THE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the five men arrested by police in Sitio Patungan, Barangay Mercedes in Maragondon, Cavite, on Friday were not members of the New People’s Army (NPA) but an organization of small fishermen based in Batangas.
Pamalakaya Vice Chairman Salvador France said William Castilano, Lorenzo Obrado, Joselito Agner, Basilio Agner and Rogelio Monzales are members of the Haligi ng Batanguenong Anakdagat (Habagat), the provincial chapter of Pamalakaya.
France said the five were arrested by the police on suspicion that they were members of the NPA operating at the boundary of Hacienda Looc in Nasugbu, Batangas, and Maragondon, Cavite.
Pamalakaya is asking Cavite Gov. Jovic Remulla and Cavite Vice Gov. Jolo Revilla to work for the release of the suspects.
The five were arrested by members of the Cavite Provincial Safety Company and the PNP-SWAT in the province. Armed with a search warrant allegedly signed by Judge Lerio Castigador, the policemen, headed by Senior Insp. Angelito Camaho Burgos of Cavite Provincial Public Safety Company, PO1 King Relan Manio Pia and PO1 Lester Laurence Bendo Gabog, barged into the houses of five Pamalakaya leaders and started searching for “illegal” firearms and explosives allegedly kept by these leaders in their respective households.
The search, according to a PNP report, yielded different types of firearms such as M-16, armalite, carbin, .45 caliber pistol and grenade which the arresting team said were violations of Republic Act 10591.
The “discovery” of the illegal firearms was used by the police to arrest the suspects.
But France maintained that the evidence was planted to make it appear that the search warrant is true and merits the arrest of the Habagat leaders.
“We appeal to the governor and the vice governor to lead their colleagues in the provincial government to correct this grave mistake of the police and do appropriate action against those who effected the illegal arrest and detention of five Pamalakaya leaders,” France said.
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA--National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organizations in the Philippines) is a Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) sectoral front active among small-scale fishermen. PAMALAKAYA is also a member of the main CPP umbrella front organization Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN--New Patriotic Alliance).
ReplyDeleteIn the past, the CPP worked hard to keep some distance/separation between the clandestine insurgent activities of New People's Army (NPA) and those of its above ground/legal front organizations. These "firewalls" between the CPP's legal fronts and the insurgent NPA appear to have broken down over the years as a result of the depletion of NPA ranks. NPA numbers have plunged from a high of around 25,000 in the early to mid-1980s to a current low of around 4,000 or so armed fighters. The lines seem to be increasingly blurred between membership in the Party's legal fronts and participation in the insurgent NPA.
The response by PAMALAKAYA propagandists seems pretty standard. They assert that those who were arrested are simple fishermen and not NPA insurgents and that the weapons found in their homes were planted by the police to justify the operation.