From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 6): 2 alleged NPA members, 11 others nabbed in GenSan raid
Joint Army and police personnel arrested 13 church development workers and activists, two of whom tagged as members of the New People’s Army (NPA), in an operation at a retreat center here on Wednesday night.
Armed with arrest warrants, elements from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-12, Army-led Joint Task Force GenSan and the city police swooped in on the Mother Francisca Sprituality Center along Arradaza Street in Barangay Lagao at around 8 p.m.
The operation mainly targeted suspects Francis Madria and Maria Limbaga Unabia, who were tagged as members of the NPA operating in Northern Mindanao.
Police said Madria and Unabia have standing arrest warrants for murder, attempted murder, frustrated murder and kidnappping with murder issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 8 Judge Judge Isobel Barosso in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon and RTC Branch 23 Judge Vincent Rosales in Cagayan de Oro City.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, public information officer of the Police Regional Office-12, told PNA that two of the 13 were “positive subjects of the arrest warrants.”
Gonzales said the 11 other persons were arrested for allegedly “trying to conceal” the identities of the suspected NPA members and resisting the arresting team. They were charged with violation of Presidential Decree 1829 or “obstruction of justice,” he said.
Police identified them as Teresita Naul of Opol, Misamis Oriental; Aldeem Yanez of Cagayan de Oro City; Vennel Chenfoo of Cagayan de Oro City; Jomorito Guaynon of Bukidnon; Analiza Avenido of Bukidnon; Roger Plana of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental; Kristine Cabardo of Cagayan de Oro City; Virgilio Sanama of Purok 4, Rajah Muda, Barangay Bula, this city; Byron Gabales Porras of Zone 2-C, Barangay Bula, this city; Ireneo Udarbe of Misamis Oriental; and Rosemarie Cantano of Glan, Sarangani Province.
Ryan Amper, spokesperson of Barug Mindanao, denied the 13 church workers and activists are NPA members.
Amper on Friday said the arrested individuals were attending a program consultation for volunteers and partners of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development (IFI-VIMROD) when they were arrested.
The retreat facility is owned and managed by the congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena.
Among those arrested were local leaders of cause-oriented groups Kalumbay, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Kabataan partylist, League of Filipino Students and Karapatan, he said.
They were there to assess the status of a project of VIMROD and discuss various issues and concerns affecting farmers and the lumads (indigenous peoples),” Amper told PNA.
During the raid, Amper said the operating team claimed that two of the participants were NPA members and with the 11 others supposedly “obstructing” their arrest.
Two of those arrested were security guards while another was a volunteer worker of the retreat center.
Amper said the subject persons and their companions did not show any resistance and only questioned the legal basis of the arrest.
He said they questioned the arrest warrants showed by operatives were “defective” as they were not allegedly not signed by the judges.
The names that appeared in the warrants were different from the two who were tagged as alleged NPA members, he said.
The two suspects were reportedly named Bella Catubay and Emilio Gabales.
“They have different names. None among the participants were named Francis Madria and Maria Unabia,” he said.
After the arrest, Amper said the 13 were initially brought to the city police headquarters at Camp Fermin Lira here.
On Thursday afternoon, 11 of them were subjected to inquest proceedings for charges of obstruction of justice at the city prosecutor’s office after waiving their privilege to preliminary investigation to facilitate their petition for granting of bail.
Their cases are being handled by Lawyers Emilio Paña of the National Union of People’s Lawyers and Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate. They were separately detained on Thursday at two police stations here.
Zarate condemned the arrest of the church workers and activists, saying was a clear violation of human rights and done in the guise of the continuing martial law in Mindanao.
“The serving of the warrants was actually questionable, as far as their statements are concerned, as they lacked pertinent signatures,” he said.
He added that although Mindanao is currently under martial law, the Constitution provides that the rights of the people “should not be set aside or ignored.”
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1040611
There is little doubt that those arrested were members of known Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) front organizations.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article those arrested were members of Kalumbay, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Kabataan partylist, League of Filipino Students and Karapatan
Kalumbay is a regional lumad (indigenous people) CPP front.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) is a national level peasant front and a member of the main CPP umbrella front organization the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN).
Kabataan is a party-list political front focused on youth issues and is a member of the CPP-associated MAKABAYAN political coalition.
The League of Filipino Students (LFS) is a radical CPP student front with chapters active on college campuses throughout the Philippines. The group is also a member of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN).
Karapatan is the main CPP-linked umbrella human rights group with local and region chapters active all over the Philippines.
The National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) is a CPP front that provides legal support for captured/detained CPP/NDF/NPA rebels as well as CPP front group members.
Bayan Muna is the main CPP party-list political front and a key member of the MAKABAYAN political coalition.
The arrest of these folks at the Mother Francisca Sprituality Center who were purportedly attending a program sponsored by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development (IFI-VIMROD) is just another example of the longstanding ties between the CPP and members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church-PIC).