BAYAN-Negros strongly condemns the escalating attacks on people's development workers and national democratic forces!

Reference: Christian Tuayon, Secretary General, BAYAN-Negros | Aquino’s populist line “tuwid na daan” has been revealed as a fallacy rather than a genuine call for change since this government implemented the U.S. Imperialist- imposed programs such as Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and counter insurgency (COIN) Oplan Bayanihan.  Comfortable in its puppetry to the U.S., Aquino has not shown real interest in pursuing peace and justice or solving the root causes of the armed conflict despite the resumption of peace negotiation. In fact, the Aquino regime has paved the way to the further exploitation of our country’s natural and human resources thru the rehashed neo-liberal scheme that is bound to further spur massive unemployment, landlessness, economic dislocation, ejection,  denial of social services and rapid price hike.

Just a few weeks ago, Negrenses witnessed another province-wide transport strike against oil price hike and overpricing of petroleum products. Yet, the Aquino government expectedly pronounced its incapability to regulate oil prices due to continued implementation of the deregulation policy. Workers, low-paid professionals and urban-poor folks also staged various forms of actions to demand P125 wage increase only to be  dismayed by the result of the Regional Tri-partite Wage and Productivity Board’s decision of a P12 daily wage hike in form of ECOLA. This only proves that under this puppet government, capitalist interest is better served than people’s needs.

Another heart-breaking issue in Negros that BAYAN-Negros and its allied organizations vow to fight is the massive exploitation of our minerals thru small to large-scale mining, especially, in southern part of Negros.

Above all these, BAYAN-Negros strongly condemns the grave mistake of this puppet government in staging terroristic attack against the development workers and national democratic forces who stand by the masses in their day-to-day battle against hunger, poverty, landlessness and injustice.

Under Aquino, the much despised Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) gets a new name, the Oplan Bayanihan but basically operates as an extension of OBL. Under this latest COIN, the acts of state terror are being covered by psywar gimmicks to fool the people with the ridiculous portrayal of the AFP as “humanitarian”. However, the continuing military operations side by side with foreign capitalists, big landlords and corrupt bureauctrats further unveil the true face of fascism. Military visibility and human rights violations are much present in areas where there are mining operations, energy-exploration projects, eco-tourism projects, and export-related productions. Militarization and terroristic acts are used to suppress thousands of struggling peasants and people’s resistance to these projects which are detrimental to their rights and livelihood. Peasant organizers, human rights defenders and even development workers are not spared from AFP-PNP’s covert operations to suppress and repress. But BAYAN-Negros can only point to the AFP as the culprit behind the killing of Benjie Bayles and Rene Quirante, the illegal arrest of Romulo Bito-on and Rogina Quilop, the trumped up charges against Greg Tuayon, and lately the implication of NIHIP Asst. Director, Josephine Torrecampo and PAMALAKAYA Secretary General, Editho Namion in an Arson case.  Under Oplan Bayanihan, the AFP-PNP continues to use their personnel to falsely testify or file complaints and affidavits against these persons, just like the evil scheme of the defunct IALAG did under OBL.

It is just timely to bring this matter into serious attention with the resumption of peace negotiation. The Aquino government should make a decisive action to stop political repression. BAYAN-Negros believes that peace and development can never be achieved by using state terror against the people helping other people to liberate themselves from poverty and oppression.

STOP MALICIOUS PERSECUTION! STOP POLITICAL REPRESSION!
JUSTICE TO ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!