Ex-Negrense activist turns vs comrades

 From Panay News (Mar 31, 2021): Ex-Negrense activist turns vs comrades  (BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA)

A former member of a progressive group in Negros Occidental turned against her ex-comrades and expressed willingness to become a state witness, according to the city prosecutor of Escalante City, Negros Occidental.

In a press conference on March 29, Atty. Ranela dela Fuente said Aiza Gamao, a former member of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap or Kadamay, now had the desire to testify for the government, thinking that “the cause she had been fighting for was not for the common good; and that her group’s doctrine was not meant to bring peace and change, but destruction and unrest.”

Gamao was one of the eight suspected communist insurgents arrested on Sept. 18, 2019 in Escalante City, for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Atty. Charo Tupas-Fajardo, Gamao’s legal counsel, said her client already executed an affidavit against her former group, although as of the moment the affidavit could not yet be publicized as she was not yet presented to the court.

When asked if Gamao’s former colleagues would claim that the government forced her to switch sides, Fajardo replied that they were already expecting such.

The lawyer showed an audio visual statement of Gamao, wherein she stated that her decision was on her own volition, that she was not coerced by anyone.

Meanwhile, Dela Fuente said Gamao’s life may also be in danger.

“Prosecuting cases involving communists is difficult to do due to the lack of witnesses,” Dela Fuente pointed out. “As a matter of fact, the prosecution of criminal cases involving communist terrorists in northern Negros has a very dismal record.”

Dela Fuente said most of the cases were dismissed.

When Gamao came out and expressed her desire to help the government, it was a “breakthrough for the prosecution.”

The court may place Gamao under witness protection program.

In 2019, Gamao, who was then an officer of Kadamay-Negros, was arrested at a police checkpoint in Barangay Jonob-jonob, Escalante City after cops seized six .45-caliber pistols, a .38-caliber revolver, a KG9 machine pistol, three rifle grenades, two improvised explosive devices, and 21 molotov cocktails.

The group initially claimed back then that the firearms and explosives in their vehicle were “planted.”

 The incident also occurred two days prior to the city’s observance of the anniversary of the Escalante City Massacre.

https://www.panaynews.net/ex-negrense-activist-turns-vs-comrades/