Based on news reports and press conferences the nation is very aware that the AFP and PNP have an unparalleled zeal to eradicate the insurgency. So unparalleled is this zeal that the PNP are determined to surveil a single woman and her two children for being suspected NPA members. The Supreme Court has shut them down.
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2021/10/10/2133022/sc-upholds-police-ban-monitoring-family |
The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed its 2019 decision on the issuance of a permanent protection order prohibiting the Philippine National Police (PNP) from monitoring a family allegedly linked to the New People’s Army (NPA).
In a resolution promulgated on June 15 and made public on Friday, the SC denied the PNP’s motion for reconsideration, upholding the court’s permanent protection order in favor of Vivian Sanchez and her two children. The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
Sanchez’s family was put under PNP surveillance after she was linked to the NPA due to her husband’s alleged association with the communist group. Her husband was killed by police in Antique in 2018.
The SC granted her request for a writ of amparo on Oct. 15, 2019, saying the evidence Sanchez presented “convincingly shows that she and her family became subject of unwarranted police surveillance due to their relationship with a suspected member of the (NPA) resulting in an actual threat to their life, liberty, and security due to the government’s unparalleled zeal in eradicating communism.”
The SC added that the PNP was gravely mistaken in its assertion that “the right to privacy, gender and power analysis are not applicable in the present case.”
Sanchez and her children, according to the high court, were targeted because she initially refused to divulge her relationship with her dead husband when she went to the funeral parlor.
The PNP claimed Sanchez was only placed under general investigation because investigators “wanted to know the identity of the unclaimed cadaver, but even after she had admitted to being the suspected member’s estranged wife, police surveillance continued and even intensified, causing her fear and anxiety for her and her children’s safety.”
The SC said while the PNP has the mandate to investigate, its duty must be balanced with Sanchez’s fundamental rights.
“Whatever information (the PNP) may have wished to obtain from (Sanchez) or her children, as witting or unwitting witnesses, is protected by spousal and filial privilege,” the SC said.
The SC also emphasized that the PNP should conduct a formal investigation “instead of a surreptitious surveillance” that infringed on Sanchez’s right to privacy.
Justice Ramon Paul Hernando maintained his dissent and voted to grant the PNP’s motion for reconsideration along with Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, according to the SC.
The PNP are hell bent on catching this one woman as being a member or supporter of the NPA. Why is that? Are there not enough known NPA members out there that can be hunted down? The only "proof" the PNP has that this woman has anything to do with the CPP-NPA is that her ex-husband was a propaganda agent for the NPA.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2018/09/17/opinion/analysis/more-on-the-npa-in-panay-and-negros/442170 |
A BELATED congratulations to the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade, Antique Provincial Mobile Force Company and San Jose Police Station for neutralizing seven key officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People´s Army (CPP-NPA) Panay in a firefight in San Jose, Antique, last August 15. Congratulations not for the killing of the seven because it would have been better to have taken them alive, but for neutralizing them. Felix Salditos, Eldie Labinghisa, Peter Mecinas, Karen Ceralvo and Liezl Bandiola were education and propaganda staff of the CPP while Jason Talibo and Jason Sanchez were there to “provide technical services,” according to National Democratic Front-Panay.
The army and the police claimed that some of the fatalities were involved in extortion or collection of so-called revolutionary tax, something that NDF-Panay denies. Jason Talibo was wanted for frustrated murder, while Joven Ceralvo—who was one of those who managed to escape—allegedly participated in the June 18, 2017 raid on the police station in Maasin, Iloilo.
Whether involved in extortion or education, the slain CPP members were not ordinary foot soldiers. Without their extensive education and propaganda work, the NPA and its front organizations could neither recruit members nor gain and maintain support locally and abroad. Most of the casualties might indeed have been unarmed as claimed by the NDF—they were non-combatants—but knowing who they were and what they were doing, it is impossible to believe that they would just be sleeping innocently on the floor without having armed comrades standing guard, ready to open fire.
Surely his death and the death of his comrades was a big blow for the CPP-NPA. Propaganda is one of if not the most important tools to be used against an enemy. The pen is mightier that the sword. That is why, despite not even having been read since they were bought, Aklan State University willingly turned over all the NDFP-CPP literature they possessed.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1156712 |
The pullout of 13 subversive books and documents from the libraries of the five campuses of the Aklan State University (ASU) on Sept. 24 was voluntary.
Thus, said ASU Student Regent Apple Jeanne Villanueva in an interview over "Laban Kasama ang Bayan" program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) via SMNI News Channel on Thursday.
Villanueva said there was no coercion and interference from the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) when the university decided to give up the books.
APPO, she said, requested for a dialogue with university officials to discuss the turnover of the reading materials.
“I would like to reiterate that the management decided on its own to turnover those subversive materials. The turnover activity was clearly voluntary,” Villanueva said.
During the process of preparing for the turnover, school authorities found out that there was no record to prove the books were read by students even if they have been in the library since 2012.
Villanueva added that she could not see the logic why members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives are complaining about the turnover of subversive books when in fact, there was never a violation.
"With regards to the house resolution of the Makabayan Bloc, hindi ko po ma gets ang logic kung bakit po sila nag rereklamo saturnover activity when in the first place wala naman po talagang violation na nangyari. Wala pong interference nangyari within the Aklan PPO and the NTF-ELCAC," she said.
She added that she favors the pullout of those books because ASU students are focused on their studies and do not engage in communist activities.
There are many ways to become critical thinkers, she said, disputing claims that the surrender of the books deprived them to practise critical thinking.
“During the dialogue, I heard that the university is willing to support the government, especially the initiatives of the APPO and the NTF-ELCAC in safeguarding the future of students in the Aklan State University,” she added.
Meanwhile, Col. Ramir Perlito Perlas, in the same program, said before the turnover, they wrote a letter to ASU President, Dr. Emily Arangote, for a possible dialogue on the memorandum order of the legal cluster of NTF-ELCAC on the duty of the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) in banning subversive documents vis-à-vis academic freedom.
He added that they proposed if they can take a look at their libraries but the university volunteered to do it on their own, pulled out the subversive books, and surrendered them to the APPO.
This story continues to get worse and worse. It's bad enough that the military and the police entered the university to take these books. But it turns out those books have been sitting on the shelves since 2012 and apparently no one has read them. Not for an academic paper or even for leisure reading. If the librarian had not willingly surrendered these books to the authorities its likely no one would ever know they were there.
So, who ordered these books? How did they get in the library? If the intent was to radicalize students it sure didn't work. The librarian does not get it. The problem is not that there was any violation. The problem is that the librarian WILLINGLY surrendered these books to the authorities because they are "subversive." I am sure there is a Koran and other Islamic literature on in that library. Will those books be surrendered to the authorities? Don't forget there is an Islamic insurgency in the Philippines.
Back to the lady the PNP is harassing because her ex-husband was an NPA propagandist. They have been on her tail for a while stalking her causing her to fear for her life and have yet to fins any evidence that she is with the CPP-NPA. Meanwhile there are real targets out there who need taking out.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1156736 |
The capture of two high-ranking New People’s Army (NPA) combatants and their four other comrades in Misamis Oriental could mean a major setback for the communist armed group, an Army official said in a statement on Friday.
Lt. Col. Ricky Canatoy, Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion (58IB) commander, said the NPA's Sub-Regional Committee (SRC-1) is on the verge of collapse as they captured top NPA guerrillas Jemar Hilogon, 28, commander of Platoon Cherry Mobile, GF Huawei, of the North Central Mindanao Regional Command (NCMRC); and Rubensito Hilogon, 50, a Militia ng Bayan field commander.
Four others, identified as Jobert Hilogon, a Militia ng Bayan member; Alice Calimhay Hilogon, 31; Jocelyn Hilogon Cabusog, 50; and a minor, all from Lagonglong town, were also apprehended in the same operation.
The NPA combatants were captured during a military operation in Barangay Umagos, Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental on Thursday, October 14.
Military intelligence indicated that the two NPA leaders also belonged to the province’s most wanted persons, with pending cases for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
"This is what I was talking about in the previous month that the capture of their top leaders will be a major setback for the armed group. The SRC 1 is on the verge of collapsing, and we're looking at completely penetrating all the surviving commanders and destroying their forces," Canatoy said.
"To the remaining members, I implore you to return to the folds of the law right now. We guarantee your safety and that you will receive all benefits due to you under the government's flagship program for rebel returnees," he added.
The capture of these people is a good thing but the AFP always plays it up too much. There have been so many headlines about an operation or arrest causing a major setback that I have lost count. Here is a ridiculous article from last year.
https://www.ndbulletin.com/2020/08/03/npa-suffers-consecutive-setbacks-fall-of-fronts-looms/ |
The alleged CPP-NPA legal fronts are still alive and active. Some of them have candidates running for office.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1156593 |
A former Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) cadre, who was once a coordinator of a party-list group in the Zamboanga area, urged Filipino voters to shun candidates and party-list groups fielded by the different communist legal front organizations in the 2022 elections.
During an interview over SMNI’s Laban Kasama ang Bayan Program on Oct. 11, Ka Arkins Evangelista revealed his work as a cadre operatorof the Bayan Muna party-list during the 2019 elections.
Evangelista said he was recruited into the CPP-NPA when he became a scholar of the Mindanao Interfaith Foundation Services Inc. (MISFI) in 2015.
After that, he became a member of the Katipunan ng Gurong Makabayan (KAGUMA), an underground organization whose members are teachers and educators that support the communist armed struggle.
He was also once a volunteer for the human rights group Karapatan.
After graduating from college, Evangelista said he was told by a CPP-NPA Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee secretary, whom he named Ka Precy Alvarez, to go up to the mountains and attend a meeting in preparation for the 2019 elections in support of Bayan Muna party=-list and of the whole Makabayan bloc in Western Mindanao.
During the meeting, it was decided that Evangelista be appointed as the provincial coordinator for Bayan Muna in Zamboanga del Norte.
“When I got down from the mountains, I immediately received an email from Jennifer Agoob, former finance secretary in the region. After that, I received an authorization letter stating that my appointment as the provincial coordinator of Bayan Muna in Zamboanga del Norte. This was signed by Atty. Neri Colmenares),” Evangelista narrated.
After formally receiving his appointment documents, Evangelista said he was sent to gather volunteers that will act as the Bayan Muna and the Makabayan Bloc poll watchers
He said they assigned as poll watchers for every barangay and municipality for the entire Zamboanga del Norte.
Another former CPP-NPA cadre Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz explained they are already expecting Colmenares and the Bayan Muna party-list to deny their knowledge of Evangelista, including their connection to the communist terrorist group CPP-NPA-NDF.
Celiz, however, said it would be ridiculous if Colmenares indeed denies it, especially that he has been a party-list representative of Bayan Muna.
Colmenares' name comes up again and again in connection with the CPP-NPA. If he really is connected with them then why is Pacquiao endorsing his run for the Senate? Why is he allowed to run for the post at all if there is evidence to connect him to the insurgency?
Likewise, this is not the first time the Bayan Muna pray list has been implicated as being a CPP-NPA front. Despite those accusations and despite Sison labelling them as fronts they continue to operate unhindered. Why? If they are really fronts then why not go after them? The accusations against them are numerous. But no. Instead the PNP would rather use up all their time and money going after one widow because her ex-husband was a propagandist for the NPA.