“The BS Aquino regime has a highway of crimes that could no longer be ignored.”
By DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat.com
The Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights or Karapatan said President Aquino’s “daang matuwid” or “righteous path” is now pushing to a dead-end, in the wake of the Mamasapano fiasco, human rights violations and corruption cases.
“The BS Aquino regime has a highway of crimes that could no longer be ignored,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, in a statement.
“Added to these are the issues of corruption through the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program and the sellout of Philippine sovereignty with the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US government,” she said.
Under Aquino’s term, from June 2010 to end 2014, Karapatan has documented 229 extrajudicial killings, 225 frustrated killing, 106 cases of torture, 46,861 victims of forced evacuation and 700 illegal arrests.
Palabay said Aquino has been “indifferent to the plight of Moro peoples and indigenous communities of Mindanao” in spite of government’s claims and the ongoing peace process with Moro rebels.
“The Zamboanga siege in September 2013 victimized hundreds of Moro peoples sending them to evacuation centers in subhuman conditions which led to diseases and deaths of children. This also led to a number of deaths, imprisonment, torture of many suspected to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front,” Palabay said.
Palabay added that many Moro detainees are still languishing in jail, at Special Intensive Care Area-2, in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig city. “The SICA-2 building is covered with metal louvers, which prevents air and sun to come in,” she said.
“BS Aquino’s neglect on the plight of many Filipinos in Sabah, mostly Tausug, and his tolerance of the Malaysian government’s crackdown against undocumented Filipino is also another crime,” Palabay said.
The Karapatan leader also said Aquino “simply shunned” the 400 Lumads, Moro peasant and urban poor from Mindanao who travelled to Manila late last year with the “Manilakbayan for Food and Peace in Mindanao.”
‘Reject joint council’
The International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) said the President can “no no longer deny his criminal accountability in the operations as the commander-in-chief and as head of state.”
“His best exit plan is to resign,” said ILPS chair Elmer Labog in a statement.
Labog said neither can the US government cover its role in “Operation Exodus/Wolverine” which resulted into the bloody Mamasapano clash.
“We flatly reject a “joint council” with Aquino as one of the alleged exit plans being devised by Malacanang in the face of the growing people’s movement for his resignation,” he said. “It is time to transit, to transform and move forward with a leadership without Aquino and his ilk. We are for regime change, and for genuine systems change for the Filipino people.”
Progressive groups are gearing up for mobilizations on February 25, the 29th anniversary of the Edsa People Power 1 and also a month after the January 25 Mamasapano clash.
“Truth and accountability for the people is rendered impossible by the US-Aquino regime,” Labog said.
“Peace and justice for the nation, including the Moro people, can only be achieved without US intervention and Aquino’s subservience to foreign interests. Imperialist dictates have aggravated poverty, inequality and injustice in the country.” 
