A group of sugarcane workers hit out the continued deployment of soldiers and police in the remote communities of Negros Occidental in what they feared as a systematic crackdown against activists in the province.
A revered Catholic Church shrine in Parañaque and a building housing activist organizations in Quezon City complained of harassments Thursday, reporting those police officers and suspected military agents are out to further intimidate institutions and organizations critical of the Rodrigo Duterte regime.
Soldiers have been undertaking the “hamletting” of indigenous communities in its all-out war against communist rebels, even before the statement of President Rodrigo Duterte, a militant lumad group in Mindanao decried.
The Philippines once again landed on top among the 21 countries tagged as dangerous for farmers, farm workers, indigenous people, and other activists resisting land and resource-grabbing.
The Salugpongan Council denied on Tuesday that it has links with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).