Human rights activists murdered by military
THE fascist military has become more ruthless and more wanton in carrying out its counterrevolutionary war. This February, three human rights activists and anti-militarization advocates in Mindoro were brutally slain.
Vice Mayor Juvy Magsino of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro who chaired the Provincial Justice and Peace Council, and Leima Fortu, Secretary-General of KARAPATAN-Oriental Mindoro were killed on February 13. Men believed to be elements of the Philippine Army 204th Brigade blocked and peppered their vehicle with bullets in Pinasabangan-2, Naujan before shooting them at close range. The killings took place half a kilometer from the 204th Brigade camp.
On February 18, seven suspected military men abducted Adrian Alegria of Sta. Cruz, Mindoro Occidental from his house in Barangay Lumang Bayan, Sta. Cruz at around 2:30 in the morning. Alegria was an activist campaigning against militarization in Mindoro. The following day, his body was found floating in Amnay River in Sablayan town. His body bore marks of torture that he had to endure before being killed. He sustained a bullet wound in the chest and another in the nape which pierced through his face. He was stabbed seven times.
Magsino, Fortu and Alegria are merely the latest in an ever-growing list of victims of military violence not only in Mindoro but in the entire country as well.
The Communist Party and the entire revolutionary movement strongly condemn the murders of Magsino, Fortu and Alegria. They once again bring to the fore the mounting number of cases of killings of human rights activists. Last year, men believed to be elements of the 204th Brigade abducted and killed KARAPATAN-Southern Tagalog Secretary-General Eden Marcellana and KASAMA-TK chair Eddie Gumanoy, also in Naujan town.
These developments show that military violence has become more brutal and more indiscriminate in a desperate attempt to contain the advance of the armed revolutionary movement. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is furious with activists who expose military abuses and violations of the people's human rights and uphold progressive and propeople interests.
It is Arroyo herself who encourages the military's unbridled rampage in Mindoro. Despite so many complaints against the military, Arroyo rewarded Col. Jovito Palparan, the butcher of Mindoro and former 204th Brigade commander. Since 2001, the 204th Brigade has been responsible for such a long list of summary executions ("salvaging"), torture, illegal arrests, forced evacuations, harassment, abuse of children's rights and abuses against women.
The Party and the NPA will strive to mete justice to those slain by punishing the guilty and launching tactical offensives against the military.
| 
