Philippine government arrests revolutionaries

Adelberto Silva, Rosanna Cabusao and Isidro de Lima, members of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), were arrested 1 June. As explained by Luis Jaladoni, chairperson of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, the NDFP is an organisation which represents the “people’s democratic government” led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in the now stalled peace negotiations with the Philippine government. Jalandoni called this “an act of sabotage… at a time when the NDFP was undertaking steps towards a possible resumption of formal peace talks.” At the turn of the 20th century, as a rising imperialist power, the U.S. drove Spain out of the Western hemisphere and parts of the Pacific and Southeast Asia and took over its colonies. The Philippines were part of a U.S. war of conquest. In 1898 the U.S. slaughtered between 250,000 to one million anti-colonial fighters and other Filipinos according to various estimates. In addition to outright massacres, the U.S. also routinely used torture (including waterboarding) and forced detention in concentration camps. The “enemy” was defined as anyone over ten years old. To further U.S. interests there, it propped up ruthless rulers like Ferdinand Marcos and the current U.S.-subservient president Benigno S. Aquino III whose job is to facilitate the vicious oppression and exploitation of the Philippine masses and suppress their fight to liberate themselves. Following are excerpts from a statement on these arrests by Laya Guerrero, spokesperson for Kabataang Makabayan, that first appeared on Philippine Revolution Web Central, the official CPP website. The Kabataang Makabayan (KM) condemns in strongest terms the illegal arrest and detention of Adelberto Silva by the U.S.-Aquino’s mercenary troops last June 1, 2015 in Molino Bacoor, Cavite. Silva is a National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant and covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). We demand the immediate release of Adelberto Silva, his wife Rosanna Cabusao and Isidro de Lima who were arrested with him and also charged with same cases as Silva. The PNP [Philippine National Police] claim that they seized rocket-propelled grenades from each of them is utterly ludicrous and a clear alibi to justify the filing of non-bailable charges against them. Silva was charged with fabricated cases of murder and illegal possession of explosives. Under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees which was signed by previous Philippine regimes with the NDFP, Silva and all peace consultants are guaranteed immunity from arrest, detention, surveillance, harassment, search and other punitive actions. The AFP [Armed Force of the Philippines] and PNP claim that the coordinated operations were hatched more than a year ago and Silva has been under constant surveillance from the mercenary troops of Aquino. This only proves that the Aquino regime has never been sincere in the peace negotiations in order to address the root causes of the armed revolution that rages in the countryside. The U.S.-Aquino regime is viciously ridiculing the peace negotiations and the past agreements signed by the Philippine government with the NDFP and systematically attacks the NDFP personages who are directly involved in the process. This and the arrests of other NDF peace consultants Roberto Saluta, Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon brings to 16 the number of peace consultants treacherously detained under the U.S.-puppet regime of Aquino, and among the 527 political prisoners languishing in jails across the country. KM demands the release of Adelberto Silva along with Cabusao and Isidro de Lima, and other NDFP consultants and all political prisoners under the U.S.-Aquino regime.