FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!STATEMENT
KAPUNUNGAN HAN GUDTI NGA PARAG-UMA HA WESTE HAN SAMAR (KAPAWA)
February 25, 2011
Filipinos mark the month of February as the month when the people won its struggle for change. It was in this month that the Filipino people triumphed against the US-Marcos dictatorship through a popular uprising at EDSA. The peasant sector played a crucial part in this change, for we were most fervent in the struggle against the fascist regime.
But it was also in the month of February – February 13, 2011 – when soldiers captured Ericson Acosta, a cultural worker and freelance journalist from Metro Manila. He was arbitrarily arrested and was filed with baseless charges of illegal possession of explosives.
Farmers however could attest to his admirable work and advocacy for the peasantry. Acosta volunteered for work with KAPAWA in San Jorge as well as other towns in Samar province. Acosta helped KAPAWA with our campaign against hunger, malnutrition, poverty and militarization here in Western Samar. One of his contributions to KAPAWA is his research regarding large-scale mining in the province. He wrote articles about the situation of farmers in the province that contributed to the success of the farmers’ rally in Catbalogan, which marked the occasion of Peasant Month and “World Foodless Day” last October, 2010.
We in KAPAWA know that Acosta did not carry guns or explosives. What the soldiers took from him were his personal belongings, including the computer or laptop he uses for his work. Acosta was illegally arrested while he was doing research on the human rights situation in Barangay Bay-ang and other adjacent villages in the towns of Catbalogan, San Jose de Buan, Motiong and Jiabong. Barangay Bay-ang is just one of the many barrios in Samar that fall prey to widespread military operations and abuses ever since the time of Jovito Palparan and up until the current Oplan Bayanihan of the Aquino regime.
It is very apparent that military operations still torment the countryside – repression, oppression and the military’s trampling of human rights persist under Noynoy Aquino’s regime. Farmers remain in extreme poverty, and suffer much from natural disasters.
We do not feel that Aquino is indeed sincere when he says he will free the peasants of this burden, as the government clearly lacks programs favorable to impoverished farmers. While he fails to implement a nationalist, pro-peasant program for land reform, he supports militarization in the guise of “bayanihan,” which in truth continues to cause serious detriment to the livelihood of farmers in the countryside. Aquino maintains the policy of repression against perceived “enemies of the state,” as in the arrest of peasant leader Dario Tomada of SAGUPA-Sinirangan Bisayas in July of 2010. Despite promises of justice and change, the number of political prisoners continue to increase under the Aquino administration.
KAPAWA strongly condemns the illegal arrest and detention of Ericson Acosta. We plea for justice as we join the calls for his immediate and unconditional release. We believe that it is not a crime to help and serve the needy and neglected – it is never wrong for one to advocate the welfare of the marginalized peasant sector.
FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!
FREE ALL POLITICAL DETAINEES!
STOP MILITARIZATION IN THE COUNTRYSIDE!
For KAPAWA:
FILOMINO TABON-TABON, KAPAWA Chairman
ROMEO DELOS SANTOS, KAPAWA coordinator
Email: kapawa2010@gmail.com
KAPUNUNGAN HAN GUDTI NGA PARAG-UMA HA WESTE HAN SAMAR (KAPAWA)
February 25, 2011
Filipinos mark the month of February as the month when the people won its struggle for change. It was in this month that the Filipino people triumphed against the US-Marcos dictatorship through a popular uprising at EDSA. The peasant sector played a crucial part in this change, for we were most fervent in the struggle against the fascist regime.
But it was also in the month of February – February 13, 2011 – when soldiers captured Ericson Acosta, a cultural worker and freelance journalist from Metro Manila. He was arbitrarily arrested and was filed with baseless charges of illegal possession of explosives.
Farmers however could attest to his admirable work and advocacy for the peasantry. Acosta volunteered for work with KAPAWA in San Jorge as well as other towns in Samar province. Acosta helped KAPAWA with our campaign against hunger, malnutrition, poverty and militarization here in Western Samar. One of his contributions to KAPAWA is his research regarding large-scale mining in the province. He wrote articles about the situation of farmers in the province that contributed to the success of the farmers’ rally in Catbalogan, which marked the occasion of Peasant Month and “World Foodless Day” last October, 2010.
We in KAPAWA know that Acosta did not carry guns or explosives. What the soldiers took from him were his personal belongings, including the computer or laptop he uses for his work. Acosta was illegally arrested while he was doing research on the human rights situation in Barangay Bay-ang and other adjacent villages in the towns of Catbalogan, San Jose de Buan, Motiong and Jiabong. Barangay Bay-ang is just one of the many barrios in Samar that fall prey to widespread military operations and abuses ever since the time of Jovito Palparan and up until the current Oplan Bayanihan of the Aquino regime.
It is very apparent that military operations still torment the countryside – repression, oppression and the military’s trampling of human rights persist under Noynoy Aquino’s regime. Farmers remain in extreme poverty, and suffer much from natural disasters.
We do not feel that Aquino is indeed sincere when he says he will free the peasants of this burden, as the government clearly lacks programs favorable to impoverished farmers. While he fails to implement a nationalist, pro-peasant program for land reform, he supports militarization in the guise of “bayanihan,” which in truth continues to cause serious detriment to the livelihood of farmers in the countryside. Aquino maintains the policy of repression against perceived “enemies of the state,” as in the arrest of peasant leader Dario Tomada of SAGUPA-Sinirangan Bisayas in July of 2010. Despite promises of justice and change, the number of political prisoners continue to increase under the Aquino administration.
KAPAWA strongly condemns the illegal arrest and detention of Ericson Acosta. We plea for justice as we join the calls for his immediate and unconditional release. We believe that it is not a crime to help and serve the needy and neglected – it is never wrong for one to advocate the welfare of the marginalized peasant sector.
FREE ERICSON ACOSTA!
FREE ALL POLITICAL DETAINEES!
STOP MILITARIZATION IN THE COUNTRYSIDE!
For KAPAWA:
FILOMINO TABON-TABON, KAPAWA Chairman
ROMEO DELOS SANTOS, KAPAWA coordinator
Email: kapawa2010@gmail.com
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