49 political prisoners to be freed

President Arroyo has approved the release of 49 alleged political prisoners in an effort to speed up the revival of peace talks with communist and Muslim rebels.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said in an interview at the Holiday Inn, Manila yesterday that a government committee was reviewing the cases of about 200 other political prisoners, but he did not say when the 49 would be freed.

Perez recommended to Mrs. Arroyo the release of 77 of the 250 prisoners last month to spur the resumption of talks with the Marxist National Democratic Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Left-wing groups have staged rallies and plan to launch a 10-day hunger strike this week to protest delays in the releases.

However, State Prosecutor Rosalina Aquino, a member of the justice department secretariat assisting Perez, told reporters yesterday it does not mean the political prisoners will soon be released because they are facing charges in various courts.

Aquino said the political prisoners are being tried in court on charges of illegal possession of firearms, murder, homicide, robbery and kidnapping.

"The DOJ action is merely recommendatory," she said. "It’s the discretion of the courts. They still have to coordinate with private lawyers to file a motion to withdraw the charges in court to which the prosecutors will no longer oppose."

Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Nilo Mariano told reporters yesterday they will be coordinating with various city and provincial prosecutors, and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology for the release of the political prisoners.

The 200 political prisoners will go on hunger strike on February 22 to "welcome" the first month of Mrs. Arroyo’s administration and to dramatize their demand to be freed from jail.

Dani Beltran, secretary general of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, told The STAR yesterday the hunger strike will be led by 17 political prisoners in the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

"(The hunger strikers) will denounce the failure of the Arroyo administration to facilitate the actual release (of political prisoners)," he said. "There has only been press releases."

Beltran said Mrs. Arroyo should follow the example of former President Corazon Aquino who freed political prisoners three days after assuming office in 1986.

"In the case of President Arroyo, a month has passed but we have yet to see an actual release (of political prisoners)," he said.

The political prisoners accused Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes and Executive Secretary Renato de Villa, a former military general, of blocking release plans.

They also criticized the United States for opposing the release of two left-wing activists convicted in the 1991 killing of US Col. James Rowe, who coordinated US military support to the Philippines.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered officials to work on the release of political prisoners after she was swept to the presidency Jan. 20. She succeeded Joseph Estrada, who was ousted amid massive street protests over corruption charges.

Many ordered freed by the President were leftist radicals. Officials urged communist rebels to return the goodwill gesture by freeing two long time prisoners, an army and a police officer.

Past administrations have said all political detainees, mostly suspected communist guerrillas, were freed since the 1986 downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The left, however, say such detainees continue to languish in jails nationwide after they were slapped with common criminal charges – a trick they claim was used to keep dissenters behind bars.

One group, Karapatan, says about 60 percent of political prisoners were farmers jailed for their struggle to own land. The detainees also include 10 women and 11 minors, and Karapatan said there have been cases of illegal arrests and torture.

The group specifically demanded the release of Donato Continente and Juanito "Ka Juaning" Itaas, who were convicted in Rowe’s killing.

In the past, US officials have opposed steps to free the two men. The left played an important role in the protests that ousted Estrada.

Peace talks with the MILF collapsed last year after Estrada ordered a massive military campaign that captured many rebel camps in southern Mindanao region, where they are fighting for a separate Islamic state.

Communist rebels called off talks with the government after the Philippine Senate approved an accord in 1999 allowing the resumption of large-scale US military exercises in the country. –Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano