Release other political prisoners, PHL urges Myanmar

Even as it hailed the release of dissident and 1991 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as a “momentous development," the Philippines urged Myanmar on Sunday to follow this up by releasing 2,200 “prisoners of conscience." In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Suu Kyi's release should only be the first of many steps. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release, which is a momentous development, should merely be the first step," Romulo said in a statement posted Sunday night on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs. “(This) ought to be followed by other measures toward the return of real democracy, full respect for human rights and genuine national reconciliation for all parties and sectors of the Myanmar nation," he said. “Foremost among these measures is the immediate release of some 2,200 prisoners of conscience whose physical and political liberties remain restricted," he added. Some of them are serving sentences of up to 65 years. He said the Philippines remains hopeful that the Myanmar government will “without further delay" take the next steps toward the true fulfillment of its own road map to democracy, “through the restoration of the full political, economic and civil rights and freedoms of all individuals and persons in Myanmar." The Philippine diplomat noted that the Myanmar people and the international community have long clamored for Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest. Romulo also lauded Suu Kyi for her self-sacrifice and steadfast faith in peaceful change, which he said has kept up her people's hopes for a more inclusive and progressive future. “For this, she has the admiration and abiding gratitude not only of the Myanmar people but of all freedom-loving people everywhere," he said. CPP welcomes Suu Kyi release Similarly, the Communist Party of the Philippines welcomed the release of Suu Kyi, even as it called on the Burmese people to intensify their struggle against the ruling junta in Myanmar. In a statement on its website, the CPP said the release of Suu Kyi from her seven year- second house arrest was a landmark victory for the Burmese people. "The CPP and the Filipino people join the Burmese people in celebrating the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her release underscores the need to wage militant and revolutionary struggle more than ever before," it said. "It should inspire them to carry out greater struggles and achieve greater victories in their struggle against fascist rule, backwardness and poverty in the country," it added. Suu Kyi leads the National League of Democracy, the most prominent of the parties opposing Myanmar’s military dictatorship, which has been in power since the 1960s. She has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years, first from 1988 to 1995, and again from 2003 until Saturday. "The prolonged detention of Suu Kyi highlights the widespread oppression of the Burmese people by the military dictatorship. The earnest fight for the release of the fascist junta's other political prisoners should follow the release of Aung San Suu Kyi," said the CPP. "The CPP is confident that the Burmese people will be rising up in a powerful wave of protest and resistance that will bring down the oppressive fascist rule and advance the struggle for liberation, democracy and progress in Myanmar," it said. - Jerrie M. Abella/DM, GMANews.TV