Aurora Broquil

Front Line is deeply concerned about death threats received by Ms Aurora Broquil, chairperson of Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya – KPD (Movement for National Democracy) in Central Luzon; Mr Francisco Honra, Secretary-General of the Nuclear Free Bataan Movement (NFBM); and Ms Emily Fajardo, KPD worker organiser and NFBM treasurer.

Further Information

On 27 June 2009, at 9.44 am, Aurora Broquil received a direct death threat through a text message sent to her mobile phone.

The text was sent from the telephone number +639187158404 and stated “Dulo ng aming baril ang huli mong makikita! Kayong mga komunista na may mga utang na dugo sa mamamayan ay magbabayad!“ (“The barrel of our guns will be the last thing that you will see! You, communists who have blood debts in the Filipino people will pay for it!”).

A few minutes later, around 10 am, the same message from the same phone number was also sent to Emily Fajardo, while Francisco Horna had received it the day before.

The next morning, on 28 June, Aurora Broquil was alarmed by the unusual presence of two unidentified men riding in two motorcycles, roaming several times in the vicinity of her office in Dolores, city of San Fernando.

The three defenders were recently working on a case of arbitrary arrest and torture of three activists from the anti-Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and on a case of extra-judicial killing in Bataan.

Further to KPD's and NFBM's work, the first case received international attention, while the second one was being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights. The Commission's findings will be published shortly and are expected to conclude that there has been an extra-judicial killing and to identify the perpetrators.

It is believed that the work of the three defenders on these cases may be the reason behind the death threats.