Press Release
17 February 2012
AFP’s tirades against the supporters of Fr. Pops hit
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) slammed Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP spokesperson Col. Leopoldo Galon for his tirades against the Assumption College of Davao, and other personalities and organizations that call for justice for the slain Italian missionary Fausto “Fr. Pops” Tentorio.
“While the academe, the religious sector and the civil society use mere words and legitimate actions well within the bounds of the law, the military is using intimidation, threats and harassment against unarmed groups and persons that demand justice for a noble priest, a man of the people,” Sheena Duazo, current Bayan-Southern Mindanao spokesperson, said.
In a protest action, exactly four months after Fr. Pops’ gruesome death, Bayan displayed an enlarged tarpaulin which Col. Galon wants removed from the wall of Assumption College. It reads “Stop Killing Church Leaders Under Oplan Bayanihan!”
“Col. Galon’s demand to remove the streamer from the ACD wall and threatening the academic institution with a smear campaign reveals another face of Oplan Bayanihan — a calibrated attack on social and justice movements, organizations and activists through the mass media and judicial processes, among others,” Duazo said.
“More appalling is that the military uses taxpayers’ money and state agencies, even to the point of using the government’s social services program to wage Oplan Bayanihan, a deceptive war which intends to undermine the peace-building efforts and social justice initiatives of the church people like Fr. Pops, the academe like Assumption College, and other organizations that fight for the peoples’ rights and welfare,” the Bayan spokesperson pointed out.
Quoting the statement published by ACD in their website, Duazo affirms that in this time when militarist rule undermines civilian supremacy, “singing songs of struggle of the fallen — the enlightened ones who offered their lives so that the poor will be spared from hardships” will earn the ire of the state’s armed forces which wage attacks against those bold enough to expose the AFP’s crimes.
Reference:
Sheena Duazo
Spokesperson
09496270377
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