MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded the highest number of killings related to land conflicts and struggles in 2017 amid a government crackdown on rural communities, a report by a rights group released Friday found. The rights group then flagged the wave of killings under the Duterte administration following the collapse of peace talks with communist rebels. They cited the November 28 murder of a farmer and a land rights activist who were gunned down while participating in a fact-finding probe into reported human rights abuses against farming communities in Negros Oriental. “One month before the end of 2017, the Philippines sees no end in the current administration’s spate of killings,” PANAP said. “In fact, human rights and peasant organizations fear for the worst as President Rodrigo Duterte terminated the peace talks and declared a crackdown on organizations defensing human and land rights,” they added.

Source: Philippine Star December 16, 2017 07:30 UTC