CHR uncovers 6 victims linked to Balikatan

The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) expresses condemnation against the spate of violence committed against the people in Western Mindanao as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) uncovered in a weeklong investigation that six of the victims were anti-Balikatan protesters.

CHR regional director Jose Manuel Mamauag said that aside from killings, soldiers were being accused of harassing people who campaigned against the Balikatan and added that the incidents occurred at the height of the war game. Raids, attacks on villages and abductions be comes the order in Sulu.

KMU Women's Department Secretary Nenita Gonzaga said, "We extend our sympathy for the families of the victims of this atrocious violence. We, the workers sector, feel their grievance as we are also under attack. Ordinary workers and their leaders are being handpicked like fruits such that they disappear or are killed with bullets."

Gonzaga reiterates the group's opposition to the entry of American soldiers in the country, "Veiled in war games, these Balikatan exercises' true motives are to intrude in our country's sovereignty and participate in anti-insurgency. The order of disorder in Sulu only shows the fate of ordinary Filipinos akin to the fate of the Filipina rape victim in Subic ."

The veteran woman leader also highlights the similar violence committed against the organized labor sector aside from the continued detention of KMU Chairman Emeritus and Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran. She said that under Mrs. Arroyo, there are a total of 43 blood deaths in the workers sector, "Just this March 6, Rogelio Concepcion, a union-official of Solid Development Corp. Workers Association (SDCWA) in Brgy. Mataas na Parang, San Ildefonso, Bulacan was abducted and remains missing.