AJLPP Protests The Arrest of Randall Echanis, KMP Leader and a member of NDFP Peace Panel

San Francisco --The AJLPP through its national coordinator Mario Santos today strongly condemns the illegal arrest of Mr. Randall Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general and a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee (RWC) on Social and Economic Reforms (SER), by the Arroyo regime’s police agents yesterday at Bago City, Negros Occidental.

The AJLPP considered the arrest of Echanis a big blow against the cause of peace. Mr. Echanis was arrested by the PNP in Bago City while he was to attend a conference of agricultural workers in preparation for a KMP national rural congress. Negros is one the KMP’s strongest base where the National Federation Sugar Workers (NFSW) is based. He was flown by the PNP with haste to Hilongos , Leyte where he was detained

The AJLPP vigourously condemns the trumped up charges filed against Mr. Echanis which are clearly false. He was arrested in 1983 and kept in solitary confinement first in Camp Aguinaldo under then Col. Gregorio Honasan and then in Tuguegarao, Cagayan until his release in March 1986 with the downfall of the Marcos regime.

But the PNP, like a crazy persecutor, accused him of an alleged crime that supposedly happened in 1984-85. It is the same case for which the Supreme Court trashed in which the Arroyo regime had ordered the arrest of BAYAN MUNA’s Congressman Satur Ocampo in December 2006 . The Philippine Supreme Court ruled that Congressman Ocampo be released and the case be dropped. This a clear case of persecution and witch-hunt.

Stop the Attacks Against NDF Consultants, Resume Peace Talks Now

AJLPP Mario Santos also said: “ His illegal arrest by the regime’s police forces is a flagrant violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Mr. Echanis, publicly known as a member of the NDFP official delegation to peace talks and known to the officials of the Royal Norwegian Government as Third Party Facilitator of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, is fully protected by the safety and immunity guarantees stipulated in the JASIG

Mr. Echanis has participated in formal peace talks in Oslo and has taken part in discussions towards a draft tentative agreement on social and economic reforms, the second substantive agenda in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, with his counterpart in the GRP-RWC on SER. He has played a key role in developing the NDFP draft of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, especially with regard to the peasant question and land reform.

The GRP’s filing of charges of common crimes is a gross violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

The AJLPP also condemns the arrest and detention of more than 5 NDF consultants like Elizabeth Principe, Glicerio Pernia and others. The AJLPP expressed concern about the more than 15 other NDF consultants like Sotero Llamas, Leo Velasco, Philip Limjoco, Prudencio Calubid and others were killed or missing since 2005.

This arrest of NDFP RWC on SER member Randall Echanis is the latest in a series of gross violations of the JASIG and CARHRIHL perpetrated by the Arroyo regime. These violations of binding peace agreements seriously jeopardize the possibility of the resumption of formal peace talks.”

The AJLPP demands the resumption of the peace talks and as a start of confidence building, the compliance by the Arroyo regime with the JASIG and CARHRIHL. The NDFP demands the immediate and unconditional release of Randall Echanis.

For more information about the AJLPP please contact Mario Santos at (415) 309 5835 or email@ajlpp_socal [at] yahoo.com