DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 4, 2011) – Communist rebels accused a Filipino mayor of condoning the culture of impunity in the military and police and branded as “stupid” the politician’s call for the unconditional surrender of senior guerilla leaders blamed by authorities for the spate of attacks on government targets.
Rigoberto Sanchez, a spokesman for the New People’s Army, said Sara Duterte-Carpio, the mayor of Davao City, is acting as a conscious spokesperson and defender of the military and police.
Carpio has recently called for the surrender of rebel leaders Leonardo Pitao, who goes by the nom de guerre “Ka Parago” and another commander whose alias is “Ka Oda” and for the rebels to lay down their arms.
“By acting as a conscious spokesperson and defender of the fascist AFP, Sara Duterte has de facto condoned the culture of impunity in the AFP, PNP and their paramilitary groups and intelligence units.”
“These troops which Sara Duterte so wants to protect and prop up as harbingers of peace and order and progress, are implementing the Oplan Bayanihan, which rehashed the previous regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya in attacking communities and deploying thousands of troops deemed to be under the sway or supportive of the revolutionary movement,” Sanchez said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
He said power has gone to the head of Carpio, who condemned last month’s ambush by rebels of an army patrol in Paquibato district.
“Sara Duterte has made a sweeping call not even made by her father, longtime Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has not dared to disparage Ka Parago and the NPA in such a way in the former mayor’s more than two decades at the helm of the reactionary Davao City politics.”
“While her father has, in some ways, cooperated and recognized the cause of the revolutionary struggle, Sara Duterte has been consistently and obstinately, profuse in praises for the AFP while rabid and full of counterrevolutionary fervor towards the NPA and the revolutionary movement,” Sanchez said.
Carpio’s father is now the vice mayor of Davao City.
Sanchez also branded Carpio’s pronouncement against the NPA, which is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country, as malicious. “Her pronouncements against the NPA and the revolutionary movement have been consistent throughout this year – malicious and a thorough disservice to the people of Davao City,” he said, adding Carpio’s stance has bordered on being counterrevolutionary or reactionary.
He said just early this year, Carpio cancelled a humanitarian mission in Paquibato district, a known rebel stronghold, after intelligence reports said the NPA is targeting her for assassination.
She also branded as banditry the capture of Lingig town Mayor Henry Dano and four jail officials by the NPA this year and scoffed calls by human rights advocates and civil groups for the release of all political detainees, saying, they face criminal charges, according to Sanchez.
Sanchez criticized Carpio’s approval of an army detachment near a government school in the village of Paradise Embac in Paquibato despite mounting opposition by various groups.
“Before shooting her mouth, Sara Duterte should listen to the people, investigate the onslaught of abuses by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Davao City and study even the basic rudiments of our country’s history and the civil war. As things point to right now, she has already rendered herself as a noisy, but shallow reactionary, a friend to the people’s enemy, and, who knows, an enemy in the making,” Sanchez said.
There was no immediate statement from the politician about the accusations. (Mindanao Examiner)
20