The book and the presentation has, since then, served as the Bible of the Arroyo government, especially the generals in the AFP and PNP, in the counterinsurgency campaign within over-all the framework of Oplan Bantay Laya.
But the circulation of the materials in the military and police hierarchy, as well as the general public, also signalled the start of intensified killing and grave human rights violations of leaders and members of militant organizations not only in Hacienda Luisita, but in the entire region and the rest of the country.
In the book and the presentation, legal organizations and institutions suspected as “fronts” of the CPP and the NPA are considered “enemies of the state.” Foremost among these are the party-list organizations Bayan Muna (People First) and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) and the sectoral organizations belonging to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance).
Even traditional groups such as church and media organizations were not spared and listed as “enemies of the state.” The accusations drew widespread indignation from the public.
“Enemies of the state”
At noon on March 3, 2005, a sniper shot and killed Abelardo Ladera, 45, a Tarlac City councillor. Ladera is from barangay Balite, inside Hacienda Luisita, a popular Bayan Muna leader in the province and ardent supporter of the striking Hacienda Luisita workers.
Ladera is third on a list of seven individuals that in the book and the presentation are described by the military as instigators of the Luisita strike and therefore are “enemies of the state.” The assassination of Ladera was followed by a long string of murders and gross human violations of leaders and members of militant organizations in Central Luzon that has not stopped to this day.
The names of most of the people killed in the region appeared in various military “hit list” or “order of battle” before they were killed. The lists are drawn supposedly from intelligence reports.
Luisita union leader Tirso Cruz, who was also an elected council member in his barangay, was tagged by the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) as the “secretary of the revolutionary committee” in the village several months before he was murdered.
To be included in the list is has been considered as a sure prelude to a death squad attack in utter disregard to existing laws and basic human rights.
Last month, because of the increasing number and regularity of the murders and the refusal of the Arroyo government to investigate and punish the perpetrators, an editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer described the killings as a ”systematic policy of extermination” of the critics of the Arroyo government.
The terms “death squads” and “political killings” have also become part of the popular vocabulary.
Global
Death squads have appeared not only in the Philippines but all over the world.
In a collection of books and articles gathered by author Ralph McGehee entitled CIA Support of Death Squads that was posted in the Internet in 1999, death squads were alleged to have been organized and supported by the CIA in 43 countries, most of them coming from the Third World including the Philippines.
According to the materials, there appears to be several but common patterns on how death squads are born and operate. Among these are:
*Death squads appear whenever there is a strong popular movement against poverty and oppression resulting from “US dominance” in said countries. Death squads also appear when a “progressive” government takes power and resists US impositions.
