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National Security Council behind detention of KMP leader, relatives, supporters insist
Detained KMP leader transferred from Leyte to Camp Crame

Relatives and supporters of detained Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) deputy secretary general for internal affairs Randall Echanis insisted that the National Security Council (NSC) headed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is behind the continued detention of the peasant leader.

At around 7 a.m, some 30 peasant activists, including Echanis wife Erlinda, son Ranmill and daughter Amanda and other relatives and friends of the detained KMP leader belonging to Free Randall Echanis Movement (Freedom) trooped to the main headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame, Quezon City to greet the arrival of Echanis who was transferred from Palo Provincial Jail in Leyte to PNP Detention Center.

The relatives and supporters of the 60-year old peasant leader carried placards bearing his face with the slogan ‘Free Randal Echanis’. Among those groups who joined the early morning well wishers of the KMP leader were Anakpawis party list, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Amihan-National Federation of Peasant Women and the student activists group Nnara-Youth.

Anakpawis party list. Rep. and KMP national chairperson Rafael Mariano and Echanis legal counsel Atty. Jobert Pahilga accompanied the peasant leader in his transfer from Leyte to Camp Crame early this morning. Atty. Pahilga said Echanis along with his escorts took the 7:45 a.m Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Tacloban City to Centennial II Airport.

“The National Security Council headed by Mrs. Arroyo and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez are the lead actors in this perpetual persecution of Echanis. They are responsible for the illegal and unjust imprisonment of our colleague on the basis of trumped up charges created by Palace spin doctors in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of Justice,” said Willy Marbella, KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs.

Marbella said all members of the Palace security council that includes Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and former AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. were all obsessed in keeping Echanis behind bar. “Echanis is imprisoned by the ruling national security council which is guided by the national security doctrine to preserve the illegitimate, immoral and evil reign of President Arroyo,” the KMP leader added.

On January 28, Echanis was arrested in Bago City, Negros Occidental while attending a national conference called by the agricultural worker group Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) regarding the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 authored by the late Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran.

Echanis, who acted as resource person of KMP on GARB, was also sharing the participation of the peasant group in the 2nd National Rural Congress (NRC) spearheaded by the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), when military and police agents arrested the peasant leader on the basis of a warrant issued by the Leyte RTC. Echanis, according to his relatives and supporters were falsely charged for 15 counts of murder in connection with the discovered mass graves in Hilongos, Leyte.

Even government and AFP records, including court proceedings revealed that Echanis was held in solitary confinement by the military at the time the alleged crimes were committed in the early and mid 80s. The Manila Regional Trial Court had also dismissed all criminal charges filed by the Marcos government in the 80s against Echanis. In 1992, the case of illegal possession of firearms was again dismissed by the Manila RTC for lack of merit. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:13 | link | comments |
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