MANILA, Philippines — Three activists, two of them peasants, the last one a lumad, were forcibly seized in Magpet town, Cotabato province, early Tuesday morning, January 9, the human rights organization Karapatan said.
And on Monday night, two unidentified gunmen strafed the home of a lumad couple in Barangay Bangayan, Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte.
The organization’s Cotabato province chapter reported that Jerold Adiaton, 29, and Jane Solis, 26, members of the Balite Farmers Association, an affiliate of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, “were forcibly taken by composite agents of 15th and 39th Infantry Battalions of the Philippine Army and Cotabato Provincial and Magpet Municipal police officers inside their house at 3 a.m.”
Two hours later, Karapatan said Datu Maylan Andas, 59, of the Manobo Aromanen Pasakkaday Association and a resident of Sitio Tungao, BarangayTempuran, “was also abducted while feeding his chicken around 5 a.m.” The Magpet lumad organization belongs to the Apo Sandawa Lumadnung Panaghiusa sa Cotabato.
In Kitcharao, Karapatan-Caraga said Rpney Asay, 29, and his wife Jingky 33, both members of the Mamanwa organization Kayapan-Amihan, escaped unscathed but two motorcycles near their home were destroyed in the attack.
The human rights group said Ronel had been recently harassed for his involvement in Kayapan-Amihan by troops of the 29th Infantry Battalion who have been conducting operations in their community and are bivouacked some two kilometers from the Asay’s home.