‘They shot my tatay 9 times’

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – “They killed my tatay, mercilessly. Nine gunshots to kill him, nine! He was alone. He was defenseless.”

Lean Porquia, son of slain activist Jory Porquia, said this in a Facebook post, adding that his father was killed “when all he wanted was to help the poor.”

The older Porquia, Bayan Muna Iloilo coordinator, was shot dead by unidentified armed men in his rented home at Arevalo in Iloilo City early Thursday, April 30.

His son grieved that his father was killed in the middle of a crisis when all he did was to give relief to those who needed it.

He said that he and his father talked the night before he was killed about his plan to open a small restaurant.

“You even showed me all the papers are ready. You even took a picture of your own masterpiece-dish and I told you to reserve some when I have the chance to go home,” the younger Porquia said on his Facebook.

He lamented that he  could not go home due to the lockdown. “How can I go home and grieve? How can we cry for justice when justice is elusive for people who fight for justice? I can only place my rage in words that mean nothing to those who killed you.”

He recalled that his father was always there for him, “I remember one time when I have a problem and I needed someone to talk to, you flew the next day to Manila. You have always consented me to do what I want but never failed to remind me to ask, who am I doing it for?”

He said his father survived Martial Law, and “went in and out of prison because you fought for other people’s rights.”

Siegfred Deduro, Bayan Muna vice president for Visayas, said they condemned in the strongest terms the traitorous murder of Porquia by 4 armed men.

“This is part of the impunity in political killings aimed at terrorizing activists critical of Duterte’s administration,” he said in a statement.

Deduro claimed that prior to his killing, he was hounded by the local police for leading relief operations and education campaign on COVID-19 in the poor communities in Iloilo City.

“Jory is a great loss to the progressive movement for social transformation, but will inspire Bayan Muna members and all activists to persist in advancing ‘New Politics’ against the tyrannical rule of the current administration,” he said. – Rappler.com