Friday, June 12, 2020

70-year-old former activist disputes military claim she sheltered rebels

From ABS-CBN (Jun 13, 2020): 70-year-old former activist disputes military claim she sheltered rebels

A 70-year-old former activist in Besao, Mountain Province, came to the Philippine Army to clear her name after being associated with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

The military claimed that Anne Margaret Tauli, an indigenous resident of Besao, provided shelter to high ranking members of the CPP-NPA.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) also claimed Tauli "returned to the fold of the law" after she went to Army's 5th Infantry Division to clear her name.

“Tauli voluntarily returned to the fold of the law to the 503rd INfantry Brigade (503rd IB) led by Bgen Henry DOyaoen under the 5th infantry Division,” NTF-ELCAC claimed in a press statement,

It alleged that Tauli was providing shelter to high-ranking officers of the communist rebel group. National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., vice chairman of the NTF-ELCAC, helped Tauli to return to Baguio City.

Tauli, however, said in a Baguio press briefing that she only came to the military to clear her name and disprove the allegations against her.

The Batil-ang Peypeyan clan in Mountain Province, where Tauli belongs, also belied the accusations against her.

“We stand by our Manang/Auntie/Lola Annie. We vouch for her integrity as a good-standing member of the community and as a contributor to its constant progress. We call for an end to all false accusations against her immediately,” the clan claimed in a social media post.

Tauli is the sister of Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the former United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/13/20/70-year-old-former-activist-disputes-military-claim-she-sheltered-rebels

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