This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 6, March 12-18, 2006
Unfazed by
harassment:
Unbent even in illegal detention and in ill health, Anakpawis Rep.
Crispin Beltran remains focused on the fight for pro-people laws and national
democracy inside and outside of Congress. While the legal battle for Beltran’s
freedom started last week, the Anakpawis solon is also trying to return to the
House of Representatives to work. BY
LISA C. ITO Unbent even in
illegal detention and in ill health, Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin “Ka
Bel” Beltran remains focused on the fight for pro-people laws and national
democracy inside and outside of Congress. While the legal battle for
Beltran’s freedom started last week, the Anakpawis solon is also trying to
return to the House of Representatives to work. His confinement in a
solitary cell at the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police (PNP),
Camp Crame from Feb. 25 to 28 has not dampened his disapproval of the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration’s policies. The 73-year-old labor leader has also not allowed his
confinement at the PNP General Hospital since March 2 (due to unstable blood
pressure levels) to stifle his life-long struggle for freedom and workers’
rights. Generally barred from media
interviews while inside detention, he has resorted to issuing handwritten notes
addressed to government officials, colleagues, family, and supporters every now
and then. Police escorts to
Congress “I will do my best to get
out of this illegal detention, so I can be with you once again inside and
outside of Congress,” Beltran wrote shortly after being confined in Room 1 of
the PNP hospital. A week since that promise,
the “parliamentarian of the toiling masses” is raring to go back to work and get
some pro-poor policies passed at the Lower House. Beltran yesterday wrote a
formal letter to PNP Director-General Arturo Lomibao, requesting that he be
allowed to attend the Congressional plenary hearings from March 13 to 15 next
week under police custody. Hearings on the 2006 budget
had started last week, and are expected to resume Monday. Beltran added that he
intends to argue for House Bill 1064, which “provides for a P3,000.00
across-the-board monthly salary increase for all public sector employees,
including the police.” While the Congressional
bill for a P1,000 increase in allowance for government employees retroactive to
January 1, 2006 and a Senate Bill allowing a P2,000 allowance increase starting
next July were passed recently upon pressure from the Palace, Beltran believes
that a P3,000 across-the-board increase in the basic pay of government employees
nationwide is still the best poverty-alleviating legislation for the public
sector. The PNP has nothing to lose
if Lomibao honors Beltran's request to attend Congressional budget hearings
under police custody, Mrs. Rosario Beltran said in a press conference Saturday.
The 64-year old
congressional spouse said that “Even the police rank-and-file would benefit
should Representative Beltran be successful in his bid to gather support for
legislation such as HB 1064, which provides for a P3,000 across-the-board salary
increase for government employees, including the police rank-and-file.” As of Saturday, Mrs.
Beltran has reportedly received verbal permission from the police allowing Ka
Bel to attend Monday’s hearing with police escorts. This promise, however,
remains to be tested as no public or formal order from Lomibao has been issued
yet. Beltran also intends to
pursue the fight for the passage of House Bill 0345, which seeks to legislate
the six-year nationwide clamor for a P125.00 across-the-board wage hike for
workers in the private sector. The bill has already passed the committee
hearings and is currently up for interpellation on the plenary. Continuing jabs Being in illegal detention
has neither prevented Beltran from issuing sharp criticisms of Macapagal-Arroyo
and her functionaries. If anything, his illegal arrest has given him more reason
to be infuriated at the current administration. In his letter, Beltran also
castigated Lomibao for the latter’s inaction on the appeals of his legal
counsels at the time of his illegal arrest to release him on the principle of
parliamentary immunity. This delay on the part of the PNP has allowed police
officers to concoct and connive with public prosecutors into charging Beltran
with sedition and rebellion in the following days, Beltran’s legal counsels
allege. “Because of your foolish
and canine obedience to the directives of a dubious, paranoid, kleptocratic, and
treasonous president, assisted by her even more paranoid Secretary of the
Department of (In)justice, Congress is now getting back at you, by deferring
consideration of your budget to the prejudices of the poverty-devastated police
rank-and-file,” Beltran said. Shortly before his
confinement for high blood pressure after a heated inquest proceeding last Feb.
28, Beltran also minced no words in denouncing Presidential Proclamation No.
1017 as a “destabilizer par excellance with brutal efficiency,” through a
handwritten note composed inside the maximum security detention cell No. 3, at
the PNP Custodial Center. Upon the lifting of PP 1017
following strong public outrage, Beltran issued another statement lauding the
people’s movement for their struggle against the political harassment
facilitated by the proclamation. “Bahag na buntot na binawi
ang proklamasyon” (Terrified, she lifted the proclamation), he said. “Natakot (si
Gng. Arroyo) sa namumuong daluyong ng demokratikong tsunami ng mamamayan” (Mrs.
Arroyo feared the growing storm of the people’s democratic tsunami).
Beltran also has called
attention to the growing international outrage over his arrest and incarceration
and the political harassment against the “Batasan 5.” “Hihintayin pa ba natin ang
international strike laban sa Pilipinas?” (Shall we wait for an international
strike against the Philippines?) he asked in a statement addressed to the Free
Ka Bel Movement during its launching last March 6 at the University of the
Philippines. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Beltran Asks to Attend Congress Hearings
Bulatlat