BRANDON Lee, a US citizen that militant groups said is being branded as a communist rebel sympathizer because of his work with an Ifugao group PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
The
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the US
Lee
is among IPM members and Ifugao human rights workers being accused of
supporting the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party
of the Philippines , Bayan USA
Citing
leaflets being circulated in the Cordillera, Ellorin said: “One of the targets
on the recent vilification and harassment campaign…is Lee, one of our community
organizers in Bayan USA
originally from the Northern California
region. We cannot be silent, and we demand an end to the harassment and threats
to life and for [the administration] to stop targeting innocent civilians and
unarmed organizations.”
The
leaflets also identified some IPM members and staff workers, village officials
and local people’s organizations in the Ifugao towns of Lagawe and Tinoc as
suspected NPA members or supporters.
“Cases
like these and that of Melissa Roxas, another US citizen and member of Bayan
USA who was abducted and tortured allegedly by government soldiers and
eventually released in 2009, remind us that the Philippine government is still
corrupt, repressive, malicious, and operates with a level of impunity
acknowledged by the United Nations Human Rights Council,” Ellorin said.
The
militant Cordillera Peoples Alliance recently launched a campaign urging
residents to write letters asking President Aquino and their local officials
and various agencies to stop the alleged harassment of human rights workers.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/682914/us-asked-to-help-citizen-tagged-as-reb-backer
There seems to be little doubt that Lee, a long-time BAYAN USA activist who now is appears to be on an "exposure" tour in the Philippines, is Communist Party of the Philippines sympathizer. His membership in BAYAN alone is enough to draw attention from anti-communist right wing vigilantes. Lee's association with the Ifugao Peasant Movement (IPM), a CPP peasant front, probably put him on the radar with PNP and AFP intelligence organizations.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, in a free democratic society he should not have to suffer unwarranted surveillance or threats to his life.
On the issue of Melissa Roxas, her story always sounded a little fishy and some sources say she refused to cooperate with the US embassy following her alleged abduction/release. It all seemed a little to neat and convenient. It smacked of a CPP/BAYAN disinformation effort to discredit the Philippine military in Central Luzon.
The BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-New Patriotic Alliance)-Philippines is a well-known CPP umbrella front organization. As indicated in this article, the group does have functioning chapters overseas.