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Charges against Joma, Satur and Jalandoni are absurd
Ka Roger
September 02, 2006
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today dismissed as "absolutely without basis and completely absurd"
the plan of the military to file multiple murder charges against National Democratic Front Senior Political Consultant
Jose Ma. Sison, NDF Peace Panel Chairperson Luis Jalandoni and Bayan Muna Congressman Satur Ocampo for the
alleged 1980s killing of more than 100 "murder victims" supposedly dug up from a "mass grave" in Southern Leyte.
CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that "Obviously, the accusations are being levelled against Sison,
Ocampo and Jalandoni at this time in order for Malacaņang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to evade
responsibility for the current widespread political killings instigated by the Arroyo regime itself and perpetrated by
its military forces and death squads, shift the blame on the New People's Army (NPA) and muffle the victims and
the people's widespread demand for justice."
"The clear psywar aim is to insinuate that the NPA is involved in the current political killings and at the same time
contrive a legal offensive against key personalities in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as well as
against progressive party-list organizations in the legal arena," added Rosal.
Rosal noted that the blowing up of this issue follows a definitive statement of Gloria Arroyo on the first working
day of the Melo Commission supposedly to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the controversial
political killings, where the president said that those killings charged against the military were actually done by the
opposition in league with the Communist Party.
"In the first place, it is absurd that Sison, Jalandoni and Ocampo are now being accused of having directly and
personally instigated and even signed the orders for the supposed killings in Southern Leyte, when even the
military claims those killings took place during the early to mid-1980s," said Rosal pointing out that it is impossible
for them to have anything to do with those supposed killings. He explained that Sison and Ocampo were imprisoned
by the Marcos martial law regime from the 1970s up to 1986, while Jalandoni has been an exile in The Netherlands
since the 1970s. Sison was abroad in 1987 and was forced to seek political asylum in The Netherlands because of
threats to his life and person.
Rosal said the "This so-called 'mass graves' is a big publicity stunt of the AFP. They have not even identified the
skeletal remains nor have they established whether they are in fact victims of a criminal act. Yet they are quick
to accuse Sison, Jalandoni and Ocampo of murder."
"On the other hand, despite overwhelming evidence, not one of those responsible in the Arroyo regime and the
AFP has been charged for the 740 cases of killings of activists and those accused by the military as sympathizers
of the New People's Army (NPA) since the onset of the regime."
"Worse, they have even promoted the likes of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan who has been accused as directly ordering
the extra-judicial killings of scores of people during his term as head of the 7th Infantry Division in Central Luzon, not
to mention the hundreds more he has ordered killed in Mindoro and the Eastern Visayas," added Rosal.
Rosal said further: "Those accusing the CPP have no credibility at all," pointing out that AFP Chief-of-staff Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon, himself, "has zero-credibility" for having been one of the key figures in the manipulation
of the 2004 elections in Mindanao to ensure Gloria Arroyo's theft of the presidential elections.
Rosal said the "ex-NPA commander" said to be helping the AFP in locating the graves and serving as the AFP's
mouthpiece is known to have turned traitor and served as an agent of the military since 2001. Rosal said, "if this
so-called mass grave is true, why is it that it is being dugged up only now when this person has been with the
AFP since long ago."
"Those remains could very well be props. We know that the AFP has sackfuls of skeletal remains in their bodegas
that they haul off to various places as "exhibits" of "mass graves of NPA victims, complete with a cast of supposed
victims' relatives and 'criers'," said Rosal. "Lumang taktika na ito ng militar (This is an old tactic of the miltiary). They
have been exposed perfoming this contrivance several times in Mauban, Quezon and San Fernando, Bukidnon, and
they could very well be doing it again now in Southern Leyte."
Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:[email protected]
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