Joseph Baning was killed by 2 unidentified men in front of his house in Canapawan, Labo, Camarines Norte, on July 01, 2017. He was a 48-year-old farmer and Municipal coordinator of Camarines Norte Peoples’ Organization (CNPO).

The 2 men arrived on a motorcycle while Mr. Baning was feeding the chickens. They called for him and, when he appeared, one of the men shot him, first on the head, then in the chest. The 2 men shot him 3 more times before fleeing.

Some people tried to come and help Mr. Baning but 3 unidentified men stopped them from approaching. So he died on the spot a few minutes later.

He is survived by his wife and six children.

There is information that he had been previously harassed by soldiers who tagged him as a supporter of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights, a non-government organization working for the promotion of human rights in the Philipines, documented 104 victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s counter-insurgency program from July 2016 to October 2017.

According to Karapatan “state security forces are primarily responsible for these killings that are all in the context of a government program that makes no distinction between armed and unarmed civilians, thus providing a pretext for the arbitrary tagging of individuals, groups and movements as enemies of the state“.