Monday, March 12, 2007

The Killing Fields Come To Haunt The Killers

In August, 2006 local residents and former NPA rebels led government authorities to "The Garden" on an isolated ridge in barrio Kaulisihan, Inopacan town, Leyte province, where the skeletal remains of hundreds of victims of internal Communist Party purges from 1985 were dug up with the help of K-9 units and forensics experts. Former company commander of the NPA's Southern Leyte front committee, Zacarias Piedad, and platoon leader Leonardo Tanaid, testified before the media last September in Manila, that he personally saw the signed orders of CPP Chairman Jose Maria Sison, Central Committee member Satur Ocampo, and NDF spokesman Luis Jalandoni to rid the organization of government spies and infiltrators, who were then brought before an NPA kangaroo court then summarily knifed and hacked to death, then buried in "The Garden". It is one of the many "killing fields" that not even the CPP-NPA has been able to deny it created as a result of paranoia that the they had been penetrated by government agents and then engaged in bloody pogroms against suspected comrades, reportedly resulting in thousands killed and few if any spies found. In this report from Bulatlat, which often serves as the media outlet and apologist of the CPP-NPA, present-day Bayan Muna party list representative Satur Ocampo joins with a certain "Committee Defend" of the CPP Central Committee in Utrecht, the Netherlands in damage control over the discoveries in Leyte by claiming the mass grave is a fake. But now that Ocampo, Sison, Jalandoni and 50 other CPP NPA NDF leaders have been charged with rebellion and warrants of arrest for mass murder have been issued against them by a Regional Trial Court in Hilongos, Leyte, But even the Interpol may soon be after them. Other officials of the communist movement's aboveground front organizations may also be charged in connection with an ongoing investigation into extrajudicial killings by the CPP NPA in Bongabong, Nueva Ecija. Manila Standard columnist Emil Jurado reviews the "unreported atrocities" of the communist movement that has received scant attention from other mass media.

In today's PDI news headlines, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said that the legal offensive against the CPP and its front organizations is intended to establish "...the legal parameters of the nation… that armed rebellion is no longer acceptable as a means of achieving political change.” But check out the newspaper's editorial which seems to be lawyering for the accused murderers, Ocampo and Sison, claiming the impossibility of "bilocation" since both were in jail at the time of the purges, as if the CPP isn't still directing the NPA and NDF's insurgency all the way from comfortable exile in the Netherlands. Following the lead of Ocampo's lawyer-comrades Romeo Capulong and Nery Colmenares, who last Friday called the filing of murder charges "hasty" (21 years after the alleged crimes were committed!) here comes Conrado de Quiros questioning the the charges even as he admits they are about murder most foul:
Having said that, I protest most vehemently the arrest warrant on Satur Ocampo. That is an abomination that has no right to exist in a country pretending to be a democracy. Indeed, in a country pretending to have elections. What’s wrong with it is everything. At the very least its timing sucks.
Sucks for whom? The victims? The widows and surviving family members? Or for the fugitives and their allies?

Speaking of which, I wonder how the Sharonians are gonna take Senator Kiko Pangilinan's knee-jerk reaction "strongly condemning" the government for taking clearly JUDICIAL steps to bring justice to the perpetrators of mass murder and mayhem.

Amando Doronila produces the other head-scratcher today with his claim that the attempt of the authorities to serve a Court Warrant of Arrest on Satur by raiding his home in Quezon City is "fascistic" and a throw-back to martial law days.

Well, maybe the US Senate and House hearings on extrajudicial killings in the Philippines would like to add this lil item to their agenda later this week, as Satur Ocampo tries to hide under Barbara Boxer's, uhmmm, shorts. (The news item above from the Philippine Star claims Satur has been invited to the US Senate hearings, but the Manila Bulletin has the authoritative coverage.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

PNP seeks international warrant vs Joma

The Philippine Star 03/12/2007

I just read the following report:

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has sought the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO-Interpol) for the arrest and deportation of leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), who are wanted for multiple murder in the Philippines.

I still don't understand why Gloria refuses to push for an extradition treaty with the Dutch government so that she could formally ask for Joma Sison to be handed over to Pinas.

No Interpol will be able to transfer Joma Sison without a signed extradtion treaty between The Netherlands and Pinas.

PNP is simply barking mad.

I suspect is that Gloria is using Joma as her bogey but is not serious about wanting him in Pinas to answer her murder charges...

In a brief phone conversation I had with her last year, I told her that Joma is safely ensconsed in Utrecht and only an extradition treaty will push the Dutch to read the charges against Sison.

She doesn't make sense!

justicialiga said...

DJB,

I read the linked editorial of the Inquirer.

The Inquirer's reference to "bilocation" is based on a supposed eyewitness account wherein (when Ocampo was supposed to still be in jail) the "witness saw him in Inopacan at the time of the purge. Unless Ocampo has the gift of bilocation, the charge, accepted by a judge who did not read or chose to ignore the actual evidence, is essentially baseless."

Your further idea on assailing "bilocation" is different from the point of idea that the Inquirer wanted to state.

Deany Bocobo said...

Justicialiga--PDI said a witness said that, but they had no attribution and did not identify which witness. Nor do I think PDI is any authority on what the RTC in Leyte saw, heard or based its decision on. I think they invented that claim so they could use the fancy term "bilocation". Also if you read the Philippine Star coverage I reference above (blue text "testified before the media last September") there is no such claim. What the ex NPA company commander said was he saw the signed orders of Sison). In any case, do you think that even if Sison is in the loving arms of Dutch welfare he is not today controlling the CPP NPA NDF here in the Philippines? Location has never hindered that cunning fanatic.

justicialiga said...

Rizalist,

First of all, are you the owner of the blog?

You mentioned that you referenced the Star coverage with the blue text "testified before the media last September" which by the way leads to the asianjournal.


THe PDI editorial stated that
"Ocampo was in jail when the alleged mass murder took place. Not even the injudicious remarks of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, that mass murder can be plotted from inside a jail cell, can obscure the main basis of the charge: that a witness saw him in Inopacan at the time of the purge. Unless Ocampo has the gift of BILOCATION, the charge, accepted by a judge who did not read or chose to ignore the actual evidence, is essentially baseless."

Maybe the PDI allegation is invented, maybe it isn't.

But the term "bilocation" is used by the Inquirer in the context that it refers to the idea of physical presence as being SEEN in one place while at the same time incarcerated in another.

While the owner of the blog on the other hand is trying to debunk it by implying the idea that one doesn't have to be physically present in order to have one's orders carried out (which is true) but doesn't negate the idea that PDI wanted to convey.

The 2 ideas don't affect the other.

The owner of the blog would have been better off by just claiming that he thinks that the PDI invented that so called eyewitness account instead of trying to disprove "bilocation" based on the context it was used.

As stated also, Piedad saw an order/s signed by Sison, Ocampo, and Jalandoni.

Jalandoni was supposed to be in exile abroad while the other 2 were incarcerated in maximum security.

I havent read all the articles but the blog states "orders" while the asian journal claims "order".

If it is taken to be that it is actually one order; the best way to have that is that Jalandoni signed the document abroad and it was smuggled not only to one but to 2 detention cells so that Sison and Ocampo could sign the document also. That's quite a risk in having important communique intercepted and though it is possible; it also paints a terrible picture of Ex-Pres. Marcos' hold on his prison guards for maximum security.

And yes, location will not hinder Sison from controlling the CPP NPA NDF.

I don't support Sison's cause nor Ocampo's but this is a discussion of an issue.

justicialiga said...

Rizalist,

I understand now as I read your post again. You "reference" and not "referenced".

Please discard my question and any possible referral to you as the owner of the blog.

Deany Bocobo said...

Justicialiga,
All comments are welcome here. Please feel free to do so. We are "commenter-friendly" since we never moderate, censor or discourage them. In fact, our informal slogan on comments is: We learn the most from those who disagree!

But we have no special sources of information other than what is available in the main stream media, online and in our own documentation of what various people and organizations say, including commenters who sometimes come with insights and logical observations.

There is really no way for us to independently confirm any of these reports and claims. We are not "an authority" on any of these events...CAVEAT EMPTOR!