Victims’ families say: ‘UN Rep visit won’t stop killings’

“Matagal kaming naghintay. Bakit isang araw lang ang inilaan para sa amin?” (We waited for so long. Why were we given only one day to meet with him?) asked Glen Malabanan, 23, daughter of a slain Bayan Muna (People First) coordinator in Bay, Laguna. His father was only 42 when he was killed two days before Christmas in 2003.

Alston’s schedule include meetings with the National Security Council, the host of the UN visit, which is headed by Secretary Norberto Gonzales, the same security person who has alleged that those who have been summarily executed were members of legal organizations and party-list groups that he claims are fronts organizations of the CPP. He had also told the media that the killings are part of a purge within the communist movement.

The UN expert also met with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) top brass, the Department of Justice and the Commission on Human Rights, among others.

When it was time for Alston to meet with the victims, Hilao-Enriquez said government agents tried to terrify the victims by sending K-9 dogs early morning of Feb. 14 to the venue where the interviews were going to be held. The building administrator later declared there was bomb threat in the venue.

As the interviews with the victims’ families were ongoing, a man posing as a journalist went to the venue and said he wanted to interview the victims’ families. “It was part of an agreement with Alston not to announce the venue of the interviews for security reasons. There was no way the media would know where we were. We never told them,” Hilao-Enriquez said.

One of Karapatan’s security personnel later recognized that the man posing as a journalist was accompanied by four others, one of whom was identified as a personnel of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

“We can only suspect that they were government intelligence agents because only the government knows where we were. They know our schedule because it was the government who finalized Alston’s itinerary,” she said.

Challenge

Although the Alston visit has its significance, Malabanan said that justice can only be attained through persistence in the struggle that his father has left behind. “Nandun pa rin sa family yung takot pero kung tatahimik lang kami, hindi magkakaron ng hustisya ang pagkamatay ng aming mahal sa buhay,” she said. (The family members left behind are afraid but if we just keep quiet, we will never get justice for the death of our loved ones.)

As proof to her determination, Malabanan said that she has in fact stepped into her father’s shoes and is now secretary general of the victims’ families group Martyr ng Bayan-Southern Tagalog. She said that she is also busy campaigning for her father’s party Bayan Muna in the coming elections.

“Kung hindi kami kikilos, mas madaming aapihin at papatayin na lang ng walang laban,” she said. (If we will not act, thee will be more people who will be oppressed and killed without wanton.)(Bulatlat.com)

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