‘Martial Law Na Ba?’ (Is It Now Martial
Law?)
BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Posted 4:21 p.m., March 21, 2007
Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) secretary-general
RenatoReyes Jr. had one question as he spoke late this morning before a
rally of hundreds near the Manila Police District (MPD) in Manila.
“Martial law na
ba?” (Is it now Martial Law?)
Reyes cried as he denounced what he described as “the unbridled
repression being imposed by the Arroyo regime against its critics in the
Left, the opposition and the media.”
The ralliers, who
belonged to the progressive party-list group Bayan Muna (People First)
and to organizations under the umbrella of Bayan, declared March 21 as a
“national day of protest” to call for the release of Bayan Muna Rep.
Satur Ocampo and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran, as
well as to demand a stop to what they described as political repression.
“We come out today to protest the unjust detention of Ka Satur and Ka
Bel and the continuing imprisonment of the Filipino people by a
repressive regime,” Reyes said.
They marched from
the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo to United Nations Avenue, where the MPD
headquarters is located.
The protesters
intended to hold their program in front of the MPD headquarters, where
Ocampo has been held since Friday afternoon. They were, however, stopped
by police at the corner of Taft and United Nations Avenues. After a few
minutes of negotiation, the anti-riot police stepped back and allowed
the ralliers to hold their program a little less than a hundred meters
away from the MPD headquarters.
Meanwhile,
political prisoners all over the rally held a sympathy fast for Ocampo
and Beltran. As of December 2006, the Arroyo regime holds a total of 232
political prisoners nationwide.
Ocampo was arrested
Friday on multiple murder charges for having allegedly supervised the
executions of 15 members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and
the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Inopacan, Leyte in 1984. This, even
as he is confirmed to have been in maximum security detention at the
time the executions were supposed to have been committed.
On Monday morning,
police dragged a defiant Ocampo from his holding room and into a plane
and tried to bring him to Leyte even as the warrant for his arrest is
being challenged before the Supreme Court. A court order halting his
transfer sent the plane carrying him back to Manila even before it could
land on Leyte.
“We are worried
about how this will bear on the people’s rights,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy
Casiño told Bulatlat in an interview. “If they can do that to Ka
Satur, who is an elected official, they can do that to ordinary
citizens. We are also concerned about how this can impact on the
party-list system, because if they are not stopped now, they will ease
out progressive party-list groups from the party-list system, and that
will not be good for whatever democracy we are still supposed to have.”
Beltran, meanwhile,
has been confined under police custody at the Philippine Heart Center
since early last year. He was arrested without warrant on Feb. 25 last
year for his alleged participation in a conspiracy between the CPP-NPA
and the dissident military group Makabayang Kawal Pilipino (MKP) to
overthrow the Arroyo regime, even as he is confirmed to have been
attending congressional hearings when the plot was supposedly being
hatched.
“Everywhere today,
you can see the patterns of repression, be it against the Left, the
opposition and even members of the media,” Reyes said. “There is no
denying that the atmosphere in the Philippines is one of terror and
repression.”
Casiño left the
rally at a little past noon to lead Bayan Muna in filing a case at the
Commission on Elections against members of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) deployed in Lupang Pangako, Payatas, Quezon City for
electioneering, as well as threatening and intimidating Alberto Corbes,
one of the party-list group’s coordinators in the said urban poor
community.
After the program,
which lasted until a little past 1 p.m., the ralliers peacefully
dispersed.
The rally took
place hours before the opening of the Second Session on the Philippines
of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) at The Hague, The Netherlands,
where the Arroyo regime faces charges for violations of the Filipino
people’s civil and political rights as well as their economic, social,
and cultural rights. Bulatlat
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