Malacañang slams Malayao killing, but draws accusing fingers

Randy Felix Malayao. PHOTO from KODAO PRODUCTIONS’s Facebook

Malacañang on Thursday condemned the killing of a consultant for communist rebels in the aborted peace talks with the Duterte administration despite accusations by activists, left-wing groups and their allies that it was behind the crime.

“There can be no act of violence against anyone regardless of whether they agree with the government or whether or not we belong to the same ideology or religious belief,” said presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

Randy Malayao, 49, consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), was shot twice while asleep inside a bus at a pit stop in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya province, early Wednesday. The assailant escaped on a motorcycle driven by another man.

Panelo extended condolences to Malayao’s family and friends.

“We will never tolerate any unlawful killing in this country,” he said. “Justice must be served no matter the cost. Everyone must be accountable before the law.”

Panelo said investigators had been directed to conduct a speedy probe.

Task force

Task Force Malayao, which has been formed to look into the killing, was hoping to find leads from the victim’s mobile phone, laptop and other gadgets, said Senior Supt. Jeremias Aglugub, Nueva Vizcaya police director. But, he said, these had already been turned over to his family.

Aglugub said the group would reach out to possible informants, like those whom Malayao had contacted before the murder and security guards and other people in the vicinity of the restaurant where the bus had stopped.

Perla Malayao-Orpano, the victim’s eldest sister, said the family would cooperate with investigators. She hoped that the closed-circuit television footage at the restaurant would help identify the killers.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who headed the government panel in the peace talks brokered by Norway, said Malayao’s death created a “pressing need” to resume the negotiations with the communist rebels.

“It is saddening to hear the news on his death. As a good personal friend, he would meet me at my house in Isabela whenever we had time and we would talk on peace and human rights issues,” Bello told the Inquirer.

Glimmer of Hope

In a separate statement, he said government negotiators “remain unperturbed even as the slimmest ray of hope for the just and peaceful settlement of the armed conflict with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front is dimmed further with the silencing of the purveyors of peace.”

He said “misguided elements” may be trying to “put to waste” what has so far been gained by the Duterte government’s peace initiatives.

“It is our ardent hope that the life sacrificed by Malayao serve to give new life to our common desire for that elusive peace,” Bello said.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International said the killing further “normalizes” violence under the Duterte administration.

“The cold-blooded murder of Malayao is yet another addition to the growing list of political activists who have been attacked and killed in the country,” Minar Pimple, Amnesty International’s senior director for global operations, said in a statement on Thursday.

Pimple said the peace consultant was murdered at a time when political activists were becoming “regular targets of violent attacks.”

“Alarmingly, ties to leftist or communist groups, perceived or otherwise, have given some an apparent license to kill,” he said.

Malayao was among more than 600 people that the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a court in February last year to declare “terrorists” for their alleged links to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). The DOJ removed early this month nearly all of the names, including Malayao’s, from its list.

‘Kill, kill, kill program’

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan, said the administration’s alleged “kill, kill, kill program” had resulted in “cold-blooded, cowardly killings that target individuals who have given their lives to the pursuit of justice, peace and defense of people’s rights.”

Aside from Malayao, Palabay cited Sergio Atay, a Zamboanga del Norte peasant leader who was shot five times in the head and whose body showed torture marks when it was found on Tuesday.

Atay was last seen alive when he was allegedly stopped and interrogated at a police checkpoint late on Monday.

“This is what is most enraging about this government at these times,” said Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate. “They are killing the very people who have been working hard to end armed conflict in the country and attain lasting peace.”

Malayao was Bayan Muna regional coordinator for Cagayan Valley and actively participated in peace forums aside from serving as consultant for the NDFP during the peace talks before Mr. Duterte terminated the negotiations in November 2017, citing alleged continuing attacks by the NPA.

Blows against assassins

In a statement, the CPP said the killing of Malayao and the arrest of other NDFP peace consultants, showed the Duterte administration’s “disdain for negotiating peace” and respect for the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, which protects negotiators from arrest, harassment or attacks.

It described Duterte as a “war president” who was “obsessed with assassination methods by the US, unleashing death squads against those who push for just peace.”

“Tactical offensives by the New People’s Army are set to advance increasingly to deal bigger blows against the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), including Duterte’s assassination squads,” the CPP said. —WITH REPORTS FROM PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU, MELVIN GASCON, TINA G. SANTOS, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR., KIMBERLIE QUITASOL, ARMAND GALANG AND DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.