By SHERWIN DE VERA
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) blamed the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for relentless attacks against Anakpawis 4th Nominee Isabelo Adviento and other peasant leaders in Cagayan Valley.

In a statement, KMP Chair Danilo Ramos said the continuing persecution of Adviento and other peasant leaders in Cagayan Valley stems from NTF-ELCAC persecution of activists as part of the government’s counter-insurgency campaign.

Ramos said Adviento’s “invaluable work and advocacy for the interest of peasants made him a target of state-sponsored attacks and vilification.

Adviento has been subjected to repeated red-tagging online and on tarpaulins displayed in the different towns in the region. The posts and posters accuse him of terrorism and recruiting for the New People’s Army (NPA). Danggayan is the regional chapter of KMP.

The latest incident happened in the first week of November. Danggayan members reported posters hanging along the highways of Alcala and Baggao towns in Cagayan with his face and the text – “Alert! Anakpawis 4th Nominee, Wanted sa Cagayan. NPA Recruiter, Extortionist, Terrorist and More!”

“For several years now, Adviento has been subjected to non-stop intimidation by state forces. The harassment against him and other Cagayan Valley-based activists and peasant leaders intensified under the Duterte administration,” said Ramos.

Adviento’s home was among the houses raided in Barangay Carrupian, Baggao in Cagayan just past midnight of December 2 last year. Anakpawis said the police entered and searched the place without a warrant. They also accused the raiding team of planting guns and explosives.

He was out leading relief efforts for affected farming communities by Typhoon Ulysses when the incident happened. He now faces charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
KMP also urged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate the relentless harassment of Adviento.

In an earlier statement, Adviento also appealed to the CHR and Justice Department to “investigate and junk the trumped-up charges filed against innocent farmers.” including his case. “We also ask the help of the CHR, church institutions, and local officials to assist those who are being persecuted,” he said.
Helping is not a crime

In his statement posted on Danggyan’s Facebook page addressed to leaders and members of Anakpawis in the region, Adviento denied all allegations against him on social media and printed tarpaulins displayed in different towns in the region.

“I am not a terrorist because terrorists hurt, kill, oppress, threaten, steal from people, and are criminals. I have not done these things or broke the law,” he wrote in Tagalog.

He also denied being an NPA, saying the tarpaulins bearing his face and holding a gun were manipulated images. The Danggayan leader said all he did was help farmers campaign to lower the interest, demand production assistance during calamities, and call for higher farm gate prices for their products.

“Are these the work of a terrorist? Are these things against the law? Is my work a sin against the government?” he added.

Persecution of farmers

Other leaders of Danggayan, its provincial formations, and affiliates have also become the subjects of red-tagging, trumped-up charges, and arrest.

The latest incident involving peasant rights advocates is the arrest of Cristina Magistrado, a former organizer of Amihan-Cagayan. Police arrested her in their home in Binangonan, Rizal, on October 17 by a warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 1 in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. She is facing charges of qualified assault upon an agent of a person in authority with attempted murder.”

On March 25 this year, the police also raided the house of red-tagged Anakpawis Cagayan chair Calixto Cabildo at 2:00 am. The officers claimed they found a .38 caliber pistol and a grenade in one of the rooms in his house while implementing the search warrant issued by Judge Salvador Campo of the Amulung 5th Municipal Circuit Trial Court.

Joint police and military personnel arrested Virgilio Dela Cruz, Jerry Ramos, and Herminio Ramos in Brgy. Villaflor, Cauayan City, Isabela on January 23. The three were detained after the police yielded guns, grenades, and other explosive paraphernalia in the house they were staying in. The 5th Infantry Division claimed that Ramos is an active NPA member, while his two companions are supporters. Danggyan said the three were ordinary farmers.

Amanda Echanis, who was then nursing her one-month-old child, was arrested in a separate house during the raid in Adviento’s place in December 2020. The police allegedly discovered guns and explosives inside the house. They also accused her of being a member of the NPA. She is currently detained at the Cagayan Provincial Jail.

Danggayan Regional Council Member Reynaldo Gameng was also implicated in the murder of a Lumad activist in Kapalong, Davao del norte in March 2018. Following their appeal, the Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Tagum City recalled the warrant and ordered the reinvestigation of the case. The Prosecutor’s Office recommended dropping Gameng, and four other activists from the case for lack of probable cause, resulting in the court’s dismissal of the charges on July 12, 2021.

Meanwhile, Reynaldo’s brother, Renato, received unwanted visits from individuals introducing themselves as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

“They have visited me several times, asking me to surrender, to clear my name , claiming that I am on their list [of rebel recruiters] based on the intelligence of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the 5th [Infantry Division],” he said in Ilocano in an interview.

He did not heed the demand, saying, “there is nothing wrong about fighting for land rights and calling for genuine agrarian reform.”

Legal case against perpetrators

Anakpawis national president and former representative Ariel Casilao said they are set to launch the “Hand off Isabelo Adviento, Hands off Cagayan Valley Activists Network” on Nov. 15, with KMP, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Taripnong Cagayan Valley and peasant rights advocates in the National Capital Region.

“The campaign aims to highlight the harassment of Adviento, persecution of other Cagayan Valley activists, and the plight of peasants in the region. The network will also assist in the filing of the appropriate cases against the military, police and other officials perpetrating these attacks,” he said.

He said the case before the CHR is just a follow-up, an aggregation of previous complaints filed in the regional office and recent cases that they are forwarding to the national office.

“At this stage, we are assisting them in collating all the evidence, especially the red-tagging posts against Adviento and Anakpawis that were traced to municipal and provincial police offices. We will also file administrative charges before the Ombudsman for practicing partisan politics,” Casilao added.

The former solon said the law prohibits the police and military from practicing partisan politics. “In our discussion with our lawyers, the branding of Anakpawis as a communist-terrorist front organization and red-tagging of our leaders and members [by the police and military] falls under partisan politics. It is not yet electioneering since the campaign has not yet started,” he added.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution bars government employees, including military members, from directly or indirectly engaging in partisan political activities except voting. In 2016, the Civil Service Commission and Commission on Elections also issued a joint circular to remind those in government service of their duty to uphold the said Constitutional provision. # nordis.net