19th April 2022
Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) is deeply concerned about the shooting incident happened today targeting presidential candidate and labor leader Leody de Guzman in the province Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines. We condemn this violent attack.
Several gunshots were fired against Leody de Guzman and his team during their meeting with the leaders of indigenous Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe in Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon, Mindanao. Although Leody de Guzman was unharmed in the shooting incident, but two persons who stood beside him – a farmer group organiser and a leader of the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe – sustanined gunshot wounds.
We believe the shooting is political motivated. Members of the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe are currently protesting against land-grabbing of their ancestral land. Leody de Guzman is the Presidential candidate for Party of the Laboring Masses (PLM), who is contesting on a radical anti-capitalist platform to challenge the Marcos-Duterte alliance in the presidency race.
Political violence has been one of the most sustained features of Duterte’s authoritarian rule for the last six years in the Philippines, with his notorious “war on drugs” has claimed thousands of lives in extra-judicial killings.
We call for an end to political violence against opposition in the Philippines. We stand in solidarity with Leody de Guzman and PLM in their fight for a new politics and new economy for the Philippines.
Released by,
Choo Con Kai, Central Committee Member, Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)