CHR probes woman peasant leader's slay

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales has directed her agency’s Region 11 office to send a “quick reaction team” to investigate the killing of the general manager of an indigenous people’s organization in Compostela Valley province.

The victim, Florita Caya, 58, was the general manager of the United Tribal Council of Elders and Leaders and also the vice president of a national rural peasant women’s organization, Lakas ng Kababaihang Magbubukid (Lakambini), an affiliate of Pakisama or the Confederation of Rural-Based Organizations.

“The scenario was so disgusting, cowardly and treacherous,” Rosales said, referring to the way Caya was gunned down on the night of April 27. 

Autopsy showed that Caya was shot in the back of her head, blowing away her right eye, while she was tending her store.

“Doing such a dastardly act to a helpless lady was unimaginable and beyond comprehension. This is another senseless killing that must be stopped,” Rosales said. 

“If these people are bold enough to do it to anybody at will, who is safe among us? If the state doesn’t act soon to put an end to the culture of impunity, the perpetrators will even be bolder,” she added. 

Rosales assured Caya’s family that the CHR would investigate the killing closely to unmask its perpetrators.

“We will get to the bottom of the case. We hope that justice will be brought to the family of the victim soon,” she said.