Ex-PMA Prof, Cordi Militants Call Arroyo ‘Doble-Kara’

“We tend to believe what people do more than what they say.” This is what a former professor at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered the graduation remarks last week, said in a recent press conference here.

BY LYN V. RAMO
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms. north of Manila) – “We tend to believe what people do more than what they say.”

This is what a former professor at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered the graduation remarks last week, said in a recent press conference here. Manny Loste, now national vice chairman of Bayan Muna (People First), was alluding to Arroyo’s speech at the PMA, in which she promised Filipinos “freedom from fear and freedom from want” – a reference to the government’s counter-“insurgency” campaign and “economic recovery” program – before the 282-strong PMA Maragtas Class.

Loste dismissed Arroyo's pronouncements as “mere lip service” and does not expect her government to deliver “genuine peace or economic prosperity” to the people. “Mababa ang kredibilidad niya” (Her credibility is low) Loste said of Arroyo.

“GMA says one thing but does another thing,” Loste said in the press conference held Tuesday last week, where he and leaders of other progressive party-list groups condemned the “intensifying political repression,” as they cited the arrest and detention of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. “Mas titingnan namin siya sa kanyang ginagawa, hindi sa kanyang sinasabi” (We'd rather judge her by what she does than what she says), Loste said.

“While GMA kept telling the young military officers to have a leader's heart and love the people they serve, telling them to teach the children, build schools and roads, and learn the people's culture, her sincerity is questionable,” Loste said. 

The picture “belies” the President's pronouncements, the local leaders of other progressive party-list groups pointed out. 

Arroyo also ordered PMA Maragtas Class to help in implementing the Human Security Act of 2007, which progressive party-list groups and other cause-oriented organizations continue to criticize as a “repressive” measure. “How can she claim to have genuinely ordered the new military officers to serve the people when her administration is behind the manslaughter of many mass leaders of people's organizations?” Loste said.

Chie Galvez of the Tongtongan ti Umili described the GMA regime as “fascist.” She also said the Arroyo regime is on a “desperate offensive unleashing state terrorism in all forms.” She said Ocampo's arrest and detention shows a “malicious persecution of progressive party-lists and groups critical of the Arroyo administration.”

 “The GMA regime's intensifying political repression as shown in the growing number of politically-motivated killings and enactment of repressive laws and policies indicate a desperate offensive, which would redound against the rotten, corrupt and fascist regime,” a Tongtongan ti Umili statement distributed during the press conference read.  

“How ironic that the woman president seems not to have a leader's heart she is asking of the PMA graduates,” Loste said.   She finds it convenient to continue with persecution and harassments.  She even violates the rule of court.  In her attempt to pursue her long-term agenda, she is ramming through the old chest for dirty tactics, Loste said. 

Nida Tundagui of the labor sector told of the “deprived conditions” of the workingman's family under the GMA administration. 

“Tutol na sa anti-mamamayang mga patakaran ang mga manggagawa,” (Labor is against anti-people policies) Tundagui said. He added that the people are “outraged” by Ocampo's arrest and detention as well the continuing hospital arrest of Anakpoawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran. 

Beltran has been confined at the Philippine Heart Center under police custody since last year. 

The Gabriela Women's Party (GWP)fears for the safety of Liza Maza, its lone representative in Congress, who is now being linked to summary executions in Nueva Ecija.  “Nire-recycle nila ang mga bungo,” (The skulls are getting recycled) as “trumped-up evidence” in many alleged murder or massacre cases, Cyrene Reyes, GWP-Cordillera spokesperson, said. 

Meanwhile Imelda Tabiando, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) secretary-general, denounced the continuation of extrajudicial killings despite international condemnation.

“Despite condemnation by international bodies, such as the U.S. Congress and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), of the government's unprecedented record of human rights violations, political killings continue unabated,” Tabiando said. She cited Oplan Bantay Laya II (OBL II), the alleged master plan behind political repression, as the “culprit” which seeks to “break the will” of those considered “enemies of the state.” The country is under “de facto martial law,” Tabiando also said.

In a statement distributed during the press conference, the CHRA said that the motive behind the charges against Ocampo and his arrest and detention is “to divert international and national attention from the people's condemnation of the Arroyo government-perpetrated extrajudicial killings and human rights violations.”

According to the CHRA statement Ocampo's detention is a major part of OBL II. It is also a part of the government's desperate maneuvers to control the elections, the statement further read.

"In your mission to serve the people, set forth with courage, integrity and loyalty," Arroyo told the PMA graduates.

She disclosed the government's two-pronged policy of soft and hard power. “It is now the government's peace model in dealing flash points in Mindanao,” she said s she told the young soldiers to spearhead the fight against terrorism, side by side with young professionals and entrepreneurs who would fight poverty.   

“Confidence- building measures coupled with dialog, infrastructure development and mutual security arrangements are the keys to lasting peace in the South.”

Meanwhile, party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women's party, and other human rights advocates staged an indignation rally and noise barrage on March 21 at the Kilometer Zero here. They demanded the release of both Ocampo and Beltran and urged the Filipino people to end Arroyo’s “repressive rule.”

In a related development, senatorial candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who was in town early this week, said in a press conference that while he thought extrajudicial killings are not part of state policy, it shows the “inutility” of the Arroyo government. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat 

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