Progressive groups on Tuesday took their outrage to the streets following the killing of peasant leader and activist Randall “Randy” Echanis in his rented home in Novaliches, Quezon City.
In a rally held at the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) compound, protesters called for justice for the death of Echanis, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate who was seen holding a placard that read, “Justice for Randy Echanis!” slammed the police for allegedly taking Echanis’ body early morning Tuesday from the funeral parlor where he was taken by his wife Erlinda.
“Bakit nila ninakaw ang bangkay ni Ka Randy? Gusto siguro nilang pagtakpan ang tunay na dahilan na ang pagpaslang kay Ka Randy ay kagagawan ng mga ahente ng estado (Why did they steal the remains of Ka Randy? Maybe they want to hide the real reason for the killing of Ka Randy which was a handiwork of state forces),” he said.
Last Monday, Echanis was found dead, along with another individual.
Police identified the deceased peace consultant as Manuel Santiago supposedly based on a company ID retrieved at the crime scene.
Five suspects were reportedly behind the killing.
According to Echanis' wife, she positively identified and claimed her husband's body which “bore torture marks, multiple stab and gunshot wounds.”
Police took Echanis’ body from St. Peter’s Funeral Homes to Pink Petals Memorial Homes in La Loma without consent from his family.
“This adds insult to our injury. It is both inhuman and unjust for the remains of my husband to be held under police custody and deprive us of having a proper and private mourning," Erlinda said.
“Why is my husband's cadaver under investigation in the first place? It should be the perpetrators that should be hunted down and persecuted, not the lifeless body of my husband," she lamented.
Anakpawis, where Echanis was chairperson, called the police claim a “brazen attempt to diminish Ka Randy's brutal killing as a mere common crime and not a politically-motivated extrajudicial killing.”
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested on the same day paralegal Jose Paolo Colabres who was guarding the body of the slain activist for obstruction of justice.
“Instead of going after the perpetrators, they fixate themselves to the families and a lifeless body attempting to cover-up the crime. This strengthens our suspicion that the state forces were really behind Echanis' murder," former Anakpawis representative Ariel Casilao said.