Arevalo: Karapatan, NPA are trying to cover up their terrorist activities
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
In response to local human rights organization Karapatan-Negros blaming the ‘Sagay 9’ incident on former Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) rebels, newly-installed 303rd Infantry Brigade (303IB) commander, Colonel Benedict Arevalo, said to the group, “Shut up and stop your lies!”
“First, you blamed the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police), then the landlord and lessee, and now the RPA – who’s next?” he asked in a press statement. “It’s not the RPA, as mentioned by Frank Fernandez, head of the NPA (New People’s Army) Terrorist Group in Negros.”
The 303IB official said the NPA and Karapatan are disseminating false information and telling lies to cover up their own faults and terrorist activities.
“If they really are for the truth, why did Atty. Kathy Panguban of the National Union of Philippine Lawyers and NPA terrorist-supporting Karapatan [take] custody of a 14-year-old witness from social welfare officials and bring him [into] hiding?” Arevalo asked. “They deceived the mother of the boy just to [take] custody from DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) and keep him away from the authorities to avoid telling what really happened.”
“Now, who is hiding the truth?” he added. “We [would] not even be surprised if, [when] the child [comes] out, he will be saying a different tune as he [has been] detained for nine days now – anything is possible as Karapatan is known for distorting the truth.”
Arevalo also called on Karapatan to release the minor.
“He is the only one who can reveal what really happened,” the 303IB official said. “He gave a vital statement to the PNP and, at the time, he was not under the custody or influence of anyone who [could] prevent him from speaking the truth.”
The local chapter of the National Democratic Front, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, earlier released a statement claiming the RPA and their “goons” were behind the incident that claimed the lives of nine National Federation of Sugar Workers farmers./DGB, WDJ