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Unconstitutional Aspects of 1017 are Knocked Down but Persecution of its Victims Like Batasan 6 Continues
By Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
4 May 2006
Proclamation 1017 was based on the big lie that the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army had forged an alliance with
anti-Arroyo sections of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the purpose of carrying out a
coup d'etat on February 24.
In issuing Proclamation 1017, the real objective of Gloria M. Arroyo and her cohorts was to prevent the people from exercising their right to
speak and assemble at Edsa shrine on February 24 and likewise the anti-Arroyo military and police officers and troops from peacefully joining
the mass protest and expressing withdrawal of support from Arroyo.
There was neither a coup plan nor a coup attempt on February 23 or 24. There was no coup attempt supposedly aborted by Proclamation
1017. In fact, the Arroyo regime cannot show any evidence of a coup plan or coup attempt. It simply keeps on repeating the big lie.
The conversation that Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Col. Ariel Querubin had with AFP chief of staff Generoso Senga on February 23 about the
question of joining the mass rally on February 24 in order to withdraw support from Arroyo did not amount to a coup plan or coup attempt.
And yet it led to restraints on Lim, Querubin and other military personnel in the wee hours of February 24. Until now, the Arroyo regime
and AFP have not been able to file any coup charge against them.
The papers allegedly taken from Lt. Lawrence San Juan and Atty. Christopher Belmonte on February 21 in Batangas do not show any proof
that the CPP and NPA forged an alliance with the anti-Arroyo military officers in Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KAB) and the Makabayang
Kawal Pilipino (MKP) for the purpose of carrying out a coup d'etat at anytime.
A careful reading and analysis of the papers on the AFP website show that the two sides consider the possibility of a patriotic and progressive
alliance and transitional council under the principle of the people's sovereignty and civilian supremacy in order to oust the Arroyo regime in the
manner of 1986 and 2001 and pave the way for the resumption of the formal talks of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
The most obvious unconstitutional and unlawful aspects of Proclamation 1017 have been formally knocked down by the Supreme Court. But
the oppressive character and consequences of the proclamation still weigh heavily on the Batasan 6 and others accused of involvement in an
imaginary coup alliance between the communists and the anti-Arroyo military officers.
Arroyo' s armed minions and her department of injustice are hell-bent on doing everything they can to persecute the most articulate and most
militant opposition leaders by subjecting them to fabricated charges of rebellion and other extremely anomalous impositions. They retain the
same propensity for telling lies to justify the use of force in suppressing the democratic rights of the people. Of course, the worst is suffered by
those targeted for kidnapping, torture and assassination by the death squads of Oplan Bantay Laya.
It would be fine if the Senate can investigate the question of whether there was at all a coup plan or coup attempt on February 24 and the
related questions of Arroyo's usurpation of legislative power and curtailment of democratic rights through Proclamation 1017. The Senate
investigation is likely to provide an immediate relief to those being persecuted by Arroyo and her henchmen.
The legal democratic mass movement should encourage all possible forms of investigation and courses of action to expose, further isolate and
terminate Arroyo's regime of puppetry, corruption, brutality and mendacity. While the legal mass actions run at their own rate in aiming at the
ouster of Arroyo, the armed revolutionary movement of the Filipino people is spreading, intensifying and reaping victories at an unprecedented
rate.###
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