Bayan Muna to 8th ID spokesman: 'Show proof Reds fund us or be sued'

From InterAksyon (Apr 2): Bayan Muna to 8th ID spokesman: 'Show proof Reds fund us or be sued'

Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares on Tuesday challenged the spokesman of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division to show proof of his claims that the New People’s Army is funding leftist party-list groups or be sued.

News reports quoted Captain Gene Orense as saying the rebels are also funding a number of local candidates who would then be “indebted” and support them if they win in the May elections.

Orense claimed the information was contained in a document, “Election Action Plan 2013,” that troops of the 87th Infantry Battalion supposedly recovered following an encounter in Barangay Rizal, Basey, Samar province on January 31.

The officer claimed the funds used by the NPA came from their supposed “permit-to-campaign and permit-to-win” scheme.

“We all know that there are left-leaning candidates who are running for seats as party-list representatives, and some of them are even running for seats in the Senate and Congress. Part of this PTC and PTW scheme of the NPA is to support the campaign of these candidates,” Orense was quoted as saying.

“Sa kada eleksyon na lang ay ganito ang sinasabi nila para siraan kami,” Colmenares said, reacting to Orense’s claim.

“We challenge Capt. Gene Orense to present evidence. Otherwise we will file a case against him before the Ombudsman for electioneering and in violation of (an) AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) circular (issued) by (Defense) Sec. Voltaire Gazmin prohibiting vilification of party-list groups and Red baiting,” Colmenares said.

“Magpakita na muna sila ng ebidensya at ipresenta ito sa korte bago sila magsalita. Malinaw naman sa aming track record na hindi ganito ang nangyayari (They should first show proof and present this in court before they speak. It is clear from our track record that what he claims is not true). Bayan Muna has no funds for TV ads nor for expensive election paraphernalia,” Colmenares said.

He surmised that the military could be raising the Red bogey against Bayan Muna because it is smarting from the Court of Appeals’ finding blaming the Army accountable for the enforced disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos.

The military as well as some government agencies have regularly labeled activists and leftist organizations as “fronts” of the communist rebels.

This practice has been linked by both local and international human rights groups to the continued extrajudicial murders of dissenters and other rights abuses.

The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston, said such charges and the murders were part of state policy that targeted legal personalities and groups as part of the counterinsurgency campaign.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/58473/bayan-muna-to-8th-id-spokesman-show-proof-reds-fund-us-or-be-sued