With the capture of retired military official Jovito Palparan, we remember the more than 1,000 students, youth leaders, peasant- and worker-leaders, journalists and activists who were killed, tortured and abducted during the Arroyo presidency and under Palparan’s Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2—among them, youth activists Karen Empeño, Sherlyn Cadapan, Cris Hugo, Ambo Guran and Farley Alcantara.
Palparan and other military officials responsible for this fascist mass murder campaign should be held accountable for their crimes. There should be no special treatment, no cover-up. Other military officials, retired or in active service, should also be arrested and held accountable. Military and government officials who helped Palparan elude arrest should also be charged.
There is reason to fear that President Aquino will provide special treatment for Palparan and his cohorts. Mr. Aquino has proven to be insincere in calling into account those responsible for human rights violations. Mr. Aquino has not condemned the fascist rampage under Arroyo. In fact, Palparan’s campaigns and human rights violations continue under President Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan.
Last Aug. 10, two UP students—Gerald “Geary” Salonga and Guiller Martin Cadano, members of Anakbayan and Kabataan Partylist—were abducted by suspected elements of the 3rd Infantry Battalion. They surfaced later in police custody, illegally arrested for being “rebels.” There have been more than 192 extrajudicial killings from July 2010 to December 2013.
The people should intensify the call for justice, accountability and an end to Oplan Bayanihan.
Justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations under the Arroyo and Aquino administrations!
Jail Palparan! End Oplan Bayanihan!
—VENCER CRISOSTOMO,
national chair, Anakbayan,
anakbayan.media@gmail.com