Blood is on Noy’s hands

Not once, not twice, but thrice.

The Aquino administration, with only ten days of its tenure, failed to deliver its assurance that it will put an end to extrajudicial killings after another peasant and activist leader in Nueva Ecija and an ACT Teachers Partylist member in Masbate were shot dead according to Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino.

“This is the second and third body count under the Aquino administration. When Bayan Muna official Fernando Baldomero was gunned down, Aquino swore to address the killings but the murder yesterday proves his failure to take this seriously,” says the youth solon.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers Partylist member Mark Francisco was gunned down by armed men wearing bonnets last July 9 while Anakapawis Partylist member and peasant leader Pascual Guevarra, 78, was shot dead last July 10 in his house by an unidentified man. Guevarra was the head of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association and Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa 3100. He was shot in the chest while his grandson Ronnel Viloria, 18, was also shot when he tried to help him. The gun man escaped riding a motorcycle with an accomplice.

“Aquino is earning such a body count in a matter of days, two in a row. People behind the murders seem to be on a killing spree and holds no bars, shooting the victims in front of their relatives and hurt them, others even minors,” says Palatino referring to Baldomero’s grand son who witnessed how he was shot.

“Blood now lies in Noy’s hands. He’ll be bathed with innocent people’s blood before he knows it. We held on to his words that extrajudicial killings will not be tolerated under his government and now he will be held accountable to the deaths his predecessor has started,” he adds.

Palatino further states “At this point, he failed the people at the early stage of his presidency. We urge that Noy should address extrajudicial killings with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The army has been pinpointed to be the perpetrators of these killings and disappearances as part of the counterinsurgency program known as Oplan Bantay Laya, killing and abducting one leftist after another.”

“He must reorganize the current orientation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from being butchers and human rights violators to an institution who is able to meet its unattained duty to serve and protect the interest of the people,” urges Palatino. ###