Committee for the Immediate Release of Congressman Crispin Beltran
Statement

180 days of detention have not silenced the People’s Lawmaker

25 August 2006

It is with sadness and anger that we note the passing of the six-month mark in Congressman Crispin Beltran’s unjust and arbitrary detention by the Arroyo administration. We join with those individuals and organizations in the Philippines and around the world to call for the immediate release of Ka Bel—and for an end to the political killings and repression that have reached shocking levels under the Arroyo regime.

Today we condemn the Arroyo regime’s all out war on those who oppose the plunder of the country and who defend human rights and uphold civil liberties. Since Arroyo came to power in 2001, over 720 church workers, leaders and members of human rights organizations, activists, journalists, women, workers, peasants and students have been killed. The Arroyo regime has blood on its hands and is sure to share the same fate as the Marcos dictatorship.

We condemn the Arroyo regime and the Department of Justice for its continued detention of Congressman Beltran despite his court ordered release and the Philippine Supreme Court’s declaration that the arrests and bans declared under the February State of Emergency were unconstitutional.

We condemn the Department of Justice’s extensive and elaborate efforts to keep Congressman Beltran in detention and to maintain the threat of arrest against other progressive parliamentarians—while suspected state-sponsored assassins are left free to roam the country, killing activists on an almost daily basis.  

At this six-month mark, we also draw inspiration from Ka Bel’s decades long fight for the basic human rights of the Philippine majority.  Human rights activists around the world are inspired by this fighting spirit that will not be silenced by age, illness, or the jail cell. In spite of the horrific level of political repression and violence, Congressman Beltran and other human rights defenders continue to face their political harassers in the courts, in Congress, and on the streets.

We, in turn, will continue to educate and work with Canadian parliamentarians, trade unionists, church groups, students, human rights activists and others to pressure the Philippine government to free Ka Bel and to end the political repression and killings. We will also continue to pressure the Canadian government to demand the release of Ka Bel and to withdraw its support for the Arroyo regime.

Free Ka Bel!
Stop the Killings!
End the Political Repression!
Never Again to Martial Law!
Long Live International Solidarity!