Announced to be missing since April 19 by the NDFP in Negros, the AFP last Saturday said Posadas was killed “after a series of encounters in the boundaries of Isabela and Balbagan” in Negros Occidental Province last April 20.
The NUPL said red-tagging endangers their lives and prevents them from independently performing their duties as lawyers. “Especially since we in NUPL are compelled to handle cases that most of our colleagues in the profession cannot, would not, or do not – for reasons we respect – handle,” the group said.
“They were revolutionaries, not terrorists. They did not deserve to be tortured and then mercilessly assassinated. If the worst criminals deserve humane treatment, all the more to well-meaning people like them pushing for peace, freedom, and development,” farmers and indigenous peoples’ organizations said.
“Hindi ho ba tayo nahihiya sa pinag-gagawa natin? Magbo-boyfriend, magpapa-buntis. Kahit alam niyong bawal. Pagkatapos, kung ano-ano ang sasabihin. Kayo ho ang mas matapang e!” OWWA executive director Arnell Ignacio said.
The Public Interest Law Center said the loss of clients in a savage extrajudicial killing in the midst of unresolved injustices is far worse painful than the loss of a case in court.
“The reported manner of their questionable capture, inhuman treatment and barbaric torture, and the deceptive scheme to dispose of their and eight of their comrades’ mutilated bodies are despicable acts of evil persons from the GRP State’s terror machinery,” NDFP Negotiating Panel interim chairperson Julieta de Lima said.
Contrary to stories told by the Armed Forces of the Philippines that the top Communist leaders were killed when their boat was blown up by government troopers in the sea of Samar province, the CPP said the two and their companions were captured near Catbalogan City last August 21.
NDFP Negotiating Panel interim chairperson Juliet de Lima said the treatment given to Casilao by the Philippine National Police (PNP) was “totally unacceptable” as it did not only violate his basic human rights and the international humanitarian law but was also “shamelessly inhuman.”
“I now fear for his life and safety, while he is in the custody of Philippine officials as they have refused to give his legal representatives relevant information regarding his current status,” the former legislator said
“It is condemnable that China seems to be issuing a threat not just against the Philippines as a country but to innocent overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were obligated to work abroad to create better lives for their families,” Act Teachers’ Party Rep. France Castro said.
