DILG Sec. Eduardo Año and CPP founder Jose Maria Sison. INQUIRER Photos
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Joma Sison is “hallucinating” for claiming that the government had a hand in the murder of Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis, who is also the peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“Joma Sison’s statement is not worth for any comment. He is hallucinating. Kung me awayan man sa grupo nila, problema na nila yun. (If there are bickerings within their groups, that’s their problem),” Año said in a text message when asked about Sison’s statement.
In a statement on Monday, the exiled CPP founder condemned the killing of Echanis, further claiming that Año allegedly had ordered located all social activists that he had threatened to kill.
“Duterte and his gang of butchers are truly monstrous for murdering the unarmed Randall and his neighbor. It is widely known that the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) Secretary Año has been boasting to his staff and other people that he has mapped out the locations of all social activists through the local governments and neighborhoods, and that he can wipe them out, the social activists anytime,” Sison said.
“This boasting of Año is taken seriously by all the social activists that he threatens to kill,” he added.
‘Not Echanis’
The Anakpawis party-list group, of which Echanis was the national chairman, said the peasant leader was killed inside his apartment in Novaliches, Quezon City on Monday. Police, however, identified the victim as Manuel Santiago due to a company ID retrieved in the crime scene.
Nonetheless, Año said he ordered the nation’s police force to look into the killing of the peasant leader.
“But I will have this incident investigated by the PNP (Philippine National Police) to identify the perpetrators,” Año said.