Department of National Defense Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu (PNA File photo)
MANILA – A ranking defense official expressed his support for calls on intensified vigilance against infiltration of communist-front organizations in government employees' associations.
"The findings of National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director-General Alex Paul Monteagudo are supported by statements from former members of the New People’s Army (NPA) about the duplicitous nature of the various CTG (communist terrorist groups) front organizations disguised as unions of government workers," Defense Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu said in a statement Wednesday.
Mapagu, who is also head of Task Force Balik Loob and the E-CLIP and Amnesty Program Cluster of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC), said former NPA cadres who have returned to mainstream society are their strongest allies in exposing the lies and crimes committed by the CTGs.
E-CLIP is short for Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
"Former NPA cadres, who have decided to return to mainstream society with support from the government, have become our indispensable partners in exposing the lies and crimes of the CTG in various sectors of our society, which unfortunately include the very halls of our government," he added.
Mapagu added that they are joining the call of the NTF ELCAC in denouncing the continued delusions of the CTGs and its front organizations to undermine the Republic and exploit the ranks of civil servants for their treasonous cause.
"We also call on our government workers, our lingkod bayani, to remain loyal to the Constitution and protect our democracy from those who would do it harm," he said.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
"Let us all stand behind the path to peace and nation-building by finally ending the decades-long scourge advanced by these communist terrorists," Mapagu said.
Earlier, Monteagudo said the union of Senate employees is a front of the communist group.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy said the NTF ELCAC is convinced that the "Sandigan ng mga Empleyadong Nagkakaisa sa Adhikain ng Demokratikong Orgnisasyon (SENADO)" is being controlled by the labor group Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE).
COURAGE has been tagged as a front organization of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF).
“The NTF ELCAC stands solidly behind the Director General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Alex Paul Monteagudo when he says that COURAGE is a front of the CPP-NPA-NDF and that it functions as the ears and eyes of this terrorist group,” said Badoy, spokesperson of NTF ELCAC, in a statement. (PNA)
