On June 8 2019, 65-year-old land reform advocate Felipe Dacal-Dacal was shot dead in his home in Escalante City, Negros Occidental. The gunman was identified as a military agent. According to initial reports, the perpetrator visited Felipe’s house three times to “convince” him to stop joining rallies.
Felipe was a member of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) and was a peasant leader who fought for free land distribution and genuine agrarian reform. Members of NFSW have been subjected to multiple incidents of red-tagging, among other forms of rights violations.
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay stated, “The killing of Dacal-Dacal is indicative of the continuing and worsening human rights crisis in Negros and the rest of the country. This is on top of the operations under the Synchronized Enhanced Managing of Police Operations (SEMPO). These violations brought about by military and police operations have continuously resulted to adverse impacts on residents, including women, children and the elderly.”