BAYAN: Complaint vs Bayan Muna et al being directed by AFP, implicitly supported by Akbayan

Posted to the pro-CPP BAYAN Website (Oct 28): Complaint vs Bayan Muna et al being directed by AFP, implicitly supported by Akbayan

Press Statement
October 28, 2012
Renato M. Reyes, Jr. BAYAN secretary general

The complainant versus progressive partylist groups Bayan Muna et al has ties with the AFP. Agnes Lopez writes for several AFP publications. Her actions before the Comelec may be under the direction of the AFP. We should ask why the AFP is interfering in the partylist system when it is supposed to be neutral. Is this the policy of the DND and the commander-in-chief? Does this have the imprimatur of Malacanang? Is this a prelude to another wave of harassment by the AFP during the 2013 elections? This is indeed very disturbing and alarming considering the continuing rights abuses taking place under the Aquino regime.  The allegations made in the complaint have been repeatedly debunked before the Comelec by the progressive partylist groups. What we fear is that this complaint merely lays the basis for more attacks on progressive groups during the elections. It also does not help that Akbayan has echoed the same line recently, that the progressive partylist like Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and others are “front groups” of the “extreme left”. While Akbayan denies having anything to do with this disqualification complaint, its public statements support the claims of the AFP and the complainants in this case. Akbayan is engaged in the same business of red-tagging as the AFP. It even accuses progressive partylist groups of receiving campaign donations via “revolutionary taxes” from the NPA. Akbayan too is complicit in the commission of rights abuses done under the same red-tagging.

http://www.bayan.ph/site/2012/10/complaint-vs-bayan-muna-et-al-being-directed-by-afp/