KMU condemns malicious statement of military against mass leaders in Southern Mindanao

The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today warned the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) not to push through with its plan to physically harm or ilegallly arrest KMU Vice President for Southern Mindanao Omar Bantayan after linking him to the New People’s Army (NPA) in Campostela Valley Province.

Major Medel Aguilar of the 5th Civil Relations Group of the AFP has been quoted of saying that KMU’s Omar Bantayan and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Mindanao Secretary General Jeppie Ramada have been in the company of the NPA in the said province.

KMU Secretary General Wilson Baldonaza said that the KMU and all the progressive organizations and individuals in the country will not take Maj. Aguilar’s statement lightly amidst intensified attacks and repression against leaders of various progressive mass organizations in the country.

“Major Aguilar’s malicious and dangerous statement has further exposed our leaders to unwarranted danger and persecution by forces of the state who are rabid anti-communists and anti-progressives. It is now very clear that Oplan Bantay Laya II, which is targetting the leaders and members of legal progressive organization, is in full swing all over the country. If anything bad happens to Bantayan and Ramada, we will hold Major Aguilar and the AFP accountable,” Baldonaza said.

Baldonaza also reiterated that the KMU is alarmed with the unabated extra-judicial killings and undeniable rising incidents of illegal arrests and arbitrary detention. The labor center has registered that the motive of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime is to decimate the struggle for labor rights and demolish the militant labor movement in the country.

The government’s legal offensive cases portray and subsequently accuse legal activists to be members of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.  But instead of simply filing rebellion cases against them, they are instead charged with common crimes such as murder and arson. 

Atty. Remigio Saladero Jr., Chief Legal Counsel of KMU, and Arnaldo Seminiano, a labor organizer in Laguna and member of Ilaw at Buklod ng Manggagawa-KMU, were arrested recently on trumped-up multiple murder charges and are presently detained in Calapan, Mindoro.