Progressive groups slam slay of ‘red-tagged’ doctor, husband in Negros Oriental

Progressive groups Karaptan and BAYAN on Wednesday condemned the killing of a physician and her husband who had been supposedly red-tagged in Negros Oriental.

Negros Oriental Provincial Police said  Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan and Edwin Sancelan on Tuesday were on their way home when the suspects shot them in Barangay Poblacion.

In a statement, Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said that Dr. Mary Rose was earlier tagged in a flyer by an anti-communist vigilante group in the province.

“She was made to appear as the same person as the local NPA spokesman, even if she was a known government health official,” Reyes said.

“This latest case of political killings shows the grave dangers of the deadly practice of red-tagging. A person's name appeared on a list" and she is branded as a rebel combatant,” he added.

According to Reyes, other individuals included in the "list" by the vigilante group, a lawyer and a teacher, were also killed last year.

In a statement, Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay identified the other personalities on the list who were also supposedly red-tagged and killed in the past years as Anthony Trinidad and Heidie Malalay Flores.

“We are outraged with the brazen killing of Dr. Sancelan and her husband who were both employed at the local government of Guihulngan City before their tragic death,” Palabay said.

“Their killing reveals that the threats of tagging individuals as part of the New People’s Army are real and certainly not contrived,” she added.

For Palabay, these deaths showed the negative effects of Executive Order No. 70 and Memorandum Order No. 32, which she said legitimize the intensified presence of the police and military.

“This year, human rights worker Zara Alvarez became the 13th human rights worker of Karapatan killed under the Duterte administration,” she said.

“This pattern of killings of red-tagged individuals is precisely the cause for great alarm by many,” she added.

Reyes hit the government for its supposed failure  to protect the rights of citizens amid the killings of lawyers, doctors, journalists and human rights defenders.

He also called on the attention of the international community, including the International Criminal Court, to take note of the "state of lawlessness" in the country.

“We extend our sympathies to the families of the victims and vow to continue the fight for justice. The killings must stop. The deadly practice of red-tagging must stop,” Reyes said. -MDM, GMA News