Dispatch from Crame No. 909:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on the Kabacan Massacre and the Recent Spate of Killings in Cotabato

9/10/20

Lubos po akong nakikiramay sa mga naulilang pamilya ng siyam na magsasakang Moro na pinaslang sa Kabacan, Cotabato. Sa ngayon hindi pa malinaw ang motibo ng pamamaslang, pero kung sinuman ang nasa likod nito, wala silang puso, walang konsensya, walang kaluluwa.

The nine farmers were killed in cold blood, at high noon and in the open, using high-powered firearms, and the only kind of people who could perpetrate such a brutish crime are the barbaric and evil.

The Kabacan massacre is just the latest in the recent spate of execution-style killings in Cotabato in the past months. These incidents couldn't be unrelated when all the 18 Bangsamoro victims are all innocent civilians and their deaths are not in the manner of rido.

Whatever the motive is in this devil-inspired carnage, it takes a chapter from the culture of impunity that breeds the extra-judicial killings under this regime. Even in the midst of a pandemic, the mayhem remains unabated.

Kaisa ng mga kaanak, ng civil society, at ng mga kapatid nating Moro, nananawagan ako ng masusi at agarang imbestigasyon upang mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga biktima at matigil ang mga nangyayaring pagpaslang sa mga inosenteng sibilyan sa Cotabato. Ang karahasan ay hindi dapat mangibabaw sa mithiing kapayapaan at pag-unlad sa Mindanao. ###

(Access the handwritten version of Dispatch from Crame No. 909, here :https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._909)