PHILIPPINES: Children of Murdered Journalist in the Maguindanao Massacre subjected to Overt Surveillance

Salem-News.com Eye on the World report.

Alejandro “Bong” Reblando was lost in the Maguindanao massacre

(HONG KONG) - Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, one of the 32 journalists murdered in the Maguindanao massacre. His children are now continually facing death threats, after seeking prosecution for the murder of their father, Alejandro, on behalf of their mother, Myrna, who has a Php three million bounty on her head for anyone who could murder her as a result of her refusal to withdraw her complaint. The threats to life of Myrna and her children are real, not subjective, as certified by Jose Manuel Mamauag, Focal Commissioner for Mindanao of the Commission on Human Rights.

Our goal with Eye on the World is to illustrate and highlight politically oriented problems and tragedies that traditional media channels don't have time or interest in covering.

The world has its own set of laws that were agreed upon by the ruling nations in 1948, and many people are not aware of this simple fact. At the root of the concept of world citizenry itself, is the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an overriding and supreme law that ensures many essential human rights that governments today fail to observe. Also central to any hope of human success, is the understanding of the human hierarchy of needs, as defined by Abraham Maslow- more information on this at the conclusion of this entry. We must use the Internet as a tool of justice at every junction, and we need to assist all human beings, everywhere, and not allow cultural, racial or religious preferences as determiners.

In this letter to Mr. Benigno Aquino III, President, Republic of the Philippines in Manila, Mr. William Gomes asks that police take action to ensure that action is taken over the threats against this widow and her children; stating that simply recording the complaints is no sufficient.

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Mr. Benigno Aquino III President Republic of the Philippines Malacanang Palace JP Laurel Street, San Miguel Manila 1005 PHILIPPINES Fax: +63 2 736 1010 Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80 Re:PHILIPPINES: Children of murdered journalist in the Maguindanao massacre subjected to overt surveillance Dear President Republic of the Philippines, Names of person facing threats: 1. Noel Christopher Reblando, 36 years old 2. James Ryan Reblando, 35 3. Maria Priscilla Zainal, 23 They are all children of Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, one of the 32 journalists murdered in the Maguindanao massacre Place of incident: At their home in Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City Date of incident: From November 23, 2011 to present I am writing to express my grave concern and request your prompt intervention to ensure the security and safety of the children of Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, one of the 32 journalists murdered in the Maguindanao massacre, who are facing continuing threats on their lives. His children, whose names are mentioned above, had reported the threats after taking up the prosecution for the murder of their father, Alejandro, on behalf of their mother, Myrna. I am aware that Myrna, who herself had to endure threats and risk, had to stop attending her husband’s murder trial and undergo ongoing treatment due to the trauma that she had suffered, and from the negative experience she had in court. Myrna thus asked her children to represent her case in the criminal prosecution; and for them to take responsibility as complainants for criminal prosecution. I believe her children are now facing threats due to their role in the prosecution of the case. I am aware that Myrna herself had a Php three million bounty on her head for anyone who could murder her as a result of her refusal to withdraw her complaint for murder. Also, the threats to life of Myrna and her children are real, not subjective, as certified by Jose Manuel Mamauag, Focal Commissioner for Mindanao of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), on May 23, 2011, stating that: in the course of my visitation in Mindanao as Focal Commissioner for that area, I had the opportunity to meet and get confirmation from people probing into the November 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre of the existence of continuing serious threats on the life of Myrna P. Reblando and her children, all heirs of massacre victim and Manila Bulletin journalist Alejandro “Bong” Reblando. The seriousness of such threats renders very risky the stay of the Reblandos in their “unsecured” place of residence” Since May 2011, no adequate and state-sponsored protection had been afforded to ensure the security and safety of Reblando’s six children. Thus, what his children could do was to report the overt surveillance that they noticed at their home in General Santos City to the closest police station. Here is the excerpt of the report: On November 23, 2011 at 1:04pmNoel Christopher Reblando “appeared to this office and requested to put on record as alleged that OOA (on or about) 12:37 November 23, 2011 he saw a person in military uniform push his single motorcycle and passed to the front of their residence by the time that he was saw by the said person who is in military uniform. He start his single motorcycle and speed up towards north direction” [quoted verbatim]. On the same day, his other son also reported: James Ryan Reblando “appeared to this office and requested to put on record that sometimes of the first week of October there was a group of Muslim’s person from North Cotabato was for him it was gaining information for his father was a victim of Maguidanao massacre (Bong Reblando) and 2nd time sometimes of 3rd week of October 2011 a group of three (3) malefactor boarded on top down passed three (3) times to the front of their residence and sight seeing to their house, by the time that they got assumed said top down speed-up towards south direction” [quoted verbatim] On December 9, 2011, his other daughter also reported: Maria Priscilla Zainal “appeared to this office and requested to put on record as alleged that OOA (on or about) 5:05pm of this date one multicab color white stop fronting a little to their house boarded with one person and sight seeing to their house from the northside of their home the driver drove his multicab slowly mobiling to the south direction of their home” [quoted verbatim] Although the threats to Myrna and her children were properly and immediately reported to the police authorities, no action was taken to investigate this matter apart from merely recording their complaints. I trust that you will take immediate action on this matter and ensure the safety of Myrnas family. Yours sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes William’s Desk wwww.williamgomes.org

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs

As children we are educated in right and wrong, we are told how to conduct ourselves; we learn both expectations and limitations, and from that point we go forth with these tools, and our individual personalities, and fail or succeed accordingly.

In school we quickly understand that without paper, there is no place to write. Once we have paper, a pen or pencil is required to move to the next point. There is a great analogy that exists between this simple concept of paper and pen, and what we know today as Maslow's hierarchy of needs- the theory in psychology proposed in Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation.

He demonstrated how without the correct necessities, a person can do little good for themselves, and has none to offer for others. However when people are housed and have clothing, heat, food, health and security, anything is possible. However if just one of these dynamics is removed from the mix, the chance for success can be adversely affected.

Wikipedia describes Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a pyramid consisting of five levels:

The lowest level is associated with physiological needs, while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to identity and purpose.

The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no longer be met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level.

For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will continue to value his work performance (esteem needs) and will likely return to work during periods of remission.

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Special thanks to William's Desk

williamgomes.org

Salem-News.com Writer William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.