Bayan-Negros likens ‘Oplan: Tokhang’ to Calvary

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), an alliance of progressive worker and peasant groups, recently held a “kalbaryo” protest in front of Bacolod City’s Police Station 1 in response to recent killings across the country associated with operations by the Philippine National Police.

Bayan-Negros Secretary-General Michael dela Concepcion declared, “‘Oplan: Tokhang’ has killed thousands.”

He explained, “The lack of due process against drug suspects and the government’s program has become a ‘Calvary’ to the Filipino people.”

Calvary is a biblical reference to the site where Jesus was crucified.

Dela Concepcion said the government should handle illegal drugs like a “mental disease.”

Last November, Bayan slammed President Rodrigo Duterte’s memorandum ordering the deployment of additional troops and police officers to Negros in response to the recent spate of violence.

At the time, dela Concepcion said the move shows “the government is useless in solving the country’s problems.”/DGB, WDJ