DAVAO CITY, Philippines — National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison on Wednesday issued a statement, disputing reports he identified some legal organizations as a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Sison’s statement was issued after Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde made claims that Sison identified legal organizations such as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) as front organizations of the communist movement.
Albayalde’s allegation followed after officers and members of ACT pushed for the filing of a motion for reconsideration before the Court of Appeals (CA) against the continued profiling of the PNP against its members.
“It is in the context of the anticommunist witch-hunt that PNP’s Albayalde tries to use my name for his vile purposes. I say categorically that Albayalde is a big liar,” Sison said.
He added that the PNP is capitalizing on a distorted spy report on a 30-year old video in Brussels differentiating the legal democratic forces and the forces of the armed revolution.
“The witch hunt being conducted by the political and military minions of (President Rodrigo) Duterte against legal democratic organizations is calculated to intimidate them, their leaders and mass activists, prepare them for the kill by the Duterte death squads, prevent them from exercising their freedom of speech and assembly, discredit them and possibly outlaw them as ‘terrorist’ organizations and disable them from expressing themselves during the electoral campaign period,” Sison pointed out.
Sison further stated that the continuing witch hunt is aimed to make up the failure of the military and the police to destroy the New People’s Army (NPA) before the end of 2018, and as a consequence, has jeopardized the rights and security of teachers, lawyers, journalists, the youths, social activists, human rights advocates, and the religious as they now become open prey for state terrorism.
On the revocation of license
ACT also expressed deep concern and lambasted Albayalde for threatening teachers with the revocation of their licenses if found to have terrorist links.
“For law enforcers such as yourself, it’s disappointing to see how easily you forget the basics of due process. Evidence should precede prosecution. You cannot threaten us and publicly tag us as terrorists before providing material bases for your accusations,” Raymund Basilio, ACT secretary-general said.
The PNP now is resorting to “an even uglier scheme of attacking the economic and professional rights” of teachers, and that Albayalde’s statement is a pure manifestation of union busting, Basilio described.
He also noted that the PNP now embarks on a fishing expedition at the expense of teachers’ rights and freedoms.
On March 4, Monday, ACT submitted an appeal for the reversal of CA’s decision dismissing the group’s petition for a writ of preliminary injunction against the alleged profiling of teachers by the PNP. (davaotoday.com)
