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“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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On December 27, 2018, combined elements of the police and military launched “Oplan Sauron,” a so-called “one-time-big-time” Synchronized Enhanced Managing Of Police Operations (SEMPO) purportedly as part of government’s efforts against illegal drugs and loose firearms in the Central Visayas Region.

While Oplan Sauron was supposedly designed to cover the entire region, its focus was on Negros Oriental particularly Guihulngan City and the towns of Mabinay, Sta. Catalina and La Libertad. Oplan Sauron was effected upon orders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Central Command (CENTCOM). Mobilized for such purpose were around 3,000 composite troops of the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) and 62nd IB of the 302nd Brigade of the Philippine Army, in coordination with various units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) such as the Special Action Force (SAF), Regional Mobile Force (RMF7) and the Negros Oriental PNP Office (NOPO), including those from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air force who were either on stand-by mode or in the field of action.

Oplan Sauron, however, did not run after criminals involved in the illegal drugs trade but was rather a highly coordinated military and police operation that targeted and employed illegal and brutal acts against unarmed civilians belonging to legitimate peasant groups, farmers associations, and local government units in the barangays. To justify the atrocities, the victims were later falsely tagged by the military as armed rebels or members of the NPA.

The real story behind Oplan Sauron

Initial reports from a fact-finding mission initiated by human rights group Karapatan Negros claim that the Dec. 27, 2018 SEMPO or Oplan Sauron resulted in the killing of 6 unarmed civilians, the synchronized conduct and brutal pattern of which are described as follows:

• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Panagtugas, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, fully-armed elements of the PNP and 94th IB forced their way into the house of JIMMY FAT, 57, shooting the latter to instant death. They dragged and hurled him out towards the front yard where his children were assembled, then “planted” a .38 revolver and some bullets beside the dead body.

• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Punong, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB, together with 3 CAFGU personnel, raided the house of JUN COBOL. Cobol immediately raised both his hands and kneeled to let the assailants know that he was unarmed and was not offering any resistance. Despite Cobol’s obvious gesture of submission, the armed men shot and killed him in front of his wife, Benecia. They then carried the victim’s body and heaved it onto their vehicle.

• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Kaingan, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB raided the house of JAIME REVILLA, a community organizer, and shot the latter to death. They then “planted” a .38 revolver and some bullets beside the victim’s body.

• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Ilaya, Brgy. Hilaitan, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB raided the house of RENEBOY FAT, a habal-habal (motorcycle) driver, and shot the latter to death.

• Around 7:00 am, in Sitio Malabyokon, Brgy. Buenavista, Guihulngan City, the PNP, 94th IB and PAF raided the house of JESUS ISUGAN, 26 years old, a habal-habal driver and construction worker. The assailants asked Isugan if he knew where a certain Tomas Isugan was. When Jesus answered in the negative, the armed men dragged him towards the back of the house and shot him to death in front of his wife, child,  siblings and father. They then placed the victim’s body inside a sack and tossed it by the road.

• In La Libertad, Negros Oriental, GABBY ALBORO, a media practicioner for the DYJL FM radio station also known by his media moniker “Kumander Aguila,” was gunned down by armed men riding-in-tandem. Aside from these incidents of extrajudicial killing, other rights violations were committed by armed state forces during and after the December 27 SEMPO such as the mass warrantless arrest of 50 unarmed individuals from 8 barangays most of whom were “planted” with firearms and falsely identified as NPAs, illegal searches of private dwellings in at least 5 barangays, expropriation of cash and crops, destruction of properties and burning of homes;

The terror sown by Oplan Sauron and the continued presence of military and police forces in communities have forced many residents, most of whom are farmers, to evacuate, making it difficult for them to attend to the land they till and for their children to go to school.

Local, national and even international rights groups and people’s organizations have strongly condemned Oplan Sauron. The Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, The Most Reverend Bishop Gerry Alminaza, described the climate of brutal repression on the entire Negros Island as tantamount to martial law.