Editorial:
Militant resistance to militarization in Mindoro

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The people have shown extraordinary militancy in the face of the AFP's intense terrorism in Occidental Mindoro. With utmost courage, they have stood up for their human rights, opposed AFP repression and employed all means to expose the military violence being unleashed in the area.

In the face of the threats hurled, hindrances set up and fascism unleashed by the military, KARAPATAN- Southern Tagalog firmly persisted in supporting the barriofolk and in investigating, exposing and mitigating the abuses and violence being inflicted upon them by the military.

The Mangyans established close relations with and enthusiastically welcomed KARAPATAN-ST in order to disclose the truth about the military abuses being perpetrated and coordinate with the human rights group to break free from their confinement in the hellish place that their communities had become in the hands of the military.

The Mangyans moved from one evacuation area to another because the military would not stop harassing them. They traversed the more difficult, longer and more intricate trails due to the military's threats and the road blocks it put up.

When they reached the town center of Paluan with the help of KARAPATAN-ST, they were given refuge inside the Catholic church. But the military would not desist and tried to force its way in to interrogate the evacuees, terrorize them and forcibly use them as guides for the AFP's military operations.

But they firmly opposed and refused the military's demands. Failing to intimidate the evacuees and out of extreme embarrassment, the military concocted a story for the media claiming that "the Mangyans were being detained by communists."

Paluan merely mirrors the intense brutality and deception attendant to the counterrevolutionary war being launched by the Arroyo regime nationwide. But more than this, Paluan is also a mirror of struggle. The fascist military is in a daze in the face of the people's steadfast stand and resolute struggle.

It is the same steadfastness and resoluteness shown elsewhere in the country by an oppressed and exploited people who have grasped the truth and are now taking a stand. It also sharply illustrates the grave inutility of the regime and the entire ruling system to suppress the people and the revolutionary movement.

To resist the militarization of the island, the New People's Army launched a tactical offensive against the 19th Special Forces Coy in Bongabon, Oriental Mindoro on January 25. The Party has called on the NPA in various parts of the country to intensify tactical offensives against the government armed forces to take advantage of the overconcentration of fascist forces in certain areas like Mindoro and to make the AFP pay dearly for its intense abuse of human rights.

Meanwhile, the Party calls on the Arroyo government to put an immediate stop to intense militarization and to order the AFP to desist in its abuse of the people in Paluan and the towns of Abra de Ilog and Mamburao. This would greatly help the resumption of the formal peace talks. The Party also calls on the Arroyo government to cooperate with the National Democratic Front in hastening the formation of the Joint Monitoring Committee to oversee the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and hear and investigate complaints on human rights violations.

07 February 2004
English Edition

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