DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 06 Mar) - The party list group Kabataan on Tuesday criticized the Philippine military for its so-called counter-insurgency programs in school, saying, it threatened the freedom of expression of students who are vocal in their advocacy.
It said soldiers held recently a forum at the Philippine Normal University where they talked about so-called evils of communism and “campus infiltration” by the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing the New People’s Army and National Democratic Front.
Authorities have tagged militant groups and student organizations as CPP fronts.
The party list group is wary that the communist-tagging of youth organizations affiliated to Kabataan unnecessarily endangers lives of members.
“This is a clear malicious threat to the members of legitimate student organizations inside the campus and in the participation of our party list in the coming elections whom the military continue to brand as communist-fronts,” Karla Hyasmind Apat said.
“We condemn the military’s terrorist acts against the youth and students organizations. We condemn the government’s propagation of the culture of impunity which robs the youth of their freedom of expression” Apat said.
Militant groups have earlier denounced deployment of armed soldiers in cities and provinces who are allegedly campaigning against party lists with links to the CPP and its affiliates.
Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon denied soldiers were involved in partisan politics and said the deployment is part of security operation to help police ensure peace.
“Esperon is engaging in doublespeak. What he has been telling the public is totally contradictory with what is happening in the areas where soldiers are deployed,” said Editha Duterte, spokesperson of the Anakpawis party list in Southern Mindanao.
She said troops from the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion prevented citizens from attending party list activities and farmers’ fora in Davao del Sur province. She said soldiers have been showing the military documentary entitled ‘Knowing the Enemy,’ which brazenly maligns progressive party-lists, organizations and the media and religious sectors, among others, by tagging them as NPA and CPP fronts.
“No matter how Esperon, the AFP and even Malacañang deny that they are campaigning against us and our allied groups, they can never fool the majority of the population,” Duterte said.
Even the militant party list group called Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) warned of an increase in human rights violations as soldiers pour into urban areas.
“The deployment of soldiers in Metro Manila and other urban areas will worsen the already deplorable rights situation in the country. The counter-insurgency terror being spread in countryside will be replicated in the urban areas. Expect zonings illegal search and seizure, arrest without warrants and more extra-judicial killings,” said Elmer Labog, KMU national chairman.
Labog said that with military deployment, labor disputes can turn intobloody confrontations like what happened in November 2004 at Hacienda Luisita sugar plantation in La Paz town in Tarlac where some 1,000 soldiers and policemen stormed a barricade and opened fire on farmers protesting low pay.
Twelve picketers and two children were killed and hundreds of protesting farmers injured in the attack.
“They accused the Hacienda workers of having been infiltrated by the New People’s Army rebels to justify the murder. What is stopping the AFP to use the same justification to break labor disputes,” asked Labog.
“We are going back to the dark days of Martial Law. But the difference with Marcos is that Arroyo is using gradual constriction against the remaining democracy in the country.”
“Our rights are under the vise of a political anaconda which entangles it target, then slowly squeezes the life from its prey, waits for the last breath to expire then swallows everything. If we allow the militarization to continue, will wake up one day with all our rights swallowed up and taken away from us,” he said.
Militant groups were also worried over the approval of President Gloria Arroyo of the anti-terrorism bill, saying, it could be used to abuse human rights and stifle press freedom.
The Senate approved the bill and the United States welcomed the signing the Human Security Act of 2007 by President Arroyo, saying, it is a positive step forward in countering and preventing terrorism in the Philippines.
This new law will help provide Philippine law enforcement and judicial authorities with the legal tools they need to confront the threats posed by international terrorism, while ensuring protection of civil liberties and human rights.
“The United States will continue to work with the Philippines as a partner and ally in the war on terrorism, providing technical assistance, training and sharing information with Philippine counterparts,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement it sent Tuesday to the Mindanao Examiner.
President Arroyo said the anti-terror law is a landmark in the battle against evil. She said Filipinos have nothing to fear in this law for it is a weapon that shall be wielded against bombers and not protesters.
“It upgrades our preemptive capability to check the conspiracies of harm and mass murder, and contain the movement of arms and funds to sow mayhem. This brings to a higher level our successful campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, JI and Al Qaeda cells now being carried out in a broader front of national and regional vigilance.”
“We will keep bombers at bay as we drive up confidence in the Philippines, grow jobs, increase incomes and lift the people from poverty. Our message to the world is to have no safe haven for terror in our country, and to have a strong democratic society driven by freedom under the rule of law. Let us all unite behind a renewed campaign against terror and drive out this scourge to a modern Philippines,” the President said Tuesday. (Mindanao Examiner)
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