Justice for Comrade Danilo Belano, martyr of the revolution!

Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
16 December 2009

The Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions-National Democratic Front of the Philippines condoles with the family, friends and comrades of Comrade Danilo Belano, long-time cadre of the revolutionary trade-union movement in the Philippines. We share their sadness and sorrow over the death of a great revolutionary. We share in their efforts to transform sadness and sorrow into revolutionary outrage over Comrade Belano's murder by agents of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or Isafp. We call on the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army to render revolutionary justice for Comrade Belano's death and to punish those responsible for this counter-revolutionary crime.

Comrade Belano was a great revolutionary. He dedicated four decades of his life to the revolutionary struggle of the Filipino workers and people for national liberation and democracy. He spent many years of his life as a cadre in the revolutionary trade-union movement in the country, proving himself to be an effective all-around organizer and, in particular, a competent tactician of mass campaigns and struggles. In the early 1990s, he had a leading role in rectifying the grave errors and deviations that prevailed in the revolutionary trade-union movement during the 1980s. He served as a dedicated organizer of seafarers and migrant workers until the time that he was harassed to death and was killed by Isafp agents last November 25.

Comrade Belano remained steadfast to the revolutionary cause and faithful to his comrades until the time of his death. After Isafp agents cornered and tried to recruit him for the military's intelligence work in the morning of November 25, he immediately reported the incident in full to his friends in the legal democratic movement and prepared an escape plan.

Fearing for the safety of his children, however, he went to meet up with Isafp agents late in the afternoon of that day -- putting a lawyer friend on standby. He failed to contact that friend, who then called him up through his cellular phone in the early evening. A man answered the call, saying he and his friends brought Belano to the hospital because the latter suffered a heart attack. When Belano's children went to the hospital, the man and his supposed friends were already gone. Belano died in the hospital the morning of the following day.

We are outraged at what the military did to Comrade Belano. For years, they subjected him and his family to continuous surveillance and harassment. After finding out that he had a heart problem and other ailments, they sent him various death threats. Finally, last November 25, they told him they will kill him and his children if he decides to not "cooperate" with the Isafp in its counter-revolutionary intelligence operations. The gravity of Belano's ailment alone is enough for him to die from the pressure of grave threats. This, the ISAFP should know. The ISAFP killed Comrade Belano.

What the military did to Comrade Belano is in the service of the US-Arroyo regime's objective of wiping out the Filipino people's revolutionary movement, as stated in its counter-insurgency programs Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2. For his death, we point an accusing finger at the Isafp, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Defense secretary Norberto Gonzales and de facto President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo -- the perpetrators of this crime.

Their experience with Comrade Belano and many other comrades should tell the military and the US-Arroyo regime that their pipe dream of wiping out the revolutionary movement is doomed to fail. His health failed him, but he did not fail his comrades and the people with his commitment. The revolution is composed of countless Danilo Belanos who selflessly devote their lives to serving the people and who refuse to betray comrades even in the face of various threats to life and various enticements from the enemy.

Justice must be served for the death of Comrade Belano. His family, friends, comrades and the Filipino workers and people demand nothing less. The revolutionary justice system of the CPP and NPA is the people's only recourse in seeking justice, in the face of the counter-revolutionary nature of the government's so-called justice system. We call on the CPP and NPA to punish those who killed Comrade Danilo Belano and robbed the workers and people of one of their most dedicated revolutionaries.###

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