LTTE: Something sinister about Olalia probe PR

We would like to clarify matters pertaining to the news article “KMU calls on Aquino to reopen Olalia case” which saw print in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Jan. 26.

We have consistently struggled for justice over the torture and assassination of our comrades Rolando Olalia, former KMU chairperson, and Leonor Alay-ay, his aide. We are firm in the belief that rightist elements belonging to the Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa or RAM were responsible for their deaths more than 25 years ago. Their assassination was part of the rightists’ campaign named “Oplan God Save the Queen” to destabilize the government of then Pres. Cory Aquino, with whom we were still allied back then.

The press release upon which the news article was based, however, did not come from us. As anybody who knows a whit about the KMU will say, it is most unlikely for us to state that “the wind of justice is prevailing in the country.” Not when elite (in)justice still prevails in the country. Not when the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow in the cases against Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts like the butcher Gen. Jovito Palparan. Not when workers are denied justice in most cases.

Who has interest in circulating such a press release, in creating this disinformation?

The Aquino government? Does it hope to use KMU’s reputation as a critic of the government to enhance its image? Does it hope to send a warning to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who is known as the “godfather” of RAM and is now the presiding judge in Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial in the Senate? Does the Aquino government want to put pressure on Enrile to make him support Corona’s conviction in the trial? Is it using the dead to advance its objectives in ousting Corona?

Or is it Mrs. Arroyo’s rightist forces in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, including Palparan himself? Are they agitating the military’s top brass and rank-and-file against the Aquino government by portraying the latter as friendly with the national-democratic Left? Is this a sequel to the disinformation that Prof. Jose Maria Sison, chief consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, was offered a Cabinet position by the Aquino government and is coming home? Is a coup d’etat being prepared?

We are calling on the Filipino workers and people to be vigilant. Factions of the country’s elite are out to advance their sinister interests. We need to fight back with our collective action.

ELMER LABOG
Chairperson
Kilusang Mayo Uno