AJLPP Update
August 6, 2008
Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) Condemns Political Detainee's Transfer to Manila City Jail
Los Angeles— The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) vehemently condemns the unjust transfer and detention of Kilusan ng Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) deputy secretary-general Randall Echanis to the Manila City Jail (MCJ).
The AJLPP comments that Echanis, who has been suffering from hypertension, should not be detained at the MCJ due to his health. ” It is a smack of political persecution and a pattern of repression by the US-Arroyo regime against known NDFP peace consultants
It has been the SOP of the US regimes since Dictator Marcos during martial law to lump political detainees with common criminals. The US-Arroyo regime precisely doing this maneuvers. ” said the AJLPP.
NDFP peace consultants and negotiators like Echanis, Elizabeth Principe and others have been in jail since the peace process have been stalled for several years now. Others like Sotero Llamas of Bicol was killed and others like Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Philip Limjoco were still missing.
The AJLPP also supports the move by Atty. Romeo Capulong, Echanis’ lawyer, to appeal the court order transferring the militant leader to the new jail. Echanis, 60, attended a hearing of the case at the Manila Regional Trial Court on Tuesday.
Police officer Cesar Magsino, acting chief of the Philippine National Police Custodial Center, said in a July 29 statement that Echanis' detention at the facility in Quezon City was impractical and inconvenient since his hearings were in Manila .
The Supreme Court ordered the case transferred to Manila from Hilongos, Leyte . Last July, Magsino said the proper institution to detain the accused was a facility under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology by virtue of Republic Act No. 6975. On August 1, the court granted the manifestation and issued a commitment order to the Manila City Jail’s warden for the transfer of Echanis.
Echanis has been charged along with Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison, Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo and National Democratic Front official Luis Jalandoni. While the court on bail has released Congressman Ocampo, Echanis, Principe and others are in jail.
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