Call for solidarity over Congress rep's arrest in the Philippines

On March 16 police arrested Satur Ocampo, a member of Congress from the left-wing Bayan Muna party list. Ocampo, who had been in hiding for eight days, was taken into custody shortly after he filed a court petition to quash the arrest warrant. He faces charges of killing military spies in the '80s, according to a March 17 Philippine Daily Inquirer report.

Francisco Nemenzo, chairperson of the left-wing Laban ng Masa coalition and former president of the University of the Philippines, put out a statement on March 12 condemning the issuing of the arrest warrant. "These alleged murders were supposed to be committed in Leyte in 1984 while Ocampo was detained in Bicultan until 1985 [by the Marcos dictatorship]. I do not believe in his supernatural power to be in two places at once."

The Inquirer reported that Ocampo accuses "the military top brass of lying and of falsifying the charges against him by using recycled skeletons as supposed evidence of a mass grave". According to the report, Ocampo alleged that five of 15 skeletons "had actually been also previously dug up in Barangay Monterico in Albay in 2004" and his lawyers have been able to find another case "involving the same skeletons".

Philippines leftists say that the charges against Ocampo signal a renewed crackdown on left-wing groups. Messages of protest addressed to the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and solidarity messages, can be sent to <labanngmasa@yahoo.com.ph>. Progressive activists are also urged to hold protests outside Philippines embassies and consulates.

From GLW issue 703