KMU condemns deferment of Elizabeth Principe’s release by the AFP

Kilusang Mayo Uno condemns the armed forces’ deferment of the release of Elizabeth Principe, health worker and NDFP consultant, seeing it contrary to the rule of court and the government’s wish to pursue peace talks with the National Democratic Front.

The government’s action on Principe’s case is a yardstick ofshows how insincere the government is in pursuing the peace effort with the NDFP. In the first place, the military’s capture and detention of Principe is already a violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees or Jasig between the GRP and the NDFP. Now that the cases filed against her have been dismissed, the military still refuses to release her. This could only cast doubt on the sincerity of the regime in pursuing the peace talks. What should have been a step in establishing goodwill is now marred by what can only be called bad faith.

Stalling her release after the courts have dismissed the cases filed against her is without legal basis and can only be called illegal detention. It is another example of how the military’s fascist might in this country prevails over laws and the justice system. We ask members of the judiciary who are concerned with the rule of law, especially Chief Justice Reynato Puno, to speak out on this case, for Principe’s immediate release.

This is political harassment, pure and simple, and could only be described as cruel. Principe has suffered so much cruelty in the hands of this regime. After detaining her without charges, keeping her incommunicado for days, inflicting psychological torture on her, filing fabricated cases against her, and abducting her husband, the least the military could do now is to release her after her cases have been dismissed. Yet the military seems unprepared to do this simple act.

We understand and support Principe’s decision to hold a hunger strike. Her action would raise the people’s concern for her plight. It should shame the military for being so cruel towards her, an activist who has devoted the best years of her life with the Filipino masses, serving them as a health worker and an organizer and educator.

We also demand that Leo Velasco, Principe’s husband and fellow-health worker who was abducted by the military last February 2007, be surfaced immediately. We demand that he be released now. ###