ATTY. JUVY MAGSINO, vice-mayor, LEIMA FORTU, public school teacher, murdered, February 13, 2004.

"At around 11:00 PM of February 13, 2004, Vice Mayor Juvy Magsino, 34 years old and a resident of Barangay Adrealuna, Naujan, Mindoro Oriental, Philippines, along with Leima Fortu, 27 years old and a resident of Barangay Maidlang, Calapan, Mindoro Oriental, Philippines were on their way to Vice Mayor Magsino's friend to get a computer in Pinagsabangan, Naujan, Mindoro Oriental. After passing through a place called "Curba" in Pinagsabangan going to Amuguis, they were already being tailed by elements believed to belong to the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army. In Barangay Amuguis, the two men on board a motorcycle with no plate number peppered the Vice Mayor's vehicle with bullets. Witnesses claimed that the two were armed with a 9mm gun and an armalite. The General Headquarters of the 204th Infantry Brigade was only a hundred meters away from the ambush site.

Vice Mayor Magsino suffered three gunshot wounds on her head without exit points; and one each on her chest, shoulder and neck. Leima also had gunshot wounds on her chest, near her right ear, knee and shoulder.

At the time of her death Vice Mayor Magsino was the Chairperson of Mindoro for Justice and Peace, Chairperson of the Vice Mayors' League in Mindoro Oriental, Philippines, honorary member of Gabriela and was running for Mayor of Naujan against the incumbent Mayor Norberto Mendoza. She was also a known human rights lawyer for KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental and the fisherfolks group PAMALAKAYA-Mindoro Oriental.

Leima Fortu was a public school teacher at the Suqui Elementary School in Calapan, Mindoro Oriental, Philippines. She was Acting Secretary General of KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental, a volunteer staff of Mindoro for Justice and Peace and a member of the partylist group Bayan Muna Calapan City Chapter.

Prior to her death, Vice Mayor Magsino was known to be very vocal against the former 204th IBPA Commanding Officer Col. Jovito Palparan, Jr. and the increasing military deployment in the island province.

KARAPATAN-Southern Tagalog spokesperson Irein Cuasay, told the KARAPATAN National Office that Vice Mayor Magsino had recently called her a few days before she was shot dead. Vice Mayor Magsino informed Irein that she had received two death threats claiming that she would no longer live beyond February 15, 2004." link

HONOR AYROSO, poet and peasant organizer, abducted, February 9, 2002.

"On 9 February 2002 in Encarnacion Subd., Bgy. Sto. Niño 1st San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, Honor was abducted by alleged military elements together with Bayan Muna organizer for Nueva Ecija, Johnny Orcino.

As a student leader in Nueva Ecija, Ayroso was abducted in 1989 by elements of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) and the then Capital Command (CapCom).

A poet on his own right, Ayroso was also an active peasant organizer known for his patience in education work and conducting research.

Honor is still missing to this day and the military still denies having any knowledge in his abduction.

His case together with that of Orcino, was among the first cases filed with the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Comprehensive Agreement on Repect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRHIHL) signed between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front." link

FR. WILLIAM TADENA, priest of the Philippine Independent Church, murdered, March 13, 2005.

"Suspected military assassins ambushed Fr. William Tadena after saying mass in the morning of March 13. Fr. Tadena was a strong supporter of the striking workers in Hacienda Luisita and an outspoken critic of militarization in the province of Tarlac. He and other three church workers were aboard his vehicle when they were mercilessly riddled with bullets. Fr. Tadena died from gunshot wounds in the head and other parts of his body." link

ATTY. FELIDITO DACUT, lawyer, murdered, March 14, 2005.

"What alarmed me most was the killing of a human rights lawyer, Attorney Felidito Dacut on March 14. He has been a human rights lawyer since martial law. He had weathered martial law in fact, and he has weathered so many difficult times in the Philippines. Attorney Dacut is not only a human rights lawyer for KARAPATAN, but also a regional coordinator for Bayan Muna in Eastern Visayas and in the afternoon he had just come from a meeting of Bayan Muna. He and his companion were driving in a jeep to his house; suddenly a motorcycle pulled up beside the jeep and two men began firing at him, and instantly he died, on the spot. And the motorcycle just zoomed away. Many of the killings are done by motorcycle-riding men; many of the killings are done during the time of twilight. Attorney Dacut was killed on March 14; and Brig.-Gen. Jovito Palparan assumed the command of Eastern Visayas just on February 10, 2005. After he assumed his post, the killings came. What alarms me is that they targeted the lawyers first, or those people who will stick against atrocities or human rights violations, so they target those who will be defenders of the small, poor people, the powerless ones. Attorney Dacut was one of the very first lawyers killed in Eastern Visayas." link

EXPEDITO AND MANUELA ALBARILLO, parents of eight children, murdered, April 8, 2005.

"On the early morning of April 8, 2005 at around five o’clock, Lorna Arbarillo was about to go out of their house and prepare for the day’s chores when eight heavily armed men suddenly appeared and ordered her to stay inside. Frightened, she quickly obeyed the intruders while more armed men surrounded their house. At five-thirty, some of the men who were stationed outside their house started to go to a nearby hut owned by Expedito Albarillo, Lorna’s relative and neighbor. From their place, they could hear Manuela Albarillo’s, Expedito’s wife, screams.

“Bakit n’yo kami ginaganito, maawa naman kayo sa amin!” Minutes later, they saw the Albarillo couple being forcefully led away by the armed men. Aling Manuela, apparently in fear, was clutching her husband’s body while begging for mercy.

Eleanor, Expedito’s niece, tried to run towards her uncle but the men quickly pointed their guns at her. She had no choice but to stay inside their house and endure the sight of the two being dragged away from their house. At six o’clock, Aling Lorna and her family heard gunshots and pleaded at the men to spare the Albarillo couple. They tried to run outside to summon for help but was rudely stopped by the armed men still stationed outside the house.

A few minutes later, the armed finally left their house. Once free, they hurriedly ran and looked for the couple. About 200 meters away fro m the house, in an uphill potion of Sitio Ibuyi, Brgy Calsapa, eighbors and relatives of Expedito, Ispid to his barangay constituents, found the two dead and sprawled on the ground. Expedito’s left eye was missing, evidently carved out by a shrp knife. His left arm dangled from his body, his right armpit mangle by a bullet wound. Expedito sustained four gunshot wounds on his left side and three more on his back. The back of his head was also severely beaten. Manuela’s face was almost beyond recognition, a gunshot wound shaterred the left side of her neck. A bullet entered a spot just below her right eye and exited at her left armpit. Both were dead, survived by their eight children." link

EDWIN PASTOR, tricycle driver, abducted, missing since February 11, 2005.

"At around 5 p.m. Feb 11, two men on board a dark blue van and armed with .45 cal. pistols abducted 53-year old Esteban Pastor, a tricycle driver and active member of the party-list group Bayan Muna.

When his family made the rounds in police stations to look for him, they found out Pastor has been in the list of the military’s OB (Order of Battle) since August 2004." link

ISAIAS MANANO, peasant activist, murdered, April 18, 2005.

"The day he was killed, Isaias was preparing for a peasant conference aiming to campaign for a PhP15 per kilo increase in palay prices. He and Anakpawis officer Guillermo Coz were in Pachoca, leaving the house of Calapan mayoralty candidate Bodgie Ignacio, when they noticed a man trailing them.

Coz heard a shot and Isaias’ cry out in pain. A bullet hit Isaias in the back and exited through his stomach, causing him to fall on the ground. The still unidentified assailant fired more shots at Coz, who fortunately escaped. He then approached Isaias, who was still shouting in pain, and fired a second shot at his temple....

“Nay, dumami ho ang mga anak ninyo” (Mother, your children are multiplying), Isaias used to tell his mother whenever his comrades visited their home, a remark that takes on another significance with his passing. I wager that our friend persists whenever and wherever we who remain resolve to rebel against silence and seek retribution for all the blood shed. Wherever we struggle for an era where people are no longer silenced for their principles, because the truths they speak make puppets tremble, because their hands, like that of brave Isaias, can create the fiercest of signs." link

EMILIO SANTILLA, 70 years old, murdered, March 12, 2002

"On March 12 at four-thirty in the afternoon, seventy-year-old Emilio Santillan, a resident of Brgy del Pilar, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, was riding home on his bicycle when a maroon van hastily exceeded him. An armed man got off the van, quickly approached the old man and gripped his left shoulder. Without a blink, the man shot the old man at his left temple. Within seconds, Emilio Santillan was dead. On the ground lay the coffee, sugar, milk, and bread he borrowed for his co-farm workers from a nearby store." link

REV. EDISON LAPUZ, UCCP Pastor, murdered, Leyte, May 12, 2005.

"The incident happened at around 6:30 in the evening. According to Emma Lapuz, the wife of Rev. Lapuz, they just come from the burial of her father. After the burial, they immediately went home. They had their dinner and they went on to the house of his father. Rev. Lapuz went on to relax with his relatives and friends. All in all, there were 13 people who were there at the time of the incident, including the other victim, Alfredo Malinao. Emma was sleeping just across Rev. Edison. When she woke up, she saw two (2) unidentified men, both wearing some kind of long sleeve shirts. One of them shot Rev. Lapuz two times, hitting him in the left temple and in the stomach. The other man shot Malinao in the center chest, near his heart. The gunmen were approximately two (2) meters from the victims. Rev. Lapuz died on the spot due to the shot on his temple. Malinao was at "50-50" condition when brought to the hospital. The doctors who attended Malinao told them that they could no longer revive Malinao. The two gunmen still managed to shoot the parked vehicle of Rev. Lapuz on the right-rear wheel before they fled from the crime scene. The two went on to the two (2) motorcycles waiting at about 210 meters from the crime scene where another two (2) unidentified men were waiting. Each gunman joined a waiting motorcycle with driver, fleeing the place and heading to the main road." link

EDEN MARCELLANA, mother of two, human rights worker, murdered, April 21, 2003.

"Post-mortem examinations by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights found that they were “hog-tied” (hands and feet tied together) and bore signs of torture inflicted before they were killed. Eddie Gumanoy suffered gunshot wounds to his face and chest and Eden Marcellana had two stab marks in the face and upper back. Other sources reported that Eden Marcellana’s body was severely beaten, particularly on the face and neck." link

EDDIE GUMANOY, human rights worker, murdered, April 21, 2003.

"It's amazing to dicover the dearth of information about some of these martyrs. Often, their life and struggle are not in the factsheets that only touch upon the circumstances of their murder. The particular goodness of their person; their specific contributions to the welfare of the toiling masses, which campaigns for land and livelihood they led and won, for example; their own nobilities that the state deemed inimical enough to interests of the ruling class to silence forever--these are facts that often slip through the cracks in the flurry for the campaign for justice. Gaano man kasikat ang kaso ni Eddie Gumanoy, dating tagapangulo ng Kasama-TK na pinaslang kasama ni Eden Marcellana sa Mindoro noong 2003, sino ang nakakaalam na si Ka Eddie ay magniniyog mula sa Quezon na nakapagpaalis ng resikada (na pasanin ng mga magniniyog) sa maraming mga lugar dahil sa pursigidong pagkilos simula pa dekada '80?" link

DANNY MACAPAGAL, civic leader, abducted March 3, 2005.

"...Danny Macapagal, a known civic leader and former Bayan-Nueva Ecija secretary general, was abducted by armed men from his house in Cabanatuan City and remains missing till today."
link

DANNY LADERA, city councilor, murdered March 3, 2005.

"Tarlac City councilor Abelardo Ladera was a marked man. Everyone said so especially after the military's Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) announced in a press briefing, without an iota of proof, that he was a leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines/ New People's Army (CPP/NPA) responsible for fomenting social unrest at the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.

Ladera acknowledged the threat as serious and took security precautions. But the assassin sent to kill him on March 3 still found him easy picking. Ladera, a popular and outstanding local government official, a known defender of the rights and welfare of Hacienda Luisita farmers and workers, was felled by a single, well-aimed sniper's bullet to his heart, while at an auto supply shop on his way home for lunch." link

BENG HERNANDEZ, human rights worker, murdered April 5, 2002.

"The bodies were found lying on the ground, with their hands raised as if in a gesture of begging for their lives or protecting themselves. The body of Hernandez was found with her face shattered. Her neck, upper right chest and left palm were riddled with bullets. Bruises were found on her face, hands and body. Her chest was also burnt, an indication she was shot at close range." link