Guerrilla
Priest Says All-Out War Policy Will Worsen Strife
Former Catholic priest Frank Fernandez, spokesperson of the National
Democratic Front (NDF) in Negros, said human rights and peace advocates
are correct in their position that the total war policy will lead to
nothing but “worsening war crimes and human rights violations” by the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police
(PNP), and what he called their death squads and paramilitary forces.
BY KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat
Former Catholic
priest Frank Fernandez, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF)
in Negros, said that the human rights and peace advocates are correct in
their position that the total war policy of the “fake president” will lead
to nothing but “worsening war crimes and human rights violations” by the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police
(PNP), and what he called their death squads and paramilitary forces.
In a statement
e-mailed to Bulatlat, Fernandez said that “the revolutionary forces
are one (with them) in their sentiments as human rights and peace
advocates in upholding justice and genuine peace through the resolution of
the fundamental social problems of the country which are also the roots of
the ongoing civil war.”
The former priest
lauded what he described as the “pro-people and pro-peace” stand of the
Catholic church and other religious denominations, political forces, local
government officials, and individuals who have condemned President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo’s all-out war policy.
He said that church
groups and peace advocates’ call for the resumption of the peace talks
between the GRP and the NDFP to pave the way for the immediate
implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights
and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and other concluded
agreements and the start of talks to tackle the fundamental economic and
political reforms is highly appreciated.
Fernandez stressed
that after the total war declaration of the Arroyo regime in 2002, a
nationwide military campaign by the AFP and PNP through “indiscriminate
bombings, murders, looting, arson and threats” resulted in the
displacement of thousands of peasants and indigenous people.
“Because the all-out
war is a ‘desperate’ measure of the Arroyo clique to remain in power and
(is) also being promoted by U.S. imperialism, we expect the worsening of
fascist war crimes and human rights violations in Negros that will be
committed by the 303rd Infantry Brigade, the PNP, death squads,
the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) and paramilitary units to surpass
the records of Gen. Jovito Palparan in Mindoro, Samar, Leyte and in
Central Luzon,” Fernandez also said.
On the other hand,
Fernandez said, his group condemns the “evil scheme” of the Arroyo regime
for “bogus” peace talks that call for an immediate ceasefire, the
surrender of the revolutionary forces and the “desperate divide-and-rule
tactic of localized peace talks.”
In Negros island,
Fernandez said, there will be no “surrender talks and ceremony” between
the representatives of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry
Brigade and NDF-Negros just like what happened in December 2000 between
the government and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) in Don
Salvador Benedicto.
Fernandez called for
big protest actions on July 24, when Arroyo delivers her State of the
Nation Address (SoNA). He urged the people to express condemnation of
Arroyo’s all-out war policy and other policies along with the “popular
demand for the fake president to resign and or be ousted.”
“The all-out war
policy will only be stopped through the launching of a strong and
widespread protest of the people and most importantly the removal of
Arroyo from power thru the combination of the mass movement, withdrawal of
military support and the impeachment process,” Fernandez also said.
“We will launch more
tactical offensives and will continue to protect the interest of the
people and punish the criminal elements in the AFP, PNP and paramilitary
units,” he concluded. Bulatlat
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