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Friday, March 29, 2024

Farmer’s daughter wants list scrapped

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THE daughter of a peasant leader has asked the Department of Justice to abandon its so-called “sham terrorist list” which tagged her father as one of the more than 600 personalities that the government wanted declared as “terrorists” by the court.

Novinm Murillo, daughter of Norberto Murillo, stressed that her father was a human rights defender, being a member of Alyansa’t Lakas ng Mamamayang Demokratikong Pilipinas and Kusog san mga Biktima 1081.

“My father is a victim of an oppressive state that brands as terrorists those who fight for the rights of the people. We demand that Duterte’s sham terrorist list be junked,” Novinm said, in a statement released by human rights group Karapatan.

“Many people have not heard of my father, Norberto Murillo. He is not a terrorist. He is a leader of small farmers in Leyte. A father to three children. He spent his life fighting alongside farmers. In the blink of an eye, he was branded a terrorist,” she added.

According to Novinm, her father was detained at the Manila City Jail, along with activists she identified as Dario Tomada and Oscar Belleza who were also included in the DoJ’s terror list.

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She said the three were charged with “trumped-up cases of multiple murder for the so-called mass graves in Hilongos, Leyte, purportedly discovered by the military in 1984.”

“I grew up seeing and knowing that my father worked alongside farmers, fisherfolk, drivers and the rest of ordinary people who are awakened from oppression and exploitation by those in power. My father may only be one of them, but greater are his principles and the life he chose to serve the people,” she added.

Novinm said that if the government defined terrorists as “Filipinos who fight for the rights of the people,” then “the Philippines is full of terrorists.” Rey E. Requejo

“You may continue to imprison the political prisoners, torture and silence them, but their advocacy will never cease to exist. A man may be made to rot in jail, like my father, but his ideas and principles will last, as long the people need and aspire for change,” Novinm said.

“Who’s the terrorist now? We call on the people, to join us, and continue to fight for their rights and those who were silenced by the real terrorists,” she pointed out. 

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