Extrajudicial killing of human rights defender in the Philippines

A gunman riding a motorcycle killed human rights defender, Siche Bustamente-Gandinao as she was retuning home with her husband and daughter on 10 March 2007 in Misamis Oriental.

Siche Bustamente-Gandinao is a member of Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA) and of opposition party Bayan Muna. During Philip Alston's - the U.N. Special Representative on Extrajudicial Killings - visit to the Philippines in February 2007, Siche Bustamente-Gandinao submitted a written testimony detailing the recent killing of her father-in-law, Dalmacio Gandinao, Chairman of MOFA and Coordinator of the Misamis Oriental Bayan Muna, in front of her and other family members by a group of seven gunmen.

Since 2001, there has been a marked escalation in extrajudicial killings in the Philippines; the extent of the violence has led to comparisons with old problems in the Philippines. These attacks have been accompanied by heightened rhetoric by the civilian and military leaders accusing non-violent human rights, labor, and political activists of being fronts for the communist insurgency or even "enemies of the state." Following his visit in February 2007, Philip Alston released a press statement in which he stated that "witnesses [to extrajudicial killings] are systematically intimidated and harassed", a vulnerability that is strengthened by the fact that "the forces accused of killings are all too often those, or are linked to those, who are charged with ensuring their security.”

Front Line believes that Siche Bustamente-Gandinao was killed due to her legitimate human rights activities and particularly because of her written testimony to the UN. Front Line urges the Philippine authorities to carry out an immediate and impartial investigation into her killing and launch a full and independent inquiry into all the alleged extrajudicial killings, which have occurred to date, and take action to prevent further killings