Negros Island Region. INQUIRER FILES
BACOLOD CITY—Three members of a nongovernment organization (NGO) based in southern Negros faced charges in court after they were arrested on Jan. 2 for allegedly providing financial aid to the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Dharyl Albañez, Federico Salvilla, and Perla Pavillar—workers of Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG) Inc.—were charged with violation of Republic Act No. 10168, also known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
READ: Cebu court sets trial for 24 red-tagged NGO workers
Albañez secured his temporary liberty after posting the P200,000 bail set for each of the accused. The two others remained in police custody.
The Department of Justice, on Dec. 3, 2024, claimed the three NGO workers were involved in funding the activities of the NPA in the towns of Pulupandan and Cauayan and La Carlota City in Negros Occidental.
The Negros chapter of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), in a statement posted on Facebook on Friday, condemned the arrest of the three development workers, saying it was part of the Marcos administration’s “escalating crackdown against progressive development workers and activists who tirelessly champion the rights of marginalized communities.”
“This pivot serves as a clear demonstration of the administration’s subservience to US imperialist interests, particularly in heightening tensions with China,” it added.
PDG has a decadeslong history of advocating for agrarian reform and the rights of small farmers and fishers and has long been a target of red-tagging and harassment, Bayan said. —CARLA P. GOMEZ