Rights group
Karapatan scored the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
(NTF-ELCAC) amid reports of threat, harassment of progressive partylists, as
the election campaign begins in less than a week.
Karapatan
secretary general Cristina Palabay said “terror-taggers and warmongers in the
NTF-ELCAC are working double-time to discredit progressive partylists and
non-government organizations, by blocking aid and relief in communities that
are in dire need of help at this time.” Elements of the provincial counterpart
of the NTF-ELCAC, she added, attempted to sabotage the relief distribution,
psychosocial session, and community kitchen at
Cabudburan, Calape, Bohol, led by Gabriela Women’s Party together with
members of Lingap Gabriela and Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Palabay said
in a statement.
The mission team, which reserved a basketball court as venue of the mission through the help of local women’s organization Sabakan-Amihan (Sandigan sa Bol-anong Kababayen-ang Nag-uma ug Nanagat-SABAKAN-Calape), was reportedly forced to hold the mission elsewhere when around 20 combined elements of the Philippine Army and men in plainclothes, believed to be military agents, arrived ahead of them and held their own relief operation.
A tarpaulin bearing Bohol governor Arthur Yap’s face and his program “Heart Caravan” and “Barug Bohol” relief operations was hung in the court, which, according to the residents, was a corn seeds and rice distribution activity.
The mission team, which reserved a basketball court as venue of the mission through the help of local women’s organization Sabakan-Amihan (Sandigan sa Bol-anong Kababayen-ang Nag-uma ug Nanagat-SABAKAN-Calape), was reportedly forced to hold the mission elsewhere when around 20 combined elements of the Philippine Army and men in plainclothes, believed to be military agents, arrived ahead of them and held their own relief operation.
A tarpaulin bearing Bohol governor Arthur Yap’s face and his program “Heart Caravan” and “Barug Bohol” relief operations was hung in the court, which, according to the residents, was a corn seeds and rice distribution activity.
The barangay,
in charge of the use of the court, were informed just a day before
the activity.
“The intent to disrupt GWP’s mission was obvious. This is the handiwork of the provincial counterparts of the NTF-ELCAC, notorious in sabotaging medical and humanitarian missions done in the provinces, all because they were done by progressive organizations that have been consistently red-tagged,” Palabay said.
Liza Quirog, the head of Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) in Bohol, was seen present in the said distribution.
Unidentified men reportedly continued to do surveillance at GWP’s relief mission, taking pictures and stalking the participants within the vicinity of the house in the community. Sabakan also reported that the military continued to harass their members days after.
“The intent to disrupt GWP’s mission was obvious. This is the handiwork of the provincial counterparts of the NTF-ELCAC, notorious in sabotaging medical and humanitarian missions done in the provinces, all because they were done by progressive organizations that have been consistently red-tagged,” Palabay said.
Liza Quirog, the head of Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) in Bohol, was seen present in the said distribution.
Unidentified men reportedly continued to do surveillance at GWP’s relief mission, taking pictures and stalking the participants within the vicinity of the house in the community. Sabakan also reported that the military continued to harass their members days after.
Thirty-six soldiers of the 47th Infantry
Battalion of the Philippine Army allegedly “visited” the house of one Sabakan
member in Cabudburan, Letlet Cabones, whom they accused of harboring rebels.
Palabay said that harassments has not only threatened the lives and security of individuals and groups tagged by the NTF-ELCAC, but also “stopped activities and community efforts that push for livelihood and address their basic necessities.”
Also in January, volunteers and members of the Trinidad-Talibon Integrated Farmers Association (TTIFA) in Trinidad, Bohol were stopped from repairing the roofing of a rice mill owned by Farmers Development Center (FARDEC) located in Brgy. San Vicente, which was severely damaged by typhoon Odette last year.
Palabay said that harassments has not only threatened the lives and security of individuals and groups tagged by the NTF-ELCAC, but also “stopped activities and community efforts that push for livelihood and address their basic necessities.”
Also in January, volunteers and members of the Trinidad-Talibon Integrated Farmers Association (TTIFA) in Trinidad, Bohol were stopped from repairing the roofing of a rice mill owned by Farmers Development Center (FARDEC) located in Brgy. San Vicente, which was severely damaged by typhoon Odette last year.
Elements of
the 47th IBPA, as well as former TTIFA members who are now
collaborating with state forces, took turns in stopping the farmers from
repairing the roof, saying any work in the rice mill is prohibited, Palabay
said.
“It is
outrageous that they would send soldiers and police just to stop a roof repair.
Apparently, they were after the people who are working on the repair, and were
there to make sure that the rice mill, a supposedly basic necessity in a
community of farmers, will not re-operate,” said Palabay.
The local
government of Trinidad under Mayor Judith Cajes, has denied FARDEC rice
mill's application for a license to operate and ordered its closure in 2020,
despite being a project that has benefitted the farmer’s community.
“After much
assertion, in between threats and harassment, the farmers were able to repair
the roof of the rice mill,” Palabay said.
“TTIFA members
who volunteered to help fix the rice mill were also given GI sheets for the repair
of their own homes.
“TTIFA and FARDEC are organizations that have pushed for community projects benefitting farmers and communities in the province. We strongly believe it was not merely an issue of non-compliance of requirements to operate. The PTF-ELCAC also has consistently red-tagged FARDEC, as well as the TTIFA, calling them communist fronts and NPA recruiters because of their staunch defense of the land they have occupied since the 1990s,” said Palabay.
Karapatan warned of more cases of harassment in the coming days.
“We call on communities and organizations to resist such dirty tactics of an overwhelmingly desperate regime, who are afraid of community initiatives and the bayanihan of people amid calamities, pandemic and crisis,” said Palabay.
“TTIFA and FARDEC are organizations that have pushed for community projects benefitting farmers and communities in the province. We strongly believe it was not merely an issue of non-compliance of requirements to operate. The PTF-ELCAC also has consistently red-tagged FARDEC, as well as the TTIFA, calling them communist fronts and NPA recruiters because of their staunch defense of the land they have occupied since the 1990s,” said Palabay.
Karapatan warned of more cases of harassment in the coming days.
“We call on communities and organizations to resist such dirty tactics of an overwhelmingly desperate regime, who are afraid of community initiatives and the bayanihan of people amid calamities, pandemic and crisis,” said Palabay.
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