Primary sources are considered raw data as they provide raw information and first-hand accounts of historical events, usually written or produced by people from the time period who had direct experience or connection to these events. These sources become building blocks for a much more analytical interpretation of historical events, and in particular, those surrounding the periods before, during and after the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines.
This report looks into the impact of the military build-up on the Island of Samar. In particular, this report contains exploratory findings of a 5-man committee regarding various cases of abuse committed by several military units in Eastern Samar and Northern Samar. Significantly, the report also included an assessment of the impact of the counterinsurgency campaign in Samar that caused a humanitarian crisis on the island.
International Commission on the Militarization of Samar. Militarization of Samar. Hong Kong: Resource Center for Philippine Concerns, 1979.
This document is a summary of the observations made by the Makabayang Makabayang Kilusan Para Isulong ang Katarungan (MAKIISA KA) during their fact-finding mission regarding the multiple reports of human rights violations on the island of Samar. The report of MAKIISA KA underscored the brutality of the ongoing counterinsurgency campaign. Most of the data gathered by the report came from actual victims of military abuse and the survivors of massacres.
Makabayang Kilusan Para Isulong ang Katarungan. Samar: The Continuing Agony of the Land: A Report on the Fact-Finding Mission to Samar, November 3 – 15, 1981.Manila, 1981.
A major fact-finding mission was conducted in Leyte under the sponsorship of the Human Rights Investigation Commission, co-chaired by Senator Lorenzo Tanada and Ambrosio Padilla. Representatives from various Human Rights Groups including Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, Concerned Citizens for Justice and Peace, and other youth, student and catholic groups participated with the support of international solidarity groups and journalists. A total of 105 persons were interviewed covering 16 barangays between 1982 and 1985, reporting on 160 cases of incidents ranging from arbitrary arrest, torture, looting, and massacres. The report also indicts Military Infantry and Constabulary elements along with members of the Integrated Civilian Home Defense Forces (ICHDF) as perpetrators. A copy of this report was archived by the Medical Action Group, and later Digitized with the help of the Rizal Library.
Human Rights Investigation Commission. “Leyte: Fear and Pain.” Fact-Finding Mission Report, November 13-16, 1985.
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines. Political Detainees of the Philippines Book 3. Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, n.d.
The 3rd annual edition of major updates including the experiences of political detainees during the Martial Law period. Compiled by the Task Force Detainees Philippines and likely recirculated in the United States by the Anti-Martial Law Coalition. [Scanned at UW-Madison Libraries]
TFDP (Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, “Political Detainees of the Philippines Book 3,” Manila, 1978.
A 1979 document from FLAG (Free Legal Assistance Group) that outlined various legal cases and laws that could be used by lawyers to help defend the rights of those that were arrested by the Marcos regime.
Free Legal Assistance Group. “What Lawyers Should Know in Order to Defend Political Prisoners,” 1979.
The report focuses on the Municipality of Basey in Samar Island, documenting the atrocities of the 20th Infantry Battalion. It features various case documentations of human rights abuses being carried out by military men, and the accounting of individual witnesses and testimonies thereto. The document concludes with an analysis of the negative effects of Samar Island’s Militarization and a correlation between the intensified violence and growing capitalist interests in the exploitation of the land’s resources.
Visayas Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace. ” When Fear Generates Courage.” Report of the International Fact-Finding Mission to Basey, Western Samar. September 12-14, 1984.
A three-member delegation representing five U.S. medical and scientific associations visited the Philippines near the end of 1983 to observe health and human rights conditions in the country. Over their stay, after conferring with various political detainees, journalists, human rights activists, members of the clergy, and health workers, they published a report indicating that a continuing pattern of gross human rights violations was still in place despite the supposed lifting of Martial Law in 1981. Specific cases are also highlighted in their report, including the murders of Bobby de la Paz and Dr. Juan Escandor. A copy of this report was archived by the Medical Action Group, and later Digitized with the help of the Rizal Library.
American Association for the Advancement of Science, et. al. “Report of a Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines.” 28 November – 17 December, 1983.
Military Operations in the Mountainous Northern areas of Kalinga-Apayao and Cagayan intensified since 1982, with the Marag valley inhabited by the Isneg tribe declared a “No-man’s land” operation zone on March 1985. Several Human Rights Groups from Manila, Cagayan and Baguio would conduct a fact-finding mission to verify the aerial attacks and alleged military atrocities being reported by the Isneg People. Their report includes a situationer of the region and its people, a recording of bombing and strafing incidents across 8 months, and a list of “salvaging” incidents that took place over the same period. A copy of this report was archived by the Medical Action Group, and later Digitized with the help of the Rizal Library.
Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP), “Fact-Finding Mission Report: Cagayan Valley and Kalinga-Apayao.” November 4-9, 1985.
Newsletter announcing the creation of the organization FIND (Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances) in 1985. This organization is dedicated to the promotion and protection of the human rights of the victims of disappearances and their families.
Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances, 1985.
A record of the origins, accomplishments and challenges of the Task Force Detainees Philippines over 25 years.
Parong, Aurora A., “Task Force Detainees of the Philippines: A Pioneer in Human Rights, 25 Years of Struggle for People’s Dignity, 1974-1999,” 1999.
A trimestral publication of the Task Force Detainees, Luzon Chapter. This issue primarily focus on militarization, and military abuse and violence. It also includes a report from a fact-finding mission and profiles of victims of Martial Law.
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Lusong, September 15. 1984.
