Cops shoot dead 2 activists while spray-painting anti-Duterte slogan in Albay
LEGAZPI CITY––Two members of human rights groups were killed on Monday in a shootout with the police in Guinobatan town in Albay, police said Tuesday.
Major Joel Jarabejo, Guinobatan police chief, identified the slain activists as Marlon Napire, 40, and Jaymar Palero, 22, both residents of remote villages in the said town.
Jarabejo said when the police tried to stop them from spray-painting a message “DUTERTE IBAGSAK” on a concrete railing near the Banao bridge in Barangay Lower Binogsacan at around 1 a.m., they fired twice at the police, hitting the patrol car.
The suspects did not finish their message on the bridge and were killed when the police retaliated.
Recovered in the area were a caliber .45 gun a caliber .38 revolver, three spent shells for caliber .45, three spent shells for caliber .38 revolver, nine spent shells for 5.56mm, and an unregistered motorcycle.
In a statement, the Defend Bicol Stop The Attacks Network, an alliance of human rights groups in Bicol, condemned the killing and called it an attack on human rights.
“Dissent may take on many forms, but to kill innocent unarmed civilians in the dead of the night for painting the people’s call is purely fascist and brutal,” it said in a Facebook post.
They identified Palero as a member of Magsasaka sa Albay, while Napire was from Albay People’s Organization.
