Rebels won't stand idly by if bloodshed marks revived 'Tokhang'

From InterAksyon (Mar 7): Rebels won't stand idly by if bloodshed marks revived 'Tokhang'



Guerrillas of the NPA's Melito Glor Command. (InterAksyon.com file)

A major communist rebel command warned it would not stand idly should the government’s resumed “war on drugs” be marked by the same unbridled killings during the first eight months of the Duterte administration.

“Sa panahon na may mga mamamayan na mabiktima muli nito (extrajudicial killings) ay titiyakin din ang agarang pagbibigay hustisya sa kanila (Should the people fall victim to this again, we will make sure they are given justice as quickly as possible),” Jaime “Ka Diego” Padilla, spokesman of the Melito Glor Command of the New People’s Army, told InterAksyon.com.
“Palaging nakahanda ang Melito Glor Command sakali man kailanganin nitong makipagsagupaan sa mga elemento ng reaksyunaryong gubyerno, sa AFP at PNP, sa panahong niyuyurakan nila ang karapatan ng mga mamamayan (The Melito Glora Command is always ready should it need to confront the elements of the reactionary government, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, once they trample on the rights of the people),” he added.

Earlier, the NPA command, which covers the Southern Tagalog region, issued a statement predicting that the resumption of the controversial Oplan Tokhang anti-drug drive would only “create many uniformed criminals and killers.”

In that statement, Padilla called the revival of Tokhang “a signal for widespread killing throughout the land in the guise of the war against drugs” that would victimize only “the small victims of illegal drugs” even as “the first six months of the Duterte administration saw not a single drug lord in their touted (drug) list jailed or killed.”

He added that police generals and so-called “ninja cops” involved in the drug trade remain free while “there has been no word” on the hundreds of government officials Duterte repeatedly claims protect the narcotics trade and whose names he has listed down in a so-called “matrix.”

“Kung seryoso ang rehimeng Duterte sa gera laban sa droga, tutukan niya ang malalaking drug lords na nasa hawak niyang listahan at hindi puro grandstanding o walang katuturang pahayag laban sa drug lords ang ginagawa sa publiko (If the Duterte regime is serious about its war on drugs, he should concentrate on the big drug lords in the list he has and not stick to grandstanding or uttering useless public statements against drug lords),” Padilla said.

Since July last year, various counts place the death toll from Duterte’s war on drugs at anywhere from more than 7,000 to upwards of 8,000. The killings continued unabated even after Duterte, stung by the revelation that a gang composed of law enforcers kidnapped a Korean businessman and murdered him right inside PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, ordered police anti-narcotics operations suspended for about a month.

And when Duterte and PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa recently announced that the police were ready to resume the anti-drug drive, they warned that it would likely be as deadly as before.

But early this week, when Dela Rosa announced the start of the anti-drug campaign now renamed "Oplan Double Barrel, Reloaded," signaled they would try to keep it as "bloodless" as possible and even suggested police teams would be accompanied by clergymen.

Hostilities between the rebels and state security forces have resumed since Duterte suspended peace talks following the termination of both parties’ unilateral ceasefires early last month.