Zarate rejects calls to renounce armed struggle

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate refused to renounce armed struggle despite the call of Palace spokesperson Harry Roque.

“While we work for social reforms through elections and legislation, we believe that as a matter of principle, we cannot condemn the peoples option to arm struggle because we believe that it is a legitimate option of the people when faced with a foreign invader, a tyrant or a dictator such as Marcos or Idi Amin,” Zarate said.

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“More importantly, their demands, such as addressing poverty, injustice and other social ills which even the Philippine government recognizes as the root causes of rebellion in the country, are legitimate demands,” he added.

On Tuesday, Roque asked the left-leaning groups to admit their ties to communist rebels and renounce the use of arms to take over the government.

“Let’s be honest. Itigil na iyan na nagsisinungaling pa sila na red-tagging eh Red naman talaga sila sabi ni Presidente. Totoo naman po iyan eh. Ang hinihingi lang natin, you can be a Red without necessarily endorsing the use of arms,” Roque had said.

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Zarate rejects calls to renounce armed struggle

“Bakit pa kasi dini-deny. Hinihingi lang natin, buwagin ninyo na iyang mga party-list ninyo, tawagin ninyo nang CPP. Pero huwag na kayong susuporta sa NPA (New People’s Army), dahil iyong pagsuporta sa NPA makes it illegal,” he added.

Zarate, meanwhile, insisted that believing in the armed struggle is a legitimate choice against oppression and could not be criminalized as the right to political belief secured by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution, which states that “[n]o person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs and aspirations.”

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“People who refuse to condemn the EDSA uprising or coups against Ferdinand Marcos or Gloria Arroyo, for example, cannot be imprisoned based on their belief that the demands of these uprisings are legitimate and that Marcos and Arroyo are illegitimate presidents,” he said.

“It is not proof that because they do not condemn, they are involved or are ‘fronts’ of these uprisings,” Zarate added.