MANILA, Philippines (Updated 9:47 p.m.) — An organization of Catholic schools on Wednesday joined the chorus of those condemning bloody police operations in Calabarzon that left nine activists dead, as it urged Filipinos to reject the "normalization of killings" in society.
In a statement, the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines said it was puzzling how raids resulted in casualties when police are supposed to follow maximum tolerance and restraint from using force.
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The Philippine National Police claimed that armed encounters took place during the March 7 raids, but rights watchdogs have long disputed the "nanlaban" narrative used in police operations.
"We must not tolerate impunity," CEAP said. "We must reject this growing culture of death and normalization of killings in our society. We cannot allow our children to grow up thinking that life is not sacred."
A 10-year-old child was orphaned in the raids in Nasugbu, Batangas, when parents Ariel and Chai Evangelista, who worked for fishers' issues advocacy group Umalpas Ka, were killed.
CEAP said incidents such as the "Bloody Sunday" raids are the consequence of pronouncements by those in government that have encouraged rogue elements "to violate fundamental human rights in the name of cracking down on the communist insurgency."
The Calabarzon police operations took place just days after President Rodrigo Duterte told cops and soldiers to shoot right away suspected armed rebels in encounters, saying anew to "ignore human rights."
"A massacre such as this has no space in our society," CEAP said, as it renewed its call on government to address the roots that lead people to joining the insurgency, such as poverty and the denial of basic human needs.
Remains yet to be released
On Wednesday night, alternative news network AlterMidya reported that police are keeping the families four people killed in the operation in Rizal, a province in Calabarzon, from claiming the remains of their dead.
They were identified as: Melvin Dasigao, Makmak Bacasno, and Randy and Puro Delacruz.
Photos posted on AlterMidya's Twitter account showed police and military officers at the Antipolo Memorial Homes, where they were said to have threatened to arrest the paralegal team present as well as the families of the victims.
"Around 15 to 20 officers are in the premises," AlterMidya said.
In August 2020, police also refused to release the remains of slain peasant activist Randall Echanis and even took the body away from a funeral parlor that his family had brought the remains to. His remains were later brought to the Philippine General Hospital for autopsy.
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The Palace as well as the police have rejected claims of a "massacre", with presidential spokesperson challenging Vice President Leni Robredo to show proof that what happened was a massacre. Failure to do so, the Palace warned Robredo after she criticized the killings, could mean criminal charges.
"The promotion of a culture of death must be vehemently condemned, for this is not the way of the gospel," CEAP said Monday.
The PNP has maintained that the operations were legitimate, and that cops had only acted out of self-defense.
The government's anti-communist task force earlier this year accused CEAP of having links to communist rebels, an allegation that the group of private schools flatly rejected.
"It has been said before, and we affirm it once more: we do not support the [Communist Party of the Philippines] and [New People's Army]," the association said in response to government allegations.