Four Human Rights Workers Killed by Philippines Army Troops

by Ma Nguyen Tong

11-4-2002

Four human rights workers, including two women, were killed by government troops in southern Philippines. The victims were conducting research in the village of Kinawayan in Arakan town in North Cotabato province, 975km south of Manila, when their house was indiscriminately strafed by army soldiers on April 5, 2002.

Bishop Calang, of the Philippine Independent Church and head of human rights organisation Karapatan (Right), said the victims were riddled with bullets on different parts of their bodies. Bishop Calang said the four were in the area for a month-long research project on the present condition of the farmers and the impact of the peace talks between the government and the communists on their lives.

"This incident is an alarming development in the human rights situation now prevailing in the country," Bishop Calang told reporters in Davao City.