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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