From the Office of Rep. Crispin Beltran

South Wing Room 602 House of Representatives

Constitution Hills 1126 Quezon City, Philippines

Reference: Rep.Crispin Beltran (+63)9278711080

Ina Alleco R. Silverio, chief of staff  931.6615, 09195065269

 

 News Release   Wednesday, January 17, 2007

 

Solon says AFP leaders lie when they say that their institution is non-partisan; in the regions, the AFP campaigns against progressive party-lists and for Macapagal-Arroyo

 

 Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran  today said that national security adviser Norberto Gonzales and other red-baiters in the Macapagal-Arroyo administration should be held responsible for every single member, leader and sympathizer of progressive party-lists such as Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women's Party killed.

 

"Gonzales continues to exhort the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into escalating attacks against the progressive party-lists, especially this coming election season. The AFP leadership, for its part, expose themselves as liars every time they declare themselves non-partisan. It's crystal clear that the AFP is actively campaigning against our party-lists and terrorizing Filipinos who support us and our advocacies. Gonzales is a dyed-in-the-wool hypocrite much like the administration he defends and represents. He tries to justify his attacks against our party-lists and allied people's organizations  by saying that it's all in the defense in democracy; but the truth is that it's a campaign of brutality and violence where civilians are killed in cold-blood," he said.

 

"Gonzales is a political nobody who sold his services to Macapagal-Arroyo who, in turn, saw the usefulness of Gonzales' anti-communist obsession. Gonzales is nothing and no one in the country's general political workings, he is a handyman whose main tasks are to exaggerate national security threats and demonize our party-lists and allied people's organizations. He gets his bed and butter from the death of political activists and human rights advocates," he added.

 

Beltran said that the public should be warned against the AFP and their tactics of terrorism. "Where the AFP deploys its troops, human rights violations abound, and not a few civilians fall victim to extrajudicial killings. This coming elections, we can see the Macapagal-Arroyo administration further goading members of the AFP into launching more localized campaigns to attack progressive party-lists and our members and campaign officials. It is not messages of   progress that the AFP is spreading in the name of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, but death and injustice," he said.

 

The activist lawmaker said that this early, he has received reports from Anakpawis regional and provincial formations that detachments of the AFP are going into communities defaming Anakpawis and its sister party-list groups and their standard-bearers and representatives in congress.

 

"Members of the AFP and its paramilitary groups are terrorizing community residents and threatening them on pain of death not to support much less vote for our party-list groups. The AFP completely sheds all pretenses of being non-partisan in the rural areas, and defame and libel our party-lists while at the same time campaigning for the Arroyo administration and the candidates it's supporting in the region," he said. #