Statement of KARAPATAN and HUSTISYA on the 7th anniversary of Randy Felix Malayao’s killing

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

PRESS RELEASE

30 January 2026

Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580

Statement of KARAPATAN and HUSTISYA on the 7th anniversary of Randy Felix Malayao’s killing

The 30th of January 2026 marks the seventh anniversary of the extrajudicial killing of Randy Felix Malayao, a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

Malayao was killed when a suspected State agent boarded the bus he was riding as it made a stopover in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. The gunman shot Malayao while he was sleeping.

A former student leader, an abduction and torture victim and a political prisoner for more than four years under the Gloria Arroyo regime, Malayao was the first of 14 NDFP consultants to be killed under treacherous circumstances by the Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes.

Before Malayao was killed, he had attended the peace talks as an NDFP consultant on political and constitutional reforms. Unlike many of the other NDFP consultants who were released on bail to join the talks, Malayao had no criminal charges pending against him and could freely travel around the Philippines and abroad for peace talks-related activities. He had been acquitted of all of the trumped-up cases filed against him and was released from detention in 2012. He had been an NDFP consultant since 2008 and since 2012, had participated in the peace talks in this capacity.

Yet the Duterte regime gunned him down like a common criminal, the same way it eliminated drug suspects, and proceeded to do the same to other NDFP consultants such as Julius Giron, Randall Echanis, Eugenia Magpantay, Agaton Topacio, Reynaldo Bocala, Jorge Madlos and Pedro Codaste. The succeeding Marcos Jr. regime continued this murderous spree with the extrajudicial killings of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Rogelio Posadas, Concha Araneta and Ariel Arbitrario.

With regards to Malayao’s killing, the police were more intent on getting their hands on his personal effects and never made a serious effort to investigate. They even issued the ludicrous but convenient theory that he had been eliminated by his fellow comrades.

The seventh anniversary of Randy Felix Malayao’s killing marks seven years of rank injustice and brazen impunity. It further brings to the fore the crushing absence of accountability for the deaths of many other NDFP consultants attended by treachery and flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

KARAPATAN and HUSTISYA deplore this continuing injustice and will persevere in demanding accountability for Randy Felix Malayao’s extrajudicial killing and that of other NDFP consultants by the vicious Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes.

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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.  It was established in 1995.