A lawmaker on Thursday denied the claim made by President Rodrigo Duterte that some militant party-list groups are channeling their funds to the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said that never in the history of the Makabayan bloc, or the alliance of left-leaning party-list organization in Congress, have they given money to the NPA.
Zarate described the said act as “red-baiting” and cautioned the President against being “misled by military propaganda.”
“Red baiting has been done by the past administrations resulting to thousands of extrajudicial killings and harassments of activists.”
“We hope that President Duterte would not be misled by military propaganda against progressive party-list groups,” Zarate said in a statement.
The lawmaker said that the Makabayan bloc’s service to the marginalized “would speak for themselves.”
In a speech before the 1st Infantry Division in Labangan in Zamboanga del Sur, Duterte said that some of the money received by some party-list groups are being funneled to the NPA.
“Katong usa, ilang representation sa ilang mga guards, security guards, anak ug dakong–binuang na. Dayon gamitun sa NPA ang kwarta nila, asa man muadto? Eh di didto sa ilang grupo. Mamalit ug armas, tabang ngadto sa ilang mga kaalyado. Mao na diha (A party-list of security guards is being represented by a child of a big one–that’s a joke. Then, the NPA will use its funds, where will the money go? It will go to their group. They will buy arms fo their allies. That’s how it is),” Duterte said on Wednesday.
The President also reiterated his desire to abolish the party-list system. CDG/rgaz
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