Solon strongly condemns killing of activist Porquia

MANILA, Philippines—Assistant Minority Leader France Castro vehemently condemned the killing of activist Jory Porquia who was shot dead in his coffee shop Thursday in Sto. Niño Norte, Arevalo, Iloilo City.

Porquia, the city coordinator of Bayan Muna Iloilo, and members of Bayan-Panay were led several feeding programs for the urban poor communities that suffered heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unknown assailants, however, shot Porquia at his business establishment at 5 a.m. Thursday.

“We vehemently condemn the killing of activist Jory Porquia. The people are fighting a pandemic yet the Duterte administration points their guns at the people who have been vocal against its anti-people policies and the sluggish response to the COVID-19 crisis,” said Castro.

“The snail-paced delivery of socio-economic relief and comprehensive medical solution of the [Rodrigo] Duterte administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic has already been attacking the livelihood of the people, attacks against activists and human rights defenders still persist.”

Castro also slammed Duterte’s alleged red-tagging of organizations that have been, she said, delivering aid to poor communities.

“These kinds of threats and red-tagging lead to more human rights violations and killings of activists who have been at the forefront in the delivery of aid to communities often neglected by the government,” said Castro, who’s also the Representative of ACT Teachers.

She said that the administration continued to use military solutions against COVID-19 instead of a medical and socio-economic system.

Castro remarked that the culture of impunity in the got worse during the Duterte administration and was even more evident during the health crisis.

The Duterte administration only has itself to blame in the growing unrest of the people demanding for medical and socioeconomic solutions to the COVID crisis,” Castro said.