A cultural activist was killed in Bohol while a human rights worker in Lanao del Sur was arrested and detained while the National Capital Region (NCR) and then Luzon was placed under general to enhanced community quarantine cum ‘lockdown.’

The whole of Luzon is now under ‘enhanced community quarantine’ from March 17 to April 12. The enhanced community quarantine being implemented means a total lockdown in the whole of Luzon, Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said on March 17.

 

Killing of Marlon Maldos

Cultural activist Marlon Maldos, 25, was shot near Tagbilaran City, Bohol on the afternoon of March 16.

Maldos was a choreographer and a peasant advocate from cultural group Bol-anong Artista nga may Diwang Dagohoy (Bansiwag). He led young artists in crafting cultural performances reflecting the conditions and aspirations of poor farmers.

Prior to his killing, Maldos has repeatedly reported facing red-tagging and harassment from elements of the 47th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as he undertook cultural work among his fellow rural youth.

“We wholly attribute this extrajudicial killing to the AFP,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) National Chairperson Danilo Ramos.

“The government has repeatedly pleaded that any non-essential work be stopped as the nation confronts the COVID-19 disease, even pleading a ceasefire with armed rebels, yet Duterte’s armed forces persist in their wanton killing of unarmed civilians. Is the killing of activists this essential to the regime? Just what kind of evil afflicts these fascist forces that not even a global pandemic made them think twice in killing good-willed young people?” Ramos lamented.

Photo from KMP
Photo from KMP

 

Maldos’ fellow cultural worker and Bansiwag member Alvin Fortaliza was arrested and detained on ‘trumped-up charges’ last March 17, 2019.

 

Arrest and detention of Teresita Naul

Karapatan Regional Council Member for Northern Mindanao Teresita Naul was arrested by police and military on March 15, 2020 at around 8:00 a.m. at her relative’s residence in Lala, Lanao del Sur.

Human rights alliance Karapatan reported that joint elements of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Mechanized Infantry Division along with the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Division Group and Police Regional Office 10 arrested Naul under trumped-up charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and destructive arson.

Before her arrest, Naul was red-tagged along with Karapatan Western Mindanao Chairperson, and Iglesia Filipina Independiente Bishop, Antonio Ablon, and 15 other human rights activists and church workers.

On March 11, leaflets accusing Ablon, Naul and other church workers and activists in Mindanao as part of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) were distributed near an IFI Church in Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City. The flyers had their photos and names printed, along with their supposed ranks in the group.

“Karapatan decries these efforts by the Duterte regime and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) to malign and delegitimize the work of human rights defenders in Mindanao. Naul has been a long-time officer of Karapatan Northern Mindanao. The Duterte regime’s pandemic of fascist attacks continue even amid the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and Naul’s arrest yesterday is an egregious display of the government’s militarist priorities,” Karapatan Deputy Secretary General Roneo Clamor stated.

 

Information drive for anti-communist insurgency

A Twitter account of Municipality of Pantar, Lanao Del Sur tweeted on March 12 an e-poster of the Pantar Philippine National Police (PNP) unit on “CRIME PREVENTION ON TERRORISM” that included Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago.

 

PNP units all over the country continue its distribution of flyers and anti-insurgency drive and Expanded Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) for ‘reintegration of surrenderees to society.’

 

Some police units posted the information drive is for both on “safety measures in relation to COVID-19 and anti-terrorism relative to ELCAC campaign.”

 

In now deleted tweets and retweets on the official accounts of the PNP (@pnppio) and the PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations (@pnpdpcr) using the hashtag #PNPKakampiMo, police officers were shown conducting house-to-house distribution of flyers regarding its anti-insurgency drive in relation to the NTF ELCAC from March 12 to 14.

Progressive groups and human rights groups have denounced the ELCAC as an instrument of permanent undeclared martial law where all units of government, including civilian agencies and those providing frontline services, are co-opted for the government’s anti-insurgency drive.

Meanwhile, the E-CLIP program was reported to have coerced farmers and the poor in the provinces as well as leaders to become “forced” or “fake” surrenderees. A photoshopped photo of ‘surrenderees’ was also released by the unit of the military, showing an old photo of a few people lined up composited with guns, and said that more than 300 surrendered just before the year 2019 ended. The military admitted the photo was edited, but maintained the number of surrenderees to be true.

 

Massacre of Communist Party leader, wife, companions

“The [CPP] condemns in the strongest terms the cold-blooded assassination of Party leader Julius Giron (Ka Nars), his wife Lourdes Tan Torres (Ka Kara) and their aide last March 13 in Baguio City. Claims made by the military and police that they were about to serve an arrest warrant are outright lies. It was a liquidation operation, a massacre, carried out at 3 a.m. with the clear aim of assassinating Giron and eliminating all witnesses,” said the CPP in a statement on March 18.

The statement said Giron was nearly 70 years old and had difficulty keeping his balance. Both he and his wife ‘were suffering from the infirmities of old age.’ The statement also belied the claims that Giron fired at arresting agents as he, his wife and aide were unarmed.

“The cold-blooded murder of Giron contravenes Duterte’s recent overtures to resume peace talks with the NDFP. It demonstrates unequivocally that the NDFP-GRP peace talks cannot be successfully resumed as long as Duterte’s Proclamation 374 and Executive Order 70 remain in effect. Under these orders, military and police forces carry out killings, mass arrests, abductions, surveillance and intimidation and other forms of suppression against the people,” said the CPP in the statement.

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here