Detained Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas leader Randall Echanis blamed the National Security Council for his continued detention at the Leyte Provincial Jail for 134 days now, since his arrest in Bago City , Negros Occidental, on January 29.

Echanis, in a handwritten press statement to the KMP national headquarters in Quezon City , said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez are the brains behind the fabricated murder charges filed against him.

The military and police, however, maintain that Echanis is a member of the CPP Central Committee who chaired the Peasant Commission.

Echanis, 60, is facing 15 counts of murder in Leyte .

In a statement issued by KMP, Echanis said, “The criminal and ruling syndicate in Malacañang will move heaven and earth to justify this high-level orchestrated political persecution done in the name of Mrs. Arroyo's political survival and at the same time, satisfy the Armed Forces of the Philippines institutional penchant in violating the basic human rights and civil liberties of the president's critics and perceived political foes.”

The KMP said Ranmil Echanis, son of Randall, sought the help of Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Prospero Nograles to facilitate the immediate and unconditional release of his father.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, Negros Occidental police director, yesterday said he received reports that he will be summoned to Congress to shed light on allegations that Echanis was manhandled, while under the custody of the police in Negros Occidental.

Dismissing the allegations as baseless, Franco said he is ready to face his accusers anytime.*GPB

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