Rights activist shot dead in GenSan

Ali Macalintal —RPN General Santos City photo

KORONADAL CITY, SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines — An activist and a former broadcaster was slain at around 7 a.m. on Monday inside a spa and acupuncture clinic she owned in Barangay Lagao in General Santos City, South Cotabato province.

Ali Macalintal, who had served as deputy secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan in General Santos City and was also a former radio broadcaster of Radio Philippines Network (RPN) XDX operating in the city, died instantly in the attack, according to Police Col. Nicomedes Olaivar Jr., the city police director.

Macalintal, 39, a transwoman member of the LGBTQ+ community, was inside her business establishment when a lone gunman barged into the Delmond Parlor and Spa and shot her without provocation.

READ: Lawyer gunned down in S. Cotabato home

“We are looking at different possible motives, including something that is related to [her] business or [her] being a former member of a left-leaning group,” Olaivar told a radio interview here.

Hooded jacket

Macalintal sustained gunshot wounds in the abdomen and was declared dead at the hospital where she was brought by civilian rescuers.

Olaivar said a witness saw a man wearing a hooded red jacket, a baseball cap, and a face mask arrive at the spa at around 7 a.m. amid heavy downpour. “The man entered the parlor and fired at Macalintal,” he said.

Police recovered five empty shells for a .45 caliber pistol from the crime scene.

“We are looking at the closed-circuit television footage near the establishment to help fast-track the investigation,” said Olaivar.

He said the police already had persons of interest but were still “digging deeper.”

Olaivar believed the killing was an “isolated case” and not related to “[her] being a former radio journalist.”

Macalintal, who studied AB Mass Communication at Ramon Magsaysay College in this city, was the deputy secretary general of the Karapatan General Santos City chapter from 2016 to 2018 before he joined RPN in General Santos City, where she worked from 2019 to 2023.

Police in General Santos City were eyeing business rivalry or her once being a member of a militant group as possible reasons for the attack.

Condemnation

Human rights group Karapatan condemned the killing and called for a swift investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We are considering all angles on Ali’s activism and [her] work in the media, as well as the political context where activists in Mindanao routinely experience harassment from state forces,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said when asked whether Macalintal’s killing could have something to do with her being a former activist.

Palabay said Macalintal had co-organized and participated in several fact-finding missions in Mindanao, including when martial law was declared on the island during the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The LGBTQ alliance Bahaghari on Monday also denounced the killing of Macalintal, described as a transwoman rights advocate, and urged authorities to conduct a “swift” and “impartial” investigation into the case.

“Ali was a steadfast and outspoken human rights advocate,” said Bahaghari chair Reyna Valmores Salinas. “She was never afraid to speak truth to power and expose uncomfortable truths.”

In 2017, Macalintal joined the annual march Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya “to stand with Moro and Lumad people against attacks on their communities,” according to Bahaghari.

“We lost a powerful voice in advancing LGBTQ+ rights in the country. Ali’s bravery will not be forgotten by the community during Pride Month,” Salinas said.

Salinas also urged authorities to find out if the killing was related to Macalintal’s previous job as a media worker, adding that “the brutal killing of Ali is emblematic of the situation of media workers and the state of press freedom in the Philippines.” Salinas noted that the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has recorded 184 cases of attacks against media workers from July 2022 to April 30 this year. —with reports from Germelina Lacorte and Gillian Villanueva