BACOLOD City – Authorities here arrested 55 persons they alleged were communist rebels, including 15 minors, supposedly undergoing “training and “indoctrination” during simultaneous raids in offices of three progressive groups and a private residence.
The operations on Thursday night were conducted on the offices of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Anakpawis, located in one compound on Ilang-Ilang Street, Barangay Bata; the Gabriela office about 400 meters away in the same village; the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) office in Barangay Taculing; and on a house in Barangay 33.
The raids were staged on the strength of four search warrants issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of Branch 89 of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City.
Separate operations in Escalante City, Negros Occidental followed the next day.
In Bacolod City, among those arrested were Anne dela Concepcion, wife of Bayan Muna Negros secretary general Michael dela Concepcion; Danny Tabura, spokesperson for Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP); Noli Rosales, KMU spokesperson; John Milton Lozande, NFSW secretary general; Proceso Quiatzon, staff member of Karapatan Negros; and Romulo Bito-on, coordinator of Makabayan Negros who lived in the house in Barangay 33. Also arrested were Amaylin Bito-on, Diego Malacad and Roberto Lachica.
Arrested in Escalante were Maria Lindy Balaobao Perucho, later identified as deputy secretary for finance of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), and Imelda Pasinado, identified as a former NPA political instructor.
Colonel Henry Biñas, director of the Bacolod City Police Office, said the operations were part of the implementation of the national government’s initiative to end local communist armed conflict.
According to Biñas, those arrested were believed to be members of the so-called legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Meanwhile, Captain Cenon Pancito III, public affairs chief of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said they have received reports from concerned citizens that people occupying these offices have firearms and explosives.
Pancito said the final count of the persons arrested was 55 after it was initially reported that 62 persons were rounded up during the simultaneous raids.
He claimed that the 40 of them were identified as members of the CPP-NPA Komiteng Rehiyon – Negros, Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor and are now in the custody of the Negros Occidental police.
He added that the raids have led to
the recovery of 32 assorted firearms, three fragmentation grenades, two grenade
launchers and assorted ammunition.
Pancito claimed that the site serves as a “training center” of young people who
could later become NPA combatants and part of liquidation squads.
At the KMU office in Barangay Bata, operatives apprehended 49 persons. Four were identified as leaders of progressive groups.
Pancito said the site serves as a “training center” of young people who could later become NPA combatants and part of liquidation squads.
The structure has a conference room and a library, where subversive documents were found.
At the Gabriela Negros Center, nine persons were rounded up, and four others in the other offices.
The minors were endorsed to the local social welfare office while the other arrested persons were placed under the custody of the police.
Reacting to the arrest of his colleagues, Michael de la Concepcion, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros, claimed that the recovered firearms and explosive were planted.
But human rights group and some of those apprehended denied the accusations they were rebels and said the weapons had been “planted.”
Video taken of the search at the nearby office of Gabriela showed a police officer inspecting a revolver and ammunition taken from a backpack at a corner of the yard.
Among those arrested there were known activist leaders John Milton Lozande said the raiders held them for around an hour and then he was called to a house in the compound and showed “an obviously planted” gun supposedly found in his bag.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said among those arrested at the Gabriela office was Anne Krueger of the newly established alternative media outfit Paghimutad, which has been covering social issues, including extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses.
They were all taken to the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office.
Karapatan, in a statement, called this suspicious and said this was reminiscent of the Oplan Sauron 2 operations in Negros Oriental in March, which were covered by search warrants issued in Cebu City.
Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate also condemned the “dastardly Gestapo-like raid … simultaneously conducted by state forces against the offices of Bayan Muna, Gabriela and NFSW.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar Andanar, on the other hand, came to the defense of soldiers and police officers who raided the offices of progressive groups, following the claim of Zarate and Bayan Negros secretary-general Michael de la Concepcion that the recovered firearms and explosives were planted evidence by the raiding teams.
“We decry any claim that they were planted by our law enforcement authorities as we have proof they were obtained through legal means,” said Andanar.
Andanar lauded the joint efforts of the local police and military that led to the conduct of “bloodless” operations in Bacolod.
“These operations show the government’s respect for democracy and its adherence to the rule of law,” Andanar said. (With a report from PNA, Bulalat.com/PN)
