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“We don’t want to have a country where we are forced to live with fear…There is no justifiable reason for any forms of killings—may it be drug-related or political. We urge the president, let us end this.”
Three of the four victims were from Mindanao and were killed in a span of one week.
Before the incident, the Sustento family and other tillers experienced harassment while defending their collective land cultivation area.
“The regime’s monstrosity, which spares not even children, speaks of the evil tactics of the counterinsurgency program of Aquino, Oplan Bayanihan.”
Human rights is nowhere to be found from among the Aquino administration's priorities. And this has perpetuated, nay worsened, impunity as the Aquino administration has itself committed human rights violations in the course of its own counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan and in pushing the neoliberal agenda in the service of corporate interests.
“All attempts at seeking justice are frustrated in every way. Aquino has deepened the roots of impunity.”
“Instead of adequately addressing the sustainable livelihood needs of the farmers, the government trample upon the economic and human rights of the farmers. Following reports of indiscriminate firing from the military, farmers are forced to flee from their homes and sources of livelihood.”
“Four years later, all the supposed task forces and committees formed by the Aquino regime to look into the case were proven inutile.”
“Be assured, my dear friends, be assured again, that you don’t stand alone.”
“General Iriberri, your fellow Surigaonons are being slaughtered in the military’s implementation of counter-insurgency operations.”
The three men killed in Lianga, Surigao del Sur on Sept. 1 were not only principled leaders who spent their whole lives helping others – they were also good, loving fathers.
BLOOD RUSH By SARAH RAYMUNDO Sometimes he thought of the world as soil and rain. At times, the scorching sun meant everything for the roots and one’s roots, even skin. He did not go so far away To take it all the way to freedom to plenty, to happiness. He lived and...
“We call on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to extricate herself from these early election campaign activities of the Liberal Party and heed the cries for justice of the victims and their families.”
Karapatan said the killings and military abuses in the area were meant to sow terror among villagers.
“Today, we declare the verdict on the US-Aquino regime’s crimes against the Filipino people, its violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. For these crimes, we say, the US-Aquino regime is guilty.” -- Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan
“It is not true that soldiers on the ground are after rebels. They are really after civilians who are protecting their ancestral domains.” – Dulphing Ogan, secretary general of Kalumaran
“Even with the capture of notorious Gen. Jovito Palparan recently, his butcher mentality and his bloody human rights record have been well-entrenched in the AFP’s bureaucracy and is carried on by no less than his protégé, Gen. Ricardo Visaya. The continuing Palparan-like killings and tactics is proof of that.” – Jomorito Goaynon, chair of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization
“Legal proceedings are expensive and inaccessible to the poor while constitutional rights have remained ‘paper rights’ and international treaties on human rights as ‘lip service.’ – National Union of People’s Lawyers
Freddie Ligiw was supposed to meet with human rights groups to narrate how he was forcibly used as a guide by soldiers from the 41st IBPA of the AFP when he went missing. The bodies of Freddie, his brother and father were later found in a shallow grave.
“The human rights situation under the Aquino administration is as worrisome as the situation during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Perpetrators from state security forces are not being held accountable for their crimes, and much worse, they get juicy promotions, thereby keeping and perpetuating themselves in power." – Ecumenical Voice
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