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CHR asked to probe killings of 9 activists
Nine activists were killed, most of them in their own homes, and at least four others were arrested in police and military raids early on Sunday.
Six were killed in Rizal province, two in Batangas, and one in Cavite, said the police in the Calabarzon region.
The simultaneous raids were carried out by the Philippine National Police together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to serve search warrants for loose firearms and illegal possession of explosives, according to Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson for the Calabarzon police.
“We will not be silenced, and we call on all Filipinos to condemn these raids and to stand with us in the struggle for justice and in defending people’s rights,” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan national secretary general, said as her group urged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the raids and “ensure that justice and accountability is served for the victims of state terror and fascism.”
The police have not immediately released the names of the fatalities, but human rights advocacy group Karapatan identified five of them as Emmanuel “Manny” Asuncion, a Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) coordinator in Cavite who was killed in a police raid in his home in that province; Mark Lee Bacasno and Melvin Dasigao, both members of the urban poor group San Isidro Kasiglahan, Kapatiran at Damayan para sa Kabuhayan, Katarungan at Kapayapaan (SIKKAD K-3), who were killed in Rodriguez, Rizal; and Ariel Evangelista and his wife, Chai Lemita Evangelista, activists who advocated fishermen’s rights, who were killed in their home in Nasugbu, Batangas.
According to Karapatan, the Evangelistas’ 10-year-old son survived the raid by hiding under a bed.
The group also claimed that the police who raided the Evangelista home took away the bodies of the couple, which Chai Evangelista’s mother, Inday Lemita, later found at the John Paul funeral home in Nasugbu.
As for Asuncion, Kobi Tolentino of Anakbayan-Southern Tagalog said the Bayan coordinator was with his wife, Lizelle, and another associate in the couple’s home at Salitran village, Dasmariñas City, when about 30 policemen barged in and ordered Asuncion’s wife and associate to step out.
“Then they heard about 10 shots,” Tolentino said. “After that, they saw [Asuncion’s] body being dragged down the stairs. There was not even a stretcher.”
Fishermen’s group Pamalakaya said Asuncion was one of the staunchest champions of fishermen, joining them in denouncing projects that affected Cavite’s coastal areas.
Arrests
Asked who were the targets of the police-military operations, Brig. Gen. Felipe Natividad, the Calabarzon police director, said on Sunday he would still have to check with the other “operating units.”
In Laguna, Karapatan said labor leader Esteban Mendoza of Kilusang Mayo Uno and Bayan-Laguna spokesperson Elizabeth Camoral were arrested in separate raids in Cabuyao City.
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