NDFP warns of more attacks against members, activists after ‘terrorist’ tag

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) warned Wednesday of more attacks against its members and other activists after the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) designated it as a terrorist group.

“We expect that the terrorist attacks by the Duterte fascist gang will escalate, and also target legal social activists, human rights defenders, critics, and oppositionists, who will be arbitrarily tagged as NDFP members and associates,” said a statement issued by the group’s national council.

The group pointed to the killings of several of its consultants, whom it blamed on state security forces. They include Randy Malayao, Randall Echanis, Agaton Topacio, Eugenia Magpantay, Antonio Cabanatan, Florenda Yap, Reynaldo Bocala, and Rustico Tan.

The NDFP also noted how the government filed trumped-up charges to arrest and jail its other consultants, including Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva, Rey Casambre, Renante Gamara, and Ferdinand Castillo.

ATC Resolution No. 21 said the NDFP is an integral part of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. The ATC resolution added that the NDFP continues to recruit people to join the communist movement.

The ATC further noted that the NDFP recently named Julieta De Lima, wife of CPP founding chair Jose Maria Sison, as the interim chair of its negotiating panel.

An earlier ATC resolution tagged De Lima and Sison as terrorists.

“It is completely mendacious and malicious of the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) to malign the NDFP as a ‘terrorist’ organization,” the group said.

The ATC resolution, the NDFP said, attempts “to prejudice and preempt” the petitions questioning the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Law filed at the Supreme Court.

The NDFP is the political arm of the CPP. It was involved in on-and-off peace negotiations with the government since 1987. Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao

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