Free all political prisoners!
The call for the Macapagal-Arroyo regime�s immediate and unconditional release of all 254 political prisoners is a resounding one. The new regime must respond to this urgent demand by the political prisoners� relatives, human rights organizations, the church and the entire people.
Political prisoners are victims of the cruel counterrevolutionary war being waged by the reactionary state. They were arrested and imprisoned because they struggled for the interests of the toiling masses. Criminal charges were filed against them in order to conceal the political nature of their cases. Their continued detention is a violation of the civil rights of political prisoners.
Despite stiff opposition from US imperialism and the military, particularly the executive secretary, Gen. Renato de Villa, Macapagal-Arroyo was compelled in the last week of February to order the release of political prisoners due to the consistent clamor of a wide section of society. However, unlike Corazon Aquino who ordered the immediate release in 1986 of a majority of the political prisoners incarcerated under martial law, Arroyo�s order covered only 73 detainees.
Even before Estrada�s ouster, the former Department of Justice (DOJ) had already approved the release of around 50 political prisoners due to the thoroughgoing struggle of human rights advocates. The new regime added 27 more to the list but imposed so many conditions for their release. Worse, de Villa arrogantly ordered the removal of about 30 names from the list, including Leoncio Pitao, a New People�s Army leader from Mindanao and Lorna Baba, a church worker.
Like the previous regimes, the Macapagal-Arroyo government refuses to free Donato Continente and Juanito Itaas due to the intervention of US imperialism. This, despite their having been granted parole by the reactionary courts. Continente and Itaas have both been accused of killing American Col. James Rowe in 1989.
The continued imprisonment of political detainees is an enormous injustice. It becomes an even greater injustice, considering that they remain incarcerated while the Macapagal-Arroyo regime continues to allow the worst of criminals such as Joseph Estrada and Panfilo Lacson to roam freely across the nation, feels indebted to butchers like Angelo Reyes, and befriends and coddles exploiters and oppressors like Danding Cojuangco and Lucio Tan.
For the political detainees, their relatives and human rights advocates, the struggle shall continue until all political prisoners are freed. It has become ever clearer that every step that brings them closer to the freedom they aspire for is achieved only through their relentless struggle and commitment. One other thing is certain: as long as the ruling system that views revolution as a criminal act remains unchanged, the struggle shall continue even beyond prison walls.
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