THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) yesterday asked the House of Representatives to investigate Kabataan party list Rep. Raoul Manuel for alleged disinformation about a recent military operation against members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Rodriguez, Rizal.
In a statement, the NTF-ELCAC’s Legal Cooperation Cluster (LCC) said engaged described as “blatant lies” the statements spread by Manuel in his social media account on Friday last week.
“Impending bombing near Metro Mania? It has come to our attention that the Philippine Army forcibly displaced families in Montalban (Rodriguez), Rizal in order to prepare for aerial bombardment of civilian communities,” Manuel said in his post, citing information from the Defend Southern Tagalog Network.
Manuel likewise said the Army’s 80th Infantry Battalion (IB) threatened residents with aerial bombings if they refuse to leave their homes.
Soldiers from the 80th and 70th IB clashed with NPA rebels in Barangay San Rafael in Rodriguez last April 1, leading to the death of an Army soldier and wounding of two others.
“These threats came after the clashes of the Philippine Army with armed rebels,” said Manuel, adding 80 families were forced to evacuate.
He alleged the evacuees were suffering from hunger. He said the evacuees were appealing to be allowed to return to their homes but were prevented by the military.
But the LCC said: “The foregoing are blatant lies that an incumbent member of the House of Representatives spewed, knowing the same to be false.”
It stressed that no soldier “would ever violate their rules on engagement, or plan or threaten to conduct an aerial bombardment or artillery shelling on civilian communities.”
It also quoted a statement of Rodriguez Mayor Ronnie Evangelista, who has “confirmed that there is no scintilla of truth in Raoul Manuel’s and Kabataan party-list’s statement.”
While acknowledging that members of Congress have constitutional privileges, LCC said it “respectfully enjoins” the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges “to promptly initiate an investigation on its member’s malicious and false imputation, threat, and spreading of false news.”
LCC said the information spread by Manuel “endangers public order, erodes the public’s confidence towards our hardworking state security forces, and undermines or causes damage to the interest or credit of the State, particularly the AFP and of the House of Representatives.”
“The LCC further vows to, pursuant to its mandate and within the bounds of law, pursue all legal measures to ensure that justice is served, that the CTGs (communist terrorist groups) and their sympathizers are expelled from the halls of Congress, and that the victims of these terrorist groups are adequately compensated,” the LCC said.
‘NOT INTIMIDATED’
Kabataan party-list stood by its statement, saying it is “not intimidated by the threats of the morally and ethically bereft NTF-ELCAC.”
“This latest attempt of the notorious task force to discredit the sole youth party-list is its cry of desperation after it has remained unsuccessful in preventing critical and progressive leaders from being elected as lawmakers,” Manuel said in a statement.
Manuel said the NTF-ELCAC has no moral ascendancy to dismiss Kabataan’s statements “when it is the notorious task force that has been documented several times to propagate false content and fake news in its rabid drive to intimidate dissenters and cover up the situation of oppressed sectors in urban and rural areas — the victims of state terrorism, primarily through its police and military forces.”
He said that based on reports from people in Rizal and local rights watch networks, Kabataan sounded the alarm over the aerial bombing threats in civilian communities, narrated the condition of families who were forcefully evacuated, and called for investigation on such grave concerns.
“The situation at hand is an urgent matter of concern and safety; thus, it is only rightful for us to post about it for public awareness and government intervention,” Manuel said.
The group said the community-rooted leadership of Kabataan party-list “is far from the tyrannical schemes of NTF-ELCAC, which has not been exercising diligence, common sense and sympathy in understanding the welfare of the people especially in marginalized communities and in ascertaining facts which should be basic practice for all government personnel and instrumentalities.”
“It is not baseless to be on alert regarding attacks on civilian communities. In fact, in recent years, our office has received multiple reports of aerial bombings and indiscriminate firing across various regions of the country, forced evacuation and loss of livelihood of affected families, and militarist terror operations both in urban areas and the countryside,” Kabataan said. — With Wendell Vigilia
