BY RAYMUND ANTONIO * MINKA TIANGCO
Peasant leader and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randall “Randy” Echanis was found dead in Novaliches, Quezon City on Monday.
Echanis, 72, was inside a rented house when he was killed by suspected state forces in Novaliches during the wee hours of August 10, Anakpawis and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) confirmed.
He was Anakpawis chairperson and KMP deputy secretary general.
The KMP said Echanis was stabbed to death at 1:30 a.m. by five suspects. He was killed along with an unidentified neighbor.
Former Anakpawis representative Ariel Casilao said that the slain activist “was undergoing medical treatment, and was unarmed,” when alleged state forces raided his house.
“Our anger is beyond words. This is a culture of extrajudicial killings with impunity under the Duterte regime. This is a declaratory act that national leaders of legal-democratic movement are now targeted to be killed,” he said.
“The entire civil society, human rights advocates and freedom fighters must totally denounce this criminal act,” Casilao added.
Echanis was a long-time NDFP consultant and a member of the NDFP committee on socio-economic reforms.
He was also part of the 2016 to 2017 peace talks with the Duterte administration.
The KMP condemned the incident in strongest terms and demanded justice for Echanis.
“His killing is made more heartless and cruel amid a pandemic when death and hunger abounds,” KMP chair Danilo Ramos said.
The farmers’ group called for national indignation and protest on the killing of Echanis.
Ramos remembered Echanis as a “selfless and resolute” peasant leader who lived a “simple life and amassed nothing but contributions to the people’s struggles.”
Edre Olalia, legal consultant of the NDFP Negotiating Panel and National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) president, also slammed the killing.
“It is almost conclusory that the ruthless dark forces have struck again,” he said in a statement.
