HKCHARPP : JUSTICE FOR FAUSTO FAMILY! JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF STATE ATROCITIES!
Abolish the Anti-terror Law! End the state of impunity! Stop the redtagging!
The Hong Kong Campaign for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP), joins with the Filipino people in strongly condemning the horrific massacre of the Fausto family of four, Emelda Fausto (50), Roly Fausto (52) and two sons Ben (15) and Ravin (11), in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, on June 14, 2023. We express our deepest sympathies to the extended Fausto family, especially to their surviving daughter who found her family the next day.
The Fausto family were sugar workers and active members of the Baclayan, Bito, Cabagal Farmers and Farmworkers Association (BABICAFA). Prior to their murder, the Fausto parents had been relentlessly red-tagged, and were subjected to physical and mental torture, grave coercion, and illegal searches. The Fausto family belonged to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), which has also been heavily red-tagged by state agents because of their prophetic role that expose the abuses in government and injustices in Philippine society. The whole family, their home had experienced harassment and surveillance by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), like for instance just recently on May 4 of this year when Emelda returned home from work. She found a muddy boot print on the floor and their house ransacked.
Despite the early reports from the AFP that the massacre was committed by members of the New People’s Army (NPA), who murdered Fausto, Emelda and their two sons (Ben & Ravin) claiming that the father was so-called an AFP informant. A make-believe story which the family has outrightly denied. It cannot escape from public’s scrutiny that such concocted story is but a blatant atttempt of the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) in connivance with the big landlords in Negros to cover-up the massacres and blame to the NPA when they were expose of their evil deeds is but a common occurrence in the island marred with poverty, oppression and injustice and with undying hope for justice and liberation.
On 23 June the National Solidarity Mission composed of various church leaders, human rights groups, justice, and peace advocates conducted a fact-finding mission days after the massacre. NSM shed light to the massacre based on the witnesses and members of the communities who testified, it was the members of the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB), which continues to militarize the Negros Island, sow terror across Negros who massacred the Fausto family and killed Crispin Tingal Jr. another farmer on May 3 in Kabankalan City.
The fact-finding mission also found severe ongoing trauma especially among women and children who are in Brgy. Buenavista and the surrounding area due to the massive ongoing militarization of the 94thIB and the worsening human rights crisis in the community. The team highlighted even more the need for national and international attention on the case as the local systems fail to protect the communities’ most vulnerable.
HKCHARPP joins the growing demand for a genuine investigation of the killings and justice for the Fausto family. We further call on the Marcos Jr. administration to rescind the 2017 Memorandum Order 32 and Executive Order 70 which put Negros Island under virtual martial law, created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTFELCAC) which drives the red-tagging and subsequent political killings nationwide and silencing the legitimate demands of ordinary Filipinos for land and decent living.
HKCAHRPP commits to strengthening our solidarity with the Filipino people until the human rights violations cease and just and lasting peace flourishes across the country. We know more than ever, with already 23 farmers being murdered under the Marcos Jr. regime the attention of the global community matters, so we invite all peace-loving people in the Hong Kong to join with us.
