American human rights volunteer shot in Cordillera back in the U.S.

BAGUIO, Philippines – Two members of the board of supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco in California confirmed that Brandon Lee, a journalist and volunteer worker shot by unkown gunmen in Cordillera in August, is back in his home city.

A crowdfunding campaign was launched to raise the money needed to airlift him from Manila. A KTVU report said his family also took out a loan and received a donation from a Europe-based environmental organization for this purpose. 

Supervisors Gordon Mar and Matt Haney announced the arrival of Brandon Lee early Saturday morning, October 26, in San Francisco, California, from the Philippines.

“Welcome home, Brandon!” said Haney on his Facebook page.

“I joined the friends and family of Brandon Lee at the airport and hospital to welcome him home early Saturday morning from the Philippines,” he added.

“Brandon and his mom Louise Lee, who has been by his bedside in the Philippines for 10 weeks, left Manila on Thursday night and travelled on a small air ambulance plane for 24 hours, making stops in Japan, Russia, and Alaska before they landed safely at SFO,” Haney said.

“Early Saturday morning, surrounded by friends, family, and community, Sunset native Brandon Lee arrived safely home to San Francisco on a medical transport following the assassination attempt in the Philippines that nearly claimed his life in August,” said Gordon Mar.

Both supervisors will preside the press conference set on Tuesday, October 29 (Monday noon in California) regarding Brandon’s condition.

Brandon Lee, a Chinese-American, came to the Philippines to work as a paralegal volunteer for the Ifugao Peasant Movement in the Cordillera. He has since married an Ifugao native and sired a child. He also wrote for the Northern Dispatch.

In the late afternoon of August 6, Lee was shot repeatedly by two men in front of their house in Lagawe, Ifugao, after fetching his child from school.

Because of the security breach at the Baguio General Hospital, where he was initially confined, he was surreptitiously transferred to St Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig. 

“It took a movement – here in the Bay Area and US-wide, in the Philippines, and internationally – to bring him back to safety. Thank you everyone for your support and advocacy for Brandon and his family,” said Haney.

A gofundme was able to raise more than $15,000 of the $200,000 needed to airlift Brandon. There was also a Masquerade, a Love Parade fundraiser, for him last October 25 in Oakland, California. – Rappler.com