Relatives and supporters of detained Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) deputy secretary-general for external affairs Randall Echanis Aug. 2 denounced the “Mafia-style and highly irregular transfer” of the peasant leader to the Manila City Jail.
BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 26, August 3-9, 2008
Relatives and supporters of detained Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) deputy secretary-general for external affairs Randall Echanis Aug. 2 denounced the “Mafia-style and highly irregular transfer” of the peasant leader to the Manila City Jail.
KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos said he received a call from one of their paralegal staff at around 9:30 a.m informing him that Echanis was hurriedly transferred from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame to Manila City Jail in Manila in the morning of Aug. 2.
“Malacañang, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) masterminded this highly irregular, Mafia-style and grossly diabolical transfer of Echanis. They have been planning something evil against our colleague,” the KMP leader said in a press statement.
“Let me remind the national security gang in the Presidential Palace headed by Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her security adviser Norberto Gonzales and the twin evil brother of Norberto, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez that Echanis is a political prisoner, a decent and principled man wrongly accused by this criminal regime of Mrs. Arroyo. He is not a common criminal accused of petty street crimes,” Ramos said.
The KMP also asked whether Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina if she ordered the transfer of the detained KMP leader from Camp Crame to Manila City Jail.
Ramos said prior to this quick transfer, Echanis called his lawyer, Romeo Capulong, to inform him that the PNP has read an order from the judge approving his transfer from the PNP Custodial Center to Manila City Jail.
“Everything was done in a highly questionable manner. Did the PNP file any motion or request for Echanis’s transfer? Did Judge Medina approve the PNP request for Echanis’s transfer? How come the lawyers and relatives of Echanis were not informed about his transfer and of this latest legal twisting escapade of the Arroyo government? Why is everything kept like the best-kept secret of the National Security Council?” the KMP added.
The group maintained that Echanis should be held in the custody of the PNP Custodial Center while his case is being tried as previously ordered by Medina. “Echanis should stay with the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame while his case is being tried, that’s why we repeat, the transfer is highly irregular and absurd and it only revealed the national conspiracy and sinister agenda of Arroyo and her militarist advisers, which is to further persecute and make life more miserable for Echanis,” the KMP said.
Echanis, who was implicated in the case related to the alleged purge within the ranks of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Leyte in the 1980s, was transferred Tuesday last week from the Leyte Provincial Jail in Palo to the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame. He was accused, together with Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo, of ordering the alleged purge in 1984.
Echanis was in detention at the time he was supposed to have ordered the purge. Government and military records, including court proceedings, showed that Echanis was being held in solitary confinement by the military at the time the alleged purge was supposed to have been ordered.
The Manila RTC had also dismissed all criminal charges filed by the Marcos government in the 1980s against Echanis. In 1992, a case of illegal possession of firearms was again dismissed by the Manila RTC for lack of merit.
On Jan. 28, Echanis was arrested in Bago City, Negros Occidental while attending a national conference called by the Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA or Union of Workers in Agriculture) regarding the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 authored by the late Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran.
Arroyo, et al to be held liable
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said they will hold Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the National Security Council liable if something bad happens to the detained KMP leader.
“We fear for Ka Randy’s security considering his status as a political prisoner. We’re also afraid that he will be subjected to tremendous suffering given the prison conditions and his health,” the militant lawmaker said in a press statement, a copy of which was sent to Bulatlat.
“This politically-motivated case has been on hold since April 2007. The Arroyo government and its state security forces should have desisted from arresting those included in the questionable charge sheet,” Mariano said.
The arrest warrant served on Echanis, was issued a year ago in connection with a charge of multiple murder that Ocampo had questioned before the Supreme Court. In April 2007, the Supreme Court granted Ocampo provisional release on bail while the Court deliberated on his petition for certiorari and prohibition.
