Heads Must Roll!
Arroyo asked to sack 7 Cabinet, AFP officials; 75 solons denounce killings

Seven cabinet and military officials have been asked to resign in connection with the recent spate of politically-motivated summary executions that have left 32 party-list and community leaders dead since January this year. Five other leaders and activists remain missing.

By Gerry Albert Corpuz
With other reports
Bulatlat

HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE – Anakpawis Reps. Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano (third and fourth from left, respectively), with other activist leaders, hold a three-day fast to protest against against the spate of activist killings. Photo by Aubrey SC Makilan

BATASAN COMPLEX, Quezon City - Seven cabinet and military officials have been asked to resign in connection with the recent spate of politically-motivated summary executions that have left 33 party-list and community leaders dead since January this year.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Danilo Ramos, chair of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines) and Fernando Hicap, chair of fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to sack Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Brig. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Northern Luzon command chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu and the chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces (ISAFP).

Ramos and Hicap said the seven should answer for the senseless and cowardly execution of political activists and strong critics of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and should stop issuing statements blaming the New People’s Army (NPA) for the killings. AFP officials have also been asked to explain the public circulation of a power-point presentation (PPT) dubbed “Know Your Enemy” identifying many legitimate groups including the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and media institutions as “communist fronts.”

Gonzales in particular has been denounced by militant groups for engaging in a demonization campaign linking progressive party-list groups to the underground Left. Dominguez and Palparan, a former military commander in Oriental Mindoro, have also been implicated to the recent killings. Dominguez and other military officials have however blamed the New People’s Army (NPA) for the killings in a bid, they claimed, to incite the public and take more recruits into its ranks.

Ramos and Hicap also said Reyes and other members of the “Palace-AFP Death Squad” should be fired from office to allow independent probers to ferret out the truth behind what they described as a state-directed campaign to annihilate leftist activists from the political scene.

75 congressmen

The statement was issued as 75 congressmen last week signed a statement of concern denouncing the fresh wave of killings of political activists across the country. Among those who signed the statement are known critics of the Leftist movement headed by former National Security Adviser Roilo J. Golez (2nd district, Parañaque) and Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Prospero Pichay, Jr.

Earlier, leaders of the opposition bloc in the House - Reps. Francis Escudero III of Sorsogon and Imee Marcos (Ilocos Norte), daughter of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, called on Malacañang, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, the armed forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to do something to end the systematic campaign of repression and violence committed against leaders and members of left-leaning organizations.

Anakpawis Party Rep. Rafael Mariano said the 75 congressmen signed the statement initiated by his group in cooperation with allied party lists Bayan Muna (People First) and Gabriela Women's Party (GWP) during the three-day fasting staged by his office and colleague party list Rep. Crispin Beltran, also of Anakpawis.

"Legislators from administration and opposition parties, including independent lawmakers from the party list bloc and regular critics of the Leftist movement expressed their support by signing the statement of concern,” Mariano told Bulatlat. “Some of them went to the strike area to show concern, while other lawmakers even issued statements condemning the killings and the systematic and state-directed repression of political activists."

Joining Mariano and Beltran in the March 30-April 1 fasting for Justice and Peace protest of the political murder of activists were Ramos and Willy Marbella, also of KMP; Fernando Hicap, chair of fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya; Rene Tua of Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA – Union of Agricultural Workers); and Carmen Buena of women peasant federation Amihan.

Beltran took a short time out afternoon of the second day to deliver a privilege speech denouncing what he called the AFP's campaign to liquidate militant and progressive leaders, including ordinary civilians allegedly supporting the cause of both underground and above-ground leftist groups.

The militant labor-leader-turned-lawmaker said 32 activists have been killed, while five others are still missing since January this year. Beltran urged Speaker de Venecia to ask President Arroyo to speak out against the killings and rein in alleged perpetrators from the AFP and the paramilitary forces.

Latest victims

The latest victim of the attack on leftist activists was peasant activist Victor "Tatang Ben" Concepcion, 66, leader of the municipal chapter of Anakpawis party list in Mexico, Pampanga, north of Manila.

Recent victims of political killings according to Anakpawis were Fidelito Dacut, a human rights lawyer and Bayan Muna coordinator based in Tacloban City; Rev. Father William Tadena from La Paz, Tarlac, an ardent supporter of striking farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita; peasant organizer Romeo Sanchez in Northern Luzon; and Tarlac City Councilor Abelardo Ladera, another supporter of the Hacienda Luisita workers. All of them were gunned down by alleged elements of military-backed death squads.

Beltran said the killings were obviously being used “to create a climate of fear and discourage the growing protests against the administration and its anti-poor, anti-people economic policies."

Both Beltran and Mariano said the three-day fasting outside the House in Batasan Complex was intended to draw the attention of fellow legislators to act on the series of political assassinations of leaders identified with militant party lists and patriotic organizations.

Since 2001, they said, 49 coordinators of Bayan Muna and 19 from Anakpawis have been slain. Fact-finding missions and government investigations gathered evidence pointing to the military and paramilitary groups as the perpetrators.

Beltran and Mariano also denounced the latest attempt on the life of UN ad litem Judge Romeo T. Capulong and La Union-based human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna vice mayoralty candidate Charles Juloya. These incidents, they said, revealed the scale and enormity of repression being carried out by Malacañang and the military establishment.

Int'l lawyers' group denounce killings

Meanwhile, the case of Capulong and Juloya and the brutal murder of  Dacut by suspected members of the military death squads caught the attention of The Netherlands based International Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL).

In a press statement e-mailed to Bulatlat, the progressive lawyers group said it views with grave concern the recent spate of political assassinations and involuntary disappearances of leaders and members of
opposition parties in the Philippines.

The IAPL said the U.S. government is actively involved in this new wave of repression in the Philippines. The lawyer's group said the U.S. government is supporting the elimination of progressive and militant leaders because it wants to get rid of opposition to the plan of the Pentagon to bring back its bases to the Philippines.

The group said the Pentagon was planning to transfer the U.S. bases in Okinawa to the Philippines and that this plan could face rough sailing because of the militant groups' stiff opposition. The U.S. previously expressed concern over the role of Left-leaning groups in dismantling their bases and forcing the Philippine Senate to reject the 1991 RP-US Bases Treaty.

Anakpawis, Pamalakaya and KMP are also looking forward to 112th meeting of Inter-Parliamentary Union on April 3 to 8 as the next venue for the anti-political repression campaign. The groups said militant groups will stage a big rally this week, which will be held near the site of the meeting of around 1,500 world parliamentarians from 112 countries to inform foreign lawmakers about the ongoing campaign of the Macapagal-Arroyo government on political persecution and repression.

"It is high time for the world parliamentarians to see what Mrs. Arroyo and her generals have been doing since they took the leadership in 2001. Let them discover the militaristic and fascist character of the host government," the groups said. With other reports / Bulatlat