Partylist Representative Ner Colmenares
Bayan Muna partylist Representative Neri Colmenares slammed the military for its practice of labeling activists as communist rebels, including those who sing nationalist songs.
On Monday's hearing of the budget of the Department of National Defense (DND), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) showed a video of a teenage boy singing the folk song Lupang Sinira as it talked about the presence of New People's Army (NPA) rebels in southern Philippines.
Colmenares said that the song, popularized by Paul Galang and sang during the Marcos era, was not an NPA song.
"That's the problem with our AFP. It is committing the same mistakes of Martial Law, intolerant kayo sa dissent tapos hihingi kayo ng budget dito para bigyan ang CAFGU niyo (you are intolerant of dissent and you come here seeking a budget for your CAFGU [Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit])," he said.
"That was a song of a nationalist, but for you that's NPA [song]. Such a psychology leads to a number of deaths in this country," he added.
AFP Chief of Staff Hernando Iriberri reasoned, "we were not questioning the song, but how it is being taught and interpreted, how it is being used."
"If you download from YouTube the interview of that person, that young boy, it was clearly stated that this song is their national anthem. So it is not about the song, it is how it is being used, taught and in what context it is being conveyed to the children of the indigenous peoples," Iriberri said.
Colmenares and fellow partylist lawmakers Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Luz Ilagan of Gabriela and Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers took the AFP to task for the spate of alleged human rights violations against Indigenous People communities, including the recent killing of three IP leaders in the town of Lianga in Surigao del Sur.
The legislators also took note of the apparent militarization of lumad schools in Mindanao, and mentioned that the military should order its men not to encamp inside compounds of civilian learning institutions in the guise of going after the rebels.
Colmenares said that, under International Humanitarian Law, the military is not supposed to establish even temporary camps in civilian places, such as schools and hospitals, because such a move tends to endanger non-combatants there.
Iriberri claimed "there is no militarization" in lumad schools.
"The military enters villages due to the heavy presence of the NPA in order to protect the people and to deliver basic services. It is done in coordination with tribal leaders, and in respect of their customs," he said.
Iriberri said that the AFP has intelligence reports showing there were at least 34 NPA camps in Mindanao from 2014 to 2015.
For the year 2016, the DND is seeking a budget of P158.86 billion, which is 11 percent or P16.56 billion higher that its 2015 budget.
The budget will include the salaries of the agency's 12,049 civilian employees and 62,348 CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units) elements.
It will also include the P25 billion for the AFP modernization.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117231/colmenares-slams-red-tagging-by-military
Colmenares and his ilk are lying hypocrites. They won't admit their true Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideological orientation and attempt to deceive the Filipino people into believing that they are just "nationalists." What a crock. Bayan Muna (People First), Gabriela Women's Party, and ACT Teachers are members of the pro-CPP Makabayan bloc and are Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) political fronts.
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