Press Statement
28 February 2006
COMPOSITION OF LIST OF PEOPLE TARGETED FOR ARREST EXPOSES THE FALSITY OF THE COUP ALLEGATION AND THE VILE OBJECTIVE OF THE ARROYO REGIME
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
I have read the excellent report of Sheila Coronel, titled "Government crackdown intensifies, appearing in the February 27, 2006 issue of Inside PCIJ (Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism). The findings of the report can help to expose the falsity of the coup allegation and the vile objective of the Arroyo regime.
The report carries the list of 59 persons submitted to the Justice Department by Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management of the Philippine National Police. The listed persons are described as "guilty of rebellion and insurrection committed on February 24, 2006", the day Gloria M. Arroyo announced that she had preempted an attempted coup and issued Proclamation 1017 to declare a state of national emergency.
I have the honor of being at the top of the entire list. But the point is to analyze the composition of the list and to draw some conclusions. The list includes 44 persons who are alleged communist leaders and members, six members of Congress who belong to the party list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women's Party and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses), three retired military officers who were leaders of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and three lieutenants.
We notice from the list the predominance of 50 civilians who are known progressives and a small number of former military officers. We also notice the absence of the names of Brig. General Danilo Lim of the First Scout Ranger Regiment, Colonel Ariel Querubin of the First Marine Brigade and Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco of the PNP Special Action Force who were supposed to be players in the alleged coup attempt foiled by the loyalists of the Arroyo regime last Friday, February 24. Indeed, they should not be in the list just as those already in the list should not be.
We have enough factual basis to state that the Arroyo regime fabricated the so-called coup plot of communists and Rightist officers, supposedly foiled last February 24 but still necessitating Proclamation 1017. The canard was used to disperse the mass actions celebrating Edsa 1, to attack mainly the patriotic and progressive forces in the mass movement, intimidate the mass media and suppress democratic rights in the long haul.
The overriding purpose of the regime to start with Proclamation 1017 on the road of fascist dictatorship and state terrorism by way of prolonging itself in power and ramming through charter change to serve the interests of US imperialism and theworst of local reactionary interests.###
Press Statement
28 February 2006
CHARGE OF COUP CONSPIRACY AND CLAIM OF COUP ATTEMPT ARE PSYWAR FOR FASCIST DICTATORSHIP AND STATE TERRORISM
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
It is a well-established and well-known fact that the broad united front of opposition parties, mass organizations and groups of retired and active military and police officers seek to oust the illegitimate, corrupt, brutal and treasonous Arroyo regime in a legal and peaceful way by mobilizing the broad masses to exercise their sovereign will and democratic rights and by encouraging the military and police forces to side with the people and withdraw support from the regime, as in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2.
The information received by office of the NDFP Negotiating Panel from the NDFP National Executive Committee and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines are consistent with the aforesaid fact. It confirms that the CPP has no agreement with any group in the military organization of the reactionary government regarding any conspiracy to carry out a coup d'etat on February 24 or any other date.
The claim of the Arroyo regime that there is a coup conspiracy between the CPP and so-called military adventurists of the Right is a brazen lie. It is a canard, a pure psywar fabrication of a desperate and dying regime that wishes to prevent its doom by taking the Marcosian road of fascist dictatorship and unleashing state terrorism against the broad masses of the people and broad united front of patriotic, progressive and other anti-Arroyo forces.
The Arroyo regime is caught in the web of its own lies. It claims to have foiled a coup attempt on February 24 and to have achieved overwhelming victory over a coup conspiracy and yet it still finds it necessary to issue Proclamation 1017 in order to apply draconian measures on masses of people in peaceful assembly, mass media, progressive members of Congress, opposition political parties, mass organizations, and other civilian entities.
It misrepresents as a foiled coup attempt a mere conversation between AFP chief of staff General Senga and General Danilo Lim about the difficulty of preventing the officers and troops from joining the mass actions, as in Edsa 1 and Edsa. It also misrepresents as a coup conspiracy an alleged agreement of political alliance between the CPP and the anti-Arroyo groups in the military and police forces.
There is nothing wrong if under certain conditions the representatives of the CPP and any anti-Arroyo group in the military and police negotiate and make agreements for the benefit of the people along the line of patriotism, democracy, civilian supremacy, development and just peace. No less than the reactionary government, including the Arroyo regime, has negotiated and made agreements with the NDFP as well as with the CPP and NPA.
Arroyo and her cohorts have not presented any proof against any anti-Arroyo military officer for violation of Republic Act 6968 or the Anti-Coup d'Etat Law. They are the real coup conspirators. They have fabricated the false charge of coup conspiracy and false claim of coup attempt against others and they have chosen to make the charge of rebellion in order to justify the issuance of Proclamation 1017, start a new fascist dictatorship reminiscent of its Marcosian predecessor and preempt judicial review of the factual basis of the proclamation by invoking the authority of the commander-in-chief to call on the troops to prevent or suppress lawless violence, rebellion or invasion..
The charge of rebellion against me for supposed involvement in a coup conspiracy is pure hogwash coming from the ultra-Right and fascist Arroyo regime. I have authorized my Philippine lawyers in the Public Interest Law Center to take all necessary and possible legal actions in order to counter this false charge and to act in my interest.
I hope that there is still some room for my counsel to act legally on my behalf. At the same time, I am mindful of the fact that Proclamation 1017 is the beginning of the fascist scheme of Arroyo and her closest minions to issue decrees and orders to suppress democratic rights and pave the way for a US-designed charter change in exchange for the prolongation of the puppet, corrupt, brutal and mendacious Arroyo regime.
In this regard, the broad masses of the people and all the patriotic and progressive forces are moved to intensify all forms of struggle in order to oust the regime and move forward in the struggle for national liberation and democracy. As the Arroyo regime takes a fascist dictatorial character and increasingly uses brute force to suppress the people and all its opponents, the contradictions within the ruling system are bound to become more violent than ever before. As a result, the armed revolutionary movement of the people can expand and advance faster than ever before.###
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