BY GLENDA TAYONA and RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – The secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in Panay Island was arrested before dawn yesterday in Sitio Bangko, Barangay Lutac, Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Elmer Forro, 52, was served with arrest warrants for murder and attempted murder. He was accused of taking part in an ambush in Sitio Agilan, Barangay Panuran, Lambunao, Iloilo on April 7, 2020 by the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade.
Forro denied the accusation.
“It is nothing but pure harassment by state forces to stop me from my advocacy work as an activist,” he said.
The arrest warrants (for murder, Criminal Case No. 21-0909; for attempted murder, Criminal Case No. 21-0908) were issued on March 5, 2021 by Judge Gemalyn Faunillo-Tarol of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 76 (Januiay, Iloilo).
“Matagal namin sya trinabaho after we got his arrest warrants. He voluntarily went with us,” said Police Colonel Gervacio Balmaceda of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
The CIDG, which took custody of Forro, further alleged that the activist was a bodyguard of Concha Araneta Bocala, the Panay Island-based peace consultant of the National Democratic Front – Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army.
The whereabouts of Bocala herself were unknown. She disappeared after the peace talks with the national government broke down in 2017.
According to the Philippine Army, Forro was with some 19 rebels who clashed with government troops in Barangay Panuran, Lambunao. In that firefight, Private First Class Mark Nemis was killed.
The Army’s Corporal Christopher Llono and Private First Class Ronald Lapinoso identified Forro through a “rogue’s gallery” shown to them.
‘RED-TAGGED’
“Completely fabricated” was how BAYAN-Panay described the allegation against its secretary general, who also formerly served as spokesperson of militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno.
BAYAN-Panay deputy spokesperson Bryan Bosque said Forro was a well-known activist in Iloilo City who frequently met with public officials, civic leaders and the media, spoke during rallies and public forums, and led aid missions in urban poor communities since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
This was not the first arrest of Forro. He was arrested in Iloilo City on May 1, 2020 for holding a protest a day after Bayan Muna coordinator Jory Porquia was assassinated.
Like Porquia, Forro had been the subject of repeated red-tagging.
Bosque said Forro appeared before the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office to deny the military’s accusation, and also presented witnesses who attested that he was nowhere near Lambunao but was elsewhere before, during, and after the April 7 2020 ambush.
However, Prosecutor Keenan Rhys Jurilla resolved to file charges of murder and multiple attempted murder charges against Forro along with other “John Does”.
“This systematic crackdown has already claimed the lives of some of our comrades like Jory Porquia and Negros Occidental’s Zara Alvarez, who were themselves subjected to harassment and surveillance, or faced trumped-up charges before they were killed,” according to a defiant Forro.
The Panay chapter of the militant Kabataan party-list demanded Forro’s release. It described the charges against the activist as trumped up.
Bosque, for his part, blasted the government’s penchant of filing charges against activists based solely on the military’s claim that they were spotted during firefights in remote mountain areas and later “identified” in so-called rogue’s galleries.
He cited as examples Elisa Lubi, the 76-year-old chairperson of human rights group Karapatan, and Josephine Porquia, the 60-year-old widow of Jory Porquia.
“The military’s claims against them are ridiculous and blatant fabrications intended solely to secure the arrest of activists,” Bosque said.
There was a massive show of force during Forro’s arrest. The arrest warrants were served by combined forces of the CIDG – Regional Filed Unit 6; Regional Intelligence Division of the Police Regional Office 6; Special Action Force, Armed Forces of the Philippines; Provincial Intelligence Unit – Iloilo Police Provincial Office; Cabatuan and Lambunao police stations.
Western Visayas police director, Police Brigadier General Flynn Dongbo, congratulated them.
“Your action bespeaks of your dedication and commitment…Moreover, this effort shows that no one is above the law,” said Dongbo./PN
