This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 8, March April 3-9, 2005
Heads Must Roll!
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 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. 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 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. 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. 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.
© 2004 Bulatlat
■
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Arroyo asked to sack 7 Cabinet, AFP officials; 75 solons denounce killings
With other reports
Bulatlat
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.
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
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."
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.
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
of
Political Activists