Kathmandu. The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), an international network of peasants and civil society organizations condemns the killing of the popular Philippino peasant leader and peace advocate Randall “Randy” Echanis.
The septuagenarian peasant leader Echanis was stabbed to death this morning by the state agents in his rented residence at Novaliches, Quezon City of Philippines.
Full text of the statement by PCFS:
The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty – Global vehemently condemns the killing of Randall “Randy” Echanis, peasant leader and peace advocate from the Philippines.
Echanis was stabbed to death by alleged state agents earlier today, during the wee hours. The killing was done in his rented residence at Novaliches, Quezon City. He’s 71 years old.
Echanis was a trailblazer of the Philippine peasant movement. He is the national chairperson of Anakpawis Partylist and the deputy secretary-general of PCFS member organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. He had been an activist since his youth and was a staunch advocate of genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization.
In the past two decades, Echanis was active in assisting the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. He led the agenda-setting on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development for the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), an agreement between the two governing parties that aims to address the fundamental roots of poverty and oppression in the Philippines. This was the most progress that the peace talks have achieved, but no agreement was reached after the Rodrigo Duterte regime terminated the talks.
Because of his work, Echanis had always been subjected to state-perpetrated attacks. He was a political prisoner, jailed thrice on trumped-up charges – under the regimes of Ferdinand Marcos (1983), Cory Aquino (1990), and Gloria Macapag-Arroyo (2008). While his sudden death is not surprising given the streak of political killings in the Philippines under Duterte, we are still enraged by how brutal the murder was done to a defenseless elderly and that this took place amid the pandemic.
The incident gives credence to the concerns of systemic state repression in the Philippines, which is solidified by the recent passage of the Anti-Terror Law. In addition, the country remains to be the deadliest for farmers and environmental defenders, according to Global Witness.
PCFS grieves with the Filipino people for the passing of another champion of food sovereignty. The Duterte regime should be held accountable. Justice for Randy Echanis! ###
