Karapatan deplores pattern of killings, arrests of civilians recently ‘abducted’ by military or police in Mindanao.
FIRST PERSON | A Tribute and a Statement
By BISHOP REX B. REYES, JR.*
Woke up to a grey, overcast morning. . . on the verge of raindrops. The sun is hidden from view. The morning sky mourns for you, Randy Malayao, peace advocate and example of uprightness. And I do, too – most grievously. Your death in the hands of a gunman, in a bus in the middle of the night and while you were asleep is an act of terror most repugnant.
A system is afraid of you. It is afraid that you spoke the truth about its greed, its covetousness, and its corruption. It is afraid that you spoke the truth about the malevolence and viciousness of its minions. It must be a system that espouses violence and more violence. It is the same system that jailed and tortured you. The same system that oppresses us all. The same system that took your life.
It is afraid that you kept alive the dream of a just and lasting peace. It is a dream that even now is real among the sinews that interweave hope upon this land.
I join those justly enraged by the treacherous extra judicial killing and who have condemned the perpetuators of this dastardly act. I reach out to the bereaved members of his family.
The grey overcast sky lasted for five hours. No raindrop. Only the appearance of the glorious sun. And the eyes are too parched to let a tear drop. But, it is just as well. You now dwell in the hearts and minds of all the just and decent and a haunt to the paragons of impunity.
Go, my friend, martyred gentle soul, roam the plains of the Pacific coast and the hinterlands of the Cordilleras. Be as the wind echoing the mountains and trees as they chant the eternal ode of justice and sway to the enduring dance of peace, until the Lord of the Dance shall return.
*The author is a Bishop Coadjutor, Central Philippines, Episcopal Church in the Philippines.
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After Malayao’s killing: NDFP reconsidering policy of being open to talks with ‘murderous Duterte regime’
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions
The assassination of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines’s (NDFP) youngest peace consultant is pushing it to reconsider its policy of being open to peace negotiations with the Rodrigo Duterte regime, its chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison announced.
“The heinous murder manifests the scheme of the Duterte regime to shun peace negotiations in the first place, escalate its attacks on the people and their leaders and use its all-out war on the revolutionary forces and people as the very excuse for imposing a fascist dictatorship on the people,” Sison said in a statement.
Sison said that in view of the murder of NDFP consultant Randy Malayao, the NDFP and all revolutionary forces within its fold are now in the process of reconsidering its policy of being open to peace negotiations with the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) under the Duterte regime.
“[The revolutionary forces] are more than ever determined to carry out the overthrow of the the treasonous, tyrannical, murderous and corrupt Duterte regime,” Sison added.
Malayao, 49 years old, was killed early Wednesday morning while asleep inside a bus in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya.
“It can be expected therefore that the murder of Randy Malayao and other criminal offenses of the Duterte regime will result in the intensification of revolutionary armed struggle nationwide against a regime hell-bent on going down in history as a butchering monster and enemy of the cause of just peace,” Sison added.
GRP peace panel ‘deeply saddened’
Meanwhile, GRP chief negotiator and labor secretary Silvestre Bello III expressed shock over the murder of Malayao.
“We take the report with shock and disbelief. The assassination was rather cowardly,” Bello said in a statement sent to Kodao.
He added they were deeply saddened by the “very unfortunate event.”
Bello accused “misguided elements” who may be on the loose to put to waste whatever is left of the gains of the peace process Malayao actively participated in for several years.
Bello was a close friend of Malayao, acting as defense lawyer in one of the criminal cases filed against the victim.
Malayao was cleared of all charges against him, including allegedly masterminding the ambush on Rodolfo Aguinaldo.
Bello said that the GRP peace panel “plead(s) that those seeking ways to peace be spared.”
He added it is their hope that the life sacrificed by Malayao serves to give new life to their common desire for peace.
Yet another PNP canard
The Philippine National Police in Cagayan Valley, however, tried to pin the blame on the New People’s Army (NPA) for Malayao’s killing.
“As a high-ranking Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA officer in the region, it may be that his comrades killed him,” Chief Superintendent Mario Espino, the regional director of the Philippine National Police in Cagayan Valley alleged.
Espino, however, did not offer proof on his allegation.
Sison readily condemned Espino’s statement.
“The false claim that the murder of Randy Malayao was done by the NPA is a brazen intrigue of the vilest kind,” Sison said.
Sison said the PNP officer’s “malicious and evil” is aimed at covering up “murdering agents of the Duterte regime and to set the stage for further murders of suspected revolutionaries, peace and human rights advocates and critics by the death squads of the Duterte regime in the PNP and AFP.”
Local and international human rights groups also blamed Malayao’s murder to the killing atmosphere under the Duterte regime.
Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights blamed Malayao’s murder to “death squads of the Duterte regime,” adding it was the government that included Malayao in the proscription petition in February 2018 and branded him as a terrorist, inciting violations against him and many others.
“The PNP seems disinterested in a thorough investigation, as it prefers to quickly dismiss the case. At best, it is indicative of the typical dishonest, misleading and deceitful PNP who spins the most ludicrous of stories; at worst, it is a defense mechanism to protect the real perpetrators by laying the blame elsewhere,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.
The Commission on Human Rights for its part said it will investigate Malayao’s murder, noting that the murder “comes at a time when voices of opposition and human rights groups are tagged as enemies, making them possible subjects of assaults.”
“His killing comes at a time when political activists in the country have become regular targets of violent attacks, and in a climate in which such killings are being normalised under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte,” Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Global Operations, Minar Pimple also said.
‘More lethal blows’
Sison said that Malayao’s assassination leaves the NPA no choice but to launch more offensives against “state terrorism.”
“Duterte and all his armed minions are digging their own graves because they are goading the NPA to launch more tactical offensives by way of demonstrating that they are targeting those responsible for the rising and expanding crimes of state terrorism,” Sison said.
“In the face of the propaganda of the Duterte regime to cover up the murder of Randy Malayao and further crimes of state terrorism, there is no other effective way for the NPA to prove the falsity of intrigues and attain a measure of justice for the victims but to deliver more lethal blows on those perpetrating the crimes of state terrorism,” Sison said.
The CPP founder added that martyrs’ blood such as Malayao’s are “never shed in vain” as they serve to inspire “greater resistance of the people to tyranny.” Reposted by
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DepEd-11 to probe death of DAVRAA athlete
The Department of Education in Davao Region (DepEd-11) has called for an investigation to clarify questions surrounding the death of the 12-year-old student-athlete from Davao Oriental on Wednesday, January 30.
Lumad, peasant leaders abducted, not arrested by CIDG, group claims
Human rights group Barug Katungod Mindanao condemned the arrest of a lumad and peasant leaders Datu Jomorito Goaynon and Ireneo Udarbe in Cagayan de Oro on “false criminal charges and planted evidence.”
Lanao del Norte officials reiterate stand on BOL ahead of Feb. 6 plebiscite
The local government officials of Lanao del Norte has reiterated their opposition ahead of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite in the province on Feb. 6 as their people will decide on the inclusion of six municipalities to a new political entity that will be formed to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Friends, colleagues condemn killing of peace consultant
“First thing that struck me when I first met Randy was he towered over everyone. Gentle brown giant.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Colleagues, friends and rights activists are indignant over the killing of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant, Randy Felix Malayao, 49. He died on the spot after a gunman fired at him inside a bus while he was asleep at 2:30 a.m. today, Jan. 30.
The NDF-Cagayan Valley condemned the killing of Malayao and attributed the killing to what they call as the “death squad elements of 5th Infantry Division.”
“His death is the latest among the fascist US-Duterte regime’s attacks against the people, in a desperate and bloody attempt to fulfill his forecast that the revolutionary movement can be crushed by the middle of the year,” Salvador del Pueblo of NDF-Cagayan Valley said in a statement.
Del Pueblo said that Malayao, as peace consultant should not be harmed nor arrested as he was covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). It is an agreement signed by the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines protecting individuals like peace consultants and other people involved in the peace talks from arrests and harassments.
His brothers at the University of the Philippines Beta Sigma Fraternity – UP Visayas Chapter dubbed the killers as “traitor, brutal and coward.”
“The whole brotherhood of Beta Sigma in UP Visayas-Miagao is in rage and grief. The butchers took the life of a person whose dream is for peace and prosperity for our country,” Beta Sigma said in a statement.
“It hits you and you mourn, makes you momentarily catatonic with the shock of unbelievable. But Randy, we will one day wake up to the dawn of hope because the nights of rage will usher a morn of justice,” NDFP Negotiating Panel legal consultant Edre Olalia said.
Malayao was a consultant on Political and Constitutional Reforms Group for the NDFP Peace Panel.
‘Humble servant of the masses’
Del Pueblo described “Comrade Felix” as a “humble servant of the masses.”
“He spent 33 years of his life arousing, organizing and mobilizing the people against an unjust ruling system. He was an exemplary revolutionary, whose favorite motto was ‘Others First.’ He lived among the peasants and workers of Cagayan Valley, later serving as the region’s representative to the NDF-GRP Peace Talks, all the while performing other revolutionary duties,” del Pueblo said.
Fides Lim, wife of detained NDFP consultant Vicente Ladlad meanwhile described Malayao as “sharp, witty and funny” and “gentle brown giant.”
“First thing that struck me when I first met Randy was he towered over everyone. Gentle brown giant,” Lim said in her Facebook post.
“Sharp, witty, funny, beyond the ken of the pygmy brains who had him killed because they cannot understand sharp, witty, funny. Randy would not have liked the way he was killed, napping inside a bus on his way back from Nueva Vizcaya, 2:30 a.m. He would have wanted to look his killer straight in the eye. But that is the way of cowards who steal lives and don’t like argument,” she added.
His brothers from Beta Sigma also remembered him as a role model and wholeheartedly lived the spirit of brotherhood to serve God, the people, the university, the family, and the brotherhood.
‘Part of military operation’
Danggayan Cagayan Valley, a regional chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas also expressed their grief with Malayao’s killing. They called him as a great child of Cagayan Valley who dedicated his life for freedom and democracy.
“We will persist amid the worsening brutality brought about by this regime’s counterinsurgency program,” Danggayan said in a statement.
It added that Malayao’s murder was part of the military operations in the region “which resulted in series of murders, attempted murder, bombing of the peasant community, forced suicide and evacuation, filing of acts of conduct, illegal arrest , accusations and harassment of citizen organizations.”
Karapatan also called for justice for Malayao and all victims of extrajudicial killings. They attributed Malayao’s killing, as with the deaths of Fr. Marcelito Paez, Atty. Benjamin Ramos and many others “in the counterinsurgency program and the sham drug war, to the death squads of the Duterte regime, which has ceaselessly incited and ordered the killing of peace and human rights advocates, peasants and indigenous peoples, the urban poor, church people and many others.”
Read also: Randy Malayao: Campus journalist and ‘fisher of men’*
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