May 23, 2006

May 25 marks the 3rd month of the illegal arrest and detention of our beloved ANAKPAWIS PartyList Congressman and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Chairman Emeritus Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran. He was arrested by armed operatives of CIDG from the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by Maj. Rino Corpus right after the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime declared a “state of National Emergency” or the Presidential Proclamation 1017. Ka Bel was the first victim of the said proclamation.

Despite the resounding calls of prominent politicians and personalities as well as various political and civic groups, Ka Bel is in a heavily guarded confinement. Even as the Branch 43 of the Municipal Trial Court of Quezon City granted the motion for the immediate release of Ka Bel and in fact issued a RELEASE ORDER last March 13 because of the illegality of his arrest and baseless “inciting to sedition” case filed against him, the PNP and the Department of Justice (DOJ) simply ignored it and instead filed a rebellion charge.

At present, Ka Bel is confined at the Philippine Heart Center fully guarded as usual.

A true leader of the toiling masses
Ka Bel is the hero of the toiling masses. He served the democratic interests of the people for more than 50 years. He worked as a janitor, gasoline boy, messenger, bus driver and later became a taxi driver. His first taste of state violence was at the age of 20 when he joined a strike of his co-taxi drivers against unfair labor practices where 3 were killed and many were wounded due to a violent attack of police and goons at the picket line. From then on, he vowed to advance the struggle of the working class. He organized countless workers’ unions and associations. He later joined Felixberto “Ka Felix” Olalia and Feliciano Reyes in organizing the confederation of labor of the Philippines (CLP). He became the vice-chairman of the CLP from 1963-1972. He participated in the establishments of many other workers’ organization and congress until Martial Law. Under the Martial Law, Ka Bel helped in the formation of workers union federation in Rizal and the Phil. Nationalist Labor Organization (PANALO) until the founding of the KMU in the 1980s that served as the forerunner of the workers’ struggle against
the Marcos dictatorship.

Ka Bel was among the arrested in August 1982. He bolted out from the prison and secretly organized workers and peasant movements. When Ka Rolando Olalia was brutally murdered in 1987, he became the national Chairman of the KMU. He ran for senator under the Partido ng Bayan in that year where he garnered 1.52 million votes. But lose in the counting. He remained the chairman of the KMU until March 2003. He also became a member of the national congress of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) from 1985 and served as the chairman from 1998-2002. From February 2001 until November 2003, he was the Vice-Chairman of the Bayan Muna Party List and one of the first 3 representatives in the congress.

An outstanding congressman
From the streets to the house of the congress, Ka Bel bravely stood for the betterment of the poor Filipino people. As ANAKPAWIS representative, he filed 11 bills and over 100 resolutions and co-authored many other bills that uphold the interests of the Filipinos. He was named four times as most outstanding congressman by the Congress Magazine.

His unblemished reputation earned the respect and admiration of different militant and progressive organizations in the country and in the international community. As the former Chairman of the KMU and the International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS), he is famous in 83 countries and recognized by the multilateral International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN).

Ka Bel is the number 1 enemy of the greedy capitalists. Upholding the welfare of the masses, he actively criticized the anti-people policies of the Arroyo regime. Among these are the E-Vat, Oil Deregulation Law, Wage Regionalization, EPIRA and privatization of social services and many more. He is also one of the main authors of the P125 Across The Board wage hike campaign for the workers. He is also one of the many leaders calling for the ouster of Arroyo from the presidency because of her questionable status.

Due to his critical and pro-people stand, the present regime is hell bent to put Ka Bel and other leaders and individuals who are critical to the Arroyo administration behind bars.

But the ANAKPAWIS together with the rest of the Filipinos will never agree to this kind of repressive and oppressive system of the Arroyo regime. We call for the release of Ka Bel and the stop of political persecution and repression. Most of all, we further strengthen our call for the ouster of the US puppet, fake and fascist Arroyo!

IPAGTANGGOL ANG KALAYAANG SIBIL!
PALAYAIN SI KA BEL!
SULONG ANAKPAWIS, PATALSIKIN SI GLORYA!

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