By Marisol Bo-oc | 10:17 AM February 17, 2021
The Hugpong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon- Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Humabol- KMP) condemned in a statement the killing of Lucresia Tasic, a village councilor in Barangay Hanopol Norte in Balilihan town early Tuesday morning, Feb 16, in her house. Tasic was 55.
Tasic was shot to death by unidentified men, claiming to be Capitol employees supposed to conduct “operation tuli”.
Humabol said Tasic, a top councilor of her village, was a campaigner for Anakpawis Partylist in her locality.
“Being affiliated with Anakpawis, which has been continually red-tagged by the government, made Lucresia a subject to various harassments by state forces who wanted her to “clear” her name and quit the organization,” the statement said.
Humabol said that the harassments turned to worse when her daughter married the son of Domingo Compoc whom the military alleged to be a commander of the New People’s Army (NPA).
It added that Domingo’s brother, Pelagio Compoc, a farmer and barangay tanod, was also shot dead by unidentified men on January 22 last year.
“The way Lucresia’s assailants introduced themselves was similar to those of unidentified men who also coerced progressive leaders to surrender in recent months: they always claimed to be either employees of the province or from the OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) who wanted to arrange a meeting between the victims and their military head,” Humabol said.
In a statement, Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women said the”killing of Tasic was essentially part of Duterte’s marching order to target innocent, civilians, activists, farmers, peasant women and other human rights defenders in the country.
“We mourn and we rage for the death of Lucresia Tasic and other extra-judicial killing victims. We demand justice and accountability for all the victims of human rights abuses committed by this government. We demand the scrapping of Executive Order No. 70, Memorandum Order No. 32, Anti-Terror Law and other state policies authorizing extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests and detention, red-tagging and other forms of human rights violations,”said Zenaida Soriano, National Chairperson of Amihan.