The human rights group stated that “no legal documents were processed to authenticate the identities of the two remains,” and that they were only positively identified as Pinza and Candor upon exhuming.
“We are disappointed and angry at the military, who not only took Jay-ar’s life, but also blatantly violates the rights of the family by performing delaying tactics and depriving them of the right to claim their relative’s remains.”
Soriano attributed the killing to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Memorandum Order No. 32 that targets human and land rights activists in the provinces of Samar, Negros, and the Bicol region.
“The problem is that the framework of this task force [to end communist insurgency] provides no distinction between combatants and non-combatants, or activists belonging to organizations categorized as legal fronts [of the Communist Party of the Philippines].”
“The series of attacks threaten to undermine the country’s peace and order situation, the State’s failure to identify and punish the perpetrators further breeds a culture of impunity and violence.”
In his fourth state-of-the-nation address President Duterte didn’t say a word about the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines that have shocked many all over the world. Just the week before, his government had been embroiled in a ruckus over the approval of a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, urging the UN High…
“We call on all freedom-loving individuals and organizations to unite in holding the Duterte government accountable for turning Negros island into a killing field.”
The CPP and NPA demanded the Duterte regime to abide by the Geneva Conventions and other international protocols and called on all of Duterte’s forces to stop targeting and killing civilians.
“Those who were killed are persons; they are not just numbers or statistics! We fervently pray that we may not continue counting dead bodies; that every one of us will continue protecting human lives.”
Albayalde’s statement justifying Oplan Sauron reeks of impunity. Like Oplan Tokhang, the Philippine National Police wishes the public to regard as normal the butchering of civilians.
“It exposes that ‘hit lists’ often translate to killings.”