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Melo panel asked: Is GMA not responsible for killings?

“Is GMA not responsible for killings?”

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday asked the Melo Commission why it failed to cite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the no.1 political entity responsible for the extra-judicial killings of over 800 leftwing activists.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the 89-page Melo report singled out controversial Army Major Gen. Jovito Palparan as the probable liable military official in the mass murder of leftwing activists allegedly perpetrated by the retired Army officer and his men under his command during his term in the military service.

Earlier, the group challenged the Department of Justice to re-open the Eden Marcellana-Eddie Gumanoy murder case, which was arbitrarily closed by the justice department last year. The murder of the two peasant advocates took place sometime in 2003, where Palparan was assigned as head of the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Naujan, Mindoro Oriental, prior to his transfer in Eastern Visayas and later in Central Luzon before his retirement last year.

“The Melo commission exculpates President Arroyo and members of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security and reduced the issue of political killings as mere past time of trigger happy troops to cover up the crimes of Malacañang and the Armed Forces and disprove public conclusion that the killings stemmed from a national policy written and directed by the militarist regime,” Hicap noted.

The militant leader said the Melo Commission intentionally omitted the culpabilities of President Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and military generals and commanders in areas where political killings took place.

“The public is 99% aware that the political killings of leftwing activists were conceptualized, planned and executed in accordance with Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and II, which is Arroyo administration’s political blueprint in eliminating its critics both in the underground and aboveground left movement,” Hicap added.

Malacañang yesterday announced that it will not interfere in Melo commission’s recommendations to bring Palparan and other perpetrators of extra-judicial killings before the bar of justice. But Palace spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the panel has yet to submit a copy of the report.

Yesterday, Esperon also admitted in a press conference that soldiers had been involved in the murder of political activists but the cases on the killings of leftwing activists had been investigated, adding that six soldiers are currently being probed regarding their involvement in the killing of leftist activists.

The AFP Chief said six soldiers were facing charges before military and civilian courts over their involvement in the killings of militant activists. He said one of them, Corporal Alberto Rafon was discharge from military service for the murder of Nicanor delos Santos, an Agta leader in Rizal. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 01:47 | link | comments |

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