Group condemns PNP vilification, red-tagging

Militant group Bayan Panay condemned another “vilification and red-tagging publicity” stunt by the Philippine National Police Regional Office VI in its official Facebook page Police Regional Office 6.

The account featured a collage of photos showing Bayan Panay members in a picket at Camp Delgado (January 15, 2020), rallyists burning an effigy, a photo of CPP in their 45th anniversary, and a spray painted wall.

In a statement, Bayan said the picket in Camp Delgado raised the issue of the government’s slowpoke and minimal response to victims of Typhoon Ursula.

Specifically, the picket was addressed to the Office of the Civil Defense as head of the inter-agency cluster in rescue and relief delivery operations for typhoon victims.

The PNP’s desperate move to vilify progressive groups accusing us as “deceivers” speaks on the level of stupidity and ignorance of the PNP.

The Wednesday picket was aimed to address the ongoing clamor of disaster victims who have not received ample help from the government because of bureaucratic red tape being implemented by the cluster.

“For the PNP to vilify instead of hearing the issue only shows their fascist intentions to crackdown activists and legal democratic organizations. For the PNP, the legal mass movement is no different from the armed revolution waged by the CPP-NPA. They tend to put in a single basket everyone that they perceived as threats when in fact, they, the fascist troops are the real threats,” Bayan said.

“They are the ones killing unarmed and innocent civilians especially farmers. They the ones conducting illegal searches borne out from irregularly issued search warrants and worst, they plant pieces of evidence to make the whole thing legitimate. But lo and behold, the court, particularly in Negros, dismissed the cases they filed against activists.”

Bayan said the PNP does not aim for peace.

“They are the spoilers of peace and are warmongers by nature. They profit from the Task Force ELCAC through thousands of fake surrenders they made up. These are the people that must be condemned. We would like to remind the PNP that we are working within the bounds of our constitutional democratic rights enshrined in the 1987 Constitution’s Bill of Rights.”

“We call on the PNP to stop this madness and direct the people’s taxes they are using to vilify and red tag us in proper use to serve and protect the people they are tasked to defend.”