A pooled statement on the recent threat posed by the AFP against militant youth organizations in schools in Baguio

 

by Anakbayan - Metro-Baguio,

Kabataan Partylist - Cordillera,

College Editors Guild - Baguio-Benguet and

National Union of Students - Baguio-Benguet

 

June 19, 2007—a military personnel appeared in TV Patrol Northern Luzon yesterday in a report by Dobbie de Guzman and ludicrously lambasted legal student and youth organizations in Metro-Baguio—tagging them as front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

 

The military claimed these organizations implement a “Program” towards becoming a communist guerilla—initially, by “recruitment” to one of the so-called legal fronts; followed by a “promotion” to the National Democratic Front and the wrap-up rite being the “enlistment” to the CPP-NPA.

 

Where the military got his “evidence” that militant youth organizations put into operation the aforementioned “Program” remains unknown to the general public. The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) high-ranking officials, alongside Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, after all, has had a long history of pronouncing pitiable, abominable excuses to justify the spectacular military adventurism sweeping the country.

 

Thus, the malicious aligning of militant student & youth organizations to the CPP-NPA—though preposterous and dangerous at best—did not come as a shock at all in an epoch where almost 900 militants, church workers, union leaders and members, student activists and journalists were killed and where more than 200 remain missing.

 

Hurling such accusations to those critical to the government is akin to beating the war drums against the Filipino youth. Baguio student & youth activists are now vulnerable to attacks—be it surveillance, abduction, interrogation, torture, detainment or murder. Filipino students and youth are not spared from the unparalleled assaults on civil liberties & human rights in the despotic regime of Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo.

  

A critical look into the cases of slain Bicol University student leader and League of Filipino Students (LFS)-Regional Coordinator Cris Hugo; slain Aquinas University student and LFS Legaspi City-Spokesperson Rei Mon Guran; slain Camarines Norte State College cum laude candidate and LFS-Camarines Norte spokesperson Farly Alcantara; slain Ateneo de Davao student journalist, College Editors Guild of the Philippines-Vice President for Mindanao and Karapatan Southern Mindanao-Deputy Secretary General Benjaline Hernandez and the disappearance of University of the Philippines-Diliman students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, members of LFS & Anakbayan respectively, who were doing research on the plight of farmers in Hagonoy, Bulacan at the time of their abduction, implies the direct involvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines—whose sworn duty—ironically, is to serve and protect the Filipino youth, studentry and the people.

 

The most recent acts of brutality perpetrated by the AFP is the abduction, torture and murder of two Kabataan Partylist Camarines Norte Campaigners and the abduction, torture and detainment of a Kabataan Partylist Regional Coordinator in Leyte.

 

Ronilo Brezuela and Roberto “Jun Jun” Bagasbas, Jr., only 16 & 27 years old respectively at the time of their deaths, were abducted after they brought food to their fellow poll watchers. Conversely, the Alpha Company of the 31st Infantry Battalion based in Tigbinan, Labo, Camarines Norte claimed that the two are NPA guerillas killed in an encounter.

 

Ronaldo Cabato Jr., Kabataan Partylist-Leyte Regional Coordinator was abducted in Ormoc City, Leyte on the evening of May 7, 2007. Cabato was tortured and detained for almost a month.

 

Having established these premises, we, leaders and members of militant youth organizations in the Cordilleras, hold the military accountable at the event something dismal happens to officers or members of youth organizations in Baguio.

 

The victims of gross human rights violations are not merely numbers on statistics. They are ordinary people with mothers, fathers, brothers, siblings and friends—all left to grieve after their untimely demise. They were ordinary students who proved that there are a lot of things to learn and answer to beyond the confines of the classroom. They were ordinary youngsters who were definitely wise beyond their years—deemed extraordinary because they have chosen to heed to the bewails of the oppressed, toiling masses.

 

The goons of the Arroyo government are clearly bent on distorting the fine line that separates legal democratic organizations from armed revolutionary organizations. They will stop at nothing and are geared to use any means necessary to subdue all of its critics.

 

It is not contented with the sky-high military exploits in the countryside and in urban poor communities. As a matter of fact, it is also planning to deploy troops to schools in order to terrorize known members of progressive youth groups, student publications and councils.

 

If the military in general has genuine, sufficient proof that these legal student & youth organizations are indeed “legal fronts” of the CPP-NPA, we challenge him them to bring this issue to the court. Publicizing a grave yet baseless accusation is not only imprudent; it is also perilous to our reputation and security.

 

At the light of this imprudent attack on our ranks, we, the Filipino youth & students of Metro- Baguio, will be more vigilant than ever.

 
We call upon all freedom-loving citizens to condemn the shroud of fear the AFP is subjecting us, the Filipino youth & students, in. We condemn in the strongest terms the renewed attacks on civil liberties and human rights that will certainly escalate upon the absolute implementation of the Human Security Act. We denounce the desperate measures the Arroyo administration resort to in order to quash the pro-people actions of progressive youth organizations. We demand that justice be granted to all the victims of enforced disappearances and summary executions and that the AFP be held accountable and punishable for its unspeakable crimes against the Filipino people.