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UN HR council adopts Declaration on IP Rights

ILAGAN CITY (June 28) — The militant human rights watchdog Karapatan raised a howl over the killing of Ilagan City Mayor Delfinito “Jojo” Albano.

“We join the masses in demanding justice for Mayor Albano. We hope that the investigation will have its due course,” Karapatan staff Grace Bautista said over a phone interview.

Albano carries with him the “Ilagan, Kilos Na!” program banner. His stand against building of Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGU) made him popular among his constituents in the barrios along the forest region and in Hacienda Santa Isabel and San Antonio, two vote-rich barangays here. Karapatan has reported many cases of human rights violations in these areas in the past.

Karapatan said Albano is the first LGU Chief Executive who formed a Human Rights Committee. Albano is reportedly one of the conveners of the “Save the Valley, Serve the People Movement”, a regional alliance of environmentalists concerned in protecting the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Cagayan River.

Abano’s critical views and support to causes espoused by militants may have earned him enemies. He may have been a part of list being targeted by a secret death squad responsible in the recent spate of killings, according to Karapatan.

The PNP is pursuing an angle connecting the killing to Albano’s anti-drug campaign.

Meanwhile, Nordis learned that Albano allowed people’s marches against some government policies and programs in full exercise of their freedom of expression and of peaceable assembly. He reportedly supported the peasant clamor against the spread of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops in Isabela. He also backed his constituents’ call against the setting up of CAFGU detachments in Ilagan barangays, as well as supported victims of military abuses particularly in the Sindon Complex. # Abe Almirol for NORDIS

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