Groups hit Cordillera execs’ 'tokhang' plan vs ‘leftists’
>> Monday, September 6, 2021
Media taken out from list this time
BAGUIO CITY – Cause-oriented organizations
denounced a proposal of top officials in the Cordillera to revive a proposal to use "tokhang"
tactics used in the government's "war on drugs" against activists and
rights workers.
The proposal, which would have barangay officials talk to supposed leftists to convince them to not be leftists anymore, was raised earlier this year but stopped over criticism that it would be open to abuse.
Neither being a leftist or even a communist are actual crimes in the Philippines.
“Tokhang” by name or not, ‘Dumanon Makitungtong’ strategy only opens more floodgates for waves of intensified rights violations and extrajudicial killings against activists, as it did in the Duterte administration’s bloody campaign against drugs,” said Jeoffrey Mhar Larua, secretary-general of Tongtongan ti umili Cordillera Peoples Alliance.
“Already, we have documented numerous accounts from activists, community leaders, and organizations who have been subjected to such visitations by the military and the police. The visits were laden with threats and intimidation, attempts of coercion, and is tantamount to the violation of the civil and political rights of these individuals and communities,” he said in a statement.
“These cases, along with the latest Tokhang edict, concretize the fact that there is no truth to Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s claim that “activists are safe” in the city, and as chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), he will be an accessory to countless rights violations waiting to happen. To equate left ideals and principles to being communist fronts is inaccurate and will not solve the country’s decades-long insurgency problem.
“We reiterate, Tongtongan, and its affiliate organizations are legal, legitimate, and democratic organizations. We are not terrorist organizations or recruiters for revolutionary armed groups, as opposed to what state security forces make us out to be.
“If the mayor would be true to his word on the safety of his activist constituents, we urge him as chairperson of the RPOC to strike down this absurd resolution endorsing a crackdown versus dissent.”
The RPOC passed a resolution recently adapting the “Dumanun Makitungtong” (Seek and Talk) strategy against alleged "known members of left-leaning organizations."
The government equates being left-leaning as support for and membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army.
An assertion that is inaccurate and has been used to justify what activists called a crackdown on legitimate and legal organizations.
Cordillera Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Council (CRLECC) Number 06, Series of 2021, or "A resolution enjoining the members of the law enforcement agencies together with the representatives of local government units (LGUs), religious sector, and NGOs to conduct 'Dumanun Makitungtong' strategy to known members of Communist Front Organizations (CFOs)" was adopted during the third quarter CRLECC meeting in Baguio City.
The strategy includes house visits to members of supposed front organizations to persuade them to stop dealing with or supporting the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front in the region.
Araceli San Jose, OIC-regional director of Dept. of the Interior and Local Government, who heads secretariat of Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council, said the strategy "is in support of the priority thrust of President Rodrigo Duterte in addressing the insurgency."
The CRPOC urged the Provincial and Highly Urbanized City Peace and Order Councils to adopt the RLECC resolution and strategy and to have their component Local Peace and Order Councils also adopt the strategy.
A petition against a similar proposal was filed in February over fears of political repression.
The Baguio City court where the petition was filed declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order.
Police Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan, regional director at that time but who has since retired, said the proposal "was not a bloodthirsty campaign, but the same strategy of visiting or actually knocking on homes of left-leaning personalities (including the media and government personnel) around the villages and making a plea to shun support for the CPP-NPA-NDF."
The new resolution does not include media as targets of the "tokhang"-type campaign.
Police Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee, the new regional director and a former chief of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group that primarily implemented the "tokhang" campaign, has been silent on the proposal.
The proposal, which would have barangay officials talk to supposed leftists to convince them to not be leftists anymore, was raised earlier this year but stopped over criticism that it would be open to abuse.
Neither being a leftist or even a communist are actual crimes in the Philippines.
“Tokhang” by name or not, ‘Dumanon Makitungtong’ strategy only opens more floodgates for waves of intensified rights violations and extrajudicial killings against activists, as it did in the Duterte administration’s bloody campaign against drugs,” said Jeoffrey Mhar Larua, secretary-general of Tongtongan ti umili Cordillera Peoples Alliance.
“Already, we have documented numerous accounts from activists, community leaders, and organizations who have been subjected to such visitations by the military and the police. The visits were laden with threats and intimidation, attempts of coercion, and is tantamount to the violation of the civil and political rights of these individuals and communities,” he said in a statement.
“These cases, along with the latest Tokhang edict, concretize the fact that there is no truth to Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s claim that “activists are safe” in the city, and as chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), he will be an accessory to countless rights violations waiting to happen. To equate left ideals and principles to being communist fronts is inaccurate and will not solve the country’s decades-long insurgency problem.
“We reiterate, Tongtongan, and its affiliate organizations are legal, legitimate, and democratic organizations. We are not terrorist organizations or recruiters for revolutionary armed groups, as opposed to what state security forces make us out to be.
“If the mayor would be true to his word on the safety of his activist constituents, we urge him as chairperson of the RPOC to strike down this absurd resolution endorsing a crackdown versus dissent.”
The RPOC passed a resolution recently adapting the “Dumanun Makitungtong” (Seek and Talk) strategy against alleged "known members of left-leaning organizations."
The government equates being left-leaning as support for and membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army.
An assertion that is inaccurate and has been used to justify what activists called a crackdown on legitimate and legal organizations.
Cordillera Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Council (CRLECC) Number 06, Series of 2021, or "A resolution enjoining the members of the law enforcement agencies together with the representatives of local government units (LGUs), religious sector, and NGOs to conduct 'Dumanun Makitungtong' strategy to known members of Communist Front Organizations (CFOs)" was adopted during the third quarter CRLECC meeting in Baguio City.
The strategy includes house visits to members of supposed front organizations to persuade them to stop dealing with or supporting the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front in the region.
Araceli San Jose, OIC-regional director of Dept. of the Interior and Local Government, who heads secretariat of Cordillera Regional Peace and Order Council, said the strategy "is in support of the priority thrust of President Rodrigo Duterte in addressing the insurgency."
The CRPOC urged the Provincial and Highly Urbanized City Peace and Order Councils to adopt the RLECC resolution and strategy and to have their component Local Peace and Order Councils also adopt the strategy.
A petition against a similar proposal was filed in February over fears of political repression.
The Baguio City court where the petition was filed declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order.
Police Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan, regional director at that time but who has since retired, said the proposal "was not a bloodthirsty campaign, but the same strategy of visiting or actually knocking on homes of left-leaning personalities (including the media and government personnel) around the villages and making a plea to shun support for the CPP-NPA-NDF."
The new resolution does not include media as targets of the "tokhang"-type campaign.
Police Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee, the new regional director and a former chief of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group that primarily implemented the "tokhang" campaign, has been silent on the proposal.
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