Reference: Aurora Broquil, KPD Central Luzon Chairperson (0927 2046933)
Last week GMA said that ‘the fight against the left is the glue that binds’. It marked a new level of attack against the people’s rights as the Commander of the 7th Infantry Division,Major Gen. Jovito Palparan proceeded to militarize the provinces of Central Luzon to an extent never before witnessed even at the height of Martial rule.
Outwardly, this is part of the ‘end-game strategy’ of the Arroyo regime, the latest formula to defeat insurgency. This is supposedly focused on regions rife with so-called insurgents such as Central Luzon, Southern Luzon (including the Bicol region) and Northern Luzon.
But no sooner have the military detachments been put up when harassments of people’s organizations heightened, revealing that the real targets of the said campaign are leaders and members of people’s organizations who are actively espousing their concerns and not armed rebels.
Military deployment and re-deployment across the region aims to silence,neutralize, if not absolutely eradicate any and all critics. They are automatically demonized and branded ‘enemies of the state’ and will be treated as such.
So much for Philippine democracy, reduced to an obsence travesty-its sounds good but is virtually nonexistent.
In the mind of the Arroyo regime, ‘a peaceful region is an investment-friendly region’, never mind if this peace is paid for by the lives of innocent and unarmed civilians.
Harassment,surveillance,scare tactics and even extra-judicial executions cannot win the hearts and minds of freedom-loving Filipinos rather this better-dead-than-red strategy will only give more reason to be critical of the Arroyo regime especially its policies and programs.
She should take a page from Apo Marcos’ 20 year dictatorship, lest she finds herself sitting on top of a seething social volcano that may un-GLUE her from power.