ILOILO City – Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao should “refrain from sowing false information” about a protest organized on Aug. 24 in front of Camp Delgado, according to a human rights group leader and relatives of seven slain members of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Panay in San Jose, Antique.
Protesters trooped to the PRO-6 headquarters and accused the police and military of “massacring” the seven individuals in Barangay Atabay, San Jose on Aug. 15.
Police and military officials maintained that the operation was a legitimate encounter between government troops and members of the New People’s Army who were into massive extortion activities in San Jose.
The NDFP, however, issued a statement that the seven were its “unarmed and non-combatant research and propaganda staff.”
In a radio interview, Bulalacao said his office received a report that the protesters were paid P500 each and given t-shirts for attending the rally.
The protest was organized by human rights alliance Karapatan Panay and family members of Jason Sanchez, Jayson Talibo, Liziel Bandiola, Karen Ceralvo, Peter Mecenas, Eldie Labinghisa, and Feliz Salditos, the so-called “Antique 7.”
“Bulalacao has become a purveyor of false information,” said Ronny Talibo, father of slain Jason Talibo. “The police and military are resorting to spreading lies to cover their massacre of our loved one.”
Reylan Vergara of Karapatan Panay denounced the “intolerance” of Bulalacao to the protest.
“The police and military are accountable to the massacre and they are suppressing the growing public outrage over the incident,” said Vergara.
Vergara said the police and military violated the Geneva Convention Protocol 1 Common Article 3 referring to those obligations in non-international armed conflicts which the Philippine government and NDFP have acknowledged in their past talks.
He also said government forces violated Republic Act 9851 (Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity) which penalizes war crimes and other acts prohibited under the Geneva Convention.
The police and military claimed they recovered firearms, ammunitions, and NPA extortion letters from the seven slain individuals./PN
