Category: News

April 4-8, 2019

Context

On March 30, 2019, between 2:00am to 5:30am, fourteen (14) persons were killed by State security forces during their operations in Canlaon City, Manjuyod, and Sta. Catalina towns in Negros Oriental province in the Philippines. At least fifteen (15) persons were also reportedly arrested in the said localities, according to relatives of the victims and peasant organizations in the province.

In a report by Bombo Radyo Cebu, the PNP Region 7 said that it launched its Simultaneous Enhanced Managing Police Operations (SEMPO) or Oplan Sawron in Negros Oriental. Central Visayas Police Regional Office (PRO-7) Chief Debold Sinas said that the police served 37 search warrants to “various personalities due to illegal possession of firearms.” He also said that they were able to serve 31 search warrants; 14 were killed when these personalities resisted arrests, while 12 others were arrested.¹

In another article, Sinas also reportedly said that those who were killed were members of the CPP-NPA and that the 14 refused to surrender and engaged the police in a shoot-out. “They really fought. Even in Oplan Sauron Part 1, there was a directive from the top leadership of the rebels to fight it out with the police. They were not ready to surrender because they were hardcore rebels,” Sinas said.²

On April 1, 2019, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde and Presidential Spokesperon Salvador Panelo said that these are legitimate police operations.³

The mass killings and illegal arrests of farmers in Negros Oriental are the latest of the attacks against human rights defenders and of the long list of human rights violations documented under the Duterte administration.

Backdrop of a Bloodbath: Poverty and Landlessness in Negros

Throughout decades, Negros has been known as an island of impoverished and landless peasants and farmworkers in the Philippines. Government neglect, exploitation of sugar workers, the dominance of landlords and warlords, and neoliberal policies have altogether created and contributed to the grinding poverty and hunger experienced by the poor in the island, despite the vast tracts of land and resources of its two provinces.

At least 56% of the country’s sugarcane produce come from the Negros island, where 54% of the country’s sugar mill and plantation workers are found. More than 335,000 sugarcane workers in Negros, out of 780,000 nationwide figures, are subjected to slave- like economic conditions.⁴

The average monthly income of a sugarcane worker in Negros is at PhP1,500 (or $27.96) to PhP2,000 ($37.28), which translates to PhP50 ($0.93) to PhP67 ($1.24) a day.⁵ The said levels are a far cry from the daily minimum wage rates of sugar workers in the province which is at PhP303.00 ($5.65) a day⁶, or from the National Capital Region wage rates at PhP512 ($9.54) a day.⁷ Comparing the said figures with the average family living wage as estimated by Ibon Foundation at PhP1,001 ($18.66)⁸, it would give the picture of the sheer destitute state of the sugar workers’ families.

Such a situation exists with the concentration of land to a few elites on the island. The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura said that of the 424,130 hectares of sugar lands in Negros, 40% are owned by 1,860 big landlords, while 30% are owned by 6,820 small landlords.⁹ UMA named the landlord families of the Cojuangcos, Aquinos, Roxases, Aranetas, Torreses, Teveses and others, as among those with vast tracts of land in the region.¹⁰

Meanwhile, the failure of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), under which some 427,656 hectares of land in the Negros region was to be distributed, have so far resulted to the distribution of 302,377 hectares in its three decades of implementation. In an article by Arnold Padilla, Programme Coordinator of the Pesticide Action Network- Asia Pacific, at least 125,279 hectares in land acquisition and distribution (LAD) are yet to be distributed. Negros island accounts for 21% of the national LAD balance of 602,306 hectares – the largest among all regions. It has the second lowest LAD accomplishment rate at 71%, just behind the 67% of another impoverished region, the ARMM.¹¹

¹⁸

With very meager wages from their work in farms, farmers and farmworkers are forced to take on other informal or odd jobs to feed their families, especially during the Tiempo Muerto season or the period between the planting and harvesting seasons of sugarcane where no work is available in the haciendas for six months.

This is the reason why farmworkers organize themselves to cultivate undistributed CARP lands to ease the problem of hunger especially during Tiempo Muerto season, by planting crops that their families can eat. The farmworkers came up with a Bungkalan campaign (land occupation and collective cultivation) which was organized to assert their rights to the land they till and for genuine agrarian reform.¹²

Negros Oriental’s main produce are its sugarcane, coconuts, and bananas.¹³ Yet with its 1.35 million population¹⁴, the province has been considered as among the poorest in the country¹⁵, with 45% poverty incidence among its population, compared to the national average of 21.6%.¹⁶

The areas affected by the mass killings on March 30, 2019, registered high poverty incidence rates with Manjuyod having 33.6%, 43.1 % in Santa Catalina and Canlaon City at 42.3%.¹⁷

Human rights violations: State response to the peasants’ struggle for land

In Negros, killings, massacres, and other rights violations related to the peasants’ struggle for land and rights have marked the island’s history.

During the Marcos dictatorship, the massacre of 20 peasants, known as the Escalante Massacre, marked the Negrense’s protest action on September 20, 1985. Prior to this bloody incident, soldiers and paramilitary forces conducted combat operations in rural communities of Negros, stealing from the people, burning villages, kidnapping and assassinating local leaders. When the sugar crisis exploded in the late 1970s, the sacadas, and even a small number of enlightened landowners said they have had enough. This triggered many protest marches, demanding agrarian reform and land distribution, fair wages and improved government services.¹⁹

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The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has been bringing out statements to guide the people on issues that affect the country. There have been voices, even among the bishops, questioning if these statements are being heeded at all. In spite of the doubts about the effectivity of these statements, the CBCP has decided once more in its plenary session last January to issue another statement on the forthcoming elections, with a faint hope that at least some people may be guided by it and act on it. Its statement, released last January 28, 2019, is entitled: “Seek the Common Good.” Among other things, it paints the crucial situation we are in: 
“The midterm election on May 13 is crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect candidates who are principled, courageous and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests.”
So it encouraged lay people to bond and reflect together to pick the right candidates:
“We encourage voters to be very discerning in their votes. Let the lay groups engage in discernment circles to help one another know the candidates well and choose the candidates with the common good of the whole country in mind and not according to what the candidates promise, much less according to what they have received from these candidates.”
Then it pointed out a type of engagement that lay people can engaged in:
“Participation in politics for Christian lay people is not just to be limited to non-partisan involvement. Christians are also encouraged to engage in principled partisan participation. This means that they can campaign for good candidates as an exercise of their Christian faith.”
A not insignificant group of some 130 lay Christian leaders heeded the call. They organized themselves and discerned together the best senatorial candidates to support among the 62 contestants. Since 2015 these Christian leaders from the Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant persuasions have come up with GABAYKRISTO, a set of Christian criteria by which to measure the politicians. They researched the stance of the 62 candidates on various important national issues. They got the profiles of the candidates and they met several times to set up the criteria for screening the candidates. This is a serious kind of discernment circle that the bishops have been calling out. They call themselves the PEOPLE’S CHOICE MOVEMENT.
They came out with two layers of screening. The first screening is to vet the candidates on two knock-out issues: belief in God and federalism/charger change. They believe that a person who does not have the fear of God in him can easily abuse others. They also believe that the present state of the country is not ready for federalism and charter change. 30 candidates were eliminated on these two knock-out issues. 
The 32 candidates who remained in the pool were then subjected to the second screening. They were rated using criteria based on GabayKristo, a guide of 20 specific questions which are divided into four categories –

• Character & Honor, 
• Competence & Abilities, 
• Faithfulness to public service, 
• Faithfulness to God, the Constitution and the laws.
Each of the 20 questions was graded from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. The ten candidates with the highest scores were declared the selected candidates.
The following were the selected “10 BEST SENATORIAL CANDIDATES THAT OUR COUNTRY & PEOPLE NEED DURING THESE TIMES”. They are presented below in alphabetical order – –
1. Alejano, Gary
2. Aquino, Bam
3. Cominares, Nery
4. Diokno, Chel
5. Gutoc, Samira
6. Hilbay, Pilo
7. Macalintal, Romy
8. Poe, Grace
9. Roxas, Mar
10. Tanada, Erin

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Probe Productions Inc. in partnership with The Climate Reality Project Philippines presents the television airing of the documentary

‘OUR POWER‘  on 14 April 2019, 5:00 – 5:30 PM, on GMA News TV, Channel 11.

This documentary features veteran journalist Cheche Lazaro as she investigates the impacts of coal-fired power plants on local communities in Bataan, Cebu, and Negros Island. Her journey takes her to the stories of local heroes who had struggled for their well-being against coal giants.

The documentary aims to show the resiliency of the Filipino spirit in the face of not only natural hazards due to climate change but also adversity from harmful practices that come with dirty energy.

We invite all Filipinos to watch this documentary and to stand in solidarity with our fellow countrymen during one of the most critical periods in our history.

In 2015 Pope Francis issued Laudato Si his encyclical on Care for Our Common Home. On Sept 1 2016 the Pope followed up with a message Show Mercy to our Common Home. Cardinal Turkson said that “this Message is the next logical step after Laudato Si” for it is showing us how to internalize its teachings in our lives and in our world. It is asking us to live Laudato Si”. GCCM-Pilipinas (Philippine Chapter of GCCM) is promoting a #Mercy2Earth Examen based on the Message of Pope Francis as an aid in opening our hearts to our complicity in environmental destruction with all its social consequences.

This #Mercy2Earth Examen has 6 steps:

1.  Rest in the presence of God.
2.  Give thanks for God’s creation and creatures
3.  Reflect on the ways you have heard “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
4.  Ask forgiveness for the ways you’ve fallen short in caring for God’s creation and creatures.
5.  Make amends by committing to concrete ways to show mercy to creation and your neighbors.
6.  Closing prayer

1. Rest in the presence of God.

“Turning to this bountiful and merciful Father who awaits the return of each of his children, we can acknowledge our sins against creation, the poor and future generations.”

Before you begin, take a moment to remember that you are in the presence of our loving Creator. It might help to close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and offer a prayer for the grace to listen deeply to God’s word within you.

2. Give thanks for God’s creation and creatures.

“The first step… involves “gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift.”

• Offer thanks for the many ways God has blessed you through creation. This might include what you ate for breakfast, the water you drink… or it might be a favorite tree, the sounds of birds chirping or a place in nature that is special to you.
• Give thanks for the the people, past and present, who have contributed to the fabric of your life. You might think about the people who helped raise you, your teachers, the people who pick your food, make your clothes, and the countless others. Pope Francis invites us into “loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion.” Our lives are interconnected, and interdependent on so many other people!

3. Reflect on the ways you have listened to “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

“In as much as we all generate small ecological damage,” we are called to acknowledge “our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation.”

Take time to reflect on the following questions Pope Francis asks in his message:

• Am I aware of the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor?” Am I conscious of how the natural world, the plants, and animals are suffering? Do I take time to learn about the social and economic realities faced by so many around the globe?
• In what ways have I made a conscious effort to care for creation and its creatures? In what ways have I fallen short?
• Are there ways and times that I consume more than is necessary?
• How can I help to “make amends for past and present religious intolerance” as well as for injustice towards people of other religions, “women, indigenous peoples, immigrants, the poor and the unborn?”

4. Ask forgiveness for the ways you’ve fallen short in caring for God’s creation and creatures.

“After a serious examination of conscience and moved by sincere repentance, we can confess our sins against the Creator, against creation, and against our brothers and sisters.”

Bring to God the ways that you have fallen short in caring for our common home and ask for forgiveness. If you are so moved, you might want to bring some of your reflections to the sacrament of reconciliation “as the place where the truth makes us free.” The #Mercy2Earth Examen © The Global Catholic Climate Movement, 2017

5. Make Amends

“Examining our consciences, repentance and confession to our Father who is rich in mercy lead to a firm purpose of amendment. This in turn must translate into concrete ways of thinking and acting that are more respectful of creation.”

Pray to God for the grace to know how you are invited to better care for creation, the poor, and future generations. In his message, Pope Francis offers the following guidance,

As a corporal work of mercy, care for our common home requires “simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness” and “makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world… A single question can keep our eyes fixed on the goal: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?”

What changes can you make in your personal life or in your community to better care for our common home and its inhabitants, present and future?

6. Closing Prayer

Conclude your examen by giving thanks for the merciful love that you received during this time and then praying the final prayer in the Pope’s message:

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, who are so precious in your eyes… God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, God of mercy, may we receive your forgiveness and convey your mercy throughout our common home. Praise be to you!

Amen.

“May the works of mercy also include care for our common home “
Pope Francis

Global Catholic Climate Movement – Pilipinas 
Rm.206, One Annapolis Building, #5 Annapolis Street, Cubao, Quezon City; gccmpilipinas@gmail.com; 09090658487

“Jerusalem is the foundation of our vision and our entire life. She is the city to which God gave a particular importance in the history of humanity. She is the city towards which all people are in movement – and where they will meet in friendship and love in the presence of the One Unique God, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah: «In days to come the mountain of the Lord›s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more» (Is. 2:2-5). Today, the city is inhabited by two peoples of three religions; and it is on this prophetic vision and on the international resolutions concerning the totality of Jerusalem that any political solution must be based. This is the first issue that should be negotiated because the recognition of Jerusalem›s sanctity and its message will be a source of inspiration towards finding a solution to the entire problem, which is largely a problem of mutual trust and ability to set in place a new land in this land of God.”
Kairos Palestine Document—A Moment of Truth, Chapter 9.5

Introduction

Easter Blessings! Thank you for accompanying us in this journey to the cross. The purpose of the annual Kairos alert is to shed light on the reality on the ground and provide a Christian commentary and analysis to this reality. Indeed, you have heard from voices on the ground and international activists on what it means to live as Palestinians and Palestinian Christians under systemic injustice and discrimination. Whether we talk about political pressure, collective punishment, restriction of movement, or the denial of entry to holy sites, it all points to the severity of the situation.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Kairos document. When the document was written, the authors stated then: “Why now? Because today we have reached a dead end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people.” I wonder if they knew back then that things would be even worst 10 years later. Last year, Israel passed the new nation-state law, which arrogantly states that “the right to exercise national self- determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” This ignores the existence of millions of Palestinians who have been living in this land for hundreds if not thousands of years—long before Israel was even created— and prepares the way for more laws that will further deny their rights. This is apartheid legalized! It is clear for the world to see.

It is time to unite in our response for justice and equality. Yet, may our response honor the one whose sacrificial death we remember this holy week. As such, this call is grounded in logic of love and is a call for non-violent resistance.

In the face of discrimination and apartheid, we insist that the only way forward is a shared land and a political reality of justice and equality. Let us call and commit ourselves to work towards a new socio-political reality in which all the dwellers of the land share the land and its resources equally and have the same rights—regardless of their ethnicity, nationality and religion. There should be no “second-class” citizens in this land. This is our response to discrimination and apartheid. It all begins by ending the occupation.

We call on our sisters and brothers around the world to join the Kairos Global movement and its signature campaign, which aims to mobilize faith-based voices to lobby and unite towards ending the occupation. This is a call for persons from around the world to further the Kairos call for an end to the State of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and its occupation of Palestinian territories. We urge you to consider signing, promoting and distributing this call to all your networks. The aim is to present this call on May 15, 2019, to Israeli embassies and foreign ministries all over the world

Finally, let us remember that the journey to the cross does not end on Friday. Yes, Friday may last long and Saturday even longer, but Sunday will inevitably come! It will be a day of resurrection gladness; a day in which we remember that truth will overcome injustice; light will overcome darkness; and freedom and liberty will overcome oppression and discrimination. And because we believe in life and resurrection, we commit even stronger to work tirelessly to make this a reality. Amen.

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Kairos Palestine urges you to, please, do the following:

1. Distribute and study these theological reflections in your places of worship each Sunday to inform and educate your community about the suffering of your Palestinian family living under Israeli occupation.

2. Share the alert with congregations, regions, conferences, presbyteries and dioceses across your country.

3. Respond to the Call…Send letters of solidarity and support for justice in Palestine/Israel to the Israeli embassies in your own country. For further information, see www. allembassies.com/israeli_embassies.htm

4. “Come and see.” We will fulfill our role to make it known to you the truth of our reality, receiving you as pilgrims— sisters and brothers—coming to us to pray, carrying a message of peace, love and reconciliation. Thus, you will know the facts and the people of this land, Palestinians and Israelis alike. (Kairos 6.2)

5. Take tangible actions. Support Palestinian rights by supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with International Law and UN resolutions. Support the right of persons, corporations, states and nations to boycott Israel as an expression of their freedom of speech.

6. Inform your Palestinian brothers and sisters about the ways you have been involved with the Easter Alert by writing us at this email address: kairos@kairospalestine. ps. Contact us for any other reason, too. Our strength and courage are emboldened by our contacts with you.

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Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac:

Palestinian Christian pastor, theologian, writer, speaker, blogger, and more importantly, a husband and a father. Munther wears many hats. He now pastors Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and is at the same time the Academic Dean of Bethlehem Bible. He is also the director of the highly acclaimed and influential Christ at the Checkpoint conferences and is a board member of Kairos Palestine. He speaks locally and internationally on issues related to the theology of the land, Palestinian Christians, and Palestinian theology. He is the author of “From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth: A Christ- Centered Biblical Theology of the Promised Land”. Munther is a musician. He plays the guitar and the flute. He is also an avid sports fan, specially football (aka soccer!) and basketball (NBA). Munther originally studied civil engineering in Birzeit. Realizing that numbers and construction sites are not his thing, he obtained a master’s in biblical studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and then a PhD from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. Munther is married to Rudaina – an architect, and together they have two boys: Karam (4) and Zaid (2).

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H.B. Patriarch Michel Sabbah’s Easter message

“Christ is risen; indeed, He is risen.”

May Easter bring all of us peace and justice in all countries around the world. In Palestine and Israel, in Jerusalem—the city of the Resurrection, in our prayer and in the heart of the conflict. This is our prayer from Jerusalem on this glorious day of Resurrection.

We live in Jerusalem around the church of the Holy Sepulcher, full of the hope that the Resurrection brings us. Because our lives and the lives of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem are full of death, along with the prayers of the righteous and good people of all religions. Death in our context is the oppression of one people on another; it is a human being humiliating another human being and uprooting that person from one’s holy city and home. Today, this is the death of the Palestinians of Jerusalem.

The light of the Resurrection shines for all who want to see it, as St. John said in his Gospel: «Light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it” (John 1:5). Jerusalem today is in darkness, and its people seek life for themselves and their city. But life is far away. As we celebrate the light of the Resurrection, there is darkness and struggle in the hearts and in the town. We celebrate with great solemnity the light of good Saturday, as a sign which precedes the full light of the Resurrection, and the new life it brings. But the new life has not been reached by the people of Jerusalem, neither those who oppress nor those who are oppressed.

In Jerusalem and all the Holy Land, we see people committed to justice and peace for themselves only, built on injustice and occupation imposed on others. We see one human being living at the expense of another human being. Although Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, died for the life of all. He died and rose from the dead, to give life for all, in order to enable everyone to triumph over death in him/herself, and become a maker of life, justice and peace for oneself, his/her people, and all the peoples of the earth. One should not live and another die. The life of no one should be based on the death of the other.

This is what is happening today in Palestine and Israel, in the Holy Land, the land of the Resurrection. The Israelis are asking the Palestinian people to die, to disappear, so that the Israeli people can live. The truth is, both should live as equal human beings.

The strong and powerful must realize that the life of a people cannot be built at the expense of the life of another people. Israel cannot be built and survive on the death of the Palestinian people, whatever the claims, whatever the forces and weapons, and whatever the human plans. The powerful people of this world, including Israel and the USA, must realize that the big sums offered instead of the just solution do not wash away the bloodshed, nor can they replace justice.

The Easter message, the Resurrection message, says to all: those liberated by God cannot be made slaves by anyone. The message of Resurrection says that a new human being can be born. A new man, a new woman, not a maker of war or death, nor a life-seeker at the expense of the life of another people. Israel can be this new being, who does not demand life at the expense of the life of the Palestinian people. Palestine can also be this new being, living free in dignity, sovereign, as all peoples of the earth

The Psalmist said: «He maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat. He sends His word to the earth; His command runs quickly” (147:14-15). But the question is, will the aggressors allow God Almighty to make their borders peaceful and to satisfy all peoples, to “fill them all of finest wheat”? Will the aggressors allow the word of God to reach the hearts of all people, especially the hearts of the strong and the powerful, so that Jerusalem truly becomes the city of the Resurrection and the new life?

We celebrate the Resurrection in the Holy City. We hope that all those all over the world who celebrate the Day of Resurrection will be aware of the ongoing death and struggle in the Holy City of the Resurrection. The oppressed seek refuge in God, and all the righteous in the earth. Jerusalem, the city of the Resurrection, needs to be saved from ongoing death, hatred and injustice imposed on its people. May new hope shine upon us, and a new life begin in Jerusalem for all those who love Jerusalem.

Christ is risen. He is truly risen.

Patriarch Michel Sabbah

H.B. Patriarch Michel Sabbah served as the Archbishop and Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008. Patriarch Sabbah was ordained a priest for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in June 1955. He was a parish priest for a few years before being sent to the University of St. Joseph in Beirut to Study Arabic language and literature. Shortly thereafter, he became director of schools for the Latin Patriarchate. In 1980, he was named President of the Bethlehem University. In 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, making him the first native Palestinian to hold the office for centuries. Since 1999, Patriarch Sabbah has been the International President of Pax Christi, a Catholic organization promoting peace. Sabbah resigned as Patriarch in 2008. He is currently the Grand Prior of the Chivalric Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, one of the knightly orders founded in 1099. Patriarch Sabbah is a co- author of the Kairos Palestine Document and believes in pluralism and equality in order to preserve the dignity of human beings.

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Kairos Palestine would like to thank all the contributors for their help on this Easter Alert.

A heartfelt thank you to Loay Sababa for the inspiring photos included.

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Visayas Today·Saturday, April 6, 2019

Manjuyod/Canlaon City – “Sige na, sige na!” (Go ahead, go ahead)

These words, followed by three shots – all she managed to count in her panic – and Angenate Acabal knew her husband Valentin, 47, was dead inside their home in Manjuyod town, Negros Oriental.

Some 125 kilometers north of there, around the same time, in Canlaon City, ordered out of her home at gunpoint, Carmela Avelino heard a shout in a mix of Tagalog and Bisaya: “Merong kalaban, nagsukol!” (There’s an enemy, he’s fighting back)

Again, three shots and she knew Edgardo, 59, her husband, was gone.

Next door, Ismael, Edgardo’s 53-year old brother, uttered his last words, addressed to his 10-year old child, as his wife Leonora and two youngest children, the other 5, were herded out their house by armed men: “Indi pagpabay-i si Mama kag utod nimo.” (Don’t leave your mother and sister alone)

As Leonora stepped outside their smashed door, she heard a burst of gunfire.

Contributed photo shows a masked police commando during the operation in Barangay Panciao, Manjuyod where three men, including village chairman Sonny Palagtiw, were killed.

As dawn broke on March 30, 14 men in all had died during pre-dawn raids by police commandos – eight in Canlaon, four in Manjuyod, two more in Sta. Catalina town – during what authorities initially called an “anti-crime operation” but later acknowledged was targeted against suspected communist rebels.

Even on an island beset by outbreaks of violence from an insurgency fueled by the vast gulf between the hacienderos, the planters, who own and control the vast sugarcane plantations that are Negros’ lifeblood and the landless farmers and laborers who toil for them, the single day’s toll came as a bad enough shock that Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo demanded police explain why so many needed to die.

Police claimed all the dead were rebel assassins, members of the New People’s Army Special Partisan Unit or SPARU, all supposedly wanted for carrying out attacks on government forces, who were killed when they chose to shoot it out against officers serving arrest or search warrants. Malacanang stood by the police, insisting the operation was legitimate.

Never mind that many of the dead were in their 50s to late 60s, way too old to be the communist hitmen, who tend to be young, quick and agile, police claim they were, and two of those slain in Manjuyod were elected village chieftains – Valentin Acabal and Sonny Palactiw.

Of the eight men killed in Canlaon, one was a Catholic lay minister and two – one of two father-and-son pairs – volunteer church workers.

As far as can be ascertained, only four of the dead – the Avelino brothers of Canlaon, Franklin Lariosa of Sta. Catalina, and Steve Arapoc of Manjuyod – belonged to peasant groups openly accused by state security forces of supporting or being “legal fronts” of the rebels.

And only the Avelinos appear to have been engaged in any recent activity that might have earned them the ire of authorities – the local farmers’ organization chaired by Edgardo hosted a forum about residents of neighboring Guihulngan City who had been displaced in December last year by a police operation similar to that of March 30.

Incidentally, police gave both operations the same codename – Sauron, the “dark lord” of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – with the March operation dubbed “2.0”.  And both operations involved not local police forces but units under by the Central Visayas police command based in Cebu City. Aside from this, the warrants were also issued by courts in Cebu City, not in Negros Oriental.

The separate but almost uniform accounts of Angenate Acabal and the Avelino widows, who do not know each other – as well as the stories the families of other victims told human rights organizations – not only belied the police accounts but, according to human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, who visited the wakes of the three victims, showed “the most evil intentions,” the carefully coordinated “state-sponsored killings” of activists and others deemed “enemies of the state.”

All the stories begin in the dark before dawn – between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. – with the sound of doors being smashed in and then armed men in tactical gear, their faces covered in balaclavas and even dark glasses, storming in, assault rifles aimed at stunned residents.

Angelate Acabal greets a visitor at the wake of her husband, slain Barangay Candabong, Manjuyod caption Valentin Acabal.

Around 20 armed men burst into the Acabal household and roused the 17-year old son who slept on a couch in the living room, ordering him to kneel, his hands clasped behind his neck. It was a position he would keep for more than two hours.

Other policemen then barged into the room where Valentin, who was sick with the flu, and Angenate slept with their 7-year old daughter, ordering them to kneel on the floor with their hands up.

“All three of us were praying and our daughter begged them not to hurt us,” Angelate said after sending the girl to another room so she would not have to listen to the retelling. “Then they grabbed and my daughter and forced us out of the room.”

The last thing she heard Valentin say was a prayer: “Gino-o, gitugyan nako kanimo ang tanan.” (Lord, I leave everything up to you)

For two hours, Angelate said she and her children were kept under guard in the living room, not allowed near the room where her husband lay dead, and accompanied even on trips to the toilet. It was only around 6 a.m., as curious villagers began to gather, that the policemen summoned two councilmen. Only then did they show a search warrant and the .45 caliber pistol the village chief was supposedly armed with.

Angelate said one of the policemen who guarded them asked her what her husband’s name was. When she told him, “he shook his head and said, ‘But in the blotter it was Eric’.” A copy of the warrant, which she obtained later, did show it was for Eric, not Avelino, Acabal. Colmenares said even if Acabal used to be called by his old nickname Eric, “the warrant should reflect his real name, Avelino. This already makes it irregular.”

Shortly after, Angelate said, policemen from the town arrived “but only to take away my husband’s body to the hospital even though it was clear he was already dead” from at least seven gunshots, including one that shattered his femur and genitals.

“There was no attempt to investigate the scene of the crime. The (police) Scene of Crime Operatives only inspected his body at the hospital.”

Worse, said Arcabal’s son Argie, a Qatar Airways cabin crew who flew home on learning of his father’s fate, “they took P30,000 I had just sent home for home repairs and even P7,000 that my mother was keeping for our church, of which she was treasurer.”

Meanwhile in Canlaon, Carmela Avelino was awakened by her 16-year old daughter’s shout for help and rushed out thinking a snake had crawled into their house. As she got out of bad, “the curtains of our window parted and I saw five rifle barrels aimed at us and a voice ordered us out of the room.”

In the dirt-floor front room, “five policemen stood in line, blocking me from my husband, while others ordered me and the children outside and to go to community center next door.”

On their way out, they heard three shots from their house and, moments later, more gunshots from Ismael’s house.

Carmela Avelino shows the spot where her husband Edgardo was killed.

Leonora said she and her two young children were awakened by the commotion from Edgardo’s house and stepped out of their room to see their door burst open as six hooded men in black entered and ordered them to lie on the floor at gunpoint. They were then ordered out of their home and ordered to crawl toward another house where they were kept under guard for the next three hours.

Another Avelino brother, Efraim, rushed out of his nearby house only to be grabbed by his neck and pushed back inside by a gunman in a uniform of the police Special Action Force who ordered him back inside or “you might be the first.”

Like Valentin Acabal, the bodies of the Avelino brothers would be taken from their homes hours later, after daybreak, and taken to the local hospital even though they had already been dead for hours.

Edgardo had been shot in the forehead and right arm. Ismael suffered at least five gunshot wounds. But unlike Acabal, who has not been autopsied, the Avelino brothers underwent a post-mortem examination and had their deaths classified as “homicide” by the Canlaon civil registrar.

Only after the ambulance had left were village officials summoned and shown the warrants shown. Carmela said the warrant for Edgardo gave his family name as “Marquez,” which is his middle name, and not Avelino.

She said the policemen then asked her to accompany them inside the house and showed her a .45 caliber pistol lying in the pool of blood where her husband had fallen and an M16 rifle they supposedly found by a closet. A policeman also “returned” money taken from their home, only to find out that P2,000 was missing from the original P5,000.

Post-mortem diagram showing the gunshot wounds that killed Ismael Avelino.

A sister of the Avelinos, Azucena Garubat, was arrested for allegedly possessing a .38 caliber revolver and remains detained at the Canlaon police station, together with Corazon Javier, a coordinator of activist women’s group Gabriela, who was allegedly found in possession of a rifle grenade. The two were among 12 persons nabbed in the course of the March 30 operation.

Reacting to the accounts of the widows, Colmenares said it was “clear the operations were irregular. The fact alone that they wore masks to serve supposed warrants proves this. And there is also the total lack of an investigation after the deaths, which indicates that the police have no intention whatsoever to tell the truth about what happened.”

But while confident about the chances of successfully prosecuting the police personnel involved in the bloody operation, Colmenares said this would not be enough. “Public uproar is crucial to send the message that enough is enough.”

He also said that ultimate responsibility for the March 30 deaths, as for the December deaths, lay with President Rodrigo Duterte, who last year issued Memorandum Order No. 32, which ordered more police and military personnel to the Bicol region, Samar island and Negros to “quell lawless violence.”

Colmenares said the actions of Duterte and the police fell into the “three patterns of evidence” he said were the bases for successful prosecutions involving extrajudicial killings:

· “Public vilification, which establishes motive”;
· “The brazenness with which the crime is committed”; and
· “The complete lack of interest to investigate o prosecute”

COVER PHOTO: Leonora Avelino (partly hidden, top) talks to visitors at the wake of her husband, Ismael, and his brother, Edgardo in Barangay Panubigan, Canlaon City.

The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and its member organizations, joined today the national and global day of protest to demand justice for the 14 farmers killed in Negros Oriental and other farmers killed in the whole country as well.

According to Antonio “Ka Tonying” Flores, chairperson of UMA, this is the first time that such a coordinated action of protest actions against killings of farmers has been organized against the US-Duterte regime.

Ka Tonying added that this is a clear message from the national and international communities that they are fed up with the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the US-Duterte regime against its own people.

Some of the protest actions have already started. Protest actions called, “No Justice, No Peace, Stop the Killings in the Philippines!” were held inside the Hart US Senate Office Building and in front of the Capitol building in Washington DC on April 8. This was organized by the MALAYA: US Movement Against Killings and Dictatorship and for Democracy in the Philippines.

In Sydney, Australia a protest action was held in the Philippine Consulate on April 9 by the Philippines Australia Union Link (PAUL), Migrante Australia, and Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) – Australia. Similar protest actions are being held in various countries as well which was called by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).

In Negros Island, where the 14 farmers were killed on March 30, simultaneous protest actions will be held in 4 areas of the Island on April 12.

Even as a National Fact Finding Solidarity Mission (NFFSM) had been concluded in Negros Oriental on April 8 and its findings revealed to the general public that the farmers were summarily executed, military operations continue in Sitio Agho and Sitio Manggapa, in Masulog 1, Canlaon City.

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An Ecumenical Discernment Gathering on the May 2019 Elections
April 8, 2019, 8:30am to 12:00nn, Maryhill School of Theology
62 14th St, New Manila, Quezon City

Speakers And Topics

“Voting as Expression of our Faithful Action”
by Fr. Rico Ponce
Executive Director, Institute of Spirituality in Asia (ISA)

“The 2019 Elections: What to Look Forward to?”
Atty. Alex Lacson
Convenor, People’s Choice Movement (PCM)

“National Sovereignty as Election Agenda”
by Atty. Neri Colmenares
Chairperson, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers ( NUPL)

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WHAT:  Rehabilitasyon at Reklamasyon sa Manila Bay: Isang Forum para sa Makataong Rehabilitasyon ng Manila Bay
WHEN: April 4, 2019 (1:30 PM – 6 PM)

WHERE: UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS), LG/F, Ang Bahay ng Alumni, Magsaysay Avenue, UP Diliman
WHO: The Manila Bay Para sa Tao Movement (Kilusan para sa Makataong Rehabilitasyon ng Manila Bay) is a Metro Manila-wide movement comprised of a network of fisherfolk groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), students and environmental advocates who came together to campaign for a pro-people rehabilitation of the Manila Bay, and oppose the aggressive reclamation projects in the area.

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