Go after the fugitives
Palparan and Reyes, not ordinary citizens and activists – Karapatan
By KARAPATAN
April
11, 2012
QUEZON CITY – As the
P-Noy government continues to display its leniency on the case of the
two high-profile fugitives, former Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. and
former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes, it has on the other hand, arrested
eight people, including a minor, on the basis of trumped up charges
such as kidnapping, rebellion, illegal possession of firearms, robbery
in band and terrorism.
Karapatan reported
that, “in a span of one week, and while the nation was about to
observe the holy week, the P-Noy government arrested and detained
eight persons: five in Nueva Ecija, two in Las Pinas, Metro Manila and
Bayan Negros Occidental secretary general in Bacolod. The latter was
arrested and detained but is now out on bail. All seven others are
currently detained, with no clear basis aside from the usual
fabricated cases. The police asserts that one of the persons arrested
in Las Piñas has a standing warrant of arrest for a supposed
kidnapping with murder charges. Those arrested in Nueva Ecija were
slapped with various common crime charges after their inquest.”
“We condemn this
government’s continuing pretensions of going after erring government
and military officials while in reality, its efforts are geared
towards hunting down people whom it perceives as its ‘enemies’. While
the likes of Palparan and Reyes who have clear charges against them
continue to roam freely, activists and ordinary people are arrested
and detained arbitrarily on trumped up criminal charges to conceal the
political nature of their arrests and detention,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez,
Karapatan’s chairperson.
Hilao-Enriquez added
that, “in the case of Nueva Ecija, around 100 soldiers of the 56th IB-PA
and policemen under the Nueva Ecija Police Provincial office even
resorted to staging a gunfight with supposed members of the New
People’s Army (NPA) and planted evidence to justify the arrest of five
people, including a former political detainee and a minor. One of
those arrested was tending his farm when soldiers saw him and tied him
up.”
Lastly, Hilao-Enriquez
called on the P-Noy government “to stop persecuting people whom it
considers as ‘enemies of the state’. The more the government does
this, the more it proves to the whole nation that it is no different
from the Arroyo regime. The government should instead turn its gun to
the real fugitives and enemies of the people, those who are clearly
rights violators and criminals, those with real crimes against the
people.”
