GMA, Gonzales has no case against Ka Bel and myself --Ka Satur

NEWS RELEASE
February 26, 2006

Ka Satur: GMA, Gonzales has no case against Ka Bel and myself

In text messages sent through his congressional staff, House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo said that Mrs. Arroyo and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales have "absolutely nothing, pathetically zilch" against him or Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran.

"All trumped-up charges filed against me in 1989 and dismissed in 1991. All the murder, kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms charges have been junked by the courts. Abswelto si Satur Ocampo," he said.

Ocampo stressed that "Ka Bel is also not in any way connected in the cases. Thus, what the Mrs. Arroyo and Mr. Gonzales are obviously doing is this: Using the illegal proclamation of a state of national emergency to silence, imprison and harass the Left and to file trumped-up charges against us."

"Ka Bel's arrest and the attempted capture of myself and other partylist representatives of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela are the outcome of years of black propaganda against us. This new fascist regime has nothing. It cannot prove their fictional charges over the alleged misuse of congressional funds so they now resort to Marcosian tactics of illegal and arbitrary arrests and the filing of trumped-up cases," said Ocampo.

In a message Ocampo sent to the La Salle Greenhills prayer gathering last night, the House Deputy Minority Leader reminded the people of the clear and present danger to the lives of activists under the Arroyo regime. "Lest we forget, more than 80 Bayan Muna members and about 230 from other activistgroups have been summarily executed since Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001."

Ocampo also said that Arroyo's ouster is key to preventing the rise of a new fascist dictatorship that is more brutal and more corrupt, and asked all Filipinos to unite and defend their hard-won rights and freedoms.