Bulatlat

BY BULATLAT
Posted 1:00 p.m., June 23, 2008

Some 339 world activists representing labor and farmers' organizations, human rights groups, civil liberty associations, lawyer groups, migrant organizations and political parties in 35 countries across the globe signed a petition demanding Malacañang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to free peasant leader Randall Echanis immediately and to drop all trumped-up charges against him.

Echanis, the deputy secretary general of the militant farmers' group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), was arrested on January 29 in Bago City, Negros Occidental while attending a consultation called by the agricultural workers' group Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) on the proposed Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059.

The KMP leader was charged by the Philippine government with 15 counts of murder in connection with the alleged discovery of a mass grave in Hilongos, Leyte, which allegedly contains victims of the New People's Army.

Gerry Albert Corpuz, information officer and head of the international desk of the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), broke the news on his way to Manila last Sunday from Hong Kong. He was in Hong Kong from June 18 to 22 to represent Pamalakaya in the Third International Assembly of the anti-imperialist alliance International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS).

"The world is condemning President Arroyo and the Philippine military over the continued detention and political persecution of Echanis. The message of this across-the-globe call for the urgent and unconditional release of the KMP leader is clear--Mrs. Arroyo should let Echanis go or face the collective wrath of world activists," Corpuz said.

Those who signed the manifesto for the immediate release of Echanis are leaders of labor, peasant and political organizations in Brazil, the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Danilo Ramos, KMP secretary general, said they will submit the signatures to Quezon Representative Erin Tañada, chair of the House Committee on Human Rights and Senator Maria Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, chair of the Senate Committee on Peace. Bulatlat