Sunday, March 11, 2007

"We have Arroyo, the AFP to thank for our even greater popularity with the public"- Beltran

Sunday March 11, 2007

"We have Arroyo, the AFP to thank for our even greater popularity with the public"- Beltran

Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran will be allowed to leave the premises of the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) in Quezon where he has been detained under 24-7 guard since April 2006. Beltran will be escorted by 10 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (CIDG) and proceed to the offices of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) where he will lead Anakpawis Party-list in filing the list of its official nominees in the May 2007 elections.

Beltran has been charged with inciting to sedition and rebellion and has been incacerated since February 26 last year. Tomorrow will be the first time that he will leave the confines of his room in the PHC since September when he filed counter-charges against his accusers at the Office of the Omudsman.

Members, supporters of leaders of Anakpawis particularly fellow Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, secretary general Cherry Clemente, deputy-seretary general Sammy Malunes will welcome Beltran and together file the necessary documents to the Comelec. Other Anakpawis 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.

Anakpawis vice-chairman Rafael Baylosis will be unable to attend the filing because of the warrant of arrest issued against him linking him to a supposed purge that took place more than a decade ago. Baylosis has sent word, however, that he is not in hiding, only being careful because he intends to continue helping Anakpawis' electoral campaign and he will not be able to do if he is detained. Baylosis has asserted his innocence of the charges and said that they were 'obvious fabrications pushed by motives to undermine Anakpawis' chances of winning in May.'

Beltran, 74, said that even as the Macapagal-Arroyo government continues to attack and harass the bloc of progressive party-lists led by Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women's Party, the support for the said groups continue to pour in. The campaign for his release continues to gain local and international support.

"The Arroyo govenrment's reprehensible tactics against us all the more make the public sympathetic towards our cause and campaign," he said. "We are being seen as underdogs, being viciously attacked and mauled by a dog of bigger, vicious and rabid dog," he said.

"We have Pres. Arroyo, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the various idiots who comprise the AFP and Malacanang tactics and strategies team for making us even more popular that we already are. Public support and sympathy are with us, not with the Arroyo government. They cannot weaken our party-lists. They have perpetrated hundreds of extrajudicial killings against our members and leaders, but our ranks continue to grow despite. We have reason, justice and public support on our side," he said.

"The despotic tendencies of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration are blatantly showing. Even individuals and groups formerly against us are now alarmed at what's being done against us. This outrage could very well form the core of a renewed and reinvigorated campaign for Pres. Arroyo's ouster. By allowing the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) free-reign to harass the progressive party-lists, not only diregarding but outrightly violating the law, Pres. Arroyo is digging her own political grave." #

Anakpawis files official list of nominees at the Comelec office in Intramuros tomorrow, Monday, March 12 at 10 am. Media coverage is requested. Thank you very much!

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