Friends, kin bid adieu to Karapatan’s Badayos

Friends, family and supporters of Elisa Badayos join the funeral procession taking her to her final resting place at the Calamba Cemetery. Badayos, who was gunned down in Negros Oriental last month, was buried in the Cebu City cemetery yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

Militant groups mark rights day by paying their respects to fallen comrade

There were no street marches or protests yesterday from militant groups in Cebu City to mark the 69th International Human Rights anniversary.

However, there was only a funeral procession joined by at least a thousand supporters and members of militant groups, who grieved and called for justice for the death of one of their own – Elisa Badayos, Karapatan’s Negros Oriental coordinator, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bayawan City in Negros Oriental last Nov. 28.

On Sunday, amid the chants of Justice for Elisa Badayos and the tears of grief, the family, supporters and friends bid their goodbye to Elisa as she was laid to rest at the Calamba Cemetery.

Jimmylisa Badayos, the 41-year-old daughter of Elisa, thanked Karapatan and the people, who supported them as they prepare to fight to seek justice for their mother’s death, during her speech at Elisa’s funeral Mass at the Guadalupe Church.

When sought to comment on their plans after the funeral, Jimmylisa, the eldest of Elisa’s four children, said in a phone interview that they would rest and then work on seeking justice for their mother.

“Mupahuway sa mi. Unya, mo-coordinate mi sa mga lawyers sa Karapatan para sa sunod namo na lakang (We will rest. Then we will coordinate with the lawyers of Karapatan to discuss our next step),” said Jimmylisa.

She was referring to the NUPL or the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.

She said she hoped that they could gather the evidence to help them to identify who really killed her mother, and to encourage the police in Bayawan town to hasten the investigation of the killing.

During the funeral procession, the militant groups carried placards not only calling for justice but also to denounce the administration’s branding the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army as a terrorist group.

Jaime Paglinawan, chairman of Bayan, said that they together with Karapatan and other partylist groups joined the procession to pay their respects to one of their leaders, who was gunned down in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental.

Aside from that, Paglinawan said that they joined the family also in seeking justice for the death of Elisa Badayos.

Chief Insp. Keith Andaya, San Nicholas Police Precinct chief, said that the burial of Elisa was peaceful and he estimated the people who joined the event to be at least 1,000 people.

Andaya said that he and his men helped secure the people at the funeral procession and burial.

He said there were no untoward incidents that happened during the burial.

Elisa Badayos was killed last Nov. 28 in Barangay Nangka, Bayawan City, Negros Oriental by unidentified gunmen.

Badayos, who was Karapatan’s Negros coordinator, was on fact-finding mission in the area, when Badayos and her companions were ambushed.