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
CULTURE
‘Treason’ 101? By
government’s own account, the 15-minute video documentary Paglaban sa
Kataksilan: 1017 (Fighting Treason: 1017) was produced and is being shown to
supposedly explain the need for issuing Proclamation No. 1017, which placed the
country under a state of national emergency. But it merely repeats without
explaining clearly or showing evidences to prove the claims of the
administration. It is reminiscent of the kind of propaganda dished out right
after the declaration of Martial Law. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
By government’s
own account, the 15-minute video documentary Paglaban sa Kataksilan: 1017
(Fighting Treason: 1017) was produced and is being shown to explain the supposed
need for issuing Proclamation No. 1017, which placed the country under a state
of national emergency. “It was one way of showing to the people that (the
declaration of a state of emergency) was really demanded by the event,” Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez said of the video documentary, the production of which
was recommended by the National Security Council (NSC).
The video has been
showing at government TV stations for the past few days. A copy of the video may
be downloaded at
http://www.gov.ph.
A flashback of
events immediately preceding and following the issuance of Proclamation No. 1017
is necessary in examining Paglaban sa Kataksilan: 1017.
President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo issued Feb. 24 Proclamation No. 1017, amid rallies
commemorating the 20th anniversary of the popular uprising now known
as EDSA I, which brought down the Marcos dictatorship. Citing an alleged
conspiracy between the “extreme left,” represented by the Communist Party of the
Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), and the
“extreme right, represented by ‘military adventurists’,” the proclamation
invokes Sec. 18, Art. 7 of the Constitution, which enables the President to call
on the armed forces to “prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or
rebellion,” as well as Sec. 17, Art. 12, which states that: “In times of
national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during
the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over
or direct the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business
affected with public interest.”
Macapagal-Arroyo
issued the proclamation a few hours after Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon announced on television that the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) had thwarted a coup attempt by a group of officers allegedly
led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Col. Ariel Querubin, both members of the
original Young Officers Union (YOU), which also figured in a coup attempt in
1989 against then President Corazon Aquino.
The issuance of
Proclamation No. 1017 was used as justification for breaking-up rallies
commemorating the EDSA I anniversary as well as subsequent protest actions, the
rounding-up of personalities prominent as critics of the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration, and police monitoring of media agencies.
Among those
arrested while the proclamation was formally in effect were Reps. Crispin
Beltran and Joel Virador, retired police generals Ramon Montaño and Rex Piad.
Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, Rafael Mariano, and Liza Maza have had to
avail of protective custody at the House of Representatives after eluding arrest
Feb. 25 in a press conference of the minority bloc in Congress. They were
recently joined by Virador who was brought to the House of Representatives from
Davao City where he was arrested.
Professors Randy
David and Ronald Llamas, columnist and lawyer Argee Guevarra, and labor leaders
Dennis Maga and Marcial Dabela were arrested after police broke up rallies where
they negotiated in behalf of their colleagues.
The printing press
of The Daily Tribune was raided, while police were deployed at the
offices of a number of media agencies including ABS-CBN and Radyo Veritas.
A few days after
the issuance of Proclamation No. 1017, Gen. Arturo Lomibao announced that the
Philippine National Police (PNP), which he heads, was developing editorial
guidelines for coverage of political events. He said the guidelines would
continue to be formulated and implemented even if Proclamation No. 1017 should
be lifted.
Meanwhile, on
March 2, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the “crackdown” (his exact
term) on government opponents would continue even after the lifting of
Proclamation No. 1017.
Macapagal-Arroyo
announced the lifting of the proclamation a day after. But dispersals of protest
activities – including what was supposed to be a prayer march of the White
Ribbon Movement (WRM)-Manila last March 3, hours after the lifting of the
proclamation, and a March 8 rally by the party-list group Akbayan, whose
representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel was forcibly arrested together with one
of its leaders, Joshua Mata – have continued.
It is the issuance
of Proclamation No. 1017, which led to these, that Paglaban sa Kataksilan:
1017 aims to justify. In trying to justify the proclamation, Paglaban sa
Kataksilan: 1017 makes much of the alleged Left-Right conspiracy to topple
the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
The documentary
presents the Feb. 24 commemorative rallies – held by groups from various
political shades like Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic
Alliance), Gloria Stepdown Movement (GSM), WRM, Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME
or Nationalist Economy Movement), Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight), People’s
Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), Union of the Masses for Democracy and Justice (UMDJ),
Kilusan para sa Makatarungang Lipunan at Gobyerno (KMLG or Movement for a Just
Society and Government), and the Black and White Movement – as part of the coup
attempt.
It is now public
knowledge that a group of soldiers supposed to be led by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim
and Col. Ariel Querubin had intended to join the Feb. 24 rallies and declare
withdrawal of support from the Macapagal-Arroyo government. This, so the
documentary tries to show, proves the Left-Right conspiracy in a coup plot that
was used as basis for issuing Proclamation No. 1017.
The problem with
this line is the way the term coup d’ etat is used in the documentary.
Art. 134-A of the
Revised Penal Code states thus: “The crime of coup d'etat is a swift
attack accompanied by violence, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth,
directed against duly constituted authorities of the Republic of the
Philippines, or any military camp or installation, communications network,
public utilities or other facilities needed for the exercise and continued
possession of power, singly or simultaneously carried out anywhere in the
Philippines by any person or persons, belonging to the military or police or
holding any public office of employment with or without civilian support or
participation for the purpose of seizing or diminishing state power.” Pacifico
Agabin, dean of the Lyceum of the Philippines College of Law, said in a recent
forum that mere declaration of withdrawal of support by a group of soldiers does
not constitute a crime of coup d’ etat.
Another weakness
of the documentary is that while it claims to base its supposed revelations on
documents seized from 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan – a member of the Magdalo group of
rebel soldiers who escaped from prison but was recently recaptured – it does not
show these documents.
In an interview
that forms part of the documentary, Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon claims that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had obtained from
San Juan documents produced from a meeting between the CPP-NPA-NDF and the
Magdalo group. The documents, he says, reveal a joint plan of action that goes
as far as May 2006 – involving massive protest actions by civilian groups,
incapacitation of government officials, and armed takeovers of government
offices and vital installations.
Nowhere in the
documentary is the viewer allowed even a glimpse into these documents.
The video also
paints the campaign against the Macapagal-Arroyo government as solely a
conspiracy of the “extreme Left and Right.” But the video shows footages of
different groups rallying against the Arroyo administration and even mentions
the Hyatt 10 and United Opposition, which were never identified with what it
calls as the “extreme Left or Right.”
Moreover, the
video oversimplifies the reasons that fuel the campaign to remove Macapagal-Arroyo
from Malacañang. Not once in the documentary is there mention of the issues
being raised against Macapagal-Arroyo, namely electoral fraud, the imposition of
policies described as “anti-national and anti-people,” corruption, and human
rights violations. Nor was there any attempt to answer these accusations. The
campaign for Macapagal-Arroyo’s removal from office is depicted as merely a
power-grab plot by leftists and rightists in cahoots with each other.
Paglaban sa
Kataksilan: 1017
is, by
government’s own admission, an effort to justify the issuance of Proclamation
No. 1017 which is technically still in effect. Unfortunately for its producers,
the video merely repeats without explaining clearly or showing evidences to
prove the claims of the administration. It also failed miserably to elaborate on
the reasons behind the rounding-up of oppositionists and the muzzling of media.
The video is reminiscent of the kind of propaganda dished out right after the
declaration of Martial Law. 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.
Review of Paglaban sa Kataksilan: 1017, a video documentary produced
under recommendation of the National Security Council
Bulatlat