In a statement, Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said the recent killings should be investigated in the context of previous incidents of killings and attacks against other NDFP peace consultants.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan is calling for an independent investigation on the killings of two peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
On May 28, peace consultants who were already in their senior years were killed. Rustico Tan, 80, NDFP peace consultant for Cebu, was killed in his sleep in Camotes Islands in Cebu while Reynaldo Bocala, 75, and his aide Welly Arguelles Epago, 60 were killed in a police operation in Iloilo.
In a statement, Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said the recent killings should be investigated in the context of previous incidents of killings and attacks against other NDFP peace consultants.
“As we express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families of Tan, Bocala and Epago, we also strongly denounce their abhorrent and brutal killings last night, especially in relation to their involvement in the Government of the Republic of the Philippines(GRP)-NDFP peace process, the trumped-up charges filed against them, and the circumstances of their killings,” Palabay said.
The group recalled similar instances such as those of NDFP peace consultants Randy Malayao who shot while asleep inside a bus in January 2019; Randal Echanis and Louie Tagapia who were stabbed to death in August 2020 and the couple Antonio Cabanatan and Florenda Yap, both elderly and retired consultants strangled to death in December 2020.
Palabay also recalled the police and military raids which led to the killings of NDFP consultant Julius Giron, doctor Maria Lourdes Tangco, and aide Arvie Reyes in Baguio City in March 2020; couple Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio, both elderly and retired consultants, in Angono, Rizal in November 2020; and NDFP spokesperson Alvin Luque and companion Rodel Macana in Surigao del Sur in December 2020.
Palabay called on the Duterte administration to put a stop to the killings and abide by the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).
This agreement was signed by the NDFP and the GRP under the administration of President Joseph Estrada.
The group also urged the Commission on Human Rights to provide the necessary assistance to the families of Tan, Bocalla and Epago and to conduct independent investigations on their killings. 
