Lawmaker condemns killing of organizers
HOUSE Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro vehemently denounced the killings of Joseph Jimenez and Ericson Acosta, which occurred on November 30 in Negros.
The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Negros claims that Acosta and Jimenez were killed in Kabankalan, Negros, under the pretext of an encounter, as they were taken captive and later slain.
“We vehemently condemn the murders of the writer and activist Ericson Acosta and peasant leader and organizer Joseph Jimenez. We extend our deepest condolences to their family, friends, and the people they served,” Castro said in a statement on Saturday.
“Acosta was an NDF consultant for drafting the agreement on socioeconomic reforms and participated in the formal peace talks and discussions of the reciprocal working committees in the peace talks in 2016–2017,” she added.
Castro demands sanctions for the deaths of Jimenez, Acosta and other people in the country who were victims of extrajudicial killings.
Furthermore, she highlighted how state forces assault human rights advocates, branding them as terrorists and criminalizing them to silence their calls for social justice on behalf of voiceless Filipinos.
“We demand an end to the killings of peace advocates, human rights defenders, environmentalists, activists, farmers and workers,” Castro said.
Meantime, former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTFElcac) spokesman Lorraine Marie Badoy-Partosa posted on her social media page: “Their (NDF) propaganda aims to project that Acosta is not a notorious New People’s Army (NPA) Leader but a songwriter, a poet and a harmless activist as they try to glorify his death to cover up his involvement in the NPA Terrorists underground activities and atrocities.”
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the 303rd Brigade, voiced a similar statement noting the locals’ vigilance and complete trust in the government were factors in the deaths of Acosta and Jimenez of the New People’s Army. “The incident shows that the NPA terrorists’ influence among the locals is continuing to decline,” he added in a statement.