Freedom, democracy and justice are under attack in the Philippines!
The government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has detained Bayan Muna
Representative Satur Ocampo on trumped-up charges of multiple murder.
The case stems from an invented charge that Ocampo allegedly ordered
the murder of 67 individuals in Leyte province in Eastern Philippines
in 1984 and 1985, when Ocampo was in military detention on orders of
the Marcos dictatorship.
Please sign the petition at http://freesatur.bayanmuna.net demanding
freedom for Ocampo.
Bayan Muna is the Philippines' most popular partylist organization
which topped the 2001 and 2004 partylist elections. It is now leading
the 2007 partylist elections as shown by public opinion polls. The
latest SWS poll says that Bayan Muna obtained 28 percent support
from the electorate and is assured of reelection in the May 14, 2007
elections.
Bayan Muna, a duly-accredited partylist organization composed of
civilians and non-combatants, has been tagged as one of the "enemies
of the state" for its oppositionist role, and the military has seen it
fit to make it a target in the counter-insurgency war against the New
People's Army.
Thus, 130 members of Bayan Muna have been killed by military death
squads since 2001. All in all, human rights group Karapatan has
documented 830 extrajudicial killings under Arroyo. The Permanent
Peoples Tribunal, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the United Nations
special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and other
international faith-based and social action groups have urged the
Arroyo government to stop the bloody attacks and the political
persecution of Ocampo and progressive partylist representatives in
Congress.
Ocampo is a leader of the progressive mass movement opposing the
Arroyo government. In the House of Representatives, he is one of the
deputy leaders of the minority, and supported two impeachment
complaints against Arroyo.
Ocampo is a former business editor of the Manila Times, former vice
president of National Press Club and a prominent figure in the
resistance movement against the Marcos dictatorship. He was imprisoned
for nine years (1976-1985) under Marcos dictatorship and has never
been convicted by any court of law. He was a member of the class that
filed and won the landmark class-action suit against Marcos in the US
federal courts.
Your support is needed now. Please express your support by signing the
online petition at: http://freesatur.bayanmuna.net
Thank you very much.
Friends of Satur Ocampo
Manila, Philippines
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