PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
February 28, 2007

US offer of help in investigation of killings duplicitous—CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today called the US government's offer to help in the investigation of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines "duplicitous. "

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that "In the first place, it is the US government that is the ultimate mastermind and promoter of the rampant fascization and spate of extrajudicial killings going on in the country."

Rosal was reacting to a statement the other day by US Ambassador Kristie Kenney who said that with the extrajudicial killings being "a serious problem in the Philippines, " the US was willing to assist the Arroyo government in any way. At the same time, however, Kenney declined to pinpoint responsibility for the killings and praised the Arroyo government for the "positive things" it has done such as coming out with "quite a serious action plan, including putting human rights desks (the AFP Human Rights Office) over at the military." Kenney was likewise vague about what kind of assistance the US could give, saying that this would depend on "what the government wants."

Rosal called the US ambassador "a hypocrite," saying that "as the representative of the world's Number One terrorist, she was in no position to act as if her government's hands are clean."

"The Arroyo regime's campaign of killing activist patriots and democrats is, in fact, being carried out under the guidance and tutelege of the US. Extrajudicial executions are in line with the US' so-called global war on terror and primarily targets advocates of national liberation and democracy and those who wish to put an end to US imperialist domination of the country," said Rosal.

"The fingerprints of the US military are all over the Arroyo regime's internal security operation plan Bantay Laya which serves as the operational framework of the AFP in carrying out the extrajudicial killings and other fascist attacks against the open, legal democratic forces as well as the unarmed civilian mass base of the revolutionary movement," said Rosal.

He added that "Not only does Bantay Laya echo the Bush government's doctrine of waging preemptive wars of terror and promoting fascism in its client states, it follows the very same operational blueprint that has guided and directed the US' 'dirty wars' in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, targeting what it deems as the 'support system and political infrastructure of the people's armed revolution'. "

"The ongoing political killings are actually a collaboration of the US government, its puppet regime and puppet armed forces and are aimed at terrorizing and silencing the Filipino people's patriotic and democratic movement and eliminating challenges to American superpower hegemony in the country," said Rosal.


Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:cppmedia@ gmail.com