MANILA — In the dead of the night, August 10, at least ten police officers forcibly took Randall Echanis’s remains at St. Peter’s Chapel from grieving family and colleagues.
The police claimed there was no “release order.” The police reportedly transferred the remains to another funeral parlor in La Loma, Quezon City.
In a statement, wife Erlinda said she has positively identified the body of her husband which bore torture marks, multiple stab wounds and gunshot wounds.
“I condemn the persistent harassment of PNP [Philippine National Police] La Loma-QCPD [Quezon City Police District] and their brazen act of snatching the remains of my husband Randall Echanis from us,” she said.
Echanis was killed in a rented apartment early morning of August 10, where he was reportedly stabbed to death.
The Philippine police earlier maintained that a certain Manuel Santiago, not Echanis, was killed, following an identification card allegedly found in the crime scene. However, Anakpawis Partylist’s legal counsel Luchi Perez confirmed that the Santiago, as described by the police, is Echanis.
Edre Olalia, legal consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace panel, maintained that the police’s “concluding instantly and accepting publicly that one of the dead bodies is a certain Manuel Santiago based solely on an ID that was allegedly found in the crime scene is either naïveté, laziness or plain incompetence.”
Olalia said Echanis was a public figure who appeared or spoken in many a rallies in Quezon City and elsewhere and was active and deeply involved in the formal and informal peace negotiations.
“We hope there is no attempt to muddle, confuse, deflect, distract or cover up. Nor scoff at the memory of a humble and honorable peacemaker. That would be callousness without compare,” Olalia said.
A member of the paralegal team who was keeping track of the remains of Echanis was arrested by the La Loma Police and brought to Camp Karingal for “obstruction of justice.” (With reports from Emily Vital)(Bulatlat.com)
Ginanap noong Agosto 8 ang isang birtwal na parangal para kay yumaong NDF Chief Negotiator Fidel Agcaoili. Pumanaw si Ka Fidel noong Hulyo 23 dahil sa sakit. Iba’t ibang personalidad na mga kaibigan at nakasama ni Ka Fidel ang nagpaabot ng pakikidalamhati at nagsalaysay ng kani-kanilang kwento sa kanya.
They who wield the law
Sent hooded men who
Barged into the house of an
Ailing old man.
They plunged their weapons
Deep into his mortal being,
Splattering the great deeds
Of a peacemaker.
So tell us now,
Who are the peace slayers?
Who are the social justice thieves?
Who are the terror sowers?
They who wield the law
Fear too much
This gentle voice
Who spoke with peasants
And fisherfolk, and toiling workers
Who dream their dreams
Of life without want and fear.
Knives and bullets
Cannot silence the faceless, nameless.
They will walk bravely with
The memory of an old man
Who is deathless,
Who saw the time
When fields can be owned by the tillers,
The factories ran by workers,
The seas, air and land defined
By those who remained defiant
Against those who wielded
The law of terror.
“Our progressive congressmen can draft the most privileged bills, but without the people’s support outside they will have a hard time convincing the people inside the Congress.”
MANILA– The Filipino people have decided to step up the campaign to put ABS-CBN back on air.
In a webinar hosted by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), PIRMA Kapamilya introduced the public-driven signature campaign aiming to bring back the country’s largest broadcasting station.
PIRMA Kapamilya convenor, lawyer Third Bagro said that on July 10, he was one of the people who was dismayed with the decision of Congress to deny ABS-CBN a franchise renewal. “It was unfair and unjustified. So we thought: perhaps it was time for us, citizens, to grant ABS-CBN the people’s franchise through the ‘People’s Initiative’.”
People’s Initiative refers to the power given to the people under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, that enables the Filipino people to directly propose and enact laws, or even amend the Constitution itself. Granted under R.A. 6735 or “The Initiative and Referendum Act” was promulgated in 1989 to implement the foregoing provisions in the Constitution.
For the initiative to succeed, they would be needing at least ten percent of all registered voters, and at least three percent of all registered voters in every legislative district to sign the petition.
Then, they will be filing the petition along with the signatures to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for verification.
After verifying the legitimacy of the signatures, Comelec will then call for a referendum, similar to how people can vote for the elections, to let the voters decide whether they agree with the proposed law or not.
During the referendum, at least 50 percent plus one of the votes cast should vote for the enactment of the proposed law. After Comelec certifies the result of the referendum, the law then becomes effective.
According to the SWS Survey, three out of four Filipinos support the renewal of ABS-CBN. And more recently, a Veritas survey also showed that 68 percent wants ABS-CBN back.
In the history of the Philippines, ever since 1987, a successful People’s Initiative has never been done at a national-level, but the convenors of PIRMA Kapamilya are willing to try anyway.
“If we are able to bring back ABS-CBN through this initiative, it will be the first ever to succeed without needing the permission of politicians, and even the president himself.”
Former Bayan Muna representative and National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) Chairman Neri Colmenares welcomed the initiative.
“Our progressive congressmen can draft the most privileged bills, but without the people’s support outside they will have a hard time convincing the people inside the Congress,” said Colmenares.
“Remember our biggest victories are done because of the people’s outrage through protest. Therefore the involvement of the people is what is most important,” he added.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, meanwhile, shared their efforts inside the House of Representatives.
Zarate wrote a letter to the Committee of Legislative Franchise, asking the latter to bring the resolution denying the franchise of ABS-CBN to the plenary.
“The resolutions drafted by the Technical Working Group, as adopted by the Committee, had many resolutions that can only be addressed outside of the Legislative Franchise Committee,” explained Zarate. “We are planning to push the issue and further discuss it in the plenary.”
Zarate said that while the Initiative is a big help, supporting lawmakers inside the House of the Representatives is also important to keep the issue alive.
NUJP Chairman Nonoy Espina said the Initiative is a huge step forward, especially since the decision to shut down ABS-CBN was done despite the visible outrage of the Filipino people.
“With this initiative, the Filipino people will finally be able to voice out their own opinions about ABS-CBN’s franchise,” said Espina.
He also mentioned the importance of ABS-CBN’s wide reach when it comes to delivering news to the remote areas in the country, not only because of the pandemic but also because the country is fast approaching the typhoon season.
“This people’s initiative will be most important to those who have lost their only access to information, to news, and to entertainment, because of the closure of a big broadcasting network,” Espina said.
With a vote of 242 in the affirmative, six in the negative, and zero abstentions, House Bill 6953, also known Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2, was approved by the House of Representatives in third and final reading. The bill outlined P162 billion for COVID-19 response and would grant special powers to […]
Davao City’s 35th anniversary of the Kadayawan Festival will go digital and retrospective this year as events are cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
MANILA – Progressive groups expressed their rage against the gruesome killing of peasant leader and peace consultant, Randall Echanis.
According to initial reports, Echanis, 72, was stabbed to death by still unknown assailants on early morning of Aug. 10 in a rented house in Novaliches, Quezon City. An unidentified neighbor was also killed in the incident.
His colleagues in the progressive movement demand justice for the killing of Echanis.
In a statement, Danilo Ramos, national chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said they believe that the murder is “the handiwork of state forces and mercenaries of the Duterte government.”
Echanis was chairperson of Anakpawis Partylist and deputy secretary general of the KMP.
For 40 years, Ramos said Echanis had advocated for substantive reforms for the peasantry and in achieving lasting peace. “Only rabid hacienderos, land grabbers, and militarist peace spoilers desire his death,” Ramos said.
“We hold accountable the Duterte regime which has persistently proclaimed and acted against genuine land reform and a just peace,” he added.
In his statement, NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison blamed Interior Secretary Eduardo Año who, he said, “has been boasting to his staff and other people that he has mapped out the locations of all social activists through the local governments and neighborhoods and that he can wipe them out the social activists anytime.”
“This boasting of Año is taken seriously by all the social activists that he threatens to kill,” said Sison.
Sison said that Echanis as well as the other negotiators, consultants and staff of the GRP and NDFP in the peace negotiations, was supposedly protected by the safety and immunity provisions of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), even after peace negotiations was terminated unilaterally by Duterte.
“Duterte and his gang of butchers are truly monstrous for murdering the unarmed Randall and his neighbor,” he said.
In a separate statement, Karapatan Chairperson Elisa Tita Lubi said they are enraged beyond measure. “The despicable and shameless killing of Randy Echanis — in the middle of a pandemic that this government fails to stem — only shows that the dark and murderous forces of this militarist regime will not cease in their deranged rampage of killings and other gross human rights violations,” she said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate meanwhile said the killing of Echanis is a “cowardly act and is highly condemnable.”
“It shows how low anti-democratic forces can go if only to silence dissent. That an old man would be murdered just for fighting for the Filipino peasant’ right to land and other oppressed sectors in our society is clearly emblematic of the state of impunity and tyranny in our country today,” Zarate said in a statement.
On promoting genuine agrarian reform
Members of Kilusang Mayo Uno call for justice for Randall Echanis (Contributed photo)
Colleagues recognized Echanis’s role in the peasant movement and contribution to the peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
Zenaida Soriano, national chairperson of National Federation of Peasant Women or Amihan said Echanis’s “service to the peasant movement and the promotion of genuine agrarian reform in the country is exceptional.”
She said that Echanis was a key actor in the crafting the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or GARB, the flagship bill of Anakpawis Party-list, since it was first filed in the House of Representatives in 2007.
He also contributed to the formation of the Genuine Small Coconut Farmers’ Fund or the recovery of billions of coco levy funds, Free Irrigation Bill and Rice Industry Development Act or RIDA and other measures for the benefit of the peasant and working masses.
Echanis was also been part of the peace negotiations since 2002. He served as a consultant for the forging of a Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms particularly on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development.
Dedicating life in the service of the people
Sison said Echanis “had long dedicated himself to his social advocacy and had made tremendous sacrifices for many decades.”
Ramos also described Echanis as selfless and resolute. “Ka Randy continued in working for genuine land reform and a just peace despite being detained three times under the presidencies of Ferdinand Marcos, Cory Aquino, and Gloria Arroyo. He lived a simple life and amassed nothing but contributions to the people’s struggles,” he added.
“After Randy, Fidel, and now Randall, too many, too soon and too tragic,” said National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers national president and National Democratic Front of the Philippines Legal Consultant Edre Olalia said in a statement.
Olalia remembered Echanis as someone who is simple but sharp in his analysis.
“I fondly recall how ‘brothers’ Fidel and Randall engaged in unceasing juvenile banter and comradely taunts during idle moments or breaks in intense negotiations and serious consultations,” Olalia said.
“The evil forces snatched you away from all of us in such brutal, treacherous and heartless fashion. What creatures can ever imaginably do that to a quiet, gentle, unassuming man of peace in his sunset years? There will be justice, RE,” he added.
Sison said that the killing of Echanis and his neighbor has “aroused the indignation and just wrath of the peasant masses and the entire Filipino people.”
“All social activists have no choice but to intensify in every necessary way their struggle against the tyrant, traitor, butcher and plunderer Duterte,” Sison added. (Bulatlat.com)
