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Opinion

Release of Morong 43 another PNoy fiasco!

SHOOTING STRAIGHT - Bobit S. Avila -

This is the 52nd week of the Year 2010, which means it is the last week of the year and so you can say that this is our last show for the year and since our last replay comes out on Saturday, which is the first day of the New Year, then you can also say that it is our first show for 2011. So tonight we bring you back our first lady governor, Gwendolyn F. Garcia, for her yearend report and her hopes for the coming New Year. Call it timely that it is also our 365th show so watch this very inspiring show on SkyCable’s Channel 15 at 8pm tonight.

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It’s the last week for the year 2010 and seven out of 10 Filipinos look forward to a better year 2011. Of course we have to be optimistic that things would augur well for our country, which has suffered from the numerous bungling by the Aquino administration, which Sen. Joker Arroyo (who was Executive Secretary during Tita Cory’s reign) describes as a “Student Government,” an almost perfect description of the Aquino government.

Amongst the many blunders that Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III made was when he released the so-called “Morong 43” who claimed that their human rights were violated when the military arrested them on trumped up charges that they were doing terroristic activities. But as they were released last week, surely you would have noticed how Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison was elated by their release. If the “Morong 43” were not card-carrying members of the CPP or NPA, I don’t think Joma would have praised their release!

Perhaps the best proof that the “Morong 43” were not who they said they were was that five of them confessed they were card-carrying members of the NPA and even with the order of the court to release them, they have refused to leave the protective custody of the Philippine Army.

One reality that NPA members have to live with is that when they get fed up with fighting a senseless covert war in the hills, they just drop their arms and leave their comrades and return to their homes and go on with their lives. Too many disgruntled NPA’s have lost their lives doing this, as the NPA would not rest until they have been found and exterminated.

Proof of this is the numerous mass graves that have been uncovered in Leyte. No one cared to look for those whom the NPA killed and buried because NPA’s do not believe that those that live their cause do not deserve any life at all. How many mass graves have been uncovered all over the country and no one is crying justice for those poor souls. But if you ask me, I put the blame on one man, CPP Chairman Joma Sison, who has fought his struggle since the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

The five self-confessed NPA’s who didn’t leave are Cherilyn Tawagon, Eleanor Carandang, Jennyllyn Pizzaro, John Mark Barrientos and Valentino Paulino. When members of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) led by Commissioner Jose Mamawag together with members of Karapatan led by Cristina Palabay and Marie Hilao Enriquez, including Mrs. Adoracion Paulino, the mother of Valentino Paulino, they failed to convince the five, including Valentino, to go out with them for fear of NPA reprisals. So they are still inside Camp Campinin, Tanay, Rizal despite the cries and wails of Valentino Paulino’s mother.

Incidentally, three unreleased members of the “Morong 43” appeared on TV with Karen Davila and bravely reiterated their earlier confession… that they were active members of the NPA and Eleanor Carandang even said that a Karapatan member pressured her to retract her confession to the threat of her family members. Karapatan was manipulative and deceptive - a very common tactic used by the CPP. We have known this for a long time now, but still a lot of people believe that Karapatan’s advocacy is human rights… but in truth only for the NPA!

What more evidence do we need to prove that the release of the “Morong 43” was the result of the PNoy administration’s being supported by friends of the CPP. Otherwise, they should have kept this with the courts. But somehow, PNoy was “pressured” to intervene with the courts and have these people freed.

I dare say that the release of the “Morong 43” is another fiasco by the Aquino administration. As commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), PNoy should have sided with the soldiers who are the true army of the Filipino people. We civilians need our soldiers otherwise we would have to fight the NPA ourselves! But PNoy is playing with the lives of our people in allowing the release of members of the NPA. He should rethink his position now before it’s too late.

 Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

AQUINO

ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES

ELEANOR CARANDANG

KARAPATAN

MEMBERS

NEW YEAR

NPA

VALENTINO PAULINO

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