On the arrest warrants vs. suspects in the Olalia-Alay-ay murder case

We in labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno are glad that the Antipolo Regional Trial Court Branch 98 has issued warrants of arrest against the 13 suspects in the torture and murder of our leader Rolando Olalia and his aide Leonor Alay-ay more than 25 years ago. We will push for the prosecution and jailing of those responsible for the torture and death of our comrades.

We are firm in the belief the elements from the Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa or RAM were responsible for the torture and death of our comrades. The killing of Olalia and Alay-ay was part of Oplan God Save the Queen, a destabilization plot against the government of then-President Corazon “Cory” Aquino.

We believe, however, that it is the government of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III that is behind the resurrection of the case. The Aquino government revived the Olalia-Alay-ay case to put pressure on senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, namely senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gringo Honasan who are known leaders of the RAM.

The issuance of arrest warrants against the 13 suspects – soldiers and former military officers all – comes after a press release bearing the name of the Kilusang Mayo Uno was circulated in the mainstream media. We promptly disowned the said press release, as it obviously did not come from us, as evidenced by its strange claim that “the wind of justice is prevailing in the country” under Pres. Aquino: something which we have never said and will never say under the present dispensation.

The Aquino government is getting desperate by the day to convict Corona in the impeachment trial that it resorts to various forms of arm-twisting. Such tactics lend credence to the impeachment defense panel’s accusation that Malacañang is trying to bribe senator-judges to go against Corona.

With the special treatment being given to Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, however, it is becoming clearer that Aquino’s objective in pushing through with the impeachment is not to go after Arroyo but to advance the Cojuangco-Aquino family’s interest in reversing or maximizing gains in the Supreme Court ruling on Hacienda Luisita.

We will continue to fight for justice for our comrades Olalia and Alay-ay. Given the circumstances within which their cases have been revived, however, we are not expecting much from this process.