The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) lambasted Pres.Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for using the calamity brought about by the succession of typhoons that hit our country to cover up its atrocious actions last November 16, in the Hacienda Luisita Massacre. 

According to Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP, “the AFP is now projecting itself as a benevolent guardian ever ready to help the needy, but only a few weeks back we saw its true character as the defender of the ruling elite, killing farmers at the command of the Cojuangcos,”

“The military and Malacanang is squeezing as much “pogi points” as possible from the disaster, to save its rotten image mired with massacres, sex scandals, corruption, low popularity and crime. They should stop posturing and do their duty to the people, because that is their task. Now the AFP is even pointing to the New People’s Army (NPA) as the culprit for the massive landslides in the provinces of Quezon and Aurora. As can be remembered they also pointed at the NPA as the one responsible for the Luisita massacre,” added Ala.

“It seems that for the military and GMA anything that goes wrong in our country can be blamed on the NPA. But as residents of Aurora, Quezon and other forested areas of our country would attest, the AFP is the one involved in illegal logging in their areas in connivance with local government officials and even up to the national level. In fact, it is the military that provides protection to illegal loggers, and for legal ones exceeding their log areas. Besides large commercial logging operations comprise the largest output of cut logs in our country and they get their permit from the DENR itself,” explained Ala.

“But with the Supreme Court reversal of its ruling that the Mining Act of 1995 is unconstitutional, we can expect more landslides and tragedies to come, because for the province of Aurora alone, the mining applications are so numerous that it even exceeds the total land area of the storm hit province and we can expect the AFP to be really glad of this development. It seems that they are happy when calamities happen because it is the only time that they can look good,” ended Ala. # # # 
 

KMP - 4 December 2004