Indigenous group leader Arpe Belayong and his 21-year old nephew Solte San-ogan killed

6/30/2011 10:08:00 AM




The leader of an indigenous group in Agusan Del Sur, Arpe Belayong, was killed along with his 21-year old nephew Solte San-ogan were reported to have been killed by a paramilitary group. "Belayong was reportedly killed because of his refusal to sign a document on ancestral domain. His signature was needed so loggers could start operations within their ancestral domain," notes Bulatlat.com. Six human rights defenders have since then gone into hiding out of fear from this particular attack, reports the Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact. This case has been recorded in detail by Karapatan.org.

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.