MANILA — Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran decried the attack on the son of Jesus is Lord Movement leader Brother Eddie Villanueva, Bocaue mayoralty candidate Jon Jon Villanueva.
“What is happening right now is pure, unadulturated chaos. Election violence has hit the roof with this latest attack. Lawless individuals including unscrupulous elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) most likely on the payroll of warlords either running for local government or supporting candidates are having a field day. As the countdown to May 14 begins, we can see that there will be more outbreaks of violence. What has the Commission on Elections done about this? It’s also quite ironic but no surprising that even as the Macapagal-Arroyo administration defends its move to deploy the military into election-related duty, more violence is taking place,” he said.
Beltran said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) should leave no stone unturned in its investigations into the Bocaue shooting. He said that the PNP should focus on reports made by CIBAC Rep. Joel Villanueva that the perpetrators are members of the AFP campaiging for retired general human rights violator Jovito Palparan’s party-list Bantay.
‘With the entry of Palparan in the mainstream polls, the more fascistic and abusive elements of the AFP have become even more emboldened, cocky to the point of arrogance. The PNP should not retreat from this lead. In the meantime, the Comelec is being strongly urged to have Bantay Party-List disqualified and dropped from the official list of party-lists,” he said.
The veteran labor leader and activist lawmaker extended his personal expression of concern to Bro. Eddie and his family, saying that he was glad that no great harm befell them.
“Bro. Eddie and the members of his family including Cibac Rep. Joel have not been silent against the continuing abuses of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. In the eyes of the Arroyo government, they are legitimate targets. The fact that the military has had the temerity to launch such a blatant physical attack on their family should alarm the rest of the political opposition and the members of the civil rights community. The 2007 electoral campaign is turning out to be one of the bloodiest in the Philippines’ electoral history,” he said.
“It’s not just the members and sympathizers of the progressive party-lists and the militant people’s organizations who are now being targetted, but mainstream critics and opponents of the administration. All this has created an atmosphere of impunity and lawlessness the Macapagal-Arroyo administration must be made responsible for. The government’s refusal to reign in the military has sent signals to criminals and lawless elements everywhere that they can get away with extrajudicial killings themselves,” he concluded.#
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