Killing season
UNIDENTIFIED men shot and killed two members of the militant party-list group Bayan Muna in Sorsogon province, while two others were found Ligao City in neighboring Albay province on
dead in
Tuesday.
A police report showed that Ruben Ermino was dropping passengers from his tricycle in Barangay Tabi, Gubat town in Sorsogon, when two men on a DT Yamaha motorcycle and wearing helmets shot him at close range at noon.
Seven hours later, two men barged into the house of Demetrio Imperial in Barangay Sogoy, Castilla town, and killed him on the spot.The bodies of the other victims — Miguel Dayandate and Julio Camero — were found in Ligao- Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jan.25, 2007
This is my close friend Atty. Edre Olalia. He’s a human rights lawyer, and ever so often he would forward me corny jokes or email me papers he has written (on the ASEAN counter-terrorism convention; on the impact of the worsening political repression on 
the work of human rights lawyers and advocates). Perfectly all right, and I am grateful because I always learn something new (and the jokes aren’t always terrible. Some are even funny).
But there are some texts that he sends that completely drain the sunshine from my day. Texts informing the recipient that one more, two more, three more political activists/human rights advocates/member of a progressive party-list or militant people’s organization has been gunned down.
The spate of brutal killings in Bicol in the last few
days can only be blamed on the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP). These, like all the previous killings, are part of the implementation of Oplan Bantay
Laya II and the AFP’s campaign to weaken the progressive party-lists by killing
their members and discouraging the civilian populace from supporting the said
groups. It’s clear that justice will
continue to be denied the victims and their families because the military has
once more sheltered the killers.We can only weep and rage at how brutal the killers are, killing fathers in front of their two-year old children; destroying families with carefully aimed bullets, shooting at point blank range.
The relentless continuing attacks against Bayan Muna and its
members and sympathizers cannot be pinned on anyone else but on the AFP acting
out on orders of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Sino pa ba ang pwedeng singilin sa mga pamamaslang na ito? Malas? Trip lang ng mga pusakal na kriminal? Ng mga walang magawa sa kanilang mga baril at bala kaya pumapatay ng mga aktibista?
Macapagal-Arroyo’s statement that she will
wield an iron fist against terrorists is also directed against political
activists, human rights activists and members of progressive party-lists and
people’s organizations.She has already called workers and their militant unions as ‘terrorist.’ She has called Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran as ‘terrorist.’ Her Sith minions Raul Gonzalez and Norberto Gonzales continue to accuse the progressive party-lists as fronts for the CPP-NPA-NDF, and thus tacitly siccing the AFP on Bayan Muna, AP and Gabriela.
Bayan Muna and its
sister political parties have proven their
mettle in the last elections, and will continue to win the support of the
electorate because of their principled and strong espousal of pro-people causes.
Congress has become a venue for the poor and exploited sectors where they
could air their grievances and demand
justice because of the entry of progressive party-lists. The Macapagal-Arroyo government and the AFP,
however, see all this as a threat to their system of corruption, hence they’ve
resorted to a bloody campaign of extermination and seek the expulsion or defeat of the
progressive party-lists. They will not succeed in this.
If only for the sake of all those who have been killed for
their advocacy of the politics of change and pro-poor principles; for those who continue to risk their lives daily to campaign for people’s issues such as an immediate and substantial wage increase; genuine land distribution; job security; decent housing and social services for the urban and rural poor; for those who fearlessly denounce the corruption of those in government and the treachery of this government in selling off the nation and its resources to foreign corporations, the
progressive party-lists will continue their work and defend their place in
congress and participate in the May midterm polls.
Dahil hindi sila mananalo sa debate kapag kahirapan na ang pinag-uusapan, this administration does not discriminate between armed
groups and civilian organizations.The incumbent but illegitimate president herself refuses to reign in the AFP
and its paramilitary forces in their bloodthirsty attack against civilians, and
in fact encourages the extra-judicial killings by refusing to have the AFP
leadership especially in the regions subjected to investigations. Basta nagsalita nang kontra sa gobyerno (sa mga probinsya lalo na), ipakausap sa bala.
What’s most infuriating is how Macapagal-Arroyo
pretends. She continues to abet these killings while feigning concern when confronted by
members of the international community who have expressed shocked at the
escalating body count. There is no hope for human rights so long as
Macapagal-Arroyo remains president and she continues to give the military free
reign to attack and violate the civil, democratic and human rights of all those
who dare stand up against her anti-poor, repressive regime. In the meantime,
Gloria’s fear of the Filipino people and
the sectors who oppose her anti-poor, anti-people and anti-sovereign policies
is clear as day. Why else resort to treachery and extra-judicial killings?
Since she has failed to convert the Filipino people to her lies that under her
administration, the country is on the road to progress and that democracy is
well and alive, she has resorted to relying on the military and fascist
solutions to do away with the opposition.
Everyday is killing season for the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
