On Extra -Judicial Killings

Vernie Y. Diano
Women, Peace and Security Project (NCCP/Ecuvoice

 

“Thou shalt not kill.” In the language of human rights, this is a violation of the right to life. Both the Bible and human rights speak about high respect for the sanctity of life.

 

The painful truth is that the two and a half years, from July 2016 to February 2019, of the Duterte government are marred with extra-judicial killings arising from an anti-drug war and the systematic attempt to end the insurgency in the country.  Anti-drug war killings have already claimed approximately 20,000 victims, largely from the poor with only 76 cases prosecuted by the justice department. Meanwhile political killings documented by Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights number to 257 civilians, with 159 in Mindanao, 49 in Luzon and 48 in Visayas. At least 37 women are included in this list: the number will be higher if the gender of those killed in the Jolo bombing was included. Victims come from the ranks of farmers, indigenous peoples, church, youth and students, environment and human rights defenders, government employees and workers. Of the cases documented by Karapatan, killings of farmers and indigenous peoples are the most in number.  The slaughter of thousands in the anti-drug war campaign and vicious anti-insurgency efforts of this government are systematic and heartless.  Killing civilians is an act of tyranny.

 

Reports and profiles on extra-judicial killings in Mindanao speak about the victims’ involvements: in resisting the three-term Martial Law; in asserting of their land rights in response to massive corporate expansion of mineral extraction, energy projects and plantations; and, in building or operating Lumad schools to assert their right to self-determination and access to knowledge and technology. EJK victims hail from the ranks of farmers, indigenous and Moro peoples. The killing of 27 churchgoers in the bombing of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulo only tells that Martial Law has not controlled “lawlessness” in Mindanao. Martial Law has made it more convenient for the police, military and paramilitay groups to roam around peasant, indigenous and Moro communities, increasing the ease of paramilitary groups like the Alamara to continue to commit violations against indigenous communities. The military apparently turns a blind eye on these murderous acts and do not stop these crimes. The Alamara are implicated in the killings of the young to the old, of men and women. They killed 15-year-old Lumad student Alibando Tingkas in January 2016 and 19-year old Obello Bay-ao in September 2017. They killed 60-year old Umayamnon tribal leader Matanem Pocuan in Feb. 2017 and Ande Latuan in July 2017. Aside from the killings perpertrated by the paramilitary groups are unsolved killings involving women human rights defenders like Mariam Uy Acob from the Moro Kawagib’s Human Rights Organization. Mariam was aboard her motorcycle on her way home on the evening of 23 September 2018, when two men aboard another motorcycle opened fire on her. Under the third extension of Martial law, two Lumad farmers Emel Tejero and Randel Gallego of Lianga, Surigao del Sur went missing on 24 January 2019, only to be found dead on 30 January 2019. The military claimed they were members of the New People’s Army, as if this claim can be a simple justification for a brazen act of tyranny. This government has branded everyone demanding for social justice and peace as enemies of the state. Legitimate dissent and activism have been labeled as terrorism under Mindanao’s Martial Law.

 

In Visayas, there have been 48 victims of political killings including lawyer Atty. Ben Ramos.  Many were involved in a peasant campaign for genuine land reform and free land distribution through the practice of “bungkalan” system in Negros. Farmers and farmworkers who have long worked in haciendas turn idle lands of haciendas into productive farms which they till in a collective and synchronized manner. The assertion for land to the tillers is the farmers’ response to the failed agrarian reform of government to redistribute land accumulated by sugar barons to actual tillers. A series of killings took the lives of strong women leaders like Elisa Badayos on 28 November 2017 and Heide Flores on 21 August 2018. The massacre of nine Sagay farmers that included two minors and three women on 20 October 2018 by a suspected private army of Hacienda Nene in collusion with police and military forces was used to justify the sending of more troops in Negros, Samar and Bicol by way of Presidential  Memorandum 32 to “suppress lawless elements.” The Sagay massacre was followed by another massacre of six farmers in Negros Oriental on 27 December 2018 in “Synchronized Enhanced Managing Police Operations” that conducted illegal searches and arrests in Guihulngan and Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental. The operation—guised as anti-drug operations—clearly targeted the homes and communities of the Kaugmaon farmer’s organization. Farmers involved in the struggle for land and social-economic rights are vulnerable to state abuse, as the killing sprees of the government persist. When farmers and their lawyer are killed because of the cry of their stomachs, tyranny prevails.

 

The same trends of extrajudicial killings are observed in Luzon. Of the 49 cases of extra-judicial killings, most are where there are existing struggles of farmers for land as well as assertions of socio-economic rights and entitlements campaigns, in areas of corporate aggression. Bicol has had 23 killings, followed by Central Luzon with nine, and Southern Tagalog with seven killings. Incidents were also documented in Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan. The murder of peace advocate and consultant to the peace process Randy Felix Malayao is one poignantly ruthless attack on a sleeping target. Malayao was supposed to be protected under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).  Malayao was assassinated while asleep inside a bus bound to his home province during a brief bus stop. His execution is a clear indicator of a tyrannical government.

 

When the state uses extra-judicial killing as a weapon against the poor, tyranny is present.  When it is used to silence peace builders and human rights defenders, tyranny abounds. Killing civilians without due process is reprehensible; killing those who are contributing in building a peace and just community is an act of tyranny.

 

( collated by Ecumenical Women’s Forum, March 8, 2019)