National Security Adviser Sec. Norberto Gonzales got his share of heckling last June 17, 2006 in a forum where he was guest speaker at the University of Cebu-Banilad Campus, Cebu City.  The public forum was attended by 100 or so participants from different schools and sectors.

About 14 members of militant youth organizations Anakbayan (Sons and Daughters of the People) and League of Filipino Students (LFS) walked out of the forum after Gonzales’ lecture on the current Philippine national security situation.

During the open forum, a member of the Anakbayan asked Gonzales for proof or evidences to support his allegations, labelling militant organizations, including Anakbayan and LFS, as communist fronts. She also sought clarification on his “discriminating” statements against the Muslims.

Gonzales replied that that is the usual question of militants and it is for the courts to decide.  He also made evasive replies on serious questions such as regarding the military’s counter-insurgency program “Oplan Bantay Laya”; the continuing spate of political killings in the country; and the P 1billion fund allotted by Pres. Arroyo to the military and the police to crush the New People’s Army.

An LFS members faced Gonzales and pointed at him saying, “Ikaw! Tungod nimo 685 ka
political activists nangamatay! Tungod sa imong mando! Murderer!” (You! It’s because of you that 685 political activists were killed! It’s because of your order! Murderer!)

As the group slowly filed out of the room, they also chanted, “Gonzales, Arroyo, walang pinag-iba!
Murderer, murderer, tuta, diktador, pasista! Walang pinag-iba!” (Gonzales and Arroyo are the same! Murderer, murderer, puppet, dictator, fascist!)

Gonzales stopped speaking and appeared calm. After the walk out, he remarked that the students were ordered by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to heckle him and to make heckling a part of the program.

Troie Luna, Coordinator of Anakbayan-Cebu, said their group attended the forum in order to seize the opportunity to ask and clarify certain points and possibly counteract biased and prejudicial statements from Gonzales.  They scoffed at Gonzales’ statement that their only reason for attending was to heckle him.

However, Gonzales’ blatant disregard for fairness and his baseless accusations provoked them to confront him.

In a statement, they reiterated that it was an irresponsible and unfair forum since their groups were
maliciously accused of waging open armed rebellion against the government. They further described
Gonzales as having no respect for human rights and the rule of law since he has already judged them without due process.

“He is morally bankrupt and deserves to be called a murderer just like his boss, Gloria Arroyo. The
government is no longer respecting our rights, in turn, they don’t deserve our respect.” Luna concluded.

After the walk-out, the groups held a picket rally in front of the school building. They were not arrested
and the guards did not stop them. However, two police cars were stationed nearby.

Kaira Zoe Alburo, Spokesperson of Gabriela Women’s Party List- Cebu, also attended the forum. She pointed out during the open forum that she is a member of Gabriela, one of the organizations being labelled by the government as a communist front, but she has never seen nor held an M-16 rifle or a gun.

 “No wonder people are going to the mountains,” she said.

“That’s it! That’s your job. You make people angry,” Gonzales reacted.

Alburo told Bulatlat that Gonzales’ actions of making baseless accusations against militant organizations and passing the burden of proving it to the courts confirmed that the government has a hand in the killings and harassments of an increasing number of political activists.

“Instead of addressing the root causes of insurgency, the government concentrates its efforts and money on spreading lies and dangerous accusations against legitimate organizations and worse, committing widespread massacre,” she lamented.

The heckling in Cebu was the third incident that a high government official was confronted during the year.  President Arroyo and Vice-president Noli De Castro were heckled in separate incidents in Cavite.

The local chapters of Anakbayan and League of Filipino Students (LFS) said that they were not merely copying what others had done before them. “What Theresa Pangilinan and the others did inspired us to step up the protests and explore new ways of exposing the dangerous situation we are all in,” the groups said. Bulatlat

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