Karapatan said that two-thirds or 59 out of the 87 victims of extrajudicial killings under the Marcos Jr. regime are farmers. Most of them were either red-tagged prior to their killing or were accused of being armed combatants in “false encounters.”
John Milton Lozande, secretary general of National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), was freed Nov. 11. Anne Krueger of alternative media Paghimutad and organizer of BPO Industry Employees Network Philippines (BIEN) and Danilo Tabura, NFSW paralegal officer, walked out of jail yesterday, Nov. 12 while Roberto Lachica, NFSW staff, was released this afternoon.
Karapatan called the raids part of a “full-blown crackdown on activists and red-tagged legal organizations.”
“The use of search warrants have become a trend increasingly used in Negros, which makes offices and individuals vulnerable to the planting of evidence.”
The living conditions in the Negros island have been – time and again – a glaring example of government’s failure to implement genuine agrarian reform.
Ni JHIO JAN A. NAVARRO Siyam, isa, labing-apat, higit pa sa Sagay, Kabankalan, Sta. Catalina Guihulngan, Canlaon at kung saan pa nilingkis, kinalos ni Sauron sa bungkalan, tubuhan, tahanan sa harap ng asawa, anak, magulang– tinadtad ng bala sa ulo, sa mata, sa ari, sa bunganga sinilaban, nilapnos, pinabay-an sa langaw, sa uod ng lupang…
“As the Duterte regime continuously intensifies its attacks, the killings and arbitrary arrests in Negros is setting a very dangerous precedence – that State forces can do whatever they want against poor peasants and communities, and brazenly promote tyranny and violence.”
The violence that erupt from time to time in Negros is but a painful reminder of the longstanding land problem and unjust system operative in Negros.
“The deployment of more state security forces in the province and in the whole Negros Island would not lead to the so-called peace and order. They are there primarily to protect the interests of big landlords who still lord over the Island.”
The telenovela spin of state security forces never erases the fact that the Sagay massacre is yet another proof of the failure of government to render social justice to the tillers of the land.
By TOMAS TALLEDO All eaters that feast on open graves While the bloodsoaked canefields Painfully murmured the killers names — Gustilo, Cojuanco, Benedicto Montelibano, Sola, Araneta Creatures all of malevolence. Night dogs, mad dogs, hungry dogs, Dogs that eat babies. Dusk falls heavily now in Negros When homes are abandoned as Terror breathes cold on…