* Article III, Section 4, No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.
Despite all the above protection provided for in the Constitution, people are still being tortured and massacred, execution style. Claims of extortion have also been reported and worse, the funeral parlors take advantage of the situation by charging exorbitant fees. Without batting an eyelash, the so-called vigilantes terminate the lives of the poor and the defenseless with impunity and with no remorse. Will these perpetrators ever be punished? According to the Human Rights Watch,¹¹ “Most of the time, the police are planting evidence, and have instigated and incited the killings.” The Human Rights Watch has gone further to call these acts “crimes against humanity.”
There are testimonies¹² of families of victims that are so heartbreaking that we have decided to include them in this article on the Constitution so that their stories will never be forgotten. We have listened to their sharing and saw faces of sorrow and desperation. Those who died have names, and families, and had lives that they were entitled to enjoy to the fullest but were suddenly extinguished. It is but right and it is also our duty to remember and to correct the injustice. Sadly, after a year, little has been done to bring the perpetrators to justice.
While listening to the testimonies of the families, one cannot escape thinking of the terror they underwent and are still undergoing. Filled with hopelessness, they mustered all their courage to come forward to share their stories and relive the events. May their stories continue to be told and retold. Somewhere out there, are bright, compassionate and courageous lawyers who God will grant the grace to fight for the victims’ cases in the Courts of justice.
For a short backgrounder, we are presenting actual summaries of these tragic tales: how family members were pulled out of their homes, dragged away and taken supposedly to the precincts; how others were shot in the head while sleeping in their own homes; how some were killed while having a simple get-together; and how people with bonnets rush into homes and shoot without any compunction.
Mistaken identities abound. For example, a father explained that his son was a scavenger; therefore, he looked dirty because he went through other people’s trash; automatically, he was labeled evil and a drug user and was shot dead. This is the current perception of the people.
The following are the direct testimonies of victims’ families; they were delivered in Filipino and translated to English for the Human Rights Commission, European Union, and CNN. The testimonies can be found in YouTube under HEMA Malabon, HEMA Baclaran Church, and HEMA Novaliches.
- Testimony # 1 Holy Eucharist Mass Action (HEMA) I Our Lady of Victory Chapel, Malabon Philippines – Feb. 2, 2017
I am Kila Dipasupil, an informal settler from Malabon and I want to relate what happened in Lancota of Barangay Concepcion. Before last New Year, there was a tragic occurrence. Before that, we have had a long land dispute in the courts. It was a very painful experience. The Barangay did not help us, neither did the mayor.
That night, we were taken by surprise when people entered and suddenly started shooting, hitting the son of our leader, the President of Pangako, Barangay Concepcion.
Probably, the real target was Mama Lita but it was her son who was shot and killed and four others who were totally innocent and had nothing to do with the land case.
Thank you for being here and being one with us. We have no one else to turn to except this church who is our last hope.
Conveniently, Ricardo Barrera, who died that night, was suddenly included in the narco list of the Barangay, The officials had offered no help in the first place and then they even made it appear that Ricardo was an addict and pusher.
There is no one else we can report this matter to. To whom do we run to? To the Barangay? To the local government? How can we run to them when almost all of them are involved? We are thankful that we can come to this forum. We cannot understand the justice here.
How many members of the family have to die? These are young people who died. So what is the outcome of all of these killings?
Let us unite and let us not stop this fight against EJK. Magandang umaga po. (To be continued/PN)
