Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque (File photo)
MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday said that it cannot be denied that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) have “legal fronts”.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after Amnesty International urged the government to end the alleged practice of red-tagging and to publicly instruct government officials to refrain from harassing and intimidating activists.
Citing Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Roque said military and police officials should refrain from tagging certain individuals as communists or terrorists without proper evidence.
Roque, however, explained that Lorenzana’s remark does not mean that the CPP-NPA does not have any legal fronts.
“Ang CPP-NPA po, talagang mayroon silang revolutionary armed struggle, iyan po iyong NPA; at mayroon silang political, kasama sa political ay iyong mga tinawag nilang mga organisasyon na di umano’y legal dahil hindi sila humahawak ng baril (The CPP-NPA really have a revolutionary armed struggle, that’s the NPA, and they have a political wing, and part of that political wing are alleged legal organizations because these don’t use arms),” he said.
He said it would be hipocrisy for the CPP-NPA to say they don’t have any legal fronts.
“Pero kabahagi pa rin po ng CPP-NPA at hindi po madi-deny iyan. Kaplastikan po ng CPP-NPA kung sasabihin nilang wala silang mga legal fronts na tinatawag (However, they are still part of the CPP-NPA. That cannot be denied. It is hypocrisy for the CPP-NPA to say that they don’t have what they call legal fronts),” he added.
Late last month, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Luzon Command chief, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, was criticized for advising actress Liza Soberano to abdicate her ties with Gabriela Youth after she participated in a webinar with the group.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy was asked by opposition lawmakers to resign after tagging members of the Makabayan bloc as “high-ranking members” of the CPP.
However, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. expressed support for claims made by Parlade and Badoy that some groups were acting as legal fronts of the CPP-NPA.
“Hindi ko dedepensahan si Gen. Parlade at saka si Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, kung hindi susuportahan. Ano bang sinasabi ni Gen. Parlade? Na ang CPP-NPA ay mayroong mga underground organizations na mayroong front, legal na front (I won’t defend Gen. Parlade and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, but I’ll support them. What is Gen. Parlade saying? That CPP-NPA has underground organizations with legal fronts),” Esperon said.
According to Esperon, some legal fronts are the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), League of Filipino Students, Anakbayan, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, and the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers.
The Senate committee on national defense earlier started an investigation on the alleged red-tagging activities of military officials against celebrities and groups.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
