NEWS | Progressive groups call for accountability, condemn deaths of activists under the Duterte regime
By: The News Team
On Monday night, August 17, Bacolod-based activist and human rights defender Zara Alvarez was gunned down by unknown assailants. Days prior to this, long-time activist and peasant leader Randall Echanis was mercilessly killed in his own home in Quezon City on August 10. Various progressive groups hold the Duterte administration accountable for the continuous killing of activists and human rights defenders.
Echanis, 72, was the chairperson of the Anakpawis party-list, a peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and the deputy secretary of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Erlinda, Echanis’ wife, stated that her husband’s body was forcibly taken by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday evening from the family’s chosen funeral home.
Meanwhile, Alvarez, 39, was a Karapatan Paralegal in Negros Occidental Province and a Research and Advocacy Officer of the Negros Island Health Integrated Program (NIHIP). Before her murder she was subjected to harassment, counting her among the frequently red-tagged activists in Negros. In 2018, she was tagged as a terrorist in a case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) despite lack of evidence.
Progressive groups’ response
Human rights group Karapatan demand justice for the murders of Alvarez and Echanis. This killing spree of human rights defenders, peace advocates, and vocal critics aim to sow terror and to silence them. The group noted that it coincided with the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
“When will the killings stop? We just buried a peace advocate yesterday and we’re not even through with mourning his death and we now have to grapple with the killing of one of our colleagues!” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay lamented.
Under the Duterte regime, Alvarez is the 13th human rights worker of Karapatan killed.
Similarly, Echanis’ colleagues continue to demand justice for his murder. Danilo Ramos, national chairperson of KMP, asserted that the murder is the handiwork of state forces and mercenaries of the Duterte administration.
“We hold accountable the Duterte regime which has persistently proclaimed and acted against genuine land reform and a just peace,” Ramos added.
Call for end of bloodshed
As a result, various international rights groups expressed their concern over the rampant extrajudicial killings in the country. They reiterated that Duterte’s policy of political killing merits international condemnation.
“This cycle of bloodshed cannot be allowed to continue. Thousands of killings later, it is clear it falls on the international community to launch an urgent independent investigation into extrajudicial executions and human rights violations in the Philippines to put an end to overwhelming impunity and deadly violence under the current administration, establish the facts, and take steps towards ensuring justice for victims and their families,” Amnesty International Philippines Section Director Butch Olano stated.
Likewise, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders called for proper investigations into the killings and to uphold the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
