News Release
February 17, 2008
References: Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman, KMP and president, ANKAPAWIS party list
 
 
Run for Truth and Justice!!!
 
U.P. Diliman Quezon City; members of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates Youth Sector (NNARA-Youth) held a protest action at the academic oval in UP Diliman, Sunday morning. Dubbed as “Run for Truth and Justice“, the said activity follows the continuing assertion along with various peasant organization spearheaded by the KMP to demand for the truth and for justice to be served. It is also a protest for the unconditional release of Randall ‘Ka Randy” Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs.
 
According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “as more and more Filipinos are knowing the truth of the corruption prevalent in the Macapagal-Arroyo regime, we are urging more whistleblowers to come out and testify against this rotten administration. We are supporting Jun Lozada and his crusade for truth,”
 
“At the same time, it is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who deserves to be in jail and not Ka Randy. All he did was to struggle for genuine agrarian reform and the betterment of the peasant class, while Gloria is stealing left and right together with her Mafia family,” added the peasant leader.
 
As for her part, Amihan Mabalay, NNARA Youth chairperson, said “We are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Ka Randy Echanis who have been again victimized by the Arroyo administration’ s malicious and baseless accusation. He did not commit any act of atrocity against the people of Leyte or in any place in the Philippines . “
 
Echanis was accused of murder for 15 counts in connection with the so-called mass graves discovered in Hilongos, Leyte . But the peasant leader was in detention and held under solitary confinement when the alleged crime was committed. He was arrested in 1983 by then Ministry of National Defense Security Group under then Col. Gregorio Honasan, Red Kapunan and the late Rodolfo Aguinaldo. He was held incommunicado from 1983 to 1984 and was transferred to Camp Adduru , Regional Command 2 Stockade in Tuguegarao, Cagayan until his release in March 1986. She said “The accusation is so preposterous, how come he can be in two different places at the same time?  Even the government record itself can clearly show that he is nowhere but in prison when the so-called “communist purging “took place”
 “Since his release, Ka Randy resumed his pro-people work by joining the group of ex-political detainees, helped in pursuing the human rights claimants’ case against the Marcos dictatorship and actively participated in the pre-formation of human rights group Karapatan, until his appointment as KMP deputy secretary general in 1999, during its 5th National Congress,” the youth leader ended.
Prior to his arrest, the Supreme Court dismissed the rebellion case against him along with the six progressive party list representatives popularly known as the Batasan Six in connection with the February 24, 2006 coup attempt in which the high tribunal assailed the Arroyo administration for assaulting the civil rights of the Filipino people. “We believe Ka Randy’s integrity; he sacrificed much of his lifetime by serving the masses particularly in the countryside whose economic and political rights have dimmed at the hands of big land lords in connivance with the government. That is why all the youth activists should learn from his experience on his unyielding principles by heeding the call to serve the Filipino people. # # #