An official of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict has appealed to the Supreme Court to probe the judges who had been dismissing the cases filed against communist terrorists.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. said this was better than looking into the actions of a Quezon City judge who issued search warrants for the offices and homes of activists in Bacolod and Escalante.
Parlade made the statement in response to Bayan Muna’s call to review the action of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert who issued seven warrants to allow the police to search the offices of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Anakpawis, Gabriela, the National Federation of Sugar Workers and the house of Kadamay members in Manila last week.
“These communist front groups have been harassing and threatening not only the judges of the courts but also fiscals and state prosecutors in the past,” Parlade said in a statement.
“These Kamatayan [Makabayan] bloc use their armed goons, the NPA [New People’s Army], to threaten the families of fiscals and judges with death if only to force them to decide in favor of arrested CTGs
[communist terrorist groups]. This is why they are called terrorists for terrorizing people who stand in their way.”
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police on Monday challenged the communist-front organizations to prove in court that the pieces of evidence found during last week’s raid in their offices in Bacolod City were planted.
“Legitimacy is a status which they can prove during the trial if ever this will be pursued in the courts. The planting of evidence, stolen items are the usual allegations when we conduct search warrants. That’s why the law provides you should bring media members, local government units who will witness the service of the search warrant,” PNP officer-in-charge, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa told reporters in Camp Crame.
During the search, operatives seized 32 assorted firearms, three hand grenades, two 40mm grenade launchers, assorted live ammunition, subversive documents and paraphernalia.
Parlade said the bullying and intimidation tactics of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was now a thing of the past as the government was using “the rule of law to neutralize their tactics.
“That bullying strategy is over. The rule of law is here to catch up with you. So Bayan Muna should start respecting the decisions of the magistrate. Their bullying will not work this time when people already understand their duplicitous and deceptive nature,” said Parlade, who is also Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations.