Statement – Blood in her hands

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia-Codilla virtually encourages the escalating political killings in the region and across the country with her open endorsement of the government's all-out war in Cebu.

Baring all pretenses at motherly magnanimity as the first woman governor of Cebu, she has awkwardly donned on a military regalia and clumsily brandishes the sword of war not only against armed insurgents but also against party-list groups that she irresponsibly tagged as 'insurgent's fronts'.

Her militarist naiveté betrays the horrible reality of government hand in the physical extermination of activists, journalists, and other critics. It reveals the cloak of impunity that the government gives on military assassins to slaughter all perceived enemies of the state.

Since the start of Gloria's rule in 2001, 679 civilians have fallen victim to political killings, 360 survived attempts in their lives, and 168 are still missing.

In Central Visayas, there have been 18 political killings and 22 frustrated killings. Nine of those killed were committed by suspected agents of the 78th IB in the hinterland barangays of Northern Cebu. Among them was Allan Villacensio, a coordinator of BAYAN Muna, who was executed outside his home in Brgy. Caridad, Tuburan, Cebu on 28 December 2005.

The trend and pattern of political killings follow the directives and framework set by the AFP's Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL). A despicably hideous plot, OBL does not distinguish between armed and unarmed opposition to the fake Gloria government. It, in fact, targets legitimate, unarmed political groups which it justify by labeling these groups as rebel fronts without the slightest proof.

It is condemnable that the governor has endorsed this militarist plot. In so doing, she is helping strangle whatever is left of our so-called democracy.

Her hand is on the knife. And it is tainted in blood.

Dennis Abarrientos
Secretary-General
KARAPATAN-Central Visayas