Newsreel | Activists condemn Lianga killings
Rights activists again voice their condemnation of the recent killings in Mindanao. This time, the victims were an administrator of a Lumad school, a Lumad peasant leader and his cousin. Meanwhile, the Lumad communities began to, once again, evacuate.
President Aquino’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, continues to victimize ordinary citizens, especially indigenous people and peasants, in Mindanao.
Its most recent victim was Emerito Samarca, executive director of lumad school Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), as well as Dionel Campos and Bello Sinzo. He was found by residents dead in one of Alcadev’s classrooms in Sitio Han-ayan, Brgy. Diatogon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, around 4 in the morning of September 1. He was found hogtied, his throat slit and his body stabbed several times.
Also killed were Dionel Campos, chair of Mapasu (a Lumad people’s organization), and his cousin Bello Sinzo. Witnesses reportedly point to elements of the paramilitary group Magahat/Bagani force and members of 36th Infantry Battalion of the PhilippineArmy as perpetrators.
Manobo residents of Han-ayan now in fear for their lives, and began evacuating their communities.
In Quezon City, several candle-lighting activities and protest actions were done in condemnation of the recent spate of killings in Mindanao. The newsreel is an interview with Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of human rights alliance Karapatan, who participated in a candle-lighting activity in E. Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon City.
Videography and editing for PinoyMedia Center by JL Burgos
