Protest mounts vs. killings as Kalinga folk buries Alyce 06-08-06

	NORDIS WEEKLY August 6, 2006
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Protest mounts vs. killings as Kalinga folk buries Alyce
*Tabuk doctors close clinics in public outcry* TABUK, Kalinga (Aug. 5) — An estimated 1,000 people poured into the streets of this violence ridden town capital to join the Claver and Omengan families in laying to rest their beloved Alyce. The people’s outrage has triggered a snowballing mass protest against the “Bloody Monday” ambush that killed her and critically wounded her husband Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver. Sunburnt farmers and indigenous elders joined doctors, lawyers, religious, local government officials, students and youth march-protest funeral demanding justice for the Clavers and other victims of death-squads. The Claver couple and one of their daughters in a Pajero were negotiating a U-turn in front of St. Tonis College at 6:45 a.m. of July 31, when armed men peppered their car with M16 rifles and cal.45 handguns. Alyce expired some 5 hours later at the Kalinga Provincial Hospital. Their traumatized daughter was unhurt. The ambush catalyzed the whole Tabuk community into mounting a series of protest actions. On August 1, over 150 members of the Kalinga Medical Society (KMS), Kalinga Apayao Religious Society Association (KARSA), and other Tabuk-based professionals trooped to the PNP provincial headquarters in Camp Juan Duyan to demand immediate justice for the victims. The rallyists first held a protest program at the Bulanao junction, the ambush site, before proceeding to Camp Duyan some 200 meters away. On the same day, Kalinga doctors announced that they were closing their clinics and out-patient departments of hospitals indefinitely to protest the ambush and earlier killings in Kalinga. The killings is widely perceived as part of a bloody nationwide campaign by death squads to silence all types of legitimate opposition. The Tabuk Municipal Council also unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attack on the Claver couple, who belong to the prominent Claver and Omengan clans. Earlier, over 100 protestors led by the CPA marched through Baguio City’s main thoroughfares on the afternoon of July 31, and held a program at the Igorot Park despite heavy rains. CPA Chairperson Joan Carling blamed Kalinga PNP Provincial Director Pedro Ramos for the ambush, and added that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the AFP-PNP should be held responsible for the death of Alyce and other victims of political killings. Carling criticized regional and Kalinga PNP officials for claiming, in a radio interview right after the ambush, that Dr. Claver was a member of the National Democratic Front (NDF). “Why did the PNP identify him as an NDF personality only minutes after he was ambushed? Is it to justify the ambush? Granted that he is an NDF member, should he be killed? Where is due process here?” Carling said. Beverly Longid, vice chairperson of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), noted that the ambush happened just a week after GMA said in her state of the nation address that she condemned political killings. “This only shows the hypocrisy of the government,” Longid said. In a statement, the CHRA claimed that the worsening political killings, which now occur nationwide at the average rate of one incident every two days, are the result of GMA’s declaration of total war against a broad range of opposition forces that the AFP and PNP consider as Left. “Are doctors now considered enemies of the state and targets of Mrs. Arroyo’s all out war? Are doctors who choose to work in the far-flung areas outside the ambit of government patronage now considered NPA supporters and can be subjected to extra-judicial killing? Or are we just ‘acceptable collateral damage’ as Sec. Raul Gonzales lucidly puts? It is clear that the impetus for the wanton and escalating violence has the implicit approval of the ruling regime and Mrs. Arroyo herself,” Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos, Secretary General of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) said in a statement. # Kimberly N. Quitasol for NORDIS with report from Sarah Dekdeken Post your comments, reactions to this article
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	NORDIS WEEKLY August 6, 2006
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
Protest mounts vs. killings as Kalinga folk buries Alyce
*Tabuk doctors close clinics in public outcry* TABUK, Kalinga (Aug. 5) — An estimated 1,000 people poured into the streets of this violence ridden town capital to join the Claver and Omengan families in laying to rest their beloved Alyce. The people’s outrage has triggered a snowballing mass protest against the “Bloody Monday” ambush that killed her and critically wounded her husband Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver. Sunburnt farmers and indigenous elders joined doctors, lawyers, religious, local government officials, students and youth march-protest funeral demanding justice for the Clavers and other victims of death-squads. The Claver couple and one of their daughters in a Pajero were negotiating a U-turn in front of St. Tonis College at 6:45 a.m. of July 31, when armed men peppered their car with M16 rifles and cal.45 handguns. Alyce expired some 5 hours later at the Kalinga Provincial Hospital. Their traumatized daughter was unhurt. The ambush catalyzed the whole Tabuk community into mounting a series of protest actions. On August 1, over 150 members of the Kalinga Medical Society (KMS), Kalinga Apayao Religious Society Association (KARSA), and other Tabuk-based professionals trooped to the PNP provincial headquarters in Camp Juan Duyan to demand immediate justice for the victims. The rallyists first held a protest program at the Bulanao junction, the ambush site, before proceeding to Camp Duyan some 200 meters away. On the same day, Kalinga doctors announced that they were closing their clinics and out-patient departments of hospitals indefinitely to protest the ambush and earlier killings in Kalinga. The killings is widely perceived as part of a bloody nationwide campaign by death squads to silence all types of legitimate opposition. The Tabuk Municipal Council also unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attack on the Claver couple, who belong to the prominent Claver and Omengan clans. Earlier, over 100 protestors led by the CPA marched through Baguio City’s main thoroughfares on the afternoon of July 31, and held a program at the Igorot Park despite heavy rains. CPA Chairperson Joan Carling blamed Kalinga PNP Provincial Director Pedro Ramos for the ambush, and added that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the AFP-PNP should be held responsible for the death of Alyce and other victims of political killings. Carling criticized regional and Kalinga PNP officials for claiming, in a radio interview right after the ambush, that Dr. Claver was a member of the National Democratic Front (NDF). “Why did the PNP identify him as an NDF personality only minutes after he was ambushed? Is it to justify the ambush? Granted that he is an NDF member, should he be killed? Where is due process here?” Carling said. Beverly Longid, vice chairperson of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), noted that the ambush happened just a week after GMA said in her state of the nation address that she condemned political killings. “This only shows the hypocrisy of the government,” Longid said. In a statement, the CHRA claimed that the worsening political killings, which now occur nationwide at the average rate of one incident every two days, are the result of GMA’s declaration of total war against a broad range of opposition forces that the AFP and PNP consider as Left. “Are doctors now considered enemies of the state and targets of Mrs. Arroyo’s all out war? Are doctors who choose to work in the far-flung areas outside the ambit of government patronage now considered NPA supporters and can be subjected to extra-judicial killing? Or are we just ‘acceptable collateral damage’ as Sec. Raul Gonzales lucidly puts? It is clear that the impetus for the wanton and escalating violence has the implicit approval of the ruling regime and Mrs. Arroyo herself,” Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos, Secretary General of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) said in a statement. # Kimberly N. Quitasol for NORDIS with report from Sarah Dekdeken Post your comments, reactions to this article
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