The Alliance of Concerned Teachers condemns the brutal murders of public school teacher Leima Fortu and human rights lawyer Juvy Magsino in Nauhan, Oriental Mindoro last February 13. Leima Fortu, 27, taught at the Suqui Elementary School in Calapan. She was the acting Secretary-General of KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental, volunteer staff for Mindoro for Justice and Peace, and member of Bayan Muna-Calapan City chapter.

She was traveling with Magsino, Vice-Mayor of Naujan and chairperson of Mindoro for Justice and Peace, when their vehicle was ambushed by two gunmen on a motorcycle. Fortu and Magsino were outspoken critics of the military's bloody counterinsurgency campaign in Oriental Mindoro. We pay special tribute to our colleague Leima Fortu, who dedicated her life to serving the poor and oppressed of Mindoro within the four walls of the classroom and beyond. Teacher and human rights activist, she paid the ultimate price in her struggle against the agents of fascism and state terror. She joins the ranks of the heroes and martyrs of our people's struggle for national freedom and democracy.

We ask teachers and education workers to join us in mourning her passing and in demanding justice. The assassinations of Fortu and Magsino are the latest in a series of killings that have taken the lives of dozens of activists and ordinary citizens in Mindoro Oriental. Most of them are members of Bayan Muna, the progressive party-list organization. It is widely believed that death squads organized by the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army headed by Col. Jovito Palparan are behind these murders. We demand that the perpetrators be swiftly brought to justice. We demand the immediate withdrawal of the 204th Infantry Brigade from the island of Mindoro.

We condemn the Macapagal-Arroyo government for unleashing a ruthless counterinsurgency campaign that has turned Mindoro and many other parts of the country into bloody killing fields. Lastly, we hold President and Commander-in-Chief Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accountable for her utter failure to put an end to the summary execution of activists in Mindoro.#

16 February 2004

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