Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate. INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso
MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate has claimed that the party-list’s posters found at a house allegedly occupied by the New People’s Army (NPA) were just planted by the military to establish a link between the two groups.
According to Zarate, this move by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is an effort to tarnish Bayan Muna’s reputation, after a recent survey said that the group is leading the party-list race for the 2019 elections.
“Di talaga tumitigil ang AFP sa red-tagging nito sa amin lalo pa at nung makita nila na nangunguna pa din ang Bayan Muna sa gustong iboto ng mga mamamayan na party-list batay sa dalawang magkasunod na Pulse Asia survey,” he said in a statement.
He also casts doubt on whether the raided area was actually an NPA camp.
“Based on the reports of our members in Palawan, the AFP apparently took Bayan Muna and Kabataan posters from the common poster areas and then maliciously presented them as having been recovered from a supposed, phantom NPA camp,” he added.
On Tuesday, troops from the 18th Special Forces Company and Joint Intelligence Task Group West conducted an intelligence operation at Baragay Culasian in Rizal town, Palawan.
According to the soldiers, campaign materials of Bayan Muna and Kabataan party-list were found in the house.
READ: Militant party-list groups’ poll posters recovered in anti-NPA ops
However, Zarate insisted that these were just measures to bring down Bayan Muna and the rest of the Makabayan bloc.
“Di matanggap ng militar na di pinaniniwalan ng mga tao ang kanilang mga kasinungalingan kaya kung anu-ano ang iniimbentong pakana para siraan ang Bayan Muna at Makabayan bloc,” he explained.
“Tulad ng ginawa nila sa Palawan na napakadali para sa kanilang magtanim ng poster ng Bayan Muna at Kabataan at muling nagtanim ng mga baril at kung anu-ano pa para gumawa ng storya,” he said.
The Makabayan bloc and the military have been at odds recently, with government forces claiming that the progressive groups are legal fronts of NPA and other communist organizations.
Zarate previously urged AFP to file charges against them, considering that a military official claimed that they have truckloads of evidence against them. /jpv
READ: Parlade targeting Makabayan bloc to win AFP top post— Zarate