocate for a more humane society would result in me being targeted for abduction and torture. As an American citizen, I have learned to value and cherish my inalienable rights—something that has made me fight harder for those rights for myself and also for others.

I endured six days of physical and mental torture at the hands of my captors. I am still suffering from the trauma. I never want anyone else to experience what I have and I now know first hand what other victims of human rights abuses in the Philippines have been through. There is no room in a civilized society and a civilized world for torture and no room for the suppression of human rights to life, freedom, and genuine democracy. For those of us that are in a position to fight for those freedoms in the world, it is our duty to uphold those principles and to strongly condemn human rights violations.

There is a culture of impunity in the Philippines. The Philippine government has made no serious effort to investigate what happened to me despite the Philippine Court of Appeals ruling that my abduction and torture occurred and granting me a Writ of Amparo. There continues to be a lack of government attention to address my case and the countless victims of human rights violations even though international human rights groups including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Philip Alston, have pointed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as culpable.

I urge you to discuss the issue of human rights violations in your talk with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and hold her administration accountable for those abuses. Moreover, I would strongly urge you to support restrictions on U.S. military funding for the Philippines until the Arroyo administration can adhere to international laws, upholding human rights both in good faith and in practice.

Sincerely,

Melissa Roxas

You thanked me for lending an ear to your story,
which you have said you will not tire of telling.

I can listen to your story a thousand times
or even for a thousand years,
because it is one of those stories that really matter
in an age when stories are rarely stories anymore.
Any story that tells
of how one can look the enemy in the eye
even though the very thought of him
sends shudders down the spine;
of how an almost-bloodied head can remain unbowed;
of how knees badly bruised can refuse to bend;
of how one can continue being a spark
even in this darkest of times
and even after almost being seized by the darkness -
any such story
is worth listening to a thousand times
or even for a thousand years.

For Melissa Roxas

While the recent ruling by the Philippine Court of Appeals (CA) in favor of Melissa Roxas’ petition for a Writ of Amparo and Writ of Habeus Data affirms Roxas’ testimony to her May abduction and torture while illegally detained as the truth, justice remains delayed, and at worst obstructed, with the CA’s denial of an inspection of Fort Magsaysay and clearing of the Arroyo government and military as respondents.

Vindication

A cornerstone of the Justice for Melissa Roxas Campaign, a broad movement of international supporters of Melissa Roxas, is the fact that Roxas was abducted and tortured and as a victim of a human rights violation, Roxas is in need of rehabilitation from the physical and psychological trauma caused by her ordeal. The CA ruling in favor of Roxas’s petition not only affirms these points, it vindicates Roxas herself. Since her brave initiation of the pursuit of justice, Roxas has been the target of a ruthless and relentless vilification campaign launched by Arroyo loyalists in Congress Jun Alcover and Jovito Palparan. The CA ruling not only proves that their psywar efforts against Roxas have been futile, it reprimands such efforts and calls for its immediate end.

With this portion of the ruling, the other legal and political measures the Justice For Melissa Roxas Campaign is taking in the international front gain considerable headway, as the CA has confirmed that Roxas’ testimony is “credible and worthy of belief”. We see this as an impetus for the broad international support for Melissa Roxas to expand and grow stronger.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

Another cornerstone of the Justice for Melissa Roxas Campaign is that justice be sought to the full extent of the law, including investigation, arrest and prosecution of Roxas abductors and torturers. Therefore, we take issue with the CA’s ruling to deny Roxas’ petition for an investigation of Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija and discharge of the petition’s respondents — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Victor Ibrado, and Army Chief Lt. General Delfin Bangit — based on a so-called failure to prove the principle of command responsibility. This part of the CA’s decision makes no sense in lieu of the previous legal developments and growing political isolation surrounding the Arroyo government and the Philippine military.

Last July, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of the Philippines, an independent office mandated by the Constitution of the Philippines, conducted its own investigation into Roxas’ case, including an ocular inspection of Fort Magsaysay. In probing the Philippine military’s role, CHR Chair Leila de Lima confirmed that the physicality of the Philippine military camp was a match to Roxas’ description of her detention facility while blindfolded. De Lima even testified, alongside Roxas, before the Philippine Congress days prior to the Philippine Supreme Court’s hearing on Roxas’ petition.

Roxas’ petition notwithstanding, a glaring precedent has also been set confirming the Philippine military’s culpability in the worsening pattern of gross human rights violations in the Philippines with the official country reports released by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston and the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

That the CA ruled Roxas’ belief that it was the Philippine military responsible for her abduction last May 19th and six-day detention while undergoing torture as “unfounded” is unacceptable, and hints of impunity for Roxas’ torturers. In this regard, portions of the CA ruling also pose a setback to the pursuit of complete justice for Melissa Roxas.

Support for Roxas Grows

Widespread support for Melissa Roxas remains strong and continues to grow. Melissa Roxas’ legal team, and her base of support, are not set back in pursuing complete justice to the full extent of the law. The gains of the CHR’s efforts and portions of the CA’s ruling must be advanced, beginning with the release of the CHR’s findings from its own investigation. The CA’s affirmation of Roxas’ credibility will certainly advance the campaign’s efforts to seek justice through international courts.

The strengthening of Melissa Roxas’ campaign for justice will further isolate the Arroyo government and its military. One thing is for sure, if the CA’s denial of inspection and discharge of respondents leads Roxas’ captors to heave a sigh of relief, they should think again. ###

Fil-Am Volunteer’s U.S. Lawyer Asks Rights Watchdog To Release Findings

The veil of lies put up by Philippine President Gloria M. Arroyo’s military to hide their role in the abduction and torture of Filipino-American human rights volunteer Melissa Roxas has now crumbled. With their defense in the case now shaken, the investigation and prosecution of military authorities and their commander-in-chief should begin.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera thus said today following the granting by the Philippines’ Court of Appeals (CA) Aug. 26 for a writ of amparo for Roxas upon petition by her lawyers. Denying military respondents’ allegations that Roxas’s torture marks were “self-inflicted and stage-managed” with her abduction perpetrated by the leftist New People’s Army (NPA), the CA also ordered defense and military officials to stop circulating materials intended to link her to the communists.

Valera, Roxas’s counsel in the United States, said the appellate court’s decision bolsters his client’s case regarding her abduction by members of the Philippine military and the torture she underwent. Abducted on May 19 this year in Tarlac province about 120 kms north of Manila, she was tortured before her abductors left her alone — all beaten up and in deep trauma — somewhere in Quezon City six days later. She was on a human rights and medical mission in a farmers’ community when she, together with two male companions, was abducted at gunpoint by armed men.

Valera asked the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to release its findings on the abduction-torture case and to recommend the investigation and prosecution of military men involved. Leila de Lima, the CHR chairperson, has probed into the military’s role in the case. In an ocular inspection at the Philippine Army’s Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, De Lima confirmed that the description of the place of captivity and torture by Roxas — blindfolded throughout her six-day ordeal — matched that of the military camp.

Ms. Roxas’s lawyer in the U.S. filed a complaint with the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Manfred Nowak under the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland last July 29, 2009 ,by way of an Urgent Appeal and Allegation vs. the Philippine Government.. The case alleged that Melissa Roxas is the first known American Citizen to have become a victim of abduction and torture in the Philippines under President Obama’s presidency. The appeal is also requesting the UN office to review the significant human rights violations committed on Roxas and that an immediate impartial and vigorous investigation conducted consistent with the established procedure under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other relevant International Human Rights instruments.

The incident is the latest of hundreds of similar cases of forced disappearances and torture perpetrated against Filipino activists since Mrs. Arroyo’s presidency in 2001. Nearly 1,000 activists are also victims of summary executions.

Investigations by international organizations, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings, have pointed to the Arroyo government’s responsibility in the human rights violations with generals linked to many cases. Police investigators had blamed the NPA for the killings and abductions as part of its purge campaign against its own members prompting the UN special rapporteur, Philip Alston, to say that Arroyo’s generals should give up on their denial mode.

Mrs. Arroyo earns the notoriety of having faced four impeachment charges filed in Congress for her command responsibility in the atrocities as well as for corruption, election fraud, and other culpable violations of the Philippine constitution. Her presidency is to end in June 2010 but many Filipinos doubt she would step down to avoid facing a barrage of criminal lawsuits as a private citizen.

For Reference: Susan T. Pineda
Legal Coordinator, MHC Legal Resource Program
Migrant Heritage Commission
3930 Walnut St. Suite 200
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 273-1196

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan welcomes the positive findings and decisions of the Court of Appeals in relation to the petition for a writ of amparo by our colleague Melissa Roxas.

The CA has correctly pointed out that Melissa was indeed abducted and tortured and that there is no truth to the claims by the Arroyo government that the incident was “stage-managed” or “self-inflicted”. We believe that this is the most important aspect of the decision. This particular finding is a victory for Melissa because it shows that she was telling the truth about her ordeal. It is clear proof that torture does exist in the Philippines under the watch of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Bayan thus welcomes the protection order coming from the Court which covers Melissa and her family here in the Philippines.

We also view as positive the granting of the writ of habeas data for Melissa.
This states that the government and its agents are enjoined from further disseminating videos and other information that allege Melissa as a member of the New People’s Army. The CA correctly pointed out that such dissemination of unverified information violates the right to privacy and endangers the life of Melisa.

Melissa’s lawyer, Atty. Rex Fernandez is still studying the court’s denial of the other relief prayed for by the petitioner.

Bayan, including its chapter in the United States, remains committed to seeking justice for Melissa and other victims of torture and abduction. ###

By M. Evelina Galang

Something happens to you when you are born outside of your parents’ mother country. You are born with a longing to go home to a place you’ve never been. You go about your business, being all American and knowing nothing else, ignoring all that talk about how it was when they grew up “back home” how things were, who your ancestors were, but inside you, they’ve planted that seed, and it’s growing. You pretend you don’t want to know like a good teenager, but you want to know. You want to be a part of it. And if you somehow find your way to writing stories and poems and making films and art, that hunger grows. And you want to go back home. You want to see it for yourself. And it is not enough to visit. You start to write about it. Draw it. Make music about it. And then that is not enough to just visit your family, your lolo, lola, titas and titos all your pinsan, you want to know more. You go historical. You find the stories of the earth. You sit with all the kapitbahay. You speak your bad Tagalog. And stories come out of you, poetry, things you never imagined you housed inside of you and there you are — an American, digging up a past only your soul comprehends. Not your MTV self. Not your Boomerang kid self. Certainly not your wild American Self. If you’re lucky that spark hits you and somehow the art you make does something more than sit pretty on the page. It moves you to act.

I sit in solidarity with you Melissa Roxas. Speak up, speak your truth without fear. For you represent us all. All of us who long to go home, to find our true Selves and in doing so discover that in fact, despite the fact we were not born on that island or if we were, we have not lived on that island for a lifetime, we have a devotion to it, a commitment to it. Make it clear, we have a right to come home, to serve our people with our words and to do it without savage acts of torture, or corruption or imprisonment.

With much love, sincere respect and absolute solidarity,

Evelina

NEIL AITKEN

Kundiman That Will Not Be Silenced

for Melissa Roxas

If I speak for Melissa, I speak as well for the disappeared,
for the ones taken under the heat of the high sun

or by the binding blindfold of night, for the sons and daughters,
husbands and wives, beaten down with rods and fists,

for the ones who cannot sleep tonight, whose unclosed wounds,
silent and heavy, span the black oceans between here and home.

I must carve my fear like hers into a shining blade of hope,
my heart into an iron fortress of will. I must enter the bruised homes

of the missing and kneel by the side of women in empty rooms,
their voices and hands scarred from searching in the dark. I must take

what has been written on the flesh with hard fists and hate
and write it plain, must make the stain of blood indelible, return

the tally of blows a hundred-fold with words. I must say her name,
Melissa. Say: Yes, I live. Say: My name is Melissa Roxas. Say:

I will not be silenced. I have rights. There are laws. Say: I am Melissa.
Say: My name is like honey in the skull of the lion. Say: I am a writer.

Though you gag and choke me, beat my head against the wall, yet I will live.
Say: My God is not a god of torture. The birds know and are rising from the trees.

Not all hearts can be destroyed. Say: Melissa. Melissa. Melissa.
Though I am not her, let me be a fire, a torch lit in a deep cave,

breaking the swell of darkness, rising back into the light. Let me be like her,
brave as the first bee setting out in spring, armed and hopeful. Yes, you live…

KIMBERLY ALIDIO

Kundiman

After “Author’s Prayer” by Ilya Kaminsky

If I speak for Melissa, I must speak
from America as an American

to Americans and from the Philippines
as a Filipina to Filipinos

and to those with masks on
with my hood on and tape

across my mouth. I must speak
for the right to return to the place

of my birth on programs of exposure
and immersion, upon being endorsed

from the USA to the National to Central Luzon
to Tarlac, with a camera, external hard disk, a laptop,

an ipod, a journal, a sphygmomanometer,
a stethoscope, thermometers, medicines, my watch,

and a wallet. I must speak
of the right to witness without violation,

whether or not I am mistaken for another
North American Filipina activist,

by torturers and senators of the home country
of my parents. Let me be unhooded, uncuffed,

unsuffocated, undoubled over, unshot, unraped,
unsaved, and undisappeared. I must speak

upon resurfacing and speak for those unsurfaced
sitting at the other end of the earth.

When asked: “Handa ka na bang mamatay?,”
I give my name: Melissa.

When asked whether I would return
to the fold, I repeat my name, Melissa.

Melissa, not Maita. Melissa, not NPA.
Melissa, not CP. Melissa, not America.

Melissa, not (even) the Philippines.
Our country is wider than fear.

Yes, I live. We live among the relics:
a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera,

a Bible, a pair of slippers, a t-shirt, biscuits,
handcuffs, and a password. Yes, you live.

CHING-IN CHEN

Elegy for a Blindfold
a Kundiman for Melissa Roxas

On May 19, 2009, Melissa Roxas, an activist and poet from Los Angeles who had been doing volunteer health work in Tarlac Province in the Philippines, was kidnapped along with two other health volunteers for a nongovernmental nationalist group called Bayan.

If I speak for Melissa Roxas,
I must leave my blindfold by the door.

There were hundreds watching
while we wrote her name over and over,

for the white page leaves her song unsung,
To the fifteen ski masks asking for the opened door,

I say yes, I live. My mouth is a million

Melissas shouting my name against
the tape compressed to my mouth:

each who’s lost home country still chanting

Melissa Roxas,
Melissa Roxas,
Melissa Roxas,

my mouth full of my own eyes.
Let me be honest.

I have never seen the corner
where they took you with
high-power rifles and pushed
you to the ground. You shouted your name
for memory.

I was not there with the bruise
dragging your arms and legs into that
blue van, where five punks pushed

you through the side door under the limits of
artificial sky.

For days, every creature a vanishing back, punched repeatedly in the ribcage,
head grazed to the letters of friends recycling bamboo slats -
your words:

“No goodbyes, it’s always see you later, or sooner… I was confronted by two burly men
I will not be surprised if they shone their flashlights when in a little town in the Philippines
I slept light that first night in a couple years amidst earth and grass in my hands, no breakfast or lunch was given me the sun hiding again for the last time I did not listen and did not answer that day I hear your voice, turn around and told them I knew my rights and yes, before long we meet again…” passing through a sometimes grassy and graveled pathway where I saw through my blindfold

This inarched that has grown a film over my eyes I took a bath with one hand free from its cuff but a hanging cuff on the other and my eyes free from the blindfold

I’ve hacked through. Then a fist struck me at my upper sternum and it hurt and then a thumb was pressed strongly to my throat (I heard somebody saying “huh! … huh … huh.”) choking me, making me suffocate for quite a time and when he released the pressure I gagged and I coughed and then he struck me with his fist on my left jaw ringing my ears …

I waited to hear word of you rising from the page with your name intact.
I prepared for the worst.

And you did, saying “Tonight I will learn
To Die
A Thousand Times
And Be Resurrected.”

Yes, you live
to tell your own story.

Notes:

Italicized words are taken from Melissa Roxas’ affidavit signed May 29, 2009, Quezon City, Philippines.

Words in quotes are taken from letters Melissa Roxas wrote to the Kundiman community.

“each who’s lost home country still chanting” is a line from Vanessa Huang’s “Kundiman for Melissa Roxas”

OLIVER DE LA PAZ

Kundiman

“I then started to shout my name, repeating it
again and again . . . “
–Melissa Roxas from the affidavit on her abduction by
military agents in the Philippines.

If I speak for Melissa, let my words
sound above the night crickets and the water

tonguing the edges of the fortress. Let the bats
arc above me in the night time, while a fingernail

is heard, scratching a poem on the underside of a chair.
Yes, I live. Yes, I live, and the far off sounds of boats

confirm me. Let my body rise above the waters
and the music. Let the helicopters whirl

their adagios while searchlight beams write my name.
Let television and the air waves say Melissa Roxas,

Melissa Roxas in the unquiet hours, beyond
the static of station sign-off.

Melissa Roxas, Melissa Roxas, the sound of the ocean
against the balustrades, the waters surging and receding-

Melissa Roxas, into the jeepneys with their jangled
American voodoo, Roxas, Roxas,

deep and thrumming with the baseline. Let me be
the silver jeep to carry you from here. Let the music

from the radio be heard from the street corner,
past the markets selling leather. Let me be the breath

in your ear as you turn your head to go to sleep.
Let the heat from what I say press down on your chest

in the nighttime. Yes, you live. Yes,
you live as the steam from what I say fogs your window.

As the vendors in the early morning, rise to carry
their wares in the pre-dawn. Yes, you live beyond

this solitude — beyond this immeasurable ocean to hear,
feel your name, my name, our song. Let me be unseen

yet ever present. Let my whisper be your whisper. My scream
be your scream, the pulse of my wrist, your cadence

keeping pace beyond the disquiet. Let our nerve endings
touch, setting fires with a spark on the horizon. Let us

be the kerosene soaked arrow fired above the fortress walls.
Let it burn, let it breathe, let it ignite the dry wild grasses

in the courtyard to spell my name, your name,
our song.

NIKI ESCOBAR

“Over and Over Again”
Kundiman for Melissa

If I speak for Melissa, I must paint
my tongue the color of the century,

I must release the prisoners
hidden between my bitter teeth.

If I must speak for Melissa, I must be more
than a standing number before the disappeared,

more than quiet mourning
sitting at the other end of the earth.

Yes, I have planted
my feet in the soil of what sustains us

across an ocean, through our parents’
amnesiac flight.

Yes, I live. I can chant “Melissa” in two tones:
unyielding stone and a lip-biting kiss

with the impossible. Let me be the smile of words
that rose in throats upon Melissa’s return.

I will meet a mouthful of crucified silence
with a lifetime of a poet’s howl.

I will repeat my name: Melissa.
Melissa, not NPA. Melissa, not America.

Melissa, not the Philippines.
Let me starve colossal lies,

and feed a bellowing era with forgiving
syllables for our beloved

masters. My sisters, my brothers live
in the incantation of Melissa’s name.

Yes, you live in the telling of this story.

SARAH GAMBITO

Kundiman

If I speak for Melissa, I force myself
upon the soldier. I keep him in my schoolhouse

feed him fish and aqua lovely numbers so he forgets
where he is from. He can be
as I am from.

As the woman ahead of you with a lovely Om
and it is like an Apostle.
A beatrice original family feeling.

I put my hand on your chest and say Feel.

I’ll love the boy, the man, the old man.
Clenching, body aroma family.

Healing it as I hate.
(So you can stop. So you can rest. So you can drink something cool.)

Yes, I live. I move my books to stand beside your books.
Bright blade angel squalling like a whale.
Yes, you live.

Let’s drape it around someone’s shoulders.

VANESSA HUANG

Kundiman
for Melissa Roxas

If I speak for Melissa, I must speak
for L, N, and youth we do not name
Assata, Mumia, each name ears have fought to know
Andrea’s Osage, names stolen inside the chanting
each stolen who’s let me hear their heartdrum
each patience, in prayer, for one kiss with truthsong
all spirits and lovers who carry song without sound
and still dance.

Yes, I live now, the quiet fightdrum
You shouted your name for memory
Melissa Melissa Melissa still chanting
I hear you far and close still chanting
L N and youth still chanting
each purple flower, each return still chanting
Melissa Melissa Melissa still chanting
blank license plate of your capture still chanting
Assata Mumia and MOVE still chanting
all hiding in Quezon City still chanting
Melissa Melissa Melissa still chanting
each who’s lost home country still chanting
Andrea’s Osage neighbors still chanting
each ghost still not safe to name is chanting

Let us be this fightdrum still chanting
each Kuya, help me still chanting
each decline to comment still chanting
Melissa your camera memory still chanting
ghost of dead lovers still chanting
showing signs of torture still chanting
medicine for this break still chanting
language evaporate at gunpoint still chanting
stretch and pull each mask still chanting
each door forced open, each left ajar still chanting
each stomach caressing ground still chanting
each muscle fight back still chanting
Melissa your Flame to the Body still chanting
each Foot that Bleeds Black still chanting
each Incipient Wing that can’t fly still chanting
military gone to hide still chanting
each inch tape, each knotted blindfold still chanting
sinking each handcuff’s clasp still chanting
temperature their rifles still chanting
each bomb, each fire, each time still chanting
each death and resurrection still chanting
Melissa your compas inside still chanting
each rib, each palm stronger than cages still chanting
each breath you stole for rest, each whisper a campaign still chanting
each poem that speaks later, each truthsong before Night Comes still chanting
each window of sky, each freedom found in village arms still chanting
each knowing eye, each kind gesture still chanting
each movement til empire fall, each rest in love still chanting
gathering this rebel heartdrum still chanting
all this music poetry still chanting

Yes, you live, Melissa,
song of truth rising,
your music is chanting.

Notes:

This poem after Illya Kaminsky’s “Author’s Prayer”.

“You shouted your name for memory” is from Ching-In Chen’s “Elegy for a Blindfold”, also a Kundiman for Melissa Roxas.

“Kuya, help me” is from Melissa Roxas’ affidavit signed May 29, 2009, Quezon City, Philippines.

The rest of the italicized text is from a poem Melissa Roxas conceived and memorized during her abduction on May 19, 2009.

“each death and resurrection” refers to “I will learn to Die / a Thousand Times / and Be Resurrected” in Melissa Roxas’ May 19, 2009 poem.

AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

Kundiman for Melissa Roxas

“An American woman was freed five days after armed and hooded men believed to be military agents abducted her and
two companions in a Philippine province north of Manila.” — NY Times

If I speak for Melissa, let my ribcage & lung break

into beautiful pieces, let loose several freckles of spit.

Let the owl I keep in my nurseclothes lend you

a feather. Let her wide eyes be the lantern

& thirsty wick you carry into the dark rooms.

Let each wiggle & audacious pulse of a snake’s heart

be the hiss & whisper that says, Yes, I live.

Melissa. Melissa. Melissa. Melissa. Melissa. Me-lis-sa.

Your name is a breeze from a sambong shrub.

New moon. Sea foam and broken dish. I salve the leaves

into your cuts and welts. We surround you in flame

& fountain. I cup my hand with mobolo juice & lime.

Bring it to your lips. Let our voices be the only match

& start you need when you return to face your captors.

We surround you in flame & fountain. Yes, you live.

YAEL VILLAFRANCA

Surfacing
after Illya Kaminsky and Diskarte Namin

If I speak for Melissa, I have locked
my fingers with hers. I’ve planted
my feet in the soil of what sustains us

across an ocean, through our parents’
amnesiac flight. I’ve awakened to the cry
the unhooded roar
UNTIL WE WIN THIS REVOLUTION
stretching endless ribbon woven
in our voices our fists. The promise of
our country is wider than fear.

We swear upon our waiting generations, yes. We live
and speak for Melissa. We reach back
to our belonging. Our always. We rise

as Melissa, anak na babae, kapatid na babae,
taga Maynila, taga Los Angeles, taga Habi,
taga Kundiman. We name ourselves
the river carving unyielding stone and speak

for each other, together at once.

Para sa bayan.