Reds hit Aquino for 'coddling' abductors of Jonas Burgos

From InterAksyon (Apr 2): Reds hit Aquino for 'coddling' abductors of Jonas Burgos

Behind President Benigno Aquino III’s peace and human rights rhetoric and the accompanying road shows being launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Oplan Bayanihan (Internal Peace and Security Plan) is no different from the brutal campaigns of suppression of the past, said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The CPP statement is in connection with the enforced disappearance of farmer-activist Jonas Burgos Jr. in April 2007.

“The CPP denounces the Aquino regime and the AFP for continuing to coddle and promote the abductors of peasant activist Jonas Burgos in 2007 and other key military and defense officials who are responsible for violating human rights and committing other crimes,” the CPP said in a statement.

Last week, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled that the AFP and elements of the Philippine Army were accountable for the abduction of Burgos on April 28, 2007 in Quezon City. Burgos was having lunch inside a restaurant at the Ever Gotesco Mall when soldiers abducted him.

But the AFP has persistently denied its responsibility. It said that Burgos could have been a victim of the “internal purging” of the CPP and its armed wing, the New people’s Army (NPA)).

“The AFP has long maintained the policy of denial of its role in the abduction of Jonas Burgos, as well as its responsibility in the abduction, illegal incarceration and torture of UP student activists Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, peasant activists Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo and hundreds of similar cases. They have gone the lengths of concocting one story after another putting the blame on the revolutionary forces for their crimes and violations of human rights,” the CPP said.

It tagged Maj. Harry A. Balliaga Jr. as the alleged leader of the Burgos’s abductors and Maj. Gen. Eduardo Año, current commander of the Intelligence Service AFP as responsible for ordering the abduction.

Where is Jovito Palparan?

“The Aquino regime’s failure to arrest, detain, and prosecute the notorious fascist general Jovito Palparan despite criminal charges having been filed against him, reveal Aquino’s hypocrisy in dishing out human rights and peace rhetoric,” the CPP said.

“By continuing to coddle these criminals in the AFP, the Aquino regime insists on promoting the culture of impunity among the military in its drive to intensify its war of suppression against the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces. Aquino does not want to set a precedent of actually prosecuting and putting to justice any of the AFP officials involved in the long-running war of suppression lest this undermines and weakens its Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression which relies on the unmitigated brutality and fascist mindset of its military officials and men,” it added.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/58467/reds-hit-aquino-for-coddling-abductors-of-jonas-burgos