PULIS ANG TERORISTA! ANAKBAYAN-USA CONDEMNS THE MURDER OF SONIA AND FRANK GREGORIO AND ALL PNP TERROR!

Anakbayan-USA condemns the ruthless murder of Sonia and Frank Gregorio at the hands of Philippine National Police (PNP) officer Jonel Nuezca. On December 20, 2020, Jonel Nuezca, an off-duty PNP officer, murdered Sonia Gregorio and her son Frank Gregorio in broad daylight in Tarlac province. A video of the graphic incident soon spread rapidly across the internet, sparking outrage across the Philippines and throughout the world, reminiscent of the uproar caused after the killing of 17 year old Kian de los Santos that was also caught on tape.  

The fascist US-Duterte regime and its armed mercenaries—the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)—are quick to distance themselves and their countless human rights violations from this incident. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, the former military chief and mastermind behind the Paquibato Massacre and the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos, said that the murder of the Gregorios “is an unfortunate but isolated incident.” However, this event cannot be seen in isolation from the many PNP human rights abuses this year alone—from the violent dispersal of San Roque residents protesting the lack of government assistance during the pandemic to the most recent raids and arrests on December 10, or International Human Rights Day, where six activists and one journalist were arrested on planted evidence by the PNP.

Sonya and Frank Gregorio are victims of the system of impunity that has been institutionalized by the fascist US-Duterte regime, this time at the hands of Jonel Nuezca. Like the countless police who have killed “drug users” and “traffickers,” human rights defenders, and all those seeking support amidst the pandemic, Jonel Nuezca was emboldened by Duterte’s culture of impunity and calls to “shoot them dead.” This incident exposes the true colors of the PNP and all dogs of the US-Duterte regime in terrorizing the Filipino people. The murder of the Gregorios is the fate of so many under a rotten semi-feudal and semi-colonial system, and is one we can unfortunately anticipate for many more under Duterte’s fascist rule. 

Contrary to what the Duterte regime and its National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) shamelessly claim, the recent spate of arrests and killings prove that activists, human rights defenders and those unsatisfied with the Duterte government are not terrorists. The true terrorists are those in Malacañang Palace and its rabid dogs who have turned their backs against the Filipino masses time and again, proving that they only “serve and protect” the interests of the Philippine ruling class and its cronies. However, their fascists attacks are precisely what drives people across the Philippines and the larger diaspora to join people’s organizations, and for many, to the armed struggle in the countryside.

As Filipinos in the United States, we must continue to push the passing of the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) to cut U.S. funding to such abuses such as the tragic murder of the Gregorio family. As long as U.S. imperialism continues to provide material support to the fascist Duterte regime, these crimes will not stop. We must expose and remove the operations of the PNP in outposts based in San Francisco and the East Coast, which are only meant to surveil progressive organizations and spread the regime’s counterinsurgency campaign abroad. 

As more and more of our kababayan suffer and die by the hands of the US-Duterte regime and the AFP-PNP, the Filipino people see no other alternative but to revolt against the sickness that is the semi-colonial, semi-feudal condition of the Philippines as represented by Duterte’s fascist rule. However, it must be recognized that the culture of impunity in the Philippines existed before Duterte came into power. As Filipino youth, we must offer our voice and strength to the struggle of the Filipino National Democratic struggle and join fighting organizations to oust the fascist US-Duterte regime and ultimately fight to dismantle the three ills that plague Philippine society and the Filipino people: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. 

STOP THE KILLINGS!
END THE IMPUNITY!
JUSTICE FOR SONIA AND FRANK GREGORIO!

#StoptheKillingsPH
#PulisAngTerorista
#OustDuterteNOW