Karapatan scores police arrests, raids on leftist groups
By CJ Juntereal
Published Nov 6, 2019 03:54 pm
By Chito Chavez
The human rights watchdog Karapatan has lashed out at the government for its supposed illegal raids on its offices and the crackdown on Bayan and party-list organizations Bayan Muna, Gabriela and others.
Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay
(Tina Palabay FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) The group also criticized the administration for the slaying of labor leader and former political prisoner Reynaldo Malaborbor, 64, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of his house at Katapatan Subdivision in Cabuyao, Laguna on Monday evening, Nov. 4. Malaborbor was the leader of the labor alliance Alyansa ng mga Manggagawa sa Probinsya ng Laguna (ALMAPILA) and a member of Makabayan. Karapatan said he was arrested in 2010 along with two peasant activists and slapped with trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The case was dismissed in 2015. The group also noted that Honey Mae “Hanimay” Suazo, former Karapatan Southern Mindanao secretary general, has been missing since she left her home on November 2 to visit the graves of her relatives in Panabo, Davao del Norte. She was last seen on board a motorcycle on her way home. “The continuing attacks on activists and progressive organizations prove how this government shamelessly disregards the decades-long call of Filipinos for genuine social reforms and respect for human rights,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said. Palabay said initial reports confirmed that the office of Bayan Manila at Flora St. corner Clemente St. in Tondo, Manila was raided on Tuesday, November 5, at 1 a.m., with state agents snatching three activists, Ram Carlo Bautista, Bayan Manila campaign director, Alma Moran of the Manila Workers Unity secretariat and Ina Nacino, Kadamay Manila coordinator. “The narrative that there were guns and bombs in the office, as what the government has peddled in the raids of offices in Negros, is preposterous and a barefaced lie meant to justify these patently arbitrary arrests and to silence social justice workers and activists,” Palabay argued.
Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay(Tina Palabay FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) The group also criticized the administration for the slaying of labor leader and former political prisoner Reynaldo Malaborbor, 64, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of his house at Katapatan Subdivision in Cabuyao, Laguna on Monday evening, Nov. 4. Malaborbor was the leader of the labor alliance Alyansa ng mga Manggagawa sa Probinsya ng Laguna (ALMAPILA) and a member of Makabayan. Karapatan said he was arrested in 2010 along with two peasant activists and slapped with trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The case was dismissed in 2015. The group also noted that Honey Mae “Hanimay” Suazo, former Karapatan Southern Mindanao secretary general, has been missing since she left her home on November 2 to visit the graves of her relatives in Panabo, Davao del Norte. She was last seen on board a motorcycle on her way home. “The continuing attacks on activists and progressive organizations prove how this government shamelessly disregards the decades-long call of Filipinos for genuine social reforms and respect for human rights,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said. Palabay said initial reports confirmed that the office of Bayan Manila at Flora St. corner Clemente St. in Tondo, Manila was raided on Tuesday, November 5, at 1 a.m., with state agents snatching three activists, Ram Carlo Bautista, Bayan Manila campaign director, Alma Moran of the Manila Workers Unity secretariat and Ina Nacino, Kadamay Manila coordinator. “The narrative that there were guns and bombs in the office, as what the government has peddled in the raids of offices in Negros, is preposterous and a barefaced lie meant to justify these patently arbitrary arrests and to silence social justice workers and activists,” Palabay argued.