Reports from Correspondents:
Mayor Platon and Rep. Punzalan were meted just punishment

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The reasons behind the meting out of revolutionary justice on Mayor Cesar Platon of Tanauan, Batangas on May 7 and Rep. Marcial Punzalan of Quezon on May 12 were cited in consecutive Melito Glor Command (MGC) statements sent to AB recently.

According to the MGC, the people rejoiced upon hearing of Platon and Punzalan's punishment because they were the "most rabid counterrevolutionaries within the ruling class who have become symbols of oppression and counterrevolutionary repression." The punitive actions served as a warning to the ruling class that "they could no longer repress and oppress the toiling masses indefinitely without suffering the blow of revolutionary justice."

The following were cited by the MGC as bases for the punishment of Mayor Cesar Platon:

1. Being an active counterrevolutionary and antipeople mayor of Tanauan; persecuting leaders and organizers of the legal democratic mass movement;
2. Coddling and benefiting from, big syndicates involved in carnapping, hijacking of container vans, gunrunning and drugs;
3. Killing, pressuring and terrorizing rivals in land disputes; grabbing lands in Tanauan; using arms to resolve disputes against personal or political rivals
4. His latest crime was to order the entrapment and arrest of an MGC emissary tasked to meet with him regarding the elections.

According to the MGC, murder cases against Platon never reached the reactionary courts because fear reigned among Platon's victims. "It is only with the people's court of the revolutionary government that those aggrieved by Platon were emboldened to file charges and seek justice," the MGC added.

Meanwhile, following are some of the bases of the punitive action against Rep. Marcial Punzalan, as cited by the MGC:

1. Supporting the counterrevolutionary activities of renegade Leopoldo "Hector" Mabilangan to sow division and intrigue and provoke the widespread demoralization and surrender of guerrilla forces;
2. Taking advantage of and benefiting from, the counterrevolutionary propaganda offensive of Mabilangan under the Ramos regime to deodorize himself before the public and deceive the people, for his own political interest;
3. Funding the Kanayunan Foundation, Inc. (KFI), a sham cooperative movement led by Mabilangan for "counter-insurgency" and pacification, and which sabotaged guerrilla fronts in Quezon and Batangas.

Sometime in 1995, the MGC suspended the carrying out of the death penalty against Punzalan. This was after the latter's silence upon the revolutionary movement's punishment of Mabilangan, the KFI's neutralization and Punzalan's awareness of the resurgence of the armed movement in Southern Tagalog. The MGC merely confronted Punzalan with his crimes and warned him against continuing them.

But in 1998 and 1999, Punzalan once again joined in chorus with the psy-ops scheme of the reactionary AFP. He attempted to sow intrigue against and destroy the credibility of, Comrade Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal and leaders of the movement in the region by throwing accusations that they had riches stashed away and lived extravagantly. Punzalan had a heyday granting interviews over the radio and in leading dailies.

Because of this, the MGC ended the long reprieve it had granted Punzalan for him to turn his back on counterrevolutionary activities.

The MGC criticized the Macapagal-Arroyo regime's use of these punitive actions to justify the launching of military offensives against the revolutionary movement. The MGC stated that not for a single moment did the AFP and PNP cease launching counterrevolutionary military offensives in Southern Tagalog and the entire country even after Estrada's ouster. This, despite the reopening of peace talks and Macapagal-Arroyo's allegedly having discarded Estrada's total war policy.

The MGC added that "As early as May 3 (a few days before the NPA's punishment of Platon ang Punzalan - AB), the MGC had already obtained a copy of a confidential presidential instruction from Macapagal-Arroyo and DND Sec. Angelo Reyes ordering the intensification of military operations to fortify the position of the GRP in its peace negotiations with the NDFP and deprive the NDFP of the opportunity to take advantage of the talks to strengthen itself."

June 2001
English Edition

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