Nine activists were killed and six others were arrested in simultaneous raids in Calabarzon, police said Sunday.
A spokesman for the Police Regional Office 4A said armed with search warrants, they conducted the raids along with members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Of the nine who were killed, six were in Rizal, two were in Batangas, and one was in Cavite.
Initial reports were sketchy.
A spokesperson for the PRO4A, Police Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, told GMA News Online that they didn't know as yet the background of the suspects but said some explosives and firearms were found during the raids.
Leftist groups said at least six activists were killed and that nine others were arrested in raids on their homes and offices.
Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes said that among the fatalities were Bayan Cavite coordinator Manny Asuncion, who was shot dead in a raid at the Workers Assistance Center in Dasmariñas City.
"The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan condemns in the strongest possible terms the brutal and deadly crackdown on activists in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Rizal early morning today, March 7," Reyes said in a statement.
Reyes said that among those arrested was Bayan Laguna spokesperson Mags Camoral during the raid on the Defend Yulo Farmers campaign headquarters in Cabuyao, Laguna.
The house of Bayan Batangas coordinator Lino Baez was also raided, Reyes said.
The party-list Bayan Muna said a human rights group in Laguna said a labor leader and a human rights worker were also arrested and that firearms and explosives were planted as evidence against them.
The houses of two peasant leaders, Moises Braganza and a certain Dodong "Bagsik" were also raided, Bayan Muna added.
Human Rights Watch raised the alarm over the police raids.
“Human Rights Watch is seriously concerned about reports of raids conducted by law enforcement authorities that resulted in activists’ deaths in the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Rizal,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW. “Based on these reports, these raids appear to be part of a coordinated plan by the authorities to raid, arrest, and even kill activists in their homes and offices.”
“These incidents are clearly part of the government’s increasingly brutal counter-insurgency campaign aimed at eliminating the 52-year-old Communist insurgency,” he continued. “The fundamental problem is this campaign no longer makes any distinction between armed rebels and noncombatant activists, labor leaders, and rights defenders. It is not a coincidence that these deadly raids happened two days after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered police and military to 'kill all' communists and 'don’t mind human rights.'”
“It is also not a coincidence that these incidents occurred in provinces overseen by the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, led by Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., who has led a vicious 'red-tagging' campaign against activists by accusing them of rebel links without providing any evidence that can stand up in a court of law,” he said.
Robertson urged the government to investigate the use of lethal force in the raids and to stop the killings and respect the rights of Filipinos to exercise their civil and political rights to express their dissent.
