PHA-Exchange> Philippino activist toxicologist arrested

[Claudio]

From: <bdelapaz at uplink.com.ph>
 Statement on Dr. Romy Quijano's arrest

>RESISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY AGAINST AGROCHEMICAL TNCs (RESIST!)
email:resist at tri-isys.com
>url:http//www.geocities.com/resist_agtncs/
>September 9, 2003
>
>U.P. TOXICOLOGIST ARRESTED, JOURNALISTS NEXT IN LINE
>Broad Anti-GMO alliance condemns criminalization of
>health and medical  services.
>
>In a press release today, the biggest anti-GMO
>alliance in the country
>denounced the recent arrest of UP-PGH toxicologist and >known health
>activist >Dr. Romeo Quijano.
>Resistance and Solidarity Against Agrochemical TNCs
>(RESIST!) issued >the>statement following the arrest of Quijano. A warrant
of arrest  was issued in Davao
>City concerning a libel case against Quijano and eight
>(8) others.
>Quijano'>s journalist daughter together
>with>journalists Samuel Senoren (Philippine Media Post),  >Danilo Luis
Mariano >(Daily Tribune),
>Leti Boniol>(Philippine>Daily Inquirer), Carlos H. Conde (New York Times
>correspondent),
>Nick Legaspi (Malaya desk editor), Benito Brizuela and
>Ma. Anicia Mejia >were>also included in the warrant of arrest.  The
Quijanos>already posted>bail.
>
>The arrest came following the Department of Justice's
>recent revival of>libel charges filed against them 3 years ago by>Lapanday
Holdings>Corporation (LADECO), a sprawling banana plantation in>Davao owned
by
>Lorenzo's family.  Another lawsuit was >filed recently
>against>the two Quijanos again concerning LADECO and >Kamukhaan.  Dr.
Quijano is >the>first doctor to be ever sued and arrested for a case>of such
nature.
>
>In an article published by the defunct Philippine Post
>last March 2000, >it >was exposed that LADECO's use of hazardous pesticides
>has been causing
>severe health and environmental damage to Kamukhaan, a >nearby village.
This earned its' authors, the
>Quijanos, and the >newspaper's >editors, a libel suit. But this was
promptly dismissed >by the Davao
>City >Prosecutor on the grounds that the article was "a
>matter of public >interest" >and was "written in good faith to call the
attention >of the public to
>the>present state of health and risks of the residents of
>Kamukhaan." The authors' initial findings of
>pesticide poisoning in >Kamukhaan have also since then been validated by
>RESIST through an
>international fact-finding mission conducted by
>toxicologists and>environmentalists last February.
>