WE STRONGLY condemn the brazen murder of Lumad farmers Alex Lacay and Jeffrey Bayot, active members of Kaugalingaong Sistema Igpasindog to Lumadnong Ogpaan (Kasilo), in Bukidnon province on Aug. 9 and Aug. 11, 2019, respectively.

We believe that this is part of the systematic attacks against human rights defenders critical of the administration and borne out of the social order that worsens the backward agrarian setup and feudal exploitation in the countryside, in which hotbeds of social unrest due to decades-old perennial injustice can be found.

With the spate of killings getting worse in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country, Karapatan enjoins everyone to demand accountability for Duterte’s reign of terror.