by Len Cooper, International League of Peoples’ Struggle
The International League of Peoples’ Struggles, along with its member organizations and allied networks strongly condemn the brutal and barbaric murder of Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis.
Last August 10, Ka Randy was gunned down and stabbed to death by five suspects at around 1:30 AM inside a rented house in Novaliches, Quezon City. He was killed along with his neighbor.
Ka Randy remained true to his principles of a genuine peace based on social and economic justice for the benefit the peasants, the working class, and the exploited masses. A true champion of peace, he was a dedicated advocate for genuine land reform , rural development, and national industrialization in the Philippines.
He was the Deputy Secretary General of ILPS member organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Progressive Peasant Movement in the Philippines), National Chairperson of Anakpawis Partylist, leading NDFP consultant on agrarian reform, and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal and Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms. He was highly involved in drafting agrarian reform documents in the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). He was also among the pioneers in the fight for free land distribution to the tillers, a bill which he helped craft for filing in the Philippine Congress beginning in 2007.
Ka Randy was also a great internationalist and anti-imperialist. His more than five decades of dedication in fighting for land reform in the Philippines include his active involvement in the peasant movement in Asia. He was active in international work with the Asian Peasant Coalition, an Asia-wide peasant coalition of farmers, agricultural workers, Indigenous Peoples with more than 15 Million members representing 21 organizations.
The ILPS sends its highest salutations to Ka Randy’s lifelong revolutionary commitment in the anti-imperialist fight against exploitation of peasants and the toiling masses. It is with this fervour that activists and revolutionaries remain steadfast in advancing genuine change through a just, long lasting-peace. We are one with the cry for justice over his gruesome killing, along with the continuous fascist attacks of the Duterte regime on peasant and peace advocates.#
Article from Len Cooper, Chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle