The families of slain peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are calling for an independent investigation into the “gruesome crime,” slamming what they believed is a tokhang-style murder.
Tokhang is a contraction of Tagalog word “katok (knock)” and the Visayan word “hangyo (plead),” which refers to the controversial anti-drug strategy of the Duterte administration.
It allows law enforcers to raid suspects’ homes without a warrant. The program was originally meant for drug users and peddlers but was also used to justify the killings of suspected militants.
On Tuesday, the families of Agaton Topacio and Eugenia Magpantay said that “their deaths are not simple deaths.”
“They were killed in what can only be described as cold-blooded murder,” their statement said.
The families denied police claims that Topacio and Magpantay, who are both 69 years old, resisted arrest and engaged in a gunfight at around 3:35 a.m. last Wednesday in their residence at Angono, Rizal.
Topacio also goes by the alias “Vic Ocampo Villoria” while Magpantay’s alias is “Remilita Martinez Villoria.”
They cited it is impossible for the couple to engage in a gunfight with the police since Magpantay has been suffering from diabetes and just recently had a stroke rendering her comatose for four days. Topacio, meanwhile, was in constant pain because of heart enlargement. He also suffered from a knee injury and frozen shoulder.
“There is simply no way that the elderly couple was even able to put up a resistance, let alone an armed one, against dozens of policemen armed with high-power guns and artillery. Instead, as the narrative appears before us, the police are merely iterating their “nanlaban” narrative to justify the tokhang-style murder of an elderly and sickly couple,” they said.
They called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct an independent investigation and to hold accountable the masterminds of the killing.
Human rights group Karapatan said that the attacks on the NDFC peace consultants were a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.
“As we extend our condolences to the family of Magpantay and Topacio, we share their view and disbelief that the death of the couple was a result of an armed engagement with the police,” Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor.
He added that the police report on the gunfighting that happened was “dubious and highly questionable.”
Clamor said the killings of sick and elderly peace consultants were “direct violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the Geneva Convention.“