This is the resounding vow that Bikolanos made during the International Human Rights Day. Each and every one of Duterte’s malevolent schemes to escape accountability from all his crimes against the people shall be in vain as the masses themselves make sure that he pays for all these.
Who can forget Jemar Palero and Marlon Naperi, activists killed in Guinobatan, Albay hours before Duterte’s final SONA last July 26? Activists who were clearly salvaged by police elements who accosted them but were still claimed to be ‘nanlaban’. They became symbols of the people’s refusal to succumb to fascism under Duterte’s dirty war.
During the whole period that the fascist lording over Malacanang sat in power, the Bikol region was subjected to unparalleled militarization. Salient among these is the intensification of police presence and control, alongside the deployment of units from 31st IBPA and 2nd IBPA, in the province of Masbate. Likewise, the overwhelming number of communities in Bikol swarming with military operations such as the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) and Focused Military Operations (FMO).
The dictator Duterte has been employing executive directives and militarist policies including MO32, Simultaneous Anti-criminality and Law Endforcement Operations (SACLEO), EO70, NTF-ELCAC and Anti-Terror Law 2020 to kill and massacre the most number of Bikolanos in the history of the region. From 2016 to present, there have been 217 listed cases of political killings in the region. Victims of extrajudicial killings reached 174 while 43 were victims of massacre. Four were cases of enforced disappearances and not less than 126 victims of illegal arrests were recorded.
The staggering number of victims of human rights violations does not only prove the depravity of Duterte’s fascism but also the ever-strengthening struggle of the Bikolano people who have long been disavowing the murderous Duterte. For every felled Bikolano, a thousand more have stood up and persisted. The savage regime failed to silence the Bikolanos, they only pushed the people to intensify their struggle and fueled the oppressed Bikolanos’ fiery spirits.
As Duterte’s term nears its end, the Bikolanos will not let him escape from his innumerable sins. The people’s verdict is waiting for the diabolical tyrant. NDF-Bikol gives its highest support to the even firmer unity of the Bikolanos against the criminal Duterte. The lives of those who have died will not be in vain – this is the promise rooted in the hearts and minds of all that remained and the oath that they shall keep until genuine justice is achieved. Justice for all the victims of human rights violations under the US-Duterte regime!
PRWC Newsroom 