PHILIPPINES: Bongbong Marcos campaigning for militants on slate, too (tags)
The bitter enemies of the late President Ferdinand Marcos are now the political allies of his son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is running for a senator under the Nacionalista Party.
ACTIVIST CONTINUE PROTESTS THROUGHOUT CHRISTMAS (tags)
Activists here continue their unrelenting advocacy in support of various causes and in protest of other issues even as the community savors Christmas and the advent of a new year. The Filipino Veterans Support Bill, or SB 3689, remains as the foremost concern of the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV). Despite failing energy, living FilVets stay active on the road, making their presence felt in mass actions and community gatherings, and taking the opportunity to speak their minds. On December 8, JFAV announced the formation of a partner organization, the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (Aware) at a meeting held at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) here. In San Francisco, FilVets Gomer Bondad and Reggie Nacua, with activists Ago Pedalizo and Violy Reyes, discussed the seemingly unresolved impasse on the lump sum clause of SB 36879, now pending in the US Congress, at a community meeting held at the ABS-CBN studio in Redwood City last December 10
Pesante Hails Transfer of Echanis to PNP Jail- A Tactical Victory (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA) hails the transfer of Randal Echanis, yesterday. Echanis, a persecuted leader of KMP, a veterans FQSM student leader and an NDF Peace Consultant PNP was transferred from the Manila City Jail to the PNP Jai. The transfer is a tactical victory in the interest of justice and lasting peace and was a demand of different human rights groups in the Philippines and in the U.S. Pesante Coordinator Arturo Garcia said: “Echanis should not have been transferred to the Manila City Jail from the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, It is just a simple case of persecution and the SOP of the resurging and copycat martial law regime. The US-Marcos regime did the same when they transferred the political prisoners from the detention centers to Muntinglupa National Penitentiary and declared them as “public order violators”
Free Filipino Political Prisoner Randall Echanis Now (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) and all its allied organizations in North America expresses deep and serious concern over the continued detention of a ranking officer of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)or the Peasant Movement of the Philippines- Randall Echanis and demand his immediate release. On Tuesday, KMP Deputy Secretary for internal affairs Randall Echanis was transferred from the Palo Provincial Jail in Leyte to the Camp Crame Detention Center. An AJLLP coordinator commented that “members are happy that at least he was transferred to Camp Crame in Manila from Hilongos Leyte.” Updates were received that at around 7 a.m., some 30 supporters of Echanis, peasant activists including his wife Erlinda, son Ramill and daughter Amanda, and other relatives and friends, trooped to the EDSA gate of Camp Crame to greet his arrival.” The AJLPP seriously believes that Echanis, was falsely charged for murder in connection with mass graves discovered in Hilongos, Leyte. Like other NDF peace consultants who are languishing in jail, they are being unjustly targeted by the US-Arroyo regime. AJLPP fully supports position of the KMP chair Paeng Mariano and the Echanis family that the imprisonment of Echanis, was meant to “preserve the illegitimate, immoral and evil reign of President Arroyo.”
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) and all its allied organizations in North America expresses deep and serious concern over the continued detention of a ranking officer of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)or the Peasant Movement of the Philippines- Randall Echanis and demand his immediate release. On Tuesday, KMP Deputy Secretary for internal affairs Randall Echanis was transferred from the Palo Provincial Jail in Leyte to the Camp Crame Detention Center. An AJLLP coordinator commented that “members are happy that at least he was transferred to Camp Crame in Manila from Hilongos Leyte.” Updates were received that at around 7 a.m., some 30 supporters of Echanis, peasant activists including his wife Erlinda, son Ramill and daughter Amanda, and other relatives and friends, trooped to the EDSA gate of Camp Crame to greet his arrival.” The AJLPP seriously believes that Echanis, was falsely charged for murder in connection with mass graves discovered in Hilongos, Leyte. Like other NDF peace consultants who are languishing in jail, they are being unjustly targeted by the US-Arroyo regime. AJLPP fully supports position of the KMP chair Paeng Mariano and the Echanis family that the imprisonment of Echanis, was meant to “preserve the illegitimate, immoral and evil reign of President Arroyo.”
Behind Bars: The Travails of a Political Prisoner, Randall Echanis, KMP (tags)
Randall Echanis, of the militant peasant organization the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, is not the only political prisoner of the Arroyo regime. There are currently 240 prisoners in detention by the count of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA), an organization dedicated to helping political prisoners.
AJLPP Protests The Arrest of Randall Echanis, KMP Leader and a member of NDFP Peace Panel (tags)
The AJLPP through its national coordinator Mario Santos today strongly condemns the illegal arrest of Mr. Randall Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee (RWC) on Social and Economic Reforms (SER), by the Arroyo regime’s police agents yesterday at Bago City, Negros Occidental. The AJLPP considered the arrest of Echanis a big blow against the cause of peace. Mr. Echanis was arrested by the PNP in Bago City while he was to attend a conference of agricultural workers in preparation for a KMP national rural congress. Negros is one the KMP’s strongest base where the National Federation Sugar Workers (NFSW) is based. He was flown by the PNP with haste to Hilongos , Leyte where he was detained.