Karapatan strongly condemns the brazen murder of Lumad farmers Alex Lacay and Jeffrey Bayot, active members of Kaugalingaong Sistema Igpasindog to Lumadnong Ogpaan (KASILO), in Bukidnon province on August 9, 2019 and August 11, 2019, respectively.
Karapatan strongly condemns the brazen murder of Lumad farmers Alex Lacay and Jeffrey Bayot, active members of Kaugalingaong Sistema Igpasindog to Lumadnong Ogpaan (KASILO), in Bukidnon province on August 9, 2019 and August 11, 2019, respectively.
According to initial reports, 34-year-old Lacay, along with a companion, was on his way to the public market using a motorcycle when two uniformed soldiers asked if they can ride with them. Lacay was later shot to death in Sitio Pag-asa, Brgy. Salawagan in Quezon town, sustaining two gunshots to the head, and four on his abdomen. Meanwhile, 32-year-old Bayot was killed when he was shot twice on his head and once on his torso in Brgy. Bongbungan in Quezon town.
The suspects in the murder of Lacay and Bayot are soldiers and operatives of the 88th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army.
“We believe that this is part of the systematic attacks against human rights defenders critical of the administration and borne out of the social order that worsens the backward agrarian setup and feudal exploitation in the countryside, in which hotbeds of social unrest due to decades-old perennial injustice can be found,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General.
Acccording to the Karapatan official: “The unabated violations of human rights, curtailment of civil and political liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and international instruments, and the orchestrated attacks against administration critics and human rights defenders are made worse and enabled by the martial law declaration in Mindanao and counterinsurgency campaigns of this administration.”