On October 6 at 2am, Bayan Batangas spokesperson Lino Baez of and Anakpawis Batangas coordinator Willy Capareño were arrested by reportedly around 50 police and military elements in Manggalang 1, Sariaya, Quezon.

This happened a day before the 7th month of the infamous ‘Bloody Sunday, series of police pre-dawn raids leading to the arrests of six and killings of nine activists in the Southern Tagalog Region provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal.

Based on the report from BAYAN Timog Katagalugan (TK), at least 50 combined elements of police and military were spotted around the vicinity.

According to Bayan TK, Baez was one of the victims of Bloody Sunday, when his home was among those raided and planted with guns and explosives while he was not around at the time.

“To me, the police have failed greatly to force my silence. For the nth time, I will not be cowered to speak truth to power, and fight for what is just. They may be able to raid my home and plant false evidence, incriminate me through trumped-up charges – they may be able to get around due process – but they can never blind, restrain, and silence me. My revolutionary spirit will always endure,” Baez was quoted on Bloody Sunday.

Capareño was red-tagged in 2019 and threatened by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that he would be arrested together with other peasant leaders in Batangas.

Their organizations and families are still ascertaining their whereabouts as no further information was released since their arrest.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here