Mariano, concurrent KMP chair, described “the trumped-up charge” against Echanis, Ocampo and other leaders of the people’s movement as a “special project of the Palace-created Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG)” headed by the National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, which includes the military and the justice department as members.

“Gonzales and then AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon’s grave-digging stunt in Inopacan, Leyte is a special project of Ms Arroyo’s IALAG in a desperate bid to immobilize those who strongly oppose her anti-people political and economic policies,” says Mariano.

On March 2007, Ocampo accused the military top brass of lying and of falsifying the charges against him by using recycled skeletons as supposed evidence of a mass grave. Ocampo said five of the 15 skeletons allegedly found in Hilongos, Leyte, as evidence of mass killings had actually been also previously dug up in Barangay (village) Monterico in Albay in 2004.

The Anakpawis lawmaker called for the immediate and unconditional release of Echanis, and the subsequent dropping of all charges filed against him by the corrupt, bankrupt and immoral government of Ms Arroyo. “The continuing injustice committed by the Arroyo government against Echanis should not be tolerated,” Mariano said.

‘Serve the People’

The farmer lawmaker said in the late 1970, Echanis was among the batches of activists who responded to the Kabataang Makabayan’s (KM or Patriotic Youth) call to “Serve the People.” He went to the countryside and helped in peasant education, propaganda, and organizing work in Cagayan Valley, Cordillera, and Ilocos regions until his arrest in July 1983. He was arrested without warrant by elements of the then Ministry of National Defense Security Group under Cols. Gregorio Honasan, Red Kapunan, and Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

Rep. Mariano recalled that from 1983 to 1984, Echanis was detained under solitary confinement and held incommunicado in Camp Aguinaldo. Even his close relatives and lawyers were not allowed to visit him. From 1984 to 1986, he was transferred to Camp Adduru, Regional Command 2 Stockade in Tuguegarao, Cagayan until his release in March 1986. For two years, Echanis was under solitary confinement.

The human rights group Selda (Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Para sa Amnestiya) said the detained KMP leader was among the political prisoners released after People Power 1, and became one of the group’s pioneers.

Aside from Selda, Echanis co-founded the left-leaning political party Partido ng Bayan (PnB or People’s Party) and was one of the members of its preparatory organizing committee. In 1987, Echanis went back to peasant organizing until his second arrest in 1990 by combined elements of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), the Naval Intelligence and Security Force (NISF), and the NCRDC.

Echanis’ wife, Erlinda Lacaba-Echanis, told Bulatlat her husband was held in a safe house for one week and subjected to physical and emotional torture before his transfer to Camp Crame Custodial Center along with their daughter Amanda Echanis, who two-years old then and the youngest political prisoner at that time.

Erlinda recalled his husband was released from detention in 1992 after a case filed against him for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1866 (illegal possession of firearms in furtherance of rebellion) was dismissed by the Manila Regional Trial Court.

“He became active once more with Selda and helped in processing claimants in a class suit against the Marcos dictatorship. He was also instrumental in establishing the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights).

“My husband is a dignified, patriotic and pro-masses person, he has been a perpetual victim of state terrorism and government and military persecution,” Echanis wife added.

Echanis was appointed deputy secretary-general for external affairs of the militant peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in its 5th National Congress in 1999.

In the year 2001, he was elected member of the national council of the First Quarter Storm Movement (FQSM) in its First Congress.

Since 2002, Echanis helped in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee for Social and Economic Reforms.

As KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs, Echanis attended and represented KMP in international peasant assemblies and conferences such as the World Farmers’ Assembly in France, the World Social Forum in Brazil, the World Anti-Imperialist Conference in Indonesia and a delegate to the 1st and 2nd Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) in The Netherlands. Contributed to (Bulatlat.com)

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