DAVAO CITY The human rights group Karapatan has condemned the murder of an AnakPawis coordinator and pinned the blame on the state. In a statement, the group also noted what it said was an alarming increase in human-rights violations in Southern Mindanao.
Read the full statement below.
Karapatan condemns the killing of farmer leader in Mawab, COMVAL Karapatan Southern Mindanao Region condemns the killing of Ranbert Alvin Placencia, Chairman of Purok 9A San Isidro, Nuevo Iloco, Mawab Compostela Valley Province; Municipal Coordinator of Anak Pawis Party-list Mawab; Nuevo Iloco Farmers Association (NIFA)Chairman and Council member of Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Mawab (NAMAMA), last September 4.
Karapatan SMRs learned in its initial investigation that the victim was on his way for work to National Irrigation Administration (NIA) when seven (7) armed men in fatigue uniform, pointing their high powered firearms at Placencia, stopped his motorcycle at Purok 8, Sta Monica, Nuevo Iloco, Mawab. The armed men immediately asked for Alvins identity. When Alvin confirmed, one bonneted armed man with UZ1 and calibre .45 pistol immediately searched out for Placencias cell phone in his pocket and took Placencias bag.
The witnesses heard a confrontation before the killing incident. In which, the bonneted armed men said, Ikaw ang nagbabag sa pagkuha og bina sa tunnel sa San Isidro (you were the one who prevented the mining activity in San Isidro!) and Placencia answered, dili man sir, kabubut-on man sa katawhan (its the peoples will!). Immediately, after the confrontation, they heard strings of gunshot. They saw the bonneted armed men shooting Placencia using UZ1 and caliber .45 pistol, m-14 armalite, garand rifle and m.203 (HPR) and immediately ran off towards Nuevo Iloco. The witnesses saw that Placencia sustained nine (9) gunshot wounds in the chest and the head portion of the victims body.
Karapatan Southern Mindanaos documentation shows that there is an alarming increase of human rights violations in the region as the counter-insurgency program codenamed Oplan Bantay Laya’s (OBL) 2006 deadline draws near. Southern Mindanao, being one of the seven priority areas of the internal security plan Oplan Bantay Laya, bear the brunt of the Arroyo regime’s five-year (2002-2006) “end game strategy” to dismantle the Communist Party of the Philippines, National Democratic Front of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the Mindanao Secessionist Groups. The OBL, which equated the underground organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDFP with what it calls sectoral front organizations, has indeed opened the path to the slaughter of the defenseless.
To date, 77 civilians were killed in the region from the total of 748 civilians killed arbitrarily nationwide. Sadly, 305 among them activists belonging to various cause-oriented groups and progressive organizations. Karapatan urges the local officials of
Mawab Compostela Valley Province, the provincial peace and order council, the Commission on Human Rights and to the newly organized Melo Commission to conduct a thorough, independent and impartial investigation on the aforementioned incident and effect the immediate prosecution of the perpetrators. The public demands that such a commission flush out the perpetrators of the extrajudicial killings in the country, lay the ground for their successful prosecution and punishment and thereby dispel the climate of impunity that has so far enveloped these cases.
For Reference:
Kelly M. Delgado
Secretary- General- Karapatan Southern Mindanao
Mobile number: 0928-754-8457
