Suppressing progressive parties:
A relentless campaign of slander and murder
At the initiative of the clerico-fascist Norberto Gonzales, Malaca�ang national security adviser and US intelligence agent, the fascist government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines launched an active and intense campaign this April to malign progressive parties and candidates, signalling the escalation of violence and repression against them.
Following are some of the more prominent cases from April 9 to May 3:
- The PNP maliciously spread the lie that Anakpawis has links with the New People's Army (NPA) because of a proliferation of Anakpawis posters in Alang-alang, Leyte where they were supposedly ambushed by the NPA on May 3. The PNP was obviously groping for anything to justify its attack on Anakpawis. In a statement, the Efren Martires Command of the NPA in Eastern Visayas said that the NPA did not even figure in any encounter on the date and place mentioned.
- PAMALAKAYA-Quezon vice-president and Bayan Muna campaigner Rogelio Perez, 46, and his wife Cristina, 52, secretary general of Bayan Muna-Pagbilao, were shot on the night of April 29 in Barangay Silangang Malicboy, Pagbilao, Quezon. Rogelio died instantly while Cristina was in critical condition when she was brought to a hospital. The couple had just come from a meeting. That same day, Bayan Muna member Juland Cautasan had also been shot and killed outside a school in Pagbilao.
- Bullets rained on Anakpawis-Mindoro Oriental secretary general Isaias Ma�ano Jr., 23, in Barangay Pachoca, Calapan City, Mindoro Oriental on the night of April 28. Ma�ano was killed while his companion, Anakpawis vice-president Guillermo Coz, 47, was wounded.
- Soldiers of the 78th IB shot at and killed Charlie Mandaya Davao, Ganadi Pinamaylan and Charlie Utag, Ata-Manobo tribesmen and members of Bayan Muna, while they were eating in a restaurant in the town center of Laac, Compostela Valley on April 24. The military accused the three men of being NPA members.
- The military abducted Oliver Ostoral, 27, of Mauban, Quezon and Ramil Adornado, 19, of Real, Quezon, on April 25. Both members of Anak ng Bayan-Southern Tagalog, they were last seen at 6 a.m. of April 25 in Barangay Mangilang, Candelaria, Quezon. Ostoral and Adornado were in the area to invite people to the Bayan Muna-Quezon convention.
- In Camarines Sur, 25 members of Anakpawis and Bayan Muna have been abducted and remain missing since the intensification of military operations in the towns of Tinambac, Lagonoy, Goa, Pre-sentacion, Caramoan and Gar-chitorena. Anak ng Bayan-Bicol also reported four cases of murder. Two of the victims were Virgie Vetmen, 19, a member of Anakpawis and Jesus Bo-ngalon, a baran-gay councilor of Payak, Bato, Camarines Sur. Vetmen was raped before being killed and her body mutilated.
- Elements of the PNP in Dumaguete City illegally arrested Anak ng Bayan nominee Ronald Ian Evidente on April 21. He was implicated in the ambush and killing of certain members of the bandit group Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA).
- In Davao Oriental, elements of the 72nd IB together with the Special Forces and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group distributed handbills branding progressive parties as "children of Satan."
- A soldier poked a gun at Apolinario Alvarez, president and leading nominee of Anak ng Bayan as he negotiated with elements of the 42nd IB who blocked their motorcade in Tigaon, Camarines Sur on April 18. The motorcade was part of a five-day peace caravan that toured four provinces of Bicol. Meanwhile, Anak ng Bayan member Leo del Rosario was mauled by a soldier.
- Some 100 elements of the 803rd Infantry Brigade and the PNP of Catarman, Samar in full battle gear surrounded the Bayan Muna office in Sitio Bukhasan, Barangay Cawayan, Catarman on the night of April 13. They tried to enter the office forcibly because they were supposedly in pursuit of five members of an NPA "sparrow unit". The BM staff refused to let them in because the military and police failed to show any warrant. The fascist troops were forced to withdraw after two hours.
- Nine drunken soldiers of the 78th IB surrounded members of Anakpawis and Bayan Muna in Danao City, Cebu on April 14. According to Anakpawis-Central Visayas president Glemar Bacusmo and Bayan Muna organizer Magilda Abella, they were stopped from campaigning in Barangay Santican by the 78th IB troops. The military confiscated their propaganda materials.
- A soldier on motorcycle dragged Ronalyn Olea, president of the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines and a nominee of Anak ng Bayan in Angeles City on April 9. She was on her way home from the Anak ng Bayan office in the city. Olea was hospitalized for over a week due to scratches, wounds and bruises she sustained in various parts of her body.
The fascists are relentlessly violating and trying to undermine the legality of open democratic organizations and parties in order to justify the violence and repression inflicted on progressives. We must continuously expose and assail such violence as a sign of desperation among the reactionaries whenever revolutionaries and progressives register advances in any field of struggle and whenever reactionaries feel there is a grave threat to their interests.
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