PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

AFP's 'NPA infiltration' line sets stage for more brutal suppression of HLI strike -- CPP
January 24, 2005

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today warned of more brutal military attacks against strikers at Hacienda Luisita in the wake of AFP claims that the New People's Army (NPA) had infiltrated the workers' ranks.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal charged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for setting the stage for the stepped up suppression of the strike which entered its 80th day today through its "deliberate obfuscation of the real and legitimate issues behind it." Rosal was reacting in particular to a recent statement by Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez claiming that the Hacienda Luisita strike posed a threat to national security due to so-called communist infiltration and support.

Rosal moreover said that the AFP line covers up the fact that it is not the CPP but the Cojuangcos who, in the first place, pushed the workers to the wall and gave them no choice but to go on strike.

"In concocting this supposed CPP plan to orchestrate unrest at Hacienda Luisita, the AFP is doing the Cojuangco owners of HLI and Central Azucarera de Tarlac a big favor by obscuring the basic issues and demands of the mill and farm workers," Rosal added.

"The workers' demands for more wages and benefits and for the reinstatement of workers who were illegally dismissed are completely legitimate," Rosal said. "The Hacienda Luisita management's continued refusal to heed these demands reveals their greed for profit and their total insensitivity to the workers' plight."

Rosal compared the AFP's "NPA infiltration" line to Marcos' claim that the NPA was responsible for the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing. Marcos later used the bombing as one of the pretexts for imposing martial law in 1972.

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



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