KARAPATAN condemns the reported incidents of threats, harassment and intimidation against peasant leaders and activists in Tarlac, Iloilo and La Union.
In Tarlac, on November 17, 2024, a day after the commemoration of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, six soldiers accompanied by military agent Florida “Pong” Sibayan went to the house of local youth activist RV Bautista after intelligence operatives reportedly monitored his presence at the massacre commemoration. Bautista, a member of Samahan ng mga Kabataang Demokratiko ng Asyenda Luisita (SAKDAL), chose to stay away from his house when he heard of the visit to avoid confronting Sibayan, a former union leader in the hacienda who now joins soldiers in red-tagging residents active in the struggle for genuine agrarian reform.
On the same day, two elements from the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion based in Camp Servillano Aquino, Tarlac City went to the house of a local peasant leader in Barangay Asturias, Tarlac City, one of the 11 villages within Hacienda Luisita. The soldiers reportedly interrogated him on the personalities and organizations that came to attend the commemoration.
In Iloilo, elements of the Philippine National Police – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) 6 and the Barotac Viejo municipal police attempted to seize fisherfolk Victorino Vergara from his house on November 20, 2024. Vergara, who is in his 70s, is a member of the Asosasyon sang Magagmay nga Mangingisda sa Santiago-Pamalakaya and a long-time supporter of Bayan Muna. The arresting team tried to take the elderly Vergara on the pretext of helping him “clear his name” and would have succeeded had not barangay officials intervened to stop the CIDG, saying there was no valid reason for his arrest. Vergara remains under threat after this incident.
On the same day, 10 elements of the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) in full battle gear arrived at the barangay hall of San Manuel Norte, Agoo, La Union aboard a KM540 truck. Meantime, three elements of the 5th Civil Military Operations Battalion went to the house of George Cacayuran, chair of Timek La Union, a local fisherfolk group, ostensibly to “have a talk” with him. The soldiers left after the Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA)-Karapatan issued an alert on the incident. IHRA believes that the harassment incident is related to plans by Timek La Union and various communities in Agoo to raise their legitimate demands as small fisherfolk on the occasion of World Fisheries Day on November 21.
“The Marcos Jr. government must put a stop to such incidents, which are affronts to the fundamental rights to organize, freedom of association and freedom of assembly, and have no place in a society that claims to be democratic,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.