Press Release
August 19, 2006

CONTINUING POLITICAL KILLINGS CAST DOUBTS ON
GMAS CONTROL OF THE MILITARY

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the continuing killings of political activists despite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos pledge to have them stopped have cast doubts on whether she is still in full control of the military and police.

Pimentel lamented that while the Presidents order to the Armed Forces and police to solve the extra-judicial killings within a 10-week deadline have yet to produce results, two more leftist militants have been slain this week.

Killed by unidentified gunmen were Orlando Rivera, a leader of Pamalakaya in Obando, Bulacan, and Julio Vasquez of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Guimba, Nueva Ecija.

Noting that relatives of the victims have pointed to soldiers as the perpetrators of the killings, Pimentel said the Presidents condemnation of political killings has apparently been ignored by the military.

He said that the President does not have to create a five-man commission to investigate the extra-judicial killings of activists and journalists.

All she has to do is order the AFP and PNP to stop the killings. But she does not do so because she is no longer in control of the armed elements of the government. They have her by her G-strings and are ready to undress her whenever she displeases them, Pimentel said.

The minority leader SAID Filipino citizenry should be concerned that more lives are being snuffed out by death squads roaming the countryside and the cities.

Everyone should shout their heads off to demand that the killers be identified, arrested and prosecuted for the offense. The pattern is clear. Even those who do not bear up arms against the government are at extreme risks, Pimentel said.

He decried that hooligans are on the loose to exterminate innocent lives but the government as incapable of stopping them.

Anarchy appears on the horizon and, unless Gloria steps down, would unhappily become a fact of life of this hapless land.

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