Rights advocate attacked in Ifugao

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BAGUIO CITY- A human rights advocate was shot in front of his house at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday (August 6) in the Ifugao town of Lagawe, according to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA).

Brandon Lee was severely injured but was conscious when he was rushed to the hospital.

Lee works as a paralegal volunteer of the Ifugao Peasant Movement (IPM) and writes for the online news website Northern Dispatch.

In 2015, Lee was among the IPM members accused by the military of supporting the New People’s Army, along with other activists.

One of them, Ricardo Mayumi who opposed a hydropower project in Tinoc town (also in Ifugao), was killed on March 2, 2018 in Kiangan town.

In 2014, IPM member William Bugatti was shot dead, two years after he was branded as “utak ng NPA (brains of the NPA) in an army report.

Lee took over some of Bugatti’s work, which included extending assistance to political prisoners.