We gravely denounce the recent assassinations of peace consultant Randy Echanis and human rights worker Zara Alvarez. The Duterte regime is undoubtedly complicit in these killings as the primary perpetrator of violent rhetoric and harassment versus activists. Try as it might, it cannot wash off the blood from its hands, not when its National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict solely exists to vilify the mass movement and red-tag activists. Not when both Echanis and Alvarez had been red-tagged and threatened by state forces prior to their murder. 

It must be known that Echanis and Alvarez are not isolated cases, but are only two of the many lives destroyed by the state and the culture of impunity it has fostered for the longest time. We must not forget that this regime’s repulsion for dissent has long plagued the country, killing off Iloilo activist Jory Porquia in April and urban poor leader Carilto Badion in May. 

It is harrowing to admit that the list goes on and on. Now, through Duterte’s Terror Law, this criminalization of dissent has been effectively legalized. 

As each day passes, the Duterte regime further cements itself as the enemy of the Filipino people and as an impediment to our attainment of genuine democracy. His crackdown on dissenters is a clear position: he was never for the people, not when he waged his war on drugs, not when he cowed before China’s encroachment on our seas, and definitely not during this pandemic--during which his priority was to have his draconic Terror Law passed. 

We call for thorough and impartial investigations into these killings and the countless others committed under the Duterte regime. In the same vein, we enjoin our fellow countrymen to stand against Duterte’s tyranny, to join us as we mobilize to end his rule. Duterte and his lackeys must know that they will face the people’s ire soon, and they will pay their dues for the blood they have spilled.