What killed Ka Eddik?

By SELDA Pilipinas

We rage and revolt — even in prison — at how our beloved comrade in the fight for the people’s basic interests and comprehensive social changes, Eduardo “Ka Eddik” Serrano, was killed.

Ka Eddik, who for decades had been a staunch fighter in the interest of indigenous peoples, lowly peasants, and other poor, exploited and oppressed people in the country, and became a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). After consultations in 2004 with NDFP peace panel members, he was immediately and illegally arrested right after their separation.

To justify such arrest and long-detention since then, he was charged with several trumped-up cases against a fictitious “Rogelio Villanueva”. It took more than 11 years of utterly slow crawl of justice, before a Regional Trial Court ruled that he was not “Rogelio Villanueva” and cases against him were dismissed one-by-one, with only two more cases against “Rogelio Villanueva” remaining.

He aged in those more than 11 prison years, his heart weakened more and more, until he had to fight for his life under poor and oppressive prison conditions.

Even more than these conditions, it was the utter rotteness, indiifference and cruelty of the prevailing reactionary ruling system, and its systemic injustice that ultimately killed him.

We, Ka Eddik’s fellow NDFP peace consultants and other political prisoners detained in Camp Bagong Diwa and in many more jails throughout the country, vehemently protest what the prevailing reactionary ruling system had done to him and continue to do to us.

We register and make loud our protest, together with that of our fellow political prisoners in this camp and other detained felllow NDFP peace consultants and political prisoners in many other prisons in the country, by going through fasting and hunger strike from the first day of Ka Eddik’s wake in January 12 up to his interment in January 17.

Ka Eddik’s fellow NDFP peace consultants detained in Camp Bagong Diwa,

Adelberto Silva

Alan Jazmines

Ernesto Lorenzo

Loida Magpatoc

Ruben Saluta

Tirso Alcantara

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The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) is an organization of former political prisoners in the Philippines. Founded on December 4, 1984, SELDA was initiated by newly-released political prisoners of the martial law period. SELDA’s primary task is to work for the release of all political prisoners and to see to it that humane treatment of those who are still in detention are complied with by the Philippine authorities. SELDA advocates justice for current and former political prisoners. It calls for the mobilisation of resources in support of political prisoners, former detainees and their families. It carries out legislative advocacy for the indemnification and rehabilitation of political prisoners. SELDA goes into partnership and builds solidarity with concerned individuals and groups for the freedom and welfare of political prisoners and all victims of tyranny.