Karapatan urges release of bodies of 4 slain in ‘Bloody Sunday’ ops

Human rights group Karapatan on Thursday called for the release of the remains of four activists killed in bloody police operations in Calabarzon over the weekend.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay stressed that the bereaved families of Melvin Dasigao, Mark Lee Bacasno, Randy Dela Cruz, and Puroy Dela Cruz have processed the necessary payments and documents for the release of the cadavers.

“The appalling inhumanity of the State does not end with their gruesome, extrajudicial killings: they continue to deny the remains of their victims from death to funeral while putting their families to the torturous experience and misery of having to beg on their knees for the remains of their own loved ones,” Palabay said in a statement.

“They are being victimized twice over, and we can’t even imagine the horror of suffering this cold-blooded injustice against them and their families. We call on the police and the military to end this madness. Release the bodies now,” she added.

Karapatan also said the relatives of the slain activists were padlocked inside the Antipolo Memorial Homes on Wednesday night supposedly on the orders of the mortuary owner. They were not released until Thursday noon.

Palabay questioned whether it was “really the owner who made the decision to lock the families and their paralegals inside the funeral parlor, or is it the police calling the shots in order to intimidate and harass the families as well as to orchestrate their nakaw-bangkay modus operandi again?”

Karapatan also pointed out that the treatment of the activists’ remains is reminiscent of how cops took away the body of slain National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Randall Echanis in August last year.

Rizal police deny

Rizal police chief Colonel Joseph Arguelles claimed that the funeral parlor owner padlocked the premises to avoid a possible violation of the ban on mass gatherings amid the pandemic.

“Ang nag-lock po noong punerarya, ‘yun pong may-ari dahil hindi nga po nila pinapayagan na marami masyadong tao sa loob ng kanilang establisyimento dahil pag marami na pong tao magkakaroon na po ng violation ng ating IATF protocols, mapapasara naman po ‘yung negosyo nila,” he told GMA News Online.

(The funeral parlor was padlocked by the owner because they did not want to allow too many people inside their establishment at the risk of being shut down for violating IATF protocols.)

Arguelles also denied that police are blocking the release of the cadavers, insisting that they are merely waiting for Tanay officials to turn over the municipal government’s aid for the bereaved families.

“Nagpaabot po kasi ng tulong ang ating mahal na alkalde po ng Tanay para mabayaran ‘yung punerarya, at the same time, mabihisan po nang maayos ‘yung bangkay, mailagay po sa disenteng kabaong, at para po maiuwi nang nasa ayos ‘yung mga bangkay po,” he said.

(The Tanay mayor extended assistance to the families to pay for the funeral parlor expenses, at the same time, the embalming of the bodies, the casket, and the transportation costs to bring home the remains safely.)

The Rizal police chief claimed that the bodies should be released within the day.

Nine people were killed while six were arrested in simultaneous police operations on Sunday that have been widely condemned by human rights groups.

Police claimed that the nine slain individuals had communist links but militant group Bayan said the fatalities were legal activists. -MDM, GMA News