Gerry Albert Corpuz presents

Saturday, 02 February 2008

DND Chief told: Soldiers guarding mining firms should quit service

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusan Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Sunday said soldiers commissioned to provide security to mining companies or private firms should quit from military service, saying it would be illegal, immoral and unethical for government troops to serve private interest in the name of public service.

In a press statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said it is grossly insulting to Filipino taxpayers, since public funds are used to pay soldiers’ salaries, yet they do not serve national interest, and instead act as witting army of profit-starved mining companies in the country.

“The national government is spending billions of taxpayers’ money to protect the selfish interest of transnational mining firms. This is not only illegal, this is condemnable to the highest order,” Hicap said.

The militant group issued the reaction after defense secretary Teodoro yesterday justified the deployment of government troops to provide security to mining companies and private firms, saying there are guidelines for Special Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary or SCAA, as long as it is in pursuit of regulation.

The military confirmed the tie up of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and the DMCI Mining Corp. to protect at least 3,700 hectares of ore-rich land in Sta.Cruz, Zambales. The arrangement was contained in a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed in July 2007, saw the Army deploying an officer, 11 soldiers and 75 SCAA personnel to the mining area of DMCIMC’s partners—Fil Asian Strategic Resources Properties Corp. and CRAU Mineral Resources Corp.- in the uplands of Sta.Cruz and in nearby Candelaria, Zambales.

Pamalakaya said Secretary Teodoro should instead nullify the MOA between the mining firm and the 7th Infantry Division, and send the military personnel back to their barracks.

“The main objective of the Army is to protect the transnational clients of Malacañang from wholesale condemnation and community-based protest of the people who will be affected by these sell outs of national patrimony and buffet style offering of the country’s resources to Palace multinational mining clients,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap added.

The militant group said the employment of military and para-military units are not only prevalent in upland mining. Pamalakaya said the government is also deploying government troops in offshore mining to stop legitimate protest or prevent fishermen from fishing near sites of oil and gas explorations across the country.

The group said government soldiers and policemen are tapped to provide security to oil drilling explorations in Tañon Strait, a protected seascape separating the island provinces of Cebu and Negros, which is currently being mined for possible oil deposits and in Cebu-Bohol Strait, linking the provinces of Cebu and Bohol.

Pamalakaya said the deployment of battalions of marines in Eastern Palawan was also meant to provide security to oil and gas exploration activities of Australian companies. The group said there are 34 service contracts all over the country as far as oil and gas exploration activities are concerned, and that the government has been tasked to provide security to all these offshore mining activities.

“While the Constitution says the Armed Forces of the Philippines should serve as protector of the people, the military is actually the oppressor of the people and defender of transnational interests oppressing the people,” the group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:51 | link | comments |

Leftists: Why not a ‘citizen arrest’ to hiding Neri, Lozada

Staunch critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Saturday proposed the Senate to issue a citizen arrest order against fugitives Romulo Neri, chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Rodolfo Lozada Jr., president of the state-owned Philippine Forestry Corp.

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) made the recommendation a day after Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, accused Malacañang of helping the former chief of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to stay away from the resumption of the Senate investigation on the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal.

“Aside from the arrest warrant issued by the Senate, the Upper House might issue a warrant for citizen arrest against Neri and Lozada,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“Our proposed citizen arrest against Neri and Lozada will compliment the warrant of arrest issued by the Senate against hostile witnesses Neri and Lozada,” the Pamalakaya chair added.

Hicap agreed with Senator Cayetano that it was Malacañang who authored and ordered the great escapes of the CHED chair and Lozada to further spoil the Senate investigation on the China’s ZTE deal and prevent the Senate further unearthing the truth about the $ 329 million NBN deal that would implicate President Arroyo, First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo and other associates identified with Malacañang.

Pamalakaya likewise agreed with Senate President Manuel Villar in addressing Neri as fugitive from justice, a day after the former NEDA Chief refused to testify on the NBN deal and went on hiding yesterday to evade the warrant of arrest issued by the Senate.

“Actually not only Neri, but Lozada as well is a fugitive from justice,” the militant group said.

While Villar and Cayetano earned praise for their statements and course of actions against Neri and Lozada, Pamalakaya assailed Presidential Legal Chief Sergio Apostol for denying that the Palace had a hand in Neri’s failure to testify in the Senate hearing and for cracking a joke which is not funny but insulting to the collective intelligence of the Filipino people.

Quoted by Palace reporters yesterday, Apostol said:” I don’t know. They can try and look for him in Malacañang,” suggesting that the senators could search the entire complex in Barangay San Miguel, Manila from Gate 6 to St. Jude Parish Church.

Chuckling further, Apostol said:” They asked me about it. We are supposedly hiding Neri here. Why we would hide Neri. But they can try to come here….although we have many PSG here,” which Pamalakaya said was an implicit and indirect insinuation that the Senate arresting officers will have to face members of the Presidential Security Group before they could get inside the Palace and search for Neri.

“Apostol’s incorrigible action explains why Malacañang is a dangerous place for the Filipino people. Blood thirsty animals like Apostol are there,” Pamalakaya said

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:50 | link | comments |

Son of arrested KMP leader sought Villar, JdV help to free father

The son of Randall Echanis, deputy secretary general of the militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) on Friday sought the help of Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Jose de Venecia to facilitate the immediate and unconditional release of his father.

In a press conference called by leaders of KMP led by chairperson Rafael Mariano, Secretary General Danilo Ramos and deputy secretary general Willy Marbella, Ranmil Echanis, 27 years old and the eldest of two the children of Echanis, made the appeal to the top two leaders of Congress, adding that the Senate President and the House Speaker could help in the release of Echanis.

The 59-year old KMP leader was implicated by the government and the military in the alleged Hilongos mass grave together with Bayan Muna party list Rep. Satur Ocampo, and more than 50 other members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in an alleged purge between 1983 to 1985 in Leyte was arrested last January 28 in Bago City, Negros Occidental while attending a national agrarian workers’ conference sponsored by the Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and the Negros-based National Federation of Sugar Workers.

But his son refuted the allegations, saying the charges against his father were fabricated by the Macapagal-Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “My father is not a criminal. He is a man of justice and peace. His life has been devoted in serving the interest of the people,” Ranmil, a convenor of Free Randall Echanis Movement (Freedom) said in a press statement.

“My father was incarcerated by the Marcos dictatorship from 1983 to 1986. He was under a solitary confinement, and we were not even allowed to visit him while he was in detention. The story about the Leyte mass grave is nothing but a pure psy war operation of the national security gang of Malacañang,” Ranmil added.

Randall’s son took an early morning flight to Tacloban City to file the motion to quash the defective information and defective warrant issued by Leyte Regional Trial Court in Hilongos against his father in connection with the 15 counts of murder filed by the Philippine military.

The young Echanis said his father was in the meeting to discuss preparation plans for the KMP and agricultural workers union in the forthcoming National Rural Congress to be conducted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Arrest violation of JASIG

In The Netherlands, Luis Jalandoni, chair of the NDFP negotiating panel said the illegal arrest of Echanis by the regime’s forces is a flagrant violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

“Mr. Echanis, publicly known as a member of the NDFP official delegation to the peace talks and known to officials of the Royal Norwegian Government as Third Party Facilitator of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations is protected by the safety and immunity guarantees stipulated in the JASIG,” Jalandoni said in a statement, a copy of which was furnished to Bulatlat.com

The NDFP said the arrested KMP leader participated in formal peace talks in Oslo and has taken part in discussions towards a draft tentative agreement on social and economic reforms, the second substantive agenda in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.

“He has played a key role in developing the NDFP draft of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social Economic Reforms (CASER), especially with regard to the peasant question and land reform,” the Utrecht based NDFP leader said.

Jalandoni said the filing of charges of common crimes against Echanis and co-accused in the Hilongos mass grave grossly violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

Support

Fernando Hicap, chair of the fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya also supported the call of Echanis son for Senate President Villar and House Speaker de Venecia to recommend to the government through the Department of Justice the dropping of charges fabricated by the military against Echanis and pursue the resumption of peace talks between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) without preconditions.

“Since the peace talks and the resumption of the talks are both in the national agenda of the Senate President and the House Speaker, it is also politically and legally correct for the two top leaders of Congress to help in the speedy release of the KMP leader, who was recognized by the Royal Norwegian Government and the Philippine government as resource person of the NDF in the formulation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social Economic Reforms, the second main item in the peace talks,” Hicap said.

The militant group said aside from the Senate President and the House Speaker, peace nix in Congress like Senator Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, Senator Loren Legarda, Senator Francis Pangilinan and Senator Francis Escudero could also help in pursuing the immediate release of the KMP leader, who was charged for 15 counts of murder in connection with the alleged Leyte mass graves, whch according to the AFP, was a result of the alleged mass purge of suspected government agents in the early 80s.

“The Senate and the House of Representatives are now in session. We hope they could devote a portion of their time writing separate or joint resolutions ordering Malacañang, the National Security Council and the AFP to release Echanis from his detention cell in Leyte Provincial Jail in Palo, Leyte,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya, a third party resource group in the peace talks that provides inputs for both the government and the NDFP regarding the Comprehensive Agreement on Social Economic Reforms said the resumption of the peace talks is necessary so that the government and the NDFP could start discussing the socio-economic reforms, including the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or House Bill 3059 filed by militant party list lawmakers in Congress led by Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran.

Pamalakaya said there are 17 written bilateral agreements in connection with the peace talks signed by both parties. They are the Joint Hague Declaration (Sept.1, 1992), The Breukelen Joint Statement (June 14, 1994), the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Feb.24, 1995), the Joint Agreement on the Ground Rules of the Formal Meetings Between the GRP and the NDPF panels (Feb.26, 1995), the Agreement on Additional Implementing Rules Pertaining to the Documents of Identification (June 26, 1996), the Supplemental Agreement to the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees (March 18, 1997).

The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (March 16, 1998), the agreement on the Additional Implementing Rules on JASIG pertaining to the Security of Personnel and Consultations in Furtherance of Peace Negotiations (March 16, 1998), the Joint Agreement in Support of Socioeconomic Projects of Private Development Organizations and Institutes (March 16, 1998) and the Joint Statement on the Resumption of Peace Talks (March 9, 2001).

The other agreements were the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees of the GRP and the NDFP Negotiating Panels (June 26, 1995), the Oslo Joint Communiqué (April 30, 2001), the Oslo Joint Statement (Feb.14, 2004), the Second Oslo Joint Statement (April 3, 2004) and the Partial Supplemental Guidelines for the Joint Monitoring Committee (June 25, 2004).

“If Malacañang is really heeding the Church’s call for peace it should honor all these bilateral agreements and quit from imposing preconditions that would keep the NDFP away from the negotiating table,” Pamalakaya said.

New type of torture

At the time he was arrested and transferred to Leyte Provincial Jail in Palo, his legal counsel Atty. Jobert Pahilga narrated that his client was subjected to a new type of torture. He said Echanis was tortured by policemen and soldiers. “The KMP leader was flown from Bago City in Negros Occidental to Mactan International Airport and from the Cebu airport to Hilongos, with four choppers of filled with police guarding him, as if he is a notorious criminal offered as a trophy to the Filipino public,” he said.

Atty. Pahilga said Echanis was transferred from Hilongos municipal jail to Palo before midnight of Tuesday and arrived at the provincial jail in Palo at 3:00 am of January 30. Atty. Pahilga said the military committed a new type of torture by subjecting his client and his client’s family, legal counsel, friends and colleagues to deceit, intense pressure tantamount to mental and psychological torture, which is worse than physical torture.

“The political case of Echanis represents the Filipino peasant struggle and the Filipino people’s fight against the immoral, criminal and bankrupt regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He is being politically persecuted for his advocacy on the peasant rights to land and for exposing and opposing to the Filipino people the horrible and unpardonable crimes of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and the pro-Arroyo chain of command in the military and police establishments,” Atty. Pahilga added.

Echanis lawyer added: “The arrest of my client was done in the name of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival and satisfies the pro-Arroyo chain of command in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ penchant for blood and bloodbath. In more concrete term, the arrest of Echanis was meant to glorify and justify the illegal and immoral stay of Mrs. Arroyo’s most beloved military general AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and to put weight to his general’s bloody campaign over the next three months until he officially retires in May, 2008 against the Left and other critics of her administration.”

Esperon in an interview with Reuters said the “arrest of Echanis is a big blow the communist movement” and had ordered the military to ensure that the KMP leader will not go out of jail even if the court decides in favor of the alleged member of the CPP, a standing order that no matter what happen the AFP will not allow the court to let him free.

Esperon’s threat and standing order is a statement of fact, that the fight for the immediate and unconditional release of Echanis will remain a Herculean task. “The general is challenging us to a major political, moral and legal showdown, a fight we should engage until the KMP leader is freed from the hands of the people’s oppressors,” Atty. Pahilga said.

Meanwhile, colleagues, friends, family and relatives of Ka Randy will launch the Free Randall Echanis Movement (Freedom) next week to persistently fight the evil regime and put up a strong political campaign for his immediate release, and one way of addressing this is by binding together and join the people’s campaign for the release and ultimate freedom of Echanis.

Carl Anthony Ala, KMP information officer told Bulatlat.com that among those initially tapped to comprise Freedom are Echanis wife Erlinda Lacaba-Echanis, son Ranmil, daughter Amanda and brother-in-law Pete Lacaba, colleagues from KMP headed by Mariano and Ramos, Echanis peers in the First Quarter Storm Movement (FQS), national artist Bien Lumbera, Mrs. Editha Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, Senators Legarda and Madrigal and other friends and personalities in the church, legal and academic sectors supportive of Echanis cause for land, truth and justice. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:49 | link | comments |

Very showbiz, says Pamalakaya on Melo’s no comment on Hello Garci probe

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusan Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) which earlier dared incoming Commission on Elections (Comelec) chief retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo was disappointed upon hearing Melo’s no comment statement on the proposal for him to investigate the controversial Hello Garci scandal involving President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

“It is very showbiz. Why no comment? The damning evidence of election fraud against President Arroyo and company has been presented to the Filipino public and discussed in politically correct and objectively, morally and scholarly manner. We know where Mr. Melo is coming from. His point of view on the Hello Garci scandal is dictated by the ruling clique in Malacañang,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

Melo refused to comment on the suggestion of various groups, including the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to re-open the Hello Garci tape scandal suggesting that President Arroyo and other top officials were involved in the election fraud in the last May 2004 presidential elections.

In justifying a no comment, non-committal posture the retired SC Justice said he was to study the status of the case since he does not the real score on the Hello Garci scandal, adding that it is too early for him to make a stand.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said Melo will be in a major political default if he will not heed to legitimate and popular demands for him to re-investigate the biggest election fraud of the millennium. “The Hello Garci probe is an opportunity for Melo to prove his worth as a decent thinking man and that he is not an Arroyo puppet or protégée,” he said.

“We know this is a tough task to follow, but Justice Melo has to do this to show that he is a credible Comelec chief and not just a willing puppet of President Arroyo, the central figure of that cheating electoral escapade that happened in May 2004 elections,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya admitted that his group has deep reservation over the appointment of Melo, saying the former Supreme Court Justice absolved the President of her crimes against the people and against humanity in relation to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of leftwing activists over the past six years when he chaired the government-led Melo Commission tasked to investigate the killings.

“We will not engage in wait and see attitude. Chairman Melo has to prove to the highly skeptical public that he is the right man for the job, and the re-opening of the Hello Garci scandal and investigation of Esperon and other key Comelec officials like former Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano is a must,” the Pamalakaya leader said.

Pamalakaya also dared the new Comelec chief to investigate alleged election fraud committed against militant party list groups like Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party, saying hundreds of cases of election fraud, including partisan politics staged by military officials and elements against leftwing party lists were documented by various election watchdogs.

“Melo failed to impress the Filipino public when he led the Melo Commission. He suffered in comparison with UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston as far as ferreting out the truth on the issue of political killings is concern. The re-opening of Hello Garci is a make or break for him,” the militant group said. #

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