From the Visayan Daily Star (Feb 7): Militant group
slams La Castellana ambush
Several sectors of society, including the Akbayan-Negros, joined in
condemning the recent ambush staged by New People’s Army of a vehicle carrying
civilians in Brgy. Cabacungan, La Castellana, that killed nine people, one of
them a policeman.
Akbayan-Negros spokesperson Edwin Balajadia said the ambush and slaying,
mostly of unarmed civilians, is a gross violation of the basic humanitarian law
and human rights principles enunciated especially in conditions of internal
armed conflicts.
He said the admission of the NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command responsibility
for the incident and promising corrective actions and financial assistance to
the victims, only showed its apparent insensitivity safety of the civilians
concerned, most of whom came also from the poor sectors.
The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, in a statement, said that the human rights
group, Karapatan, that had facilitated the release of several arrested NPA
leaders in Negros, who rejoined their comrades in the mountains, should also be
held liable for the killings of civilians, especially in La Castellana.
Major Gen. Jose Mabanta, 3ID commanding general, said Romeo Nanta, regional
operational commander of the NPA, who was bailed out by Karapatan for his
robbery-in-band charges, was among the planners of the La Castellana
massacre.
Mabanta said the practice of Karapatan in bailing out NPA suspects should be
stopped. In a way, they are liable to the La Castellana massacre for bailing out
Nanta, he added.
Aside from Nanta, Mabanta said Karapatan-Negros also facilitated the release
from jail of another NPA leader, Hernando Llorente, and his wife, Faith Roseen
Basirgo, who were both arrested in San Carlos City, for robbery-in-band charges,
by paying P80,000 in bail for them.
Akbayan-Negros also called on members of the revolutionary movement not only
to mete appropriate disciplinary actions to the erring members involved in the
ambush, but also to fully observe and strongly enforce strict adherence to the
basic humanitarian tenets so that such incidents will not happen again.
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/February/07/topstory8.htm
Akbayan is a leftist party-list political party many of whose key leaders broke away from the CPP in the aftermath of the ideological wrangling that factionalized the CPP in th mid-1990s. There is no love lost between Akbayan and the CPP and its associated front organizations who recently attempted to have Akbayan de-listed because of the groups close ties to the Aquino administration.
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