By CPP Information Bureau
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said not one of the torturers of the Marcos martial law regime has been punished for the grave abuses of human rights committed as officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), 27 years after the overthrow of the fascist dictator through the EDSA* Uprising of 1986.
“The victims of the martial law regime have long demanded recognition for their struggles and compensation for the abuses they suffered under the martial law regime,” said the CPP in reaction to the signing of the martial law compensation law yesterday. “However, they demand much more.”
“The Filipino people have long sought punishment for the worst among the torturers and abusers of human rights, as well as the plunderers and most corrupt officials, bureaucrat capitalists and cronies of Marcos, many of whom are presently in government or in big business,” said the CPP.
“Among the worst torturers of the martial law regime were then Col. Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan and then Col. Panfilo Lacson, who are now both members of the reactionary Senate,” pointed out the CPP. “They were among the principal agents of then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, chief martial administrator and warden of Marcos’ dungeons.”
“The AFP has been among the biggest stumbling blocks in the struggle to achieve justice for the victims of military abuses under martial law and under the post-Marcos regimes,” said the CPP. “Not once has the AFP officially condemned, repudiated and punished any of its officials behind the torture of tens of thousands who rose up against Marcos’ martial law regime.”
“Add to this the officers of the AFP, including Gen. Jovito Palparan, who are responsible for the spate of fascist brutalities over the past several years, and who remain under military protection and have yet to be punished for their innumerable crimes against humanity.”
“The AFP reeks of hypocrisy in declaring its support for the compensation law,” said the CPP. “In refusing to condemn its own officers involved in the torture and other abuses of martial law and succeeding regimes, the AFP furthers the culture of impunity. The abuses under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan reminds us all that martial law has never been completely dismantled.”
“The Aquino regime mocks the EDSA I Uprising in patronizing the people’s democratic upheaval while promoting historical amnesia in allowing the minions of the Marcos dictatorship, including his uncle Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco, to continue to lord it over Philippine society,” pointed out the CPP.