MANILA — The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today slammed the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the barefaced and shameless lying it has done to cover up the murder of another activist.
Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said that claim of the AFP spokesman that the latest casualty, Siche Gandinao of Bayan Muna, was a victim of a communist purge is patently stupid.
The AFP is still in a state of absolute denial over the killings. They desperately cling on to the discredited line that the killings are done by the NPA. Nobody believes this. Not the Melo Commission. Not the United Nations. Not the human rights groups here and abroad and definitely not the public. Reyes said.
Reyes said that the victim was shot near a known military detachment in the area. The motorcycle riding assassins came from inside the military detachment according to reports from human rights groups.
Is the AFP trying to say that the NPA can go in and out of a military camp just like that? Does he think the public is stupid enough to believe these lies? Reyes asked.
The Bayan leader said that circumstantial evidence and motives for the killings only point to the military.
Bacarros claim that the victim has been cooperating with the military is another barefaced lie. Gandinao was cooperating with the United Nations investigations on extrajudicial killings, and not with the military. Again, Bacarro and the AFP think that the public is stupid, Reyes said.
The AFP is a willing victim of its own propaganda. It has spun so many lies that it exposes itself as a guilty party, Reyes said.
Extrajudicial Killings
