MANILA -- Militant groups challenged President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to end extrajudicial killings following the death of a militant leader in Aklan.
In a statement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) condemned the killing on Monday of Fernando Baldomero, a councilor of Lezo, Aklan who was also the coordinator of the party-list group Bayan Muna.
Bayan said two armed men wearing helmets and denim jackets shot Baldomero at 6:15 a.m. Monday, as he was preparing to bring his 12-year-old son to school.
“We call on President Aquino to condemn the killing and to use the full force of the law to arrest the perpetrators,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes.
“President Aquino must send a clear message to state security forces that these killings have to end and perpetrators will be prosecuted. Heads must roll in the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, otherwise the climate of impunity will continue,” he added.
Rights group Karapatan, for its part, said the Aquino administration has not draw up mechanisms to stop the killings.
“The lack of declaration from President Noynoy to stop the killings and impunity, coupled by Gen. (Ricardo) David’s pronouncement of another deadline to end insurgency, and this new wave of political killings, signals that former president Gloria Arroyo’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya, is still enforced under Mr. Aquino’s term and has not let up on targeting progressive individuals,” chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez said.
Karapatan scored the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for committing human rights violations which include 1,191 victims of extrajudicial killings, 205 victims of enforced disappearances; 1,028 victims of torture, among others. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)