DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Another Lumad farmer and member of the group Kasilo was shot dead in Quezon, Bukidnon in the past three days.
The Lumad group Kalumbay identified the victim as Jeffrey Bayot, age 32, who was shot dead in his home in Barangay Bongbungan, Quezon.
The group said Bayot was shot twice, one in the head and one on his torso.
Last Augutst 9, a Kasilo member, Alex Lacay, was gunned down by two suspects from the Philippine Army 88th Battalion.
Kalumbay, where Kasilo is affiliated, said they suspect the same battalion is behind the killing of Bayot.
The latest incident brings the number of extrajudicial killings victims in Bukidnon this year to 13, the group said.
“This is another glaring example how Martial Law in Mindanao does not benefit the rural poor of the island. Instead, it serves as a blanket authority that worsens impunity against farmers, Lumad and other sectors,” Kalumbay said in a statement.
Human rights group Karapatan-Bukidnon strongly condemned the series of killings in the province amid the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao.
“Only in this [Duterte] administration mark a bloody and simultaneous killing in the history of the province, and this humanity extinction is hereby virtue of full implementation of martial ruling in our beloved island of Mindanao,” Datu Wilson Anglao Jr. said in a previous statement.
Karapatan National, in a statement, condemned the killings of the two Lumad farmers in Bukidnon province.
“We believe that this is part of the systematic attacks against human rights defenders critical of the administration and borne out of the social order that worsens the backward agrarian setup and feudal exploitation in the countryside, in which hotbeds of social unrest due to decades-old perennial injustice can be found,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General.
She added: “The unabated violations of human rights, curtailment of civil and political liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and international instruments, and the orchestrated attacks against administration critics and human rights defenders are made worse and enabled by the martial law declaration in Mindanao and counterinsurgency campaigns of this administration.” (davaotoday.com)
