Widows of farmers allegedly slain by rebels seek CHR help
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:58:00 07/18/2008
MANILA, Philippines—The widows of two peasants allegedly killed by communist rebels last week in a plantation in Masbate sought the help on Friday of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in prosecuting the perpetrators.
The widows of Junrie Pagaspas and Rene Llabres, accompanied by former Akbayan party-list representative Loreta Rosales, met with CHR chair Lilia de Lima to ask her to investigate their killings.
“We came here to seek justice for the killings of our husbands,” Jennifer Pagaspas, 27, cradling her four-month-old baby, said in an interview, through an interpreter.
Pagaspas and Maribel Llabres, 23, who fled their village after their husbands' killings for fear of their lives, also sought protection from the rights body.
De Lima ordered the regional officials to investigate the killings and submit a report. She also said she would coordinate with provincial government and police officials to secure the area “for the benefit of the frightened residents.”
“At stake here is the basic human rights issue of the residents there, which is the primordial consideration in the context of human rights,” she said in a statement.
She assured the widows that they were qualified to apply for financial assistance from the commission's assistance visitorial office.
Armed men dragged Pagaspas, 28, from their home in the village of Royroy, Batuan town on the morning of July 6 in the presence of his wife and mother, and then stab and shot to death him later.
His neighbor, the 32-year-old Llabres, was also forced out of his home on the same day by another group of armed men, and was shot to death. His body was found next to Pagaspas'.
The victims tilled Hacienda Batuan and were active members of the peasant group Samahan ng mga Magsasaka ng Hacienda Batuan (Samahaba), which fought for the peasants' rights, and the abolition of the one-sided sharing system, where they are allotted 33 percent instead of 75 percent of the produce.
Prior to his killing, Pagaspas had received threats from the farm manager, according to the Masbate Center for Rural Development and Empowerment.
Earlier, their fellow peasant and Samahaba member Botsoy Vale was shot and killed by armed men in the village of Sawang on December 22, 2007. The New People's Army justified the killing, according to Rosales.
“We don't know for certain that their killers are NPAs. But that's the talk of the town,” she said. “Remember, there's pattern already. Their colleague was killed by the NPA.”
A Samahaba leader, who accompanied the two widows to the CHR but asked not to be named, said witnesses' description of the attackers' attire pointed to their membership in the rebel group.
“They were clad in black sweatshirts and military fatigues, and we know them to be NPAs,” the leader said.
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