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.com)
