Ka Roger calls Arroyo’s list of 59 coup plotters ‘hodgepodge’

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Wednesday called President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s list of 59 personalities linked to a coup against her administration as a “hodgepodge" list that is part of a desperate attempt to silence opposition. “The CPP condemns the Arroyo regime’s fascist campaign to arrest and imprison even without arrest warrants patriotic and democratic forces who have been at the forefront of the anti-Arroyo struggle. With her declaration of a ‘state of national emergency,’ Arroyo has arrogated martial law powers to herself in desperate attempt to silence all opposition to her new dictatorial rule," said CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger" Rosal. Rosal claimed the Arroyo regime fabricated the so-called coup plot of communists and rightist officers, supposedly foiled last February 24 but still calling for Proclamation 1017. He said the canard was used to disperse the mass actions celebrating EDSA-1, to attack the mass movement, intimidate the mass media and suppress democratic rights in the long haul. “The overriding purpose of the regime is to start with Proclamation 1017 on the road of fascist dictatorship and state terrorism by way of prolonging itself in power and ramming through charter change to serve the interests of US imperialism and the worst of local reactionary interests," he said. On his part, CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison said he is “honored" to be on the top of the entire list. But Sison questioned the absence of the names of Brig. General Danilo Lim of the First Scout Ranger Regiment, Colonel Ariel Querubin of the First Marine Brigade and Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco of the PNP Special Action Force who were supposed to be key players in the alleged coup attempt foiled by the loyalists of the Arroyo regime last February 24. “Indeed, they should not be in the list just as those already in the list should not be. All this shows to what extent Arroyo’s Proclamation 1017 has gone to concoct fabrications and trample upon the people’s civil liberties and human rights," Sison said.-GMANews.TV