Killings Linked to 10-Year ‘Counter-Insurgency’ Deadline – Joma

The chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which has for several years engaged in on-and-off peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), said that the extra-judicial killings of members and supporters of progressive organizations are linked to the government drive to end the “communist insurgency” in 10 years.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

The chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which has for several years engaged in on-and-off peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), said that the extra-judicial killings of members and supporters of progressive organizations are linked to the government drive to end the “communist insurgency” in 10 years.

 “There is reason to be optimistic that the communist insurgency can be resolved within the next six to 10 years,” Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, speaking at a defense ministers’ meeting in Singapore, said June 4. He also said the manpower of the New People’s Army (NPA) has been falling by 13 percent a year since 2001 – contrary to other military statements to the effect that the guerrilla army’s forces have been growing steadily since 2004, and describing it as the country’s “No. 1 security threat.”

In an interview with Bulatlat in December 2005, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal said the total number of NPA regular, or full-time, fighters went up to the equivalent of 27 battalions for the said year. Considering that in the military a battalion has about 500 troops, this would mean that the NPA has roughly about 13,500 regular fighters as of December 2005.

The government’s objective of killing off this “security threat” has something to do with the spates of extra-judicial killings of political activists and their supporters, Jose Maria Sison said in a phone-patch interview with reporters June 5, during the second anniversary of the opening of the offices of GRP-NDFP Joint Monitoring Committee.

“This shows their extreme reliance on the military solution,” Sison said. “They think they can crush the revolutionary movement by killing legal activists.”

Data released June 4 by the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) show that as of the said date, 679 civilians had been killed since January 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular uprising. Of these, 301 were known as affiliates of cause-oriented groups.

The killings of David Costuna of the progressive party-list group Bayan Muna (People First) and Arcadio Macale, president of a Barangay Agrarian Reform Council in Borongan, Eastern Samar at night that same date brought the total of extra-judicial killings under the Arroyo regime to 681, with 303 of the victims known to be affiliated with cause-oriented groups. Three more extra-judicial killings took place after June 4 in Kalinga, Sorsogon, and Isabela – bringing the total number of victims of extra-judicial killings to 684, with 305 of the victims confirmed to be affiliated with activist groups.

“They reveal themselves to be cowards,” Sison continued, referring to state forces whom he pointed to as the perpetrators of these killings. “They kill unarmed people because the truth is; they are on the losing end in the battlefield.”

Both National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Arroyo have denied government responsibility for the spates of extra-judicial killings.

“Only a government which wishes to self-destruct would initiate chaos through mass slayings,” Gonzales said in a June 4 statement.

“He is hitting his own face,” Sison said when asked to comment on this statement. “It is he who suggests that everything be done to destroy the revolutionary movement, and now he says that.”

In a follow-up interview with Bulatlat through e-mail, Sison said Gonzales has a direct hand in the killings of political activists.

“He is definitely involved in policy making and planning the criminal attacks on progressive personalities,” Sison said. “He has directed a number of kidnapping and killing operations. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who has sources in the military and police, has exposed the dirty hand of Norberto Gonzales.”

Sison likewise assailed Arroyo’s denial of government responsibility in the extra-judicial killings.

“My government wants to strengthen democracy and I hope people will understand that the President is against dictatorship,” she said June 6 in a radio interview. “I aim to maintain stability and uphold the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.”

“She would like to pass herself off as a democrat,” Sison said. “But her high crimes like treason, electoral fraud, corruption and deliberate human rights violations outrage the people and arouse their resistance. She escalates state terrorism in a futile attempt to intimidate the people. She has bared her fascist fangs.”

Sison likewise said the investigation on the extra-judicial killings that is being conducted by the Task Force Usig would amount to nothing. “It will shift the blame for the extra-judicial killings and kidnapping from the death squads of the regime to other entities, including the revolutionary forces and the opposition parties and will only whip up further human rights violations,” he said. Bulatlat

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