Two days before the longest COVID-19 related lockdown in the world is to end, groups condemned the brutal killing of Carlito “Ka Karletz” Badion, Secretary-General of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY). Badion is the latest activist killed while parts of the country remain under lockdown as government’s main solution to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Activists killed during the lockdown included cultural worker Marlon Maldos in Bohol, peasant leader Nora Apique in Surigao del Sur, peasant leader John Farochilin in Iloilo, Bayan Muna founding member and relief volunteer Jory Porquia in Iloilo, peasant leader Allan “Mano Boy” Aguilando in Northern Samar. All of them were constantly harassed and recently red-tagged or received death threats before their death and their groups point to police or military elements as responsible for their killing. Meanwhile, five peasants were killed in what was dubbed as the Sorsogon Massacre, but the military reported it as a successful operation against the New People’s Army.
Badion’s burnt remains were found along the highway in Pagsanga-an riverside in Ormoc City, late afternoon of last Thursday, May 28, 5:30pm. Kadamay said he was buried in a shallow grave of sand, with wounds all over his body and a gunshot.
According to his group, unidentified armed assailants abducted Badion last May 26 in a hut where he was staying. He was reportedly tortured in a nearby coastal area in Barangay Guintigui-an, Ormoc City in Leyte province. His laptop and cellphone were taken before he was killed. Badion was a local resident of Ormoc City.
Badion received death threats days before his abduction and killing and was subjected to constant red-tagging.
“Puno ng poot at galit ang buong Kadamay ngayon habang nakikiramay sa pamilya ni Carlito “Karletz” Badion, minamahal na pambansang lider ng organisasyon. Si Karletz ay pinaslang ng mga elemento ng mga pinaghihinalaang elemento ng Armed Forces of the Philippines. Wala siyang kasalanan kundi ang mag-alay ng buong panahon para sa maralita at inaapi ng bulok na sistemang panlipunan,” said KADAMAY in its statement on the killing of Badion.
[All of KADAMAY are filled with rage while we extend our sympathies to the family of Carlito “Karletz” Badion, beloved national leader of our organization. Karletz was killed by suspected elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He did not commit any sin except to offer all his time to urban poor and oppressed in a decaying social order]
Long years of service to the urban poor
Badion was the long-time secretary-general of KADAMAY. He was among the many firebrand urban poor mass leaders who emerged during the Estrada administration after the July 2000 Payatas Tragedy in Quezon City that killed and buried hundreds in the dumpsite landslide.
In mid-2000s, Badion was with Kadamay in condemning the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project that was part of the PNR modernization of the then Gloria Macapagal Arroyo admin. The said project displaced tens of thousands of urban poor living along the tracks stretching from Caloocan to Laguna.
In August 2012, Badion and Kadamay were the first to protest the Aquino government’s substandard mass housing projects after the massive flooding in Kasiglahan Village in Montalban, Rizal. More than 2,000 relocatees lost their homes and belongings in that year’s monsoon flooding.
Over the decades, he joined and led most of Kadamay and the urban poor sector’s anti-demolition campaigns, campaign for livelihood, campaign for affordable mass housing, protests against price hikes and other anti-poor policies and programs of the government.
Despite persistent attacks on the urban poor by the Duterte government in the Oplan Tokhang killings that targeted suspected drug personalities in urban poor communities, Badion stood ground as he led the urban poor and other sectors in exposing and protesting against Duterte’s anti-poor drug war.
In March 2017, some 6,000 homeless urban poor won shelter after the successful Kadamay-led Occupy Bulacan which occupied idle government housing sites in Pandi, Bulacan. Since then, Kadamay became a persistent target of red-tagging and vilification by state forces, particularly the vile NTF-ELCAC led by General Antonio Parlade.
He relocated to Leyte where he was organizing urban poor communities.
Groups assail anti-terror bill
KADAMAY said Badion’s killing happened while anti-terror bill is being fast-tracked in the lower house of Congress and how other activists have constantly faced threats, but ordinary citizens are not safe if the anti-terror bill is passed into law.
“Sa buong bansa, talamak ang harassment, panloloko, pananakot, pananakit, pang-aaresto kasama ng gawa-gawang kaso at ang pagpatay sa mga organisador. Hindi naging ligtas si Karletz sa mga berdugo, at tiyak sa bagong panukalang patakaran, sinuman sa atin, lahat ng karaniwang tao ay hindi rin ligtas,” said KADAMAY.
[In the whole country, harassment, deception, threats, assaults, arrests with trumped up charges and killings of organizers are rife. Karletz was not safe from the executioners, and certainly in the new law, any of us, all ordinary citizens are not safe.]
Anakpawis and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) condemned the killing of Badion and the railroading of the Anti-Terrorism Bill.
“We condemn the brutal killing of Ka Karletz and call for justice. This is state terrorism, a day before the regime is cooking up its immoral and unjust anti-terrorism bill. Ka Karletz staunchly defended the rights of the urban poor against violent demolition and eviction, advanced the poor’s right to shelter and social services, as well as the national minimum wage. He is a martyr, a hero of the urban poor sector,” Ariel “Ka Ayik” Casilao said in a press statement.
“We join KADAMAY in strongly condemning the brutal and heinous killing of its national secretary general Carlito “Karletz” Badion Jr. We hold the fascist Duterte regime and the mercenary AFP-PNP highly accountable for this latest activist killing, now numbering to several hundreds… We are enraged with this heinous act perpetrated by the Duterte regime which is now laying the foundation of a full-blown Martial Law through the railroading of the Anti-Terror Bills,” said KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.
