NR1005:Martial law veteran says GMA and PNP thugs can do their worst...
From the Office of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
News Release October 5, 2005
72-year old Martial Law veteran says GMA and her PNP thugs can do their worst, but they will not emerge victorious against the people’s sovereign will expressing itself militantly in spilling out into the streets
Anakpawis Representative and veteran labor leader Crispin Beltran today said that the Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her thugs in the Philippine National Police (AFP) and cohorts in Congress can do their worst in attacking the civil, political and human rights of the Filipino people, but they will not have an easy victory. The 72-year old former political detainee under the Marcos dictatorship said that Mrs. Arroyo is all the more exposing her government to be viciously anti-people, and this will cement her place in Philippine history as one of the most fascistic presidents – apart from being corrupt and illegitimate—after Marcos.
“She will never again rest easy on her seat in Malacanang. The more she insist on remaining in power and the more vicious and underhanded her attacks against her legitimate political opponents and the constitutionally-sanctioned and guaranteed rights of freedom of assembly and expression, the more severe the backlash will be. Every drop of civilian blood that is spilled by her thugs in the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (PNP) in the course of the dispersals and the conduct of military operations defending her corrupt presidency will be eventually accounted for. Mrs. Arroyo’s reputation as a fledgling but rapidly developing dictator is now sealed,” he said.
Beltran said that he and fellow Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano as well as the lawmakers from Bayan Muna and Gabriela Women’s Party will fight tooth and nail along with other human rights advocates and civil libertarians within Congress and outside to oppose the anti-terrorism bill, the calibrated preemptive response policy, executive order 464 and other executive dictates curtailing freedom of speech and expression, and demonizing progressive and militant individuals and organizations as terrorists and destabilizers.
Beltran is slated to join the multisectoral protests today in Mendiola spearheaded by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) and the Gloria Step Down! Movement. He said that the conduct of the police in dispersing the rallies in obeisance to Malacanang’s calibrated preemptive response policy towards protest was chillingly reminiscent of the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship. He said that Marcos gave no quarter no protestors and bore down hard on civilians joining the protests. “Macapagal-Arroyo is doing the exact same thing – only to some degree, what she’s doing is worse because did not have to declare to martial law to order the brutal crackdown on this most democratic form of political expression,” he said.
The activist lawmaker in the meantime said that PNP chief Arturo Lomibao should be sacked from his post and charged with massive counts of physical assault against demonstrators. “The last time I looked, there is no law stating that the PNP can attack unarmed protestors with shields, truncheons or steel knuckles. There in no justifying this blatant display of state terrorism. Lomibao cannot hide behind Malacanang on this issue. His accountability for the brutal dispersals is separate from the accountability of his corrupt commander in chief Macapagal-Arroyo,” he said. #
News Release October 5, 2005
72-year old Martial Law veteran says GMA and her PNP thugs can do their worst, but they will not emerge victorious against the people’s sovereign will expressing itself militantly in spilling out into the streets
Anakpawis Representative and veteran labor leader Crispin Beltran today said that the Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her thugs in the Philippine National Police (AFP) and cohorts in Congress can do their worst in attacking the civil, political and human rights of the Filipino people, but they will not have an easy victory. The 72-year old former political detainee under the Marcos dictatorship said that Mrs. Arroyo is all the more exposing her government to be viciously anti-people, and this will cement her place in Philippine history as one of the most fascistic presidents – apart from being corrupt and illegitimate—after Marcos.
“She will never again rest easy on her seat in Malacanang. The more she insist on remaining in power and the more vicious and underhanded her attacks against her legitimate political opponents and the constitutionally-sanctioned and guaranteed rights of freedom of assembly and expression, the more severe the backlash will be. Every drop of civilian blood that is spilled by her thugs in the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (PNP) in the course of the dispersals and the conduct of military operations defending her corrupt presidency will be eventually accounted for. Mrs. Arroyo’s reputation as a fledgling but rapidly developing dictator is now sealed,” he said.
Beltran said that he and fellow Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano as well as the lawmakers from Bayan Muna and Gabriela Women’s Party will fight tooth and nail along with other human rights advocates and civil libertarians within Congress and outside to oppose the anti-terrorism bill, the calibrated preemptive response policy, executive order 464 and other executive dictates curtailing freedom of speech and expression, and demonizing progressive and militant individuals and organizations as terrorists and destabilizers.
Beltran is slated to join the multisectoral protests today in Mendiola spearheaded by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) and the Gloria Step Down! Movement. He said that the conduct of the police in dispersing the rallies in obeisance to Malacanang’s calibrated preemptive response policy towards protest was chillingly reminiscent of the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship. He said that Marcos gave no quarter no protestors and bore down hard on civilians joining the protests. “Macapagal-Arroyo is doing the exact same thing – only to some degree, what she’s doing is worse because did not have to declare to martial law to order the brutal crackdown on this most democratic form of political expression,” he said.
The activist lawmaker in the meantime said that PNP chief Arturo Lomibao should be sacked from his post and charged with massive counts of physical assault against demonstrators. “The last time I looked, there is no law stating that the PNP can attack unarmed protestors with shields, truncheons or steel knuckles. There in no justifying this blatant display of state terrorism. Lomibao cannot hide behind Malacanang on this issue. His accountability for the brutal dispersals is separate from the accountability of his corrupt commander in chief Macapagal-Arroyo,” he said. #
posted at 12:41 PM
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