FEATURE-

Leftist murders spark fear in Philippines

31 Aug 2006 01:03:11 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Carmel Crimmins CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines,

Aug 31 (Reuters) - James Ayunga thinks of death whenever a motorcycle roars past. "I get goosebumps when I hear one come up behind me," said the farmers' activist and father of three. Across the Philippines, masked gunmen on motorcycles have killed scores of left-wing community leaders and Ayunga fears he could be next.

The 40-year-old, like other leftist organisers, believes the government is behind the murders. He has not returned to his village in Nueva Ecija, an agricultural province around 90 km (55 miles) north of Manila, since soldiers accused him of membership of a communist rebel group, the New People's Army (NPA), two months ago.

"I'm on the move, anywhere and everywhere. I stay in a different place every night," said Ayunga, nervously thumbing a newspaper in a safe house in Cabanatuan City, the business hub of Nueva Ecija. He denied any link with the communist movement, saying his work was about winning more rights for subsistence farmers.

The Philippines, also fighting Muslim insurgencies, has been battling the NPA since 1969 in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. In June, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, declared "all-out war" on the communist insurgents. Since then, leftist activists and community leaders have been shot dead on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis.

Arroyo denies soldiers or police are behind the murders despite many of the victims being members of organisations the military views as fronts for the NPA. Previously, the government blamed the rebels and their political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines, for the recent surge in killings, saying the movement was purging its ranks as it did to chilling effect in the 1980s.

But under pressure from rights group Amnesty International, which this month decried "politically targeted extrajudicial executions", Arroyo created a commission, headed by a former Supreme Court justice, to investigate the murders. ASSASSINATIONS In a damning report, Amnesty estimated at least 51 political and community activists were killed in the first half of 2006, nearing the 66 killed during all of 2005.

The group said it was concerned the military and police were involved. A day after the Amnesty statement, another community worker was shot dead in his home. Despite negative press, Arroyo, who escaped impeachment in 2005 over corruption and election fraud allegations, is not seen as politically threatened by the killings.

The idea that the NPA is behind the murders is not entirely discounted by the public after the organisation tortured and executed thousands of its own members in the late 1980s as part of a clearing out of suspected informants and traitors.

Some people also feel many activists are linked to the NPA and fear they are winning positive publicity from the murders. But analysts say the killings could encourage mainstream leftists to join the NPA and lead to an escalation in violence. "I think the bulk of these killings are illicit government assassinations.

The question is: How far up does it go and who is authorising them?" said Kit Collier, a visiting fellow at Australian National University. "It will definitely raise the incentive for legal left-wing activists to take up arms."

The NPA was at its most powerful in the 1980s, aided by the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. In 1987, a year after he was overthrown, it was thought to have as many as 25,000 fighters. Currently, the guerrilla army, which extorts money from farmers and business people, is believed to have around 7,000 members. Fuelled by entrenched poverty, corruption and a sense of injustice,

it is active in 69 of 79 provinces. Peace talks stalled in August 2004 after Manila refused to persuade the United States and some European governments to remove the NPA from their terror blacklists. Negotiations are unlikely to be revived in the current climate.

THE BUTCHER In Lupao, a small northern town still scarred by a military massacre nearly 20 years ago, General Jovito Palparan, head of the 7th infantry division, is launching a charm offensive. Armed with a Power Point presentation and plenty of wisecracks, the man left-wing groups refer to as "The Butcher", explains to hundreds of residents in a packed town hall how his soldiers will clear Lupao of NPA supporters.

The screen behind him reads: "Neutralisation of Political Personalities". Accused by local human rights groups of giving his men a free hand to kill community leaders, Palparan, 55, denies the charge.

But he says the victims are targeted because of their "offensive" activities. In Lupao, where the army shot dead 17 unarmed civilians in a botched encounter with the NPA in 1987, people are reluctant to talk about the military or the guerrillas.

There are media reports of security forces harassing locals in the province for identification and enforcing curfews but Palparan, a jovial man who keeps a photo on his cellphone of his dog wearing a bow-tie, says the stories are exaggerated.

Feted by Arroyo for his campaign against the communists, Palparan is worried international pressure to stop the activist killings will cool the government's anti-NPA ardour before his retirement next month. Some activists have said they will feel safer when the general leaves active service. But Ayunga is not so confident. "I don't think things will get better," he said. "It's not just Palparan, it's a national policy." (Additional reporting by Joseph Agcaoili)

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