A MILITANT
lawmaker has denounced the August 26 Army raid at a hinterland village and the
arrest of 11 suspected communist rebels in Kitaotao town, Bukidnon, and is
demanding a congressional inquiry.
Bayan Muna
Representative Carlos Zarate said the search conducted on the houses in
Barangay White Kulaman, Kitaotao, by the Army 8th Infantry Battalion and the
police Regional Public Safety Battalion was "highly irregular".
"It was a
Gestapo-like raid. We are no longer under a martial law regime," Zarate
said.
He said he will
also call Bukidnon Prosecutor Nel Alonto to the inquiry to explain why he went
to Barangay White Kulaman last Wednesday with the team that conducted the raid.
He said it was
unusual for a prosecutor to go to a village described by the military as an
"NPA-infested area."
"Why does he
have to go to White Kulaman? Is there an undue interest for him," Zarate
said.
Zarate is also
questioning the search warrant issued by a court in Misamis Oriental.
"The search
order was for a general search which is no longer applicable these days,"
he said.
He said search
warrants are "very specific" for single individuals and not for
communities like Barangay White Kulaman.
Alonto told
Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro he went to the barangay "to ensure that the law
and legal procedure of conducting the search was properly implemented and that
the rights of the people were respected by the army and the PNP."
Army 8IB
Commander Colonel Lennon Babilonia said the raid was conducted on the strength
of a warrant issued by acting executive Judge Maritess Bernales of Regional
Trial Court Branch 39 in Misamis Oriental.
A copy of the
warrant reveals that it covers 57 houses in five sitios in White Kulaman.
Army Captain
Jonald Fallar, who applied for the warrant, executed an affidavit that the
houses were being used by New People's Army (NPA) rebels to hide firearms,
ammunition, and explosives.
Babilonia said
his troops found an M79 grenade launcher and five sacks of Improvised Explosive
Devices (IED) during the raid.
(Erratum: The headline
Friday, August 28, should have read 11 suspected rebels arrested in Bukidnon,
NOT 15 suspected rebels arrested in Bukidnon. Our apologies.)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2015/09/01/gestapo-raid-bukidnon-denounced-427770
Commies always come to the defense of their own. Bayan Muna (People First) is a Communist Party of the Philippines political front. Representative Carlos Zarate is a human rights lawyer and long-time CPP activist/propagandist.
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