By Charissa Luci-Atienza

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel “Ka Ayik” Casilao is calling on the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate the purported “atrocities” hurled against the peasant communities nationwide.

He said the supposed intensified militarization of peasant communities in Samar, Negros, Surigao del Sur, Quezon, and Camarines Norte should be looked into by the Lower Chamber

“Peasants from various areas in the country are calling out against militarization of their communities and we join their demand of military pull-out and stop to human rights abuses,” Casilao who joined the National Fact-finding Mission in Negros Oriental on the mass killing of 14 peasants on March 30, said in a statement.

Citing the information collated by Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, the Makabayan lawmaker noted that on March 22, there was a mass evacuation of more than 1,400 peasants from three barangays of San Juan De Buan town in Samar due to incessant military operations since March 8 by elements of the 87th Infantry Battalion under the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.

He also laments that on March 31, there was a mass evacuation of 28 Lumad families or more than 160 individuals in Lianga town, Surigao del Sur, due to artillery fire and helicopter bombardment of their communities by units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Casilao noted that due to military operations, there was a mass evacuation of more than 1,700 peasants from Moises Padilla town, Negros Occidental to other barangays and town centers on April 1; and the strafing of a house of peasant leader in Sta. Elena town, Camarines Norte on April 3.

He also cited the raid by more than a hundred elements of the 79th Infantry Batallion Philippine Army (IBPA) of a house of a Pamalakaya fisherfolk leader and another in Escalante City, Negros Occidental on April 5 wherein the victims were arrested due to trumped up charges.

“These atrocities are aside from the Negros mass killing that brutally killed 14 peasants in March 30,” he said.

He attributed the intensified attacks against peasant communities to the issuance of Memorandum Order No. 32, targeting activists in Samar, Negros island and Bicol region, and the martial law in Mindanao.

“This large-scale abuses against Filipino peasants certainly descriptive of state terrorism, or attacks perpetrated by the government against activists, on the case of peasants, who are demanding genuine agrarian reform, support to production and relief to survive the present onslaught on their crops of the extreme drought,” he said.

Casilao explained that peasants are seeking redress from the government against land grabbing, displacement and other abuses by big landlords.

The victims of the Negros mass killing were members of the Kaugmaon, the Negros Oriental chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. Also, among those arrested were the Anakpawis Canlaon City Chapter organization Azucena Garubat and a leader of Gabriela, he noted.

“We urge various sectors in Metro Manila to extend support to the victims, as it is clear that democracy, human rights, justice or rule of law and due process are already seriously trampled upon by the state,” Casilao said.

He called on the public to join the ‘Lupa para sa mga Magsasaka, #BigasHindiBala’ protest at Mendiola on April 10, to demand the Duterte government to stop the killings of farmers.