By Julieta de Lima
Interim Chairperson
Close to a battalion of troopers swooped on the residence of Magpantay and Topacio around 3 o’clock in the morning firing before entering and thn brutally killing the couple. The Duterte regime is guilty of fragrantly violating the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) of 1995 which guarantees all participants in the peace negotiations safety and immunity from detention, arrests, and murder.
The regime is also guilty of violating the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) of 1998.
Comrades Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio, both 69 years old, had retired and were convalescing in the past years. Both suffered from diabetes. Comrade Eugenia Magpantay recently suffered a stroke , which rendered her comatose for four days. Comrade Agaton Topacio was in pain for heart enlargement, knee injury, and frozen shoulder.
The police claim that the couple resisted arrest and were killed in a firefight. In their physical condition, they could not have handled the many weapons found on the scene, much less, engage in a firefight.
The execution of Magpantay and Topacio recalls the murders of NDFP consultants in the peace negotiations, Randall Echanis, Julius Giron and Randy Malayao.
The NDFP Negotiating Panel renders highest honors to Comrades Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio for their decades of service to the revolutionary movement and to the oppressed and exploited masses.
We convey our deepest condolences to their children and grandchildren, to their entire families, and the masses whom they loved and served.
