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 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 step 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
probably the entire 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.
The Executive Committee
January 27, 2003
