By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Candles are lit for 14 peasants killed in Negros earlier this evening, Apr. 8, in Quezon City.
In a statement, Kadamay said they feel “deep kinship” towards farmers as many of them hailed from provinces, earning a living by tilling the land but their dire conditions forced to leave for Manila to find better job opportunities.
On March 30, 14 farmers were killed and 12 were arrested in three areas in Negros Oriental due to a police operation dubbed as Sauron.
Relatives of killed farmers decried the oft repeated narrative that they resisted arrest, much similar to how drug-related killings are being done in so-called legitimate police operations.
“Tokhang is no different from other killings under Duterte. Tokhang, it seems, is the means. But the target is those who dare to question this administration,” Kadamay chairperson Gloria Arellano.
Tokhang refers to the bloody drug war that President Rodrigo Duterte has launched, claiming the lives of nearly 30,000 poor Filipinos, alleged to be illegal drug users and peddlers.
Kadamay also called on the government yo address the Negros killings, instead of dismissing it as “leftist propaganda.”
The post Negros killings | Urban poor cry for justice appeared first on Bulatlat.