Progressive groups trooped to the Fountain of Justice in Bacolod City Tuesday, March 30, for the “Kalbaryo sang Pumuluyo.”
The groups led by Bayan Negros marched down major thoroughfares in the city to condemn the continued attacks and threats on activists and dissenters.
They also paraded a giant makeshift cross to demonstrate the sufferings of the Filipinos under the “fascist” Duterte regime and held banners with a message: “Ayuda, puluy-an kag ikaayong lawas. Indi pagpamatay (Assistance, housing and good health, not killings).”
“Far from being just a laboratory rat, Negros continues to be a heated target of state forces under this tyrannical regime. This administration resorts to violence as it is incapable of addressing the decades-long problem of hunger and failed land reform in Negros,” Bayan Negros said.
The group said that Negros Island has recorded the highest number of political prisoners in the country amid the massive illegal arrests due to malicious persecution of activists and political dissenters.
They also welcomed the dismissal of the trumped-up cases against their colleagues – John Lozande, Noli Rosales, Proseso Quiatchon, Cherryl Catalogo, and father and daughter Karina and Albert Dela Cerna – after the local court granted the motion to quash search warrants and suppress evidence.
“This decision aided the release of Rosales, Quiatchon, and Catalogo, but more than the freedom they regained, this does not only proved their innocence but proved otherwise that charges against them were baseless and mere fabrication. This is a clear legal victory against the dirty war being waged by the government,” Bayan Negros said.
The group stressed they will continue to resist the regime’s violent attacks and criminal neglect.*