by Gouda » Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:34 am
The world truly is round. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HF02Ae04.html">www.atimes.com/atimes/Sou...2Ae04.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Killing season in the Philippines</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>By Herbert Docena <br><br>MANILA - Political activist Cathy Alcantara was gunned down by unidentified assailants last December 5, outside the resort where she had helped to organize a conference on farmers' rights.<br><br>Two months later, the lifeless body of her activist friend, 19-year-old Audie Lucero, was found in a remote rice field. Lucero was last seen surrounded by police officers and soldiers in a hospital lobby, inexplicably crying.<br><br>Annaliza Abanador-Gandia, another left-leaning activist, had frequently marched with the two victims, often at the forefront of demonstrations calling for various sorts of political change, including the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an end to US military exercises in the Philippines, and overhaul of the World Trade Organization's free-trade policies...<br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Trouble in the provinces</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Fallen activist Abanador-Gandia's province falls under the command of Major-General Jovito Palparan, the most controversial military official in the Philippines. Widely dubbed "the executioner" by his critics, Palparan stands accused of perpetrating a rash of killings and disappearances of leftist activists during his previous postings in Samar and Mindoro provinces.<br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>'We hate communists'</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>It's obviously a charge that those who have been killed will not have the opportunity to contest. Most of the victims belonged to legal leftist or left-leaning organizations enumerated in the AFP's list of alleged "front" organizations. As a recent Amnesty International report puts it, "Increased killing in particular provinces were reportedly linked to the public labeling of leftist groups as NPA front organizations by local AFP commanders." <br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Proud human-rights record</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Now, the government publicly views the widespread killing of activists as just a sad coincidence. There is no set pattern and the killings are unrelated, officials contend. Accusations against state security officials are routinely shrugged off. <br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>A poor record</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Arroyo's administration is turning out to be the most repressive regime in the Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos' corrupt authoritarian rule. According to the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, about 3,400 people were killed and more than 700 disappeared during Marcos' 14-year dictatorship. <br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Thinking about a new revolution</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>In many ways, the recent wave of killings is a tragic reprise of previous episodes in Philippine history. In 1946, leftist legislators were also expelled from Congress and driven to the mountains. Death squads stalked the Philippines' countryside in the early 1950s and late 1980s. Newspaper offices were routinely padlocked by the government during periods of martial law. State-sponsored disappearances gave birth to a generation of orphans and widows. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
