Another Anakpawis
Leader Killed
Bringing the number of political killings to 835
BY BULATLAT
Posted March
2, 2007,
6:52 p.m.
Renato Torrecampo
Pacaide, 53, secretary general of Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Davao del Sur
(NAMADS or Unity of Peasants in Davao del Sur) and coordinator of
Anakpawis-Davao del Sur, was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men at
10:45 a.m. of March 2 in Digos, Davao del Sur. The latest political
killing was reported by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or
Peasant Movement of the Philippines). NAMADS is a local chapter of KMP.
“We hold the
Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
responsible for the killing of Pacaide," said Anakpawis-Southern
Mindanao spokesperson Editha "Inday" Duterte.
Despite national
and international expressions of concern over the spate of extrajudicial
executions, Duterte said, “the senseless and brutal killings against
members and leaders of progressive party-lists and organizations
continue without compunction.”
Duterte added that
as a prelude to the May elections, soldiers from the 39th
Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the
command of Lt. Gerard Ho have been campaigning against Anakpawis and its
allied party-list groups in Davao del Sur. Duterte said the military is
accusing Anakpawis of being a “front organization” of the Communist
Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
"By such actions of
the AFP, our lives have been put in peril,” said Duterte. “By
relentlessly linking us to the CPP-NPA, the AFP is given the license by
the Arroyo government to kill our members and leaders,” Duterte said.
Pacaide was the 49th
KMP member who was killed under the Arroyo administration. Bulatlat
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