Reds ‘capitalizing, exploiting’ Tarlac incident: group

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 24, 2020): Reds ‘capitalizing, exploiting’ Tarlac incident: group (By Lade Jean Kabagani)

A group of former New People’s Army cadres and members on Wednesday condemned the alleged exploitation of some organizations linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) on the recent shooting incident involving a police officer in Tarlac.

In a statement, the Sentrong Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Bayan (SAMBAYANAN) called for the administrative sanctions against Police Senior Master Sgt. Jonel Nuezca, who gunned down an unarmed mother and her son in Paniqui, Tarlac.

"SAMBAYANAN, as the alternative people's alliance and campaign center, calls for stronger discipline and accountability mechanisms with speedy internal administration of justice in the Philippine National Police (PNP), that should be institutionalized, in light of the most recent incident of an apparent lack of discipline and orientation on handling conflict with civilians as shown in the very unfortunate shooting incident in Tarlac by a PNP personnel on two unarmed persons," the group said.

SAMBAYANAN, meanwhile, said the incident is being used to undermine the integrity of the government's efforts to push peace and order in the country.

"We likewise condemn the scandalous opportunist posture of the CPP-NPA-NDF and its front organizations including its party-list operators and the so-called 'human rights defenders' for their self-serving and malicious maneuvers to exploit and capitalize on the recent Tarlac incident, so that, they can again attack and subvert the integrity and efforts of the government in the aspect of public safety and the prevailing law and order situation in our country," the group said.

The group said these efforts are part of the tactical propaganda movement of the communist group and its front-organizations to divert the attention of the public.

"This brazen display of opportunism by the CPP-NPA-NDF and their legal cohorts is a classic propaganda platform based on their primary objective of destroying the government. We must reject this kind of communist-terrorist plot," SAMBAYANAN said.

Meanwhile, SAMBAYANAN said the incident serves as a wake-up call for security forces to seriously consider disciplinary measures among their ranks.

"This may be an isolated and particular incident but it is also a strong wake-up call on the part of the leadership and the entire organization of the PNP for them to seriously consider and take drastic measures that would address similar incidents of discipline breakdown and seemingly weak accountability mechanism in its organization," it said.

"Swift administration of administrative and criminal justice components must be immediately implemented, especially on this particular incident in Tarlac," it added.

SAMBAYANAN supported the remarks made by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who called for a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation on the incident.

"SAMBAYANAN supports the statement of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año calling for swift administration of justice against the erring PNP personnel, and for an immediate review of discipline and protocols in the organization of the PNP, so that their mandate of serving and protecting the Filipino people from all forms of threat especially in strengthening public safety and law enforcement can be best performed with the utmost exercise of prudence, propriety and due diligence, at all times," SAMBAYANAN said.

Año has earlier condemned the incident and assured that justice will be duly served to the family of the victims.

Criminal action has been initiated against Nuezca.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1125513