DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 21, 2014) – A man whose daughter had been killed by government soldiers during a military operation in 2007 was himself shot dead by gunmen in southern Philippines, according to the Children’s Rehabilitation Center.
It said Gregorio Galacio was killed by suspected state agents in the village of Kahayag in Compostela Valley’s New Bataas town on July 19. Galacio had been fighting for justice for the murder of her nine-year old daughter Grecil Buya, who was fatally shot by soldiers while bathing in a stream, and tagged the girl as a member of the communist rebel group New People’s Army.
The Children’s Rehabilitation Center has condemned the murder of Galacio.
“For seven years, Tatay Gorio had longed for justice for her daughter’s death. His family’s cry for justice is now even louder as another state-sponsored killing has taken over their family,” Jacquiline Ruiz, the group’s executive director, said.
“Tatay Gorio was an ardent advocate for justice, not only for his daughter, but to all victims of human rights violations. His death will be another case of extra-judicial killing of human rights advocates that will be lined up together with over a thousand of politically-motivated killings during the Arroyo and now Aquino administration that have eluded the wheels of justice,” she said.
She said Galacio was the family’s sole breadwinner and that his death will pose another setback for his wife and their three children.
“The Aquino government’s blatant disregard on human rights brings him to the persecution of the people. In his four years in office, he has proven through his blood-stained record that his government should be put to an end,” Ruiz said.
Rius Valle, the group’s spokesman, also cited mounting violations of children’s rights by the military and said at least 18 cases of extra-judicial killings in the country had been reported to the Children’s Rehabilitation Center.
Valle said more than 13,200 children had been threatened and harassed by soldiers and others victims of torture, illegal arrest and detention, among others.
The allegations against the military could not be immediately confirmed.
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