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An Insidious PlanAn Insidious Plan It may seem that the arrest of Jose Maria Sison, August 28, was a simple case of the Dutch police enforcing its laws; it may also seem that the announcement of the Philippine National Police, also last August 28, that it is the New People’s Army who abducted Jonas Burgos is a simple case of the police bungling an investigation once again; and it may be that the AFP, in employing 5,000 troops in Basilan and Sulu, is merely running after the 100 or so Abu Sayyaf members. But when taken as a whole, these incidents reveal an insidious plan. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines and consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, was arrested, August 28, by Dutch police purportedly in connection with the killings of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, which were both acknowledged by the New People’s Army as its undertaking. The government initially denied any part in the arrest but later on admitted that they helped widows Joy Kintanar and Veronica Tabara file the case with the Dutch government. Is it a simple case of law enforcement and judicial processes at work? These incidents seem simply that when taken separately. But when taken as a whole, these point to an insidious plan. (It is interesting that a lot of things happened from August 26-28) The moves to repress Sison and deny him of his rights started August 2002 with his proscription in the U.S. terror list, August 12, and the Dutch list, August 13. Since then he has been denied all his civil and political rights, such as the right to due process and even the right to social benefits. He is denied of the means to buy food and medicines; he is being evicted from his house; his old age pension was removed. But they could not arrest him immediately because there was no evidence that he committed a terrorist act nor was there a case against him. The Kintanar and Tabara cases provided the missing element to have him arrested and to totally deny Sison his rights, including visits from his wife and family, and access to his medicines. His situation is not far from what the prisoners of Guantanamo - composed mostly of prisoners of war from Iraq and Afghanistan and victims of rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency- are experiencing. What happened to Sison reeks of the methods of the U.S.. Thus it is not surprising that, according to Sison’s counsel Jan Fermon, the Dutch Foreign Ministry admitted in its website that it included Sison in its terror list to acquiesce to the request of the U.S.. Sison’s arrest is clearly the product of the collusion between the U.S., Dutch, and Philippine governments. The vilification of Jonas Burgos started when the AFP, in a statement issued in July, said that its investigations revealed that he is a member of the NPA. When pressed to elaborate on the implication of such a statement, Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino said that he was merely stating the result of the investigation. It is now not surprising that the CIDG would come up with a foregone conclusion. The CIDG intentionally twisted the results of the investigation, in spite of the evidences on the contrary such as the license plate of the van and the back-up vehicle used in the abduction. Even its witness is not really a member of the NPA. A report from the Central Luzon partner of Bulatlat revealed that Lipio is actually a leader of the transport group PISTON (Pinagkaisang mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide or the Association of Drives and Jeepney Operators Nationwide) who was abducted with six others last July 3, 2006 by combined elements of the police in Angeles city, and soldiers from the 56th and 69th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. While his six companions were released after a day, Lipio has not been seen by his wife and family since, until recently. In his recent statement, Lipio said he was ordered by a certain Delfin de Guzman to conduct surveillance operations on Burgos. Guzman turned out to be an ordinary peasant who was abducted by the military in Norzagaray, Bulacan last May 11, 2006. The justification for the war in Basilan and Sulu started with the kidnapping of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in Zamboanga. Bossi was later rescued although the circumstances regarding his kidnapping, including the identities of the alleged kidnappers, remain a mystery. The massive military operations was further justified by the July 10 ambush and beheading of Marines. The MILF admitted the ambush saying the Marines entered their territory fully armed, but vehemently denies the beheading. Currently, the purported search for the Abu Sayyaf, which according to government reports numbered a mere 100, involves 5,000 troops. And the military operations resulted in the raid and killing of a commander of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Sulu and repeated incursions into MILF areas. This puts into question the supposed target of the operations. The connections of these events revealed itself when Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the AFP and PNP, last August 26, to put an end to the insurgency and to terrorism by 2010. This is but a continuation of what the Arroyo government started in 2002 when Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Guard Freedom) was implemented in an effort to finish off armed opposition to its rule in five years and now in three more years. It also made a similar announcement in 2006, a year after it was almost toppled from power. It is also not a coincidence that two names keep on cropping up as being responsible for the massive military operations and human rights violations: National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Exec. Sec. Eduardo Ermita. Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez is likewise infamous for his messing up the administration of justice in the country and for using the department to pursue the political agenda of the Arroyo government. But after so many years of intense military operations, all the government can lay claim to, which of course it refuses to, is the piling up of cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance of unarmed, civilian, political activists. Now it wants to up its war by emulating the U.S.: what it cannot kill, it abducts or strips of his or her most basic rights. And it has the means to do so with the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Law, euphemistically called as the Human Security Act. Worse, the Arroyo government, and its tutor the U.S. armed forces, do not distinguish between combatants and hors de combat (combatants deprived of the means to fight), armed guerrillas and civilians. Like the Marcos dictatorship it would fail in its effort of employing a militarist, fascist, and terroristic solution to the armed conflicts in the country. But if allowed by the Filipino people to perpetuate itself and pursue this track further, it will leave more trails of blood and would wreak havoc on the lives of the Filipino people. Like Marcos, it has no qualms about suppressing anybody who is asserting their rights. Bulatlat
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