History to judge RP revolution, says US war hero’s assassin --inquirer.net

History to judge RP revolution, says US war hero’s assassin



Agence France-Presse

Last updated 06:04pm (Mla time) 02/07/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Juanito Itaas drums his short, stubby forefingers across his biceps as if itching to squeeze the trigger one more time.

For nearly two decades Itaas, 42, has been held in the maximum security compound of the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Manila where he is serving life for the assassination of Colonel James "Nick" Rowe, a Vietnam War hero and one of America's most highly decorated soldiers.

A counter insurgency specialist, Rowe was the highest ranking US officer killed in the Philippines since the communist insurgency began nearly 40 years ago.

His assassination on a crowded Manila street on April 21, 1989 rocked the government of then-president Corazon Aquino and the US authorities in Manila.

Sitting in the backseat of his unprotected chauffeur-driven limousine Rowe was oblivious to the threat. As his car slowed in traffic another pulled up alongside and his murderers opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle and a .45 caliber hand gun, killing Rowe instantly.

Itaas, a former teenage guerrilla who rose through the ranks to become an important commander in the Communist Party of the Philippine's New People's Army (NPA), and Donato Continente were tried and convicted of Rowe's murder.

Continente walked free in 2005 after serving 16 years in jail but Itaas remains behind bars, where he frets that the revolution he fought so hard for is passing him by.

Rowe, a graduate of West Point military academy, joined the US army's elite Green Beret Special Forces and went to Vietnam in the early 1960s.

Captured by the Vietcong and tortured repeatedly, he was held in a bamboo cage for five years before escaping.

In 1985 he was put in charge of the Special Warfare Training Battalion in Fort Bragg before being posted to Manila where he was chief of the army division of the Joint US Military Advisory Group providing counter insurgency training for the Philippine military.

He worked closely with the CIA and was involved in a program to penetrate the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines which were both undergoing massive ideological upheavals that resulted in bloody purges.

Not long before he was murdered Rowe warned Washington the communists were planning a series of attacks on high profile figures and that he was on the list.

Despite the threats Rowe insisted on taking care of himself and shunned the idea of having armed escorts. As one of his friends put it after his death: "Rowe was a soldier's soldier."

While conceding the NPA was behind the murder, Itaas claims that he was not personally involved.

"I have always said I had no personal involvement in that action undertaken by the movement," Itaas told Agence France-Presse during an interview at the prison.

Arrested shortly after the murder Itaas signed a confession that was later used to convict him of the murder, along with the testimony of a bystander who told the court she saw him firing an automatic rifle into Rowe's car.

He later disowned the confession, alleging it was extracted by police through torture, but his appeal was turned down in 2001.

Standing no more than five feet (1.52 meters) tall, with bulging biceps, Itaas embodies the Maoists' ideal -- a guerrilla leader of farming stock who dropped out of high school at 14 to join the NPA in the Davao region.

By the time he was 20 he was a grizzled urban guerrilla veteran of Davao's "Nicaragdao," a bloody NPA experiment to speed up the revolution, along similar lines used by the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, by bringing the war to the teeming slums of major cities such as Agdao in Davao, on the far southern island of Mindanao.

When he was arrested in Davao shortly after the Rowe murder, Itaas was 24 years old.

Even while in jail he could not escape the bitter split that had taken place within the Communist Party.

The dispute over strategy and tactics within the Party boiled over into the wholesale slaughter of hundreds, perhaps thousands of NPA guerrillas in an internal purge while the rebellion's Netherlands-based founder, Jose Maria Sison, pushed the movement back toward its Maoist roots.

"The movement has changed much," said Itaas, who was confused and angered when the rebel split spilled over into the country's prisons.

Here in the Philippines' main jail facility, those who sided with Sison demanded and won transfer to a new compound, while those who challenged his policies were shunned and ostracized.

Itaas, who said he refused to take sides, was nevertheless bundled into the second category.

Itaas and 23 other so-called political prisoners bunk together in a "brigade" or a row of cots measuring 14 meters (yards) by 12 meters.

Ten others who sided with Sison stay in a separate area.

So what does he think of the revolution now?

"History will be the judge," he said simply. "The issues that fire up revolution such as poverty and inequality remain."

Itaas fears he will no longer be there to influence the outcome of the armed struggle even if he walked free now.

Conjugal visits by his wife allowed them to have three children, now aged between two and 11 years old.

"For me, my three children come first. After that I do not know," he said.

Itaas said a "change of government" remains his most optimistic chance of winning release. But even then, he says, the US may still exert pressure on its loyal ally against releasing him on parole.



Copyright 2007 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Tha Daily Tribune : History will judge Philippine revolution—Rowe’s assassin


02/08/2007

MANILA — Juanito Itaas drums his short, stubby forefingers across his biceps as if itching to squeeze the trigger one more time.

For nearly two decades, Itaas, 42, has been held in the maximum security compound of the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Manila where he is serving life for the assassination of Col. James “Nick” Rowe, a Vietnam War hero and one of America’s most highly decorated soldiers.

A counter insurgency specialist, Rowe was the highest-ranking US officer killed in the Philippines since the communist insurgency began nearly 40 years ago.

His assassination on a crowded Manila street on April 21, 1989 rocked the government of then-President Corazon Aquino and the US authorities in Manila.

Sitting in the backseat of his unprotected chauffeur-driven limousine Rowe was oblivious to the threat. As his car slowed in traffic another pulled up alongside and his murderers opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle and a .45 cal. hand gun, killing Rowe instantly.

Itaas, a former teenage guerrilla who rose through the ranks to become an important commander in the Communist Party of the Philippine’s-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), and Donato Continente were tried and convicted of Rowe’s murder.

Continente walked free in 2005 after serving 16 years in jail but Itaas remains behind bars, where he frets that the revolution he fought so hard for is passing him by.

Rowe, a graduate of West Point military academy, joined the US Army’s elite Green Beret special forces and went to Vietnam in the early 1960s.

Captured by the Vietcong and tortured repeatedly, he was held in a bamboo cage for five years before escaping.

In 1985, he was put in charge of the Special Warfare Training Battalion in Fort Bragg before being posted to Manila where he was chief of the Army division of the Joint US Military Advisory Group providing counter insurgency training for the Philippine military.

He worked closely with the CIA and was involved in a programme to penetrate the CPP-NPA which were both undergoing massive ideological upheavals that resulted in bloody purges.

Not long before he was murdered, Rowe warned Washington the communists were planning a series of attacks on high-profile figures and that he was on the list.

Despite the threats, Rowe insisted on taking care of himself and shunned the idea of having armed escorts. As one of his friends put it after his death: “Rowe was a soldier’s soldier.”

While conceding the NPA was behind the murder, Itaas claims that he was not personally involved.

“I have always said I had no personal involvement in that action undertaken by the movement,” Itaas told AFP during an interview at the prison.

Arrested shortly after the murder, Itaas signed a confession that was later used to convict him of the murder, along with the testimony of a bystander who told the court she saw him firing an automatic rifle into Rowe’s car.

He later disowned the confession, alleging it was extracted by police through torture, but his appeal was turned down in 2001.

Standing no more than five feet (1.52 meters) tall, with bulging biceps, Itaas embodies the Maoists’ ideal — a guerrilla leader of farming stock who dropped out of high school at 14 to join the NPA in the Davao Region.

By the time he was 20, he was a grizzled urban guerrilla veteran of Davao’s “Nicaragdao,” a bloody NPA experiment to speed up the revolution, along similar lines used by the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, by bringing the war to the teeming slums of major cities such as Agdao in Davao, on the far southern island of Mindanao.

When he was arrested in Davao shortly after the Rowe murder, Itaas was 24 years old.

Even while in jail he could not escape the bitter split that had taken place within the Communist Party.

The dispute over strategy and tactics within the party boiled over into the wholesale slaughter of hundreds, perhaps, thousands of NPA guerrillas in an internal purge while the rebellion’s Netherlands-based founder, Jose Maria Sison, pushed the movement back toward its Maoist roots.

“The movement has changed much,” said Itaas, who was confused and angered when the rebel split spilled over into the country’s prisons.

Here in the Philippines’ main jail facility, those who sided with Sison demanded and won transfer to a new compound, while those who challenged his policies were shunned and ostracized.

Itaas, who said he refused to take sides, was nevertheless bundled into the second category.

Itaas and 23 other so-called political prisoners bunk together in a “brigade” or a row of cots measuring 14 meters (yards) by 12 meters. Ten others who sided with Sison stay in a separate area.

So what does he think of the revolution now?

“History will be the judge,” he said simply. “The issues that fire up revolution such as poverty and inequality remain.”

Itaas fears he will no longer be there to influence the outcome of the armed struggle even if he walked free now.

Conjugal visits by his wife allowed them to have three children, now aged between two and 11 years old.

“For me, my three children come first. After that I do not know,” he said.

Itaas said a “change of government” remains his most optimistic chance of winning release. But even then, he says, the US may still exert pressure on its loyal ally against releasing him on parole. AFP