A non-government organization helping children victims of human rights violations admonished the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) against issuing irresponsible and false statements regarding the death of 3-year old, Jenny Belleza without investigating the incident first. A proper inquiry on the incident will inform DSWD and the CHR that Jenny died in a camp-out of families of illegally detained farmers in Cadiz City., not a hunger strike, as reported.

“The CHR and the DSWD should have conducted a deeper scrutiny rather than issue statements based merely on media reports,” said Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac, Executive Director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, an NGO providing psycho-social help to children.

Macaspac said that according to the initial data provided by GABRIELA-Negros, Jenny Belleza was one of 66 children and 13 adults who were camped out in Cadiz City. They were displaced following the harassment and arrest of the “kaingin” farmers for trumped up illegal logging charges by members of the RPA-ABB. “The illegal arrest and detention of these farmers deprived their wives and children of their source of daily sustenance. With the fear and anxiety over further harassment by the RPA-ABB bandits and the armed Task Force Ilahas members, they had no choice but to leave their homes.”

She also said that the camp-out was part of the coping mechanism for these families since they need to be assured of the situation of their loved ones and they have nowhere else to go. “It should be the DSWD’s duty, under RA 7610, to provide immediate help to displaced children-victims of militarization. The CHR on the other hand, should have prioritized its investigation on the harassment by the RPA-ABB bandits and the illegal arrest and detention of the farmers,” Macaspac added.

“These women and children were doomed to die of hunger since the illegal arrest of their breadwinner husbands and fathers last July 5, 2008. The death of the 3-year old child only emphasized the failure of the government to respond to the plight of these families. How many more child deaths from hunger will these families bear witness to, before justice is rendered unto them?” Macaspac concluded. ###