By MARIA JODI PADA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A human rights group has stressed the continued killings of farmers in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration.
Karapatan said that two-thirds or 59 out of the 87 victims of extrajudicial killings under the Marcos Jr. regime are farmers. Most of them were either red-tagged prior to their killing or were accused of being armed combatants in “false encounters.”
Meanwhile, three-fourths or 65 of the 87 victims of extrajudicial countries are from Eastern Visayas, Bicol and Western Visayas. These were heavily militarized areas based on an executive order signed by Marcos Jr.’s predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.
In his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos Jr. did not mention the human rights situation in the country.
Read here: ‘Rights situation has not improved under Marcos Jr.’
“Contrary to Pres. Marcos Jr.’s declaration, there were significant increases in the most serious human rights and international humanitarian law violations such as extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,” Karapatan said in its latest issue of Monitor.
In Negros island
Karapatan observed that Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental have the highest documented cases of farmers being killed both under the Duterte and Marcos Jr. administrations. This explains why the Negros island has been labeled as “killing field” and “a laboratory of fascism,” according to farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).
Just a week after the SONA, Karapatan assailed the abduction and killing of farmer Ramon Enseniales, a resident of Cauayan town in Negros Occidental. Among the documented perpetrators include members of the 5th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) and the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), Karapatan said.
On Jan. 17, 2024, two peasant activists were gunned down in Negros Occidental by elements of the 62nd IBPA. They were Dionisio Baloy, 67, a member of the Kaisahan sa Gamay’ng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (KAUGMAON-Guihulngan Chapter) and fellow farmer Bernard Torres Sr., a member of United Negros Drivers and Operator Center-Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (UNDOC/PISTON).
According to Karapatan, witnesses said they were dragged out of the house they were staying at Hacienda Gomez, Barangay Sag-ang, La Castellana, Negros Occidental by elements of the 62nd IBPA. They were then reportedly interrogated and tortured before being shot.
Both Baloy and Torres were victims of military harassment and red-tagging in their communities, forcing them to relocate their families. This, however, did not prevent them from being killed.
“There is still no justice up until today. There is still no genuine land reform. Landlessness remains a fundamental problem for our Filipino farmers and no program addresses these problems,” said Rafael Mariano, chairperson emeritus of KMP.
Stop the attacks
Apart from the Negros islands, Karapatan also noted the farmer killings in Northern Samar.
“Targeting non-combatants like Enseniales and preventing or restricting civilians from access to food are both violations of international humanitarian law, which the Marcos Jr. regime has been increasingly resorting to in the run-up to its self-imposed deadline of crushing the insurgency by year’s end,” said Cristina Palabay of Karapatan.
KMP, for its part, called for an end to the bloody campaign against struggling farmers.
“Using a militarist approach to end the armed conflict in the countryside will only result in more human rights violations against the peasantry and will not resolve its deep-seated roots.” Karapatan said. (JJE, DAA) 
