LEGAZPI CITY— Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assailed the allegation of militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) tagging President Duterte as a “military puppet” after he issued a directive sending additional troops and police to the Bicol region to quell lawlessness.
“It is unfair to tag the President as a puppet just because of the directive placing some areas, specifically Bicol, under a state of national emergency because of lawlessness,” said Lorenzana in an interview Tuesday.
Lorenzana was here to attend the Regional Peace and Order Council meeting.
Bayan said “the deployment of additional soldiers and policemen and placing Bicol region under a state of national emergency is a de facto martial law.”
Lorenzana, in defending the president, accused Bayan and other groups as communists, masquerading as militants.
“They are saying it’s a legal front, but still they are asking people to fight the established government,” he said. /ee
READ: Duterte sends more troops in Bicol, Samar, Negros vs ‘lawless violence’