Shades of Mindoro?
New Negros Army Chief Accused of Red-Baiting vs Bayan Muna

Barely warming his new seat as Army island commander in Negros, the commander of the 303^rd Army Brigade is being accused of red-baiting targeting Bayan Muna in particular. The party-list group reminded the colonel of his role during martial law when he was reportedly involved in several human rights cases.

By Karl G. Ombion
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-ans

BACOLOD CITY – Barely a week after beginning his stint as new Negros Island Army commander, Col. Jeffrey Sodusta is being accused by Bayan Muna (People First) of waging a crackdown against the party-list group.

The accusation was hurled in the wake of the non-resolution of complaints of atrocities committed by government forces against Bayan Muna in Oriental Mindoro, where nearly 40 of its organizers and activists have been slain.

Sodusta was accused particularly of launching a psychological warfare against Bayan Muna’s vice-president for Visayas, Siegfred Deduro, by saying that the latter was operating in a “legal front” of the underground – Bayan.

The insituation made by Sodusta, Bayan Muna in Negros said, is the start of a repression campaign against the party-list group reminiscent of the attacks mounted against the party in Mindoro and other provinces.

Sodusta made the statement in a TV interview on ABS-CBN’s morning show morning of Aug. 6. The commander of the 303^rd Army Brigade also referred to Deduro as a college classmate in Iloilo. 

Deduro, Bayan Muna said in a statement, was the party-list’s fifth nominee in the last May 2001 elections. The party-list election was topped by Bayan Muna, with three of its nominees garnering seats in Congress – Satur Ocampo, labor leader Crispin Beltran and Gabriela secretary-general Liza Maza.

“There are certain errors in Colonel Sodusta’s statement consciously intended in line with the militaty’s agenda of repression,” Bayan Muna said. “As we have pointed out, Siegfred Deduro is connected with Bayan Muna and his work taking him to various areas in the Visayas, he being the partylist group’s fifth nominee.”

Deduro is also the liaison officer of Representative Ocampo who has many projects in Negros, BM said.

Correcting Sodusta’s “malicious imputation” as regards the party-list, Bayan Muna said it is a legitimate political party that is registered with the Commission on Elections.

Sodusta, Bayan Muna, is engaged in red-baiting – the same game he played, the group said, as an Army man during martial law. BM held the colonel accountable for alleged human rights violations during the period. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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