PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Arroyo terrorism bound to surpass Luisita Massacre with US, AFP backing--CPP
November 26, 2004

The Arroyo regime is bound to commit acts of state terrorism worse than the Hacienda Luisita Massacre as it relies more on the AFP and US military support in facing growing mass resistance against increasingly intolerable and oppressive conditions.

This was the assessment given by Communist Party of the Philippines spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal ten days after police and soldiers opened fire on a demonstration in support of a workers' strike at Hacienda Luisita, killing 14 workers, peasants and farm workers. More than a hundred others suffered bullet wounds and scores were arrested.

Rosal held the Arroyo regime and the Cojuangcos responsible for the massacre. He condemned the Arroyo government for denying justice to the victims of the massacre as well as to the striking factory and farm workers of the Cojuangco-owned Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita Incorporated.

"The Hacienda Luisita Massacre has further stoked the people's anger against the Arroyo regime," Rosal said. "It highlights the increasingly intolerable and oppressive conditions of the Filipino people, the urgent demand for genuine land reform and the scrapping of antiworker policies."

Rosal said the Arroyo government is becoming "severely isolated from the people as it carries out measures that worsen the oppression and exploitation of workers and peasants, engages in large-scale corruption and colludes with foreign big and local capitalists in fleecing the Filipino masses."

"By worsening the oppression and suppression of the Filipino people, the Arroyo regime is stoking the people's anger. Arroyo, in fact, is the biggest instigator of unrest. She is agitating the people to wage struggle to put an end to her regime," added Rosal.

"She desperately clings to power amid widespread dissatisfaction and a growing clamor for her to step down. Her desperation leads her to a murderous path of silencing any and all dissent and resistance," Rosal explained.

US President Bush's recent reiteration to Arroyo's all-out war of terror further emboldens her to step up state terrorism "despite fresh blood still flowing from Hacienda Luisita," he said.

Rosal added that the Bush Jr. regime's support for "the fascist Arroyo regime" is reminiscent of Bush Sr.'s support for the Marcos dictatorship in 1982.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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