Amanda Echanis was arrested to silence the people
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and all revolutionary forces are one with the rest of the democratic sectors in condemning the unlawful arrest of peasant activist Amanda Echanis with her month-old child Randall Emmanuel.
Amanda is the 32-year old daughter of Randall Echanis, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant, who was brutally murdered by state agents last August.
She was arrested in Barangay Carupian, Baggao town, Cagayan, where she was serving the peasant masses who suffered grave losses due to the massive floods and state neglect in the wake of typhoon Ulysses.
Like all activists being arrested by the regime, she has been slapped with trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives to cause her prolonged detention.
The CPP supports calls for the immediate release of Amanda and the rest of the more than 650 political prisoners.
The arrest of Amanda is part of the continuing suppression drive against the legal national democratic and other progressive and patriotic forces who have been subjected to relentless persecution, surveillance and extrajudicial killings.
The aim of this campaign is to disrupt the work of mass-based organizations in order to prevent them from exposing the people’s plight and expressing their grievances and demands amid the pandemic and disasters.
The fascists behind this campaign seek to create an artificial image of broad support and stability for the regime.
Amid the arrests and killings, mass-based organizations must continue to persevere in giving voice to the urgent demands of the people, even as they fight back to defend their rights and lives.