Military mocks civilian rule in Davao by resurrecting Alsa Masa — Farmer’s group
The murder yet again of another member of the civilian authority in Paquibato, Loloy Clerigo, whose only desire is peace in his community is a palpable display of the military’s arrogance. The military continues to mock civilian supremacy and turns a deaf ear to the just appeals of residents and the local government for peace and the observation of human rights, decried Tony Salubre, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) secretary general for southern Mindanao.
KMP strongly condemns this cold-blooded murder. “Justice for Clerigo’s death will be one of the rallying calls of the people who continue to oppose injustices,” said Salubre.
Last March 12, Loloy Clerigo, a political leader of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, was slain in cold blood. The victim held a staunch position against the military’s human rights violations in Paquibato and was one of the most vocal leaders against the continuing military presence in the area.
Clerigo is another victim of the regime’s policy of extra-judicial killings. It is clear that the military has a policy to silence by all means possible, those who resist and those who expose its vicious and criminal acts, Salubre said.
Salubre also criticized the military’s active recruitment of civilians in Paquibato into the Barangay Defense System (BDS). To arm civilians and use them as dispensable forces to be placed in the frontline is a sheer act of cowardice and disregard of civilian rights, he stressed.
Likening the current situation in Paquibato to the 80’s when massive recruitment of civilians were launched by the military in aid of its counterinsurgency campaign, KMP warned the military against the red scare paranoia and reviving the paramilitary group Alsa Masa disguised as the BDS.
The KMP urged the local government to continue all initiatives to alleviate the situation in Paquibato. It called on the city council to continue with the committee hearings with the aim of pulling out the military forces in the district, stopping the BDS recruitment and seeking justice for the victims of the military’s human rights abuses.
KMP also lambasted the military’s Oplan Bantay Laya(OBL), a brutal counter-insurgency policy implemented by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which includes extra-judicial killings of alleged enemies of state, including those merely suspected of being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), as well as innocent relatives of known NPA members, like the slain daughter of commander Parago, Rebelyn Pitao.
For reference:
Tony Salubre
Media Desk: 0908-767-9887
Extrajudicial Killings
