Today marks the fourth anniversary of the brutal killing of National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant and agrarian reform advocate Randall Echanis. At the time of his killing, Ka Randall, 72, also chaired the Anakpawis partylist group.
Ka Randall was killed while recovering from an illness in his rented apartment in Novaliches, Quezon City. According to the forensic investigation, he suffered massive head injuries and at least 40 stab wounds to the body. Apart from the fatal stab wound to his back that damaged an artery, all the other stab wounds were superficial, indicating that he was severely tortured before being killed.
Echanis was the third NDFP consultant to be killed under the Duterte regime, after Randy Malayao, who was shot dead in January 2019 while riding a bus on the way home to Isabela and Julius Giron, who was gunned down with his two companions in Baguio City in March 2020.
Despite the change of regimes, no one has been held accountable for Echanis’ murder, nor for the thousands of other political and drug war-related extrajudicial killings perpetrated by state security forces under Duterte. Small wonder here, because the Marcos Jr. regime itself is liable for its own share of human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.
Through the years and across regimes, the demand for justice and accountability continues. We owe it to the thousands of victims of these brutal fascist regimes to persevere until those responsible for their unjust killings and suffering are brought to justice and held accountable for their crimes.