The Kilusang Mambubukid ng Pilipinas said in a press statement yesterday that a member of the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Sta. Catalina or the municipal chapter of Kaugmaon-KMP, in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental was illegally arrested by the army's 61st Infantry Battalion, on January 25.

KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos, claimed that Flaviano Arante, 60, was apprehended in Sitio Lag-asan Brgy. Nagbinlod, Sta. Catalina, and was forced by government troopers to guide them and be part of their military operations.

Ramos also said witnesses told them the soldiers treat him like a prisoner and he lambasted Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon for using peasants as his opening salvo on his bloody war.

Ramos also said that on January 28, Randall Echanis, external deputy secretary-general of the KMP was also illegally arrested and detained at the Bago City PNP lock-up cell in Negros Occidental.

Echanis was transferred to the Leyte Provincial Jail, and was falsely accused of masterminding the so-called mass graves in Leyte , the KMP added.*

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