Monday, March 12, 2007

Anakpawis files list of nominees at the Comelec

Monday March 12, 2007

Anakpawis files list of nominees at the Comelec

Beltran uses one day of temporary freedom to denounce government repression; threatened arrest of other progressive solons

By virtue of a decision laid down by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150, Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran was allowed to leave detention for one day today, March 12, 2007, so he may join and lead Anakpawis Party-List in filing the official list of its nominees to the May elections at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Intramuros.

He was escorted from his detention room at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) in Quezon City by 10 elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and taken in an ambulance to the Comelec where Anakpawis supporters organized a support rally. It was his first time to leave the hospital since September 2006 when he was allowed to leave and file counter-charges at the Office of the Ombudsman against the arresting officers and Department of Justice staff who handled his case.

During the filing Beltran was joined by wife Rosario Soto-Beltran who has taken over part of what should have been Beltran's campaign work in urban poor community areas in Quezon City, particularly in Commonwealth.

Fellow Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, secretary general Cherry Clemente, deputy-seretary general Sammy Malunes also facilitated the filing the necessary documents. Besides Beltran and Mariano who stand as Anakpawis' first and second nominees, the other nominees are Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) secretary general Joel Maglunsod, Confederation for the Unity, Recognition of Government Employees (COURAGE) president Ferdinand Gaite, and Pambansang Lakas ng Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) president Fernando Hicap Jr.

"I continue to assert my innocence against these ridiculous charges and frustratingly fake and perjured testimonies against me. All I have done as a progressive lawmaker is to speak out against the abuses and injustices of the Macapagal-Arroyo government against the Filipino people."

"I continue to be detained because I have refused to keep quiet in my criticism against this corrupt government. What has been done to me and my continuing incarceration despite my innocence is still nothing compared the more heinous evils this government commits against the Filipino people. I fight and denounce my accusers the same way I denounce the way they systematically dismantle the remaining vestiges of democracy and political civility in the Philippines," he said.

Beltran also decried the threatened arrest of the other progressive lawmakers Mariano, Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino; and Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Liza Maza. "Sobra na. They cannot be allowed to go through what I have gone through this last year. The Arroyo government is only compounding its already countless crimes against the Filipino by relentless harassing the lawmakers of the progressive party-lists. What is happening now is an alarming throwback to the dark years under the Marcos dictatorship."

The next hearing of Beltran' sedition case in on March 26 at 1:30 pm at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. The court has junked Beltran's motion to have the case dismissed and ordered the initiation of a full-blown trial. #

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