ni Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Pambansang Tagapangulo, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)
(English version below)
Ipinaabot ng Bagong Alyangsang Makabayan (Bayan) ang pinakamataas na pagpupugay kay Arman Albarillo, ang dating pangkalahatang kalihim ng ating panrehiyong balangay sa Timog Katagalugan (TK). Isa siyang kahanga-hangang lider ng pambansa demokratikong kilusan, walang pagod at matapang na tagapagtanggol ng mga demokratikong karapatan ng mamamayan.
Taas-kamaong pagpupugay din ang ibig naming ipaabot sa 10 pang martir at bayani na kasama ni Ka Arman na walang pag-aatubiling nag-alay ng panahon, talino at buhay para sa inaasam na tunay na kalayaan at pagbabago sa ating bayan.
Pumanaw si Ka Arman bilang isang magiting na pinuno ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan pero ang kanyang kamatayan ay dapat ipagluksa hindi lamang ng kanyang mga kasama sa armadong pakikibaka kundi ng mamamayan, lalo na ang mga maliit at api, na buong katapatan niyang pinaglingkuran. Dapat ipagdalamhati ang kanyang kamatayan ng bawat Pilipinong umaasam ng ganap na kalayaan mula sa dayuhang imperyalistang paghahari, kahirapan, pagsasamantala, pang-aapi at kawalang-katarungan.
Hindi hinintay ni Ka Arman, na siyang magiliw na tawag sa kanya ng kanyang mga kasama, na tamaan ng punglo ng upahang mamatay-tao.
Isinama siya sa kinatatakutang “order of battle” ng Hukbong Sandatahan ng Pilipinas (AFP), na sa esensya’y listahan ng mga pinapaslang na “kaaway ng estado” ayon sa bintang ng pamahalaan. Pinagbantaan din sya ng mga ahente ng militar pero bigo silang takutin sya para tumigil sa pagkilos, mas lalo na para maging tauhan ng militar.
Matapos isyuhan ng arrest warrant noong 2008 kasama ang 71 iba pang nangungunang aktibista mula sa iba’t ibang pangmasang organisasyon at alyansa sa Timog Katagalugan, batay sa isinampa ng AFP na gawa-gawang kaso ng murder at multiple murder, nagpasya siyang sumapi sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan para ipagpatuloy sa mas mataas na antas ang kanyang laban para sa katarungan.
Ang buhay at kamatayan ni Ka Arman ay nagpapakita ng kung ano ang nagpahirap at patuloy na nagpapahirap sa lipunang Pilipino, at kung bakit patuloy na nahihikayat sumapi ang mga kabataan sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan.
Anak sya nina Expedito Albarillo, municipal coordinator ng Bayan Muna (BM) at kagawad ng barangay sa San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro at ni Manuela Albarillo, kasapi ng Gabriela. Noong Abril 8, 2002, pinatay ang kanyang mga magulang ng mga pinaghihinalaang elemento ng 204th brigade ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) na noo’y pinamumunuan ni Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. Bago ito, nauna nang nailagay sa order of battle ng militar si Expedito noong 1998, at nakulong mula 2000 hanggang 2001 dahil sa gawa-gawang kaso ng pamamaslang. Kabilang ang mga magulang ni Arman sa mga kauna-unahang biktima ng extrajudicial killing sa ilalim ng Oplan Bantay Laya, programang kontra-insurhensya ng rehimeng Arroyo kunsaan pinapaslang ang mga pinaghihinalaang bahagi ng “civilian infrastructure” na sumusuhay sa NPA sa kanayunan at kalunsuran.
Una ko syang nakilala noong 2005 nang tumestigo sya at kanyang nakababatang kapatid sa International Tribunal na ginanap sa Maynila para dinggin ang dumaraming kaso ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa ilalim ng rehimeng Arroyo. Katulad ng maraming biktima na paglabag sa karapatang pantao, sya ay naging dedikadong tagapagtanggol ng karapatang pantao. Naantig ako sa kung paanong ginawa nyang tapang ang kanyang pighati para labanan ang direkta at indirektang pagbabanta ng militar sa kanya at mga naulilang kapatid.
Paglaon ay naging Pangkalahatang Kalihim si Ka Arman ng BAYAN-Timog Katagalugan at mabisang pinangunahan ang alyansa para pakilusin ang mamamayan ng rehiyon laban sa militarisasyon at terorismo ng estado, paghahari ng mga panginoong maylupa at pangangamkam ng lupa, panunupil sa mga unyon ng manggagawa at sa mamamayan, iba pang mapaniil na patakaran at programa ng gobyerno at dominasyon at panghihimasok-militar ng imperyalistang US.
Dito ko mas personal na nakilala si Ka Arman. Nakita kong di lamang sya magaling sa pagpupukaw, pagpapakilos at pag-oorganisa ng mga batayang sektor ng manggagawa, magsasaka at maralitang lungsod; kaya nya ring mahusay na makipag-ugnayan sa mga panggitnang pwersa – mga propesyunal, maliliit na may-ari ng lupa, malillit at katamtamang negosyante – maging sa mga lokal na pulitikong tutol sa mga pabigat at kalokohan ng pambansang gobyerno. Minsan, natyempuhan ko syang masiglang nakikipagtalakayan sa isang senador na ang asawa’y kilalang gobernador ng probinsya sa Timog Katagalugan.
Sa madaling panahon, naging napakasigla at napakalakas ng kilusang protesta sa Timog Katagalugan kaya’t pinag-initan ng gobyerno sina Ka Arman at 71 iba pang lider masa ng rehiyon noon; nagsampa ito ng mga gawa-gawang kasong kriminal na isang lantarang pagtatangka na pilayin ang kilusang masa sa rehiyon.
Habang hinarap ng ST 72 bilang grupo ang mapanghamong labanang ligal para linisin ang kanilang pangalan, kunsaan ang iba’y naaresto, namatay sa kulungan, o kaya naman ay nagtago, isang kritikal na pasya ang binuo ni Ka Arman. Di nya hahayaang maulit ang kasaysayan at madagdag sa mga sawing-palad na biktima ng pasismo ng estado.
Upang ipagtanggol ang kanyang sarili, pero mas lalo pa upang ipagpatuloy ang kanyang dakilang hangarin ng isang malayang bansa at lipunan, nagpasya syang humawak ng armas bilang mandirigma ng NPA sa rehiyong pinakakilala nya.
Nawalan man ng artikulanteng tagapagsalita at walang pagod na organisador ang ligal na demokratikong kilusan sa katauhan ni Ka Arman, nagtamo naman ang armadong rebolusyunaryong kilusan ng isang mandirigmang may napakataas na antas ng kamulatan, na may paninindigang pinanday sa apoy ng mga pangmasang pakikibaka at kampanya.
Ipinagpapatuloy at pinasisidhi ng mapanupil at mapagsamantalang sistema, na ngayo’y pinamamahalaan ni G. Benigno Aquino III, ang walang saysay at madugong kampanyang kontra-insurhensya sa bigo nitong pagtatangkang pigilin ang paglaban ng taumbayan.
Pero tulad ng Oplan Bantay Laya at iba pang Oplan bago nito, lalo lamang pinatataba ng Oplan Bayanihan ang lupa para sa paglaban, armado man o hindi, dahil sa maraming iba pang handang ipagpatuloy ang laban ng bawat isang nalugmok na martir at bayani, na ang naging pagkilos ay nagbibigay tanglaw at ang naging buhay ay nagsisilbing inspirasyon.
Mabuhay si Ka Arman Albarillo, magiting na lider ng masang anakpawis at sambayanan!
Mabuhay si Ka Arman, mandirigma, martir at bayani ng pambansa demokratikong pakikibaka! #
Ka Arman: Bayan leader, fighter, hero of the people
by Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Chairperson, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) is extending its most militant salute to Arman Albarillo, the former secretary general of our regional chapter in Southern Tagalog (ST). He was a charismatic leader of the national democratic movement, a tireless and fearless human rights defender.
With a raised fist, we also salute the 10 martyrs and heroes who were with Ka Arman, and who also dedicated without hesitation their time, talent and life for the longed-for genuine freedom and change in our land.
He died as a brave leader of the New People’s Army but his death should be grieved not only by his comrades in the armed struggle but by the people, especially the poor and oppressed, whom he had sincerely served. His death should be mourned by every Filipino who longs for genuine freedom from foreign domination, poverty, exploitation, oppression and injustice.
Ka Arman, as he is fondly called by his comrades, did not wait for an assasin’s bullet to get to him.
He had been listed in the AFP’s dreaded “order of battle”, a virtual hit list against those labelled by the government as “enemies of the state”. Military agents had also confronted him and tried but failed to intimidate him into laying low much more turning himself into a military asset.
After an arrest warrant was issued for him in 2008, together with 71 other leading activists in various mass organizations in Southern Tagalog, on trumped-up charges of murder and multiple murder filed by the AFP, he decided to join the New People’s Army and take his battle for justice to a qualitatively higher plane.
Ka Arman’s life and death is pathognomonic of what has ailed and still ails Philippine society and why the New People’s Army will continue to draw the youth of this land into its fold.
He was the son of Expedito Albarillo, a Bayan Muna (BM) municipal coordinator and a barangay councilor in San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro and Manuela Albarillo, a Gabriela member. On April 8, 2002, Arman’s parents were killed by suspected elements of the 204th brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) then led by retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. Before this, Expedito was placed under the military’s order of battle in 1998, was jailed from 2000 to November 2001 based on a trumped-up charge of murder. Arman’s parents were among the first victims of extrajudicial killing under the Arroyo regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya, a counterinsurgency program that included physical elimination of targetted individuals suspected to be part of the “civilian infrastructure” buttressing the NPA in the rual and urban areas.
I first met him in 2005 when he testified, together with his youngest sister, at an International Tribunal held in Manila to hear mounting cases of human rights violations by the Arroyo regime. He had become transformed, like many others before him, into a dedicated fighter for human rights. I was struck by the way he turned his grief into courage, refusing to be cowed by the military’s direct and indirect threats against him and his other orphaned siblings.
Ka Arman then became Secretary General of BAYAN-Southern Tagalog effectively leading the alliance in rallying the people of the region to fight militarization and state terrorism, landlordism and landgrabbing, trade union and generalized political repression, other oppressive government policies and programs and US imperialist domination and military interventionism.
This is when I came to have more personal interactions with Ka Arman. I found him not only good at arousing, mobilizing and organizing the basic sectors of workers, peasants and urban poor, he also had the capacity to relate well to the middle forces – professionals, small landowners and small to medium scale businessmen – as well as local politicians who were in opposition to national government impositions and shenanigans. Once I chanced upon him having an animated discussion with a senator whose wife is a high-profile governor of a Southern Tagalog province.
In time, the protest movement in Southern Tagalog had become so vibrant and strong that the government decided to go after Ka Arman, together with 71 other major regional mass leaders at the time, utilizing false criminal charges, in a brazen attempt to cripple the movement in the region.
While the ST-72 as a group fought an uphill legal battle to clear their names, some of whom were arrested and died in prison or while on the run, Ka Arman made a fateful decision. He would not allow history to repeat itself and reduce him to become another hapless victim of state fascism.
To defend himself and, more importantly, to pursue his lofty vision of a liberated country and society, he decided to bear arms as a member of the NPA operating in the region he knew best.
While the legal democratic movement lost an articulate spokesperson and an indefatigable organizer in the person of Ka Arman, the armed revolutionary movement gained a highly-conscious guerilla fighter with a will tempered in the fire of political mass struggles and campaigns.
The current oppressive and exploitative system, now presided over by Mr. Benigno Aquino III, continues and escalates its senseless, bloody counterinsurgency campaigns in a futile attempt to suppress the people’s protest.
Yet Oplan Bayanihan now, as did Oplan Bantay Laya and other Oplans before it, has only served to make the ground more fertile for resistance, both unarmed and armed, as many others step forward to pick up the cause of each fallen martyr and hero, enlightened by their work and inspired by their example. #
