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MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Thursday, January 31, denounced the killing of National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant Randy Malayao and Quezon City barangay captain Crisell Beltran.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a news briefing that the Palace “regrets” both deaths, emphasizing that no one should be killed just for having a different set of beliefs.
“We condemn this slaying. There can be no act of violence against anyone regardless of whether [or not] they agree with government, whether or not we belong to the same ideology or religious belief,” Panelo said.
Malayao had been associated with progressive and Left-leaning groups like the Makabayan bloc, even attending their campaign conference right before he was killed inside a bus in Nueva Vizcaya.
As an NDF panel consultant on political and constitutional reforms, Malayao joined the peace negotiations in Europe under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, and had attended peace forums around the Philippines.
He was among the 656 people that the Department of Justice had wanted a Manila court to declare as terrorists in February 2018, but was no longer on the shortened DOJ list of 8 people in a January 3 petition to the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19.
Beltran, meanwhile, was killed by gunmen on Wednesday, January 30. She was a barangay captain of Bagong Silangan village in Quezon City and had been gunning for a congressional seat. – Rappler.com
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