AKBAYAN EXTENDS its deepest condolence to the family, friends and
comrades of Romulo "Rolly" Kintanar who was treacherously
killed last January 23 in Quezon City.
We condemn the killing of Romulo Kintanar. His violent death frontally
assaults our national community's commitment to human rights. His
killers, the leadership of the CPP-NPA, gunned him down on the basis
of a decision of a so-called "people's court" which never
heard his side, never adopted even a semblance of due process and
whose members were never known to the public and were only accountable
to Rolly's accusers.
We also find unconscionable the brazen and arrogant manner by which
his killers owned up to the killing. Without decency and fairness
and in complete disregard of one of the cherished values of our people-respect
for the dead, Rolly's killers continue to insult his memory and trample
on his dead body.
A major part of the circumstances which surround Rolly's death was
his decision in 1992 to reject the Communist Party leadership of Jose
Ma. Sison. That his decision was informed by ideological, political
and organizational differences with other leaders of the party is
a matter of public knowledge and record. We cannot understand and
accept why such differences should lead to physical elimination.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the worldwide crisis of the
Left which followed in its wake, much of socialist, democratic and
revolutionary soul-searching has led to a greater appreciation of
democratic pluralism and principled discourse as guides to handle
ideological and political differences within the Left and progressive
communities.
Not many of what Rolly did after he left the party can be appreciated,
much less accepted within a Left perspective. But while we differed
with him on some of the choices he made, we don't believe and can
never accept that such should warrant the fate he suffered.
In the face of rising tensions and stronger calls for revenge among
sections of the Left, we call for sobriety and greater circumspection.
An armed reprisal can only result in more violence, thus harming not
only each other but the entire Left and friends in the progressive
movement. We urge all comrades in the Left and friends in the progressive
movement to exert every effort towards a political and peaceful handling
of the situation.
Akbayan also expresses alarm at the government's handling of Rolly's
death. Its duty first and foremost is to arrest the culprits and bring
them to court. Yet, leaders of the defense establishment, the AFP
and the PNP are bent on extending this to launching anti-communist
witch-hunts and police and military strikes that will likely lead
to human rights violations and more assaults on the peace of our communities.
Akbayan will oppose any attempt to use the death of Rolly to advance
militaristic and anti-democratic designs.
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