COURAGE Eastern Visayas Chair Gunned Down; Activists Death Toll Reaches 696 Under Gloria

The Chairperson of COURAGE Eastern Visayas and a member of COURAGE National Council was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in motorcycles in front of his house in Tacloban City, at about 7:00 this evening. Paquito "Pax" H. Diaz, Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Palo Leyte and also a media practitioner, was the 696th activist and the 3rd leader of COURAGE, the militant organization of government workers unions nationwide, who have been brutally murdered under the Arroyo administration.

In a statement, COURAGE National President Ferdinand Gaite condemned the Arroyo government’s policy of annihilation and all out war against the leaders and supporters of progressive peoples’ organization and those perceived by the administration as its enemies. "The killings must stop now, the people must rise against this culture of impunity and make accountable the perpetrators of these gruesome crime. Church workers, lawyers, students, labor leaders, and now government employees. It seems that nobody is being spared from these systematic killings and the fact that not even a single perpetrator is brought to the bar of justice all the more bolster our beliefs that blood is in Gloria’s hands".

Gaite said Diaz was the third leader of COURAGE who suffered the same brutal slaying. Last year, Sammy Dote, a municipal employee in Eastern Samar and Secretary General of COURAGE Samar, and early this year, Albert Terredaño of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Abra and Provincial Chairperson of COURAGE Abra were also shot dead by the same pattern – motorcycle riding gunmen in bonnets.

The leader added that Diaz earlier have already sought COURAGE assistance because of the death threats he was said to be receiving. That Diaz was on the "OB list" of the military was confirmed to him by no less than the police officers in Tacloban City. In fact, COURAGE has already officially requested the DAR Secretary to transfer Diaz to the Main office for security reasons.

COURAGE also assailed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) labeling of COURAGE as one of the CPP/NPA’s alleged "front organizations". "With the harassment and surveillance our leaders are now experiencing, the tag would mean another license for the so-called death squads to carry-out their mission orders".

"We call on all government employees to condemn the killings. Let us be on guard and continue to expose and oppose the rottenness of this administration. We must never be afraid for this is what they want, to perpetuate their rule of greed and terror. The cause for which Pax, Sammy and Albert have given up their lives for will not be forsaken. Tuloy ang laban!".