Party-list group bares NPA threat after exposé on farmers’ murder
Macon Ramos Araneta
Manila Standard
Party-list group Akbayan yesterday accused the New People’s Army of threatening its officers and members in Masbate, a day after engaging the militant Bayan Muna in a “word war” over a bill extending the agrarian reform program.
Akbayan leader Rep. Risa Hontiveros also blasted the NPA for allegedly colluding with the goons of landowners to thwart the farmers’ desire to own their land.
In a press statement, Hontiveros condemned the “veiled threat” made by the Masbate-based Jose Rapsing Command of the NPA against Akbayan members.
The lawmaker said the NPA wrote Akbayan a 12-page letter dated June 5 in response to a speech she delivered last March 10. In that privilege speech, Hontiveros called for a congressional inquiry into the killings perpetrated by the rebel group.
In the letter, the rebel group said it is just right for them to expose to the public the grave blunders and dangers of believing in the cause of Akbayan according to Hontiveros.
The NPA wrote: “Sa mga lugar na malinaw na sa mga tao na mali ang mga isyung dala-dala ninyo at nakapapanatili na rin ang Hukbo ay talagang hindi kami matutuwa o mapapalagay na nandoon pa kayo. [In places where it is already clear to the people that the issues you [Akbayan] are espousing are wrong, the armed group will not be happy that you will still be there].”
The letter was signed by a certain kasamang Luz del Mar, public information staff of the NPA-Jose Rapsing Command and noted by kasamang Adora Patria, Executive Committee member, CPP-Front 83-Masbate; kasamang Salvador del Pobre, pangkalahatang kumander, Jose Rapsing Command; and kasamang Val Silang, Prepcom-chairman.
Hontiveros stressed that Akbayan condemned in the strongest possible terms the NPA’s letter aimed to threaten democratic organizations like Akbayan, to create a culture of fear among people’s organizations and farming communities, and to warn against the pursuit of agrarian reform via Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
“While in its essence, it is an admission by the armed group of the National Democratic Front [NDF] of the killing of Butchoy Vale, a peasant leader and barangay captain of Barangay Royroy, Masbate, beyond that, it, too, is a serious warning against those pursuing a path different from that chosen by the NPA,” Hontiveros said.
She branded the letter as consisting of blatant falsehoods to justify the cold-blooded execution of Vale in their hands as judge, jury and executioner.
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