Bayan-Negros yesterday condemned Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. for allegedly ignoring their request for a dialog and for pretending to be deaf to what it calls the “raging” human rights violations committed by the Revolutionary Proletarian Army against local farmers and members of progressive organizations, Bayan-Negros secretary general, Christian Tuayon, said yesterday.

About 100 protesters staged a rally in front of Provincial Capitol building in Bacolod City to call for an end to militarization, harassment, extra judicial killings, and human rights violations in Negros Occidental on the 39th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

Tuayon said they have written to Marañon asking for a dialog but had not received any response. They were told the governor was in Manila, he said.

Fr. Romeo Tagud of the Promotion of Church People’s Response said they want the RPA to disband as they are being used by the military to harass farmer-members of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and National Federation of Sugarcane Workers in Sagay City and EB Magalona town.

They also want the provincial government to immediately address hunger among farmers due to  the tiempos muertos or the dead season in the sugar industry, he added.

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic bishops and clergy of the Visayas Clergy Discernment Group said in a press statement yesterday that they are saddened that remnants of the Martial Law are still witnessed today, 39 years after its declaration, and 30 years after it was “lifted.”

“Thirty-nine years ago, the Marcos dictatorship jam-packed jails with political prisoners who fought against corruption and repression. Priests, religious, lay leaders and opposition groups were illegally arrested and detained on trumped up grounds.  Many of them were summarily executed and tortured,” they said.

Until today, the perpetrators of Martial Law have not been punished and the victims have not attained justice, the great bulk of them have never received the “compensation” for the victims, the statement said.

Most condemnable of all is that today, some practices of Martial Law continue behind the cloak of “restored democracy, justice and protection of human rights,” they added.

Human rights organizations claim there are 360 political prisoners nationwide languishing in jails and that there are 77 political prisoners illegally arrested and currently detained under the Aquino administration.

“We remind President Benigno Aquino III, all government institutions under him, and all advocates of democracy, that the path to peace is through the fulfillment of justice, and not through the militarist method,” the statement added.*LTG

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