The Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) joins the international community in denouncing the rising spate of extrajudicial killings under the BS Aquino regime in the Philippines.
According to reports, members of the Phil. Army 41st Infantry Battalion doing counter insurgency operations Oplan Bayanihan committed the brutal massacre of Freddie ‘Fermin’ Ligiw, his father Licuben Ligiw and brother Edie Ligiw, members of the Binongan Tribe in Baay-Licuan, Abra on March 2, 2014. Their death brings to a total of 43 the number of extrajudicial killings of indigenous peoples under the current regime.
Members of the grassroots environmental organization KASTAN (Kakailian Salakniban Tay Amin ti Nagtaudan), the local chapter of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the Ligiws have been actively involved in anti-mining plunder and anti-militarization campaigns in the province, according to KAMP (Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas), an indigenous peoples organization.
KAMP stated that Fermin was due to file a human rights violation report to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) on March 4, after he was used as a guide to aid the military in pursuing members of the New People’s Army.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims who are working in Hong Kong expressed fear for their families back home. The military’s 41st Infantry Battalion had been conducting house-to-house investigation in their communities prior to the massacre, according to them. They expressed anger at the torture suffered by their relatives whose bodies bore signs of gagging and other forms of abuse, as their hands were tied-up when they were found buried in a shallow grave five days after they went missing.
While HKCAHRPP condemns the killings and demands justice for the victims, it assails the culture of impunity that was the trademark of Gloria Arroyo’s regime that persists under the administration of BS Aquino.
Once again, the HKCAHRPP stand in solidarity with the Filipino people in denouncing the spate of extrajudicial killings, abductions and the filing of trump-up charges against human rights defenders in the Philippines. These human rights abuses and violations must stop now.
Reference:
Jackie Hung
Co-convenor
Tel. (852) 92681803
Bruce Van Voorhis
Co-convenor
Tel. (852) 94923064
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Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of
Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines
c/o ASA, No. 4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 98105070, 97585935Â Â Â Â Fax. (852) 27354559
E-mail: [email protected]
