ILOILO City – The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Panay) dismissed as trumped up the murder and multiple attempted murder charges filed against its secretary-general Elmer Forro by the police stat on of Lambunao, Iloilo.
It pressed for the junking of the charges.
On Aug. 13 Forro received a subpoena from the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in relation to the encounter between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Philippine Army in the morning of April 7, 2020 in Lambunao which resulted in the death of Private First Class Mark Nemis.
According to the complainant’s witness, Corporal Christopher Llono of the Army’s 301st Brigade, Forro was among the NPAs that killed Nemis.
“The accusation against me is nothing but pure harassment by state forces to stop me from my advocacy work as an activist,” said Forro.
According to the BAYAN-Pan ay official, “I and my colleagues have been subjected to threats and harassment and it escalated even in the time of pandemic that led to us facing multiple charges because we exercised our constitutional rights and engaged in relief operations for those worst affected by the lockdown. Surveillance, redtagging, and tailings remain non-stop.”
Forro said that during the pandemic, he had been busy with relief operations, health trainings and meetings with representatives of other cause-oriented groups, public officials including Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas, and church leaders like Monsignor Meliton Oso of the Archdiocese of Jaro’s Social Action Center.
Forro, together with other activists, have been charged, too, with violating Batas Pambansa 880, the Bayanihan Act, and Republic Act 11332 for a protest action on April 3, 2020 at the Department of Social Welfare and Development Regional Office 6 and for demanding aid to people affected by what it called as a “militaristic lockdown.”
On May 1, he and dozens of activists were also arrested for attempting to hold a motor caravan to demand justice for the murder of Bayan Muna Iloilo City coordinator Jory Porquia.
“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,” Forro quipped.
On Dec. 11, 2018, March 16, 2019 and August 27, 2020, posters with photos of progressive leaders, including Forro, were seen plastered around Iloilo City and recently seen in a village in Oton, Iloilo. The poster accused Forro, together with lawyers, a priest, a former House representative, and 30 others of being terrorists, extortionists and members of the NPA.
In May, Forro said, he also noticed motorcycle-riding men watching from outside his residence, and at one point, he was even tailed while going to his office in the city by a vehicle and men on motorcycles.
“Almost all of my colleagues in the Bayan Panay secretariat also experienced surveillance, tailings, red-tagged and were being maliciously approached to talk and given contact numbers,” added Forro.
“This trumped-up case is ridiculous and outright false and should be dismissed immediately. We cannot let state forces continue their evil deeds and suppress our rights and freedom,” Forro added./PN
