Bayan Calls For National Indignation vs Political Killings

Widespread protests to culminate in June 12 rally

As the activist death toll continues to rise, the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today called for national indignation against extra-judicial killings of activists. Weekly protests are expected leading up to June 12, Independence Day.

Human rights group Karapatan has documented 584 activist deaths since 2001. A total of 66 activists and leaders have been killed this year in what is turning out to be the bloodiest year yet for cause-oriented groups.

“This is a fight that we will not back down from. We say, enough of the killings fields. We are intent on making the Arroyo regime accountable, legally and politically. She is going to reap the whirlwind,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

“There will be weekly protests from now until June 12 where we expect nationwide demonstrations against the administration. Every time an activist is killed, we will go to the gates of the Department of National Defense and the Philippine National Police. Every time an activist is murdered, we will gather in public places to denounce the killings,” Reyes said.

Bayan also expects increasedinternational pressure on the administration. “The killings will be politically costly for Arroyo. International observers, human rights watchdogs and foreign governments have already condemned the rise in activist deaths. We expect international pressure to increase as the human rights violations continue.”

Bayan slammed the AFP’s allegations blaming the killings on another communist purge as “incredibly stupid”.

“Unlike the regime, the Filipino people are not stupid enough to believe these fabrications of a communist purge. These unfounded allegations are meant to cover-up government complicity in the extra-judicial killings. It is also a lame excuse for the failure of the authorities to go after the individuals who orchestrated the killings,” Reyes said.

Reyes said that the AFP and PNP are the biggest armed groups in the country with the sole capacity to undertake the systematic annihilation of activist groups. He also said that the AFP and PNP also are also motivated by the elimination of the most well-organized opposition to the administration.

“We have seen the accounts of witnesses linking military men, intelligence assets and even the police to the activist killings. Also, the public pronouncements of the AFP, appearing in such works as Knowing the Enemy and the book Trinity of War, also support the claim that the military is out to destroy progressive legal organizations,” Reyes said.

“We have been called communist-terrorists, destabilizers, enemies of state and other derogatory labels. These terms sum up how the military and the administration view the progressive legal organizations. We are treated as open targets,” he added.