By ALDWIN QUITASOL
Northern Dispatch
(Bulatlat.com)
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) ? The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police(PNP and government officials are spreading misinformation that missing activist James Balao is alive and hiding in camps of the New People’s Army (NPA), said the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) in an email.
CPDF spokesperson Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan Sr. said the same individuals behind the misinformation drive are smearing the campaign to surface Balao as “just a ploy to gain public sympathy and raise funds.”
Such intrigues are part of a psywar program designed to derail and frustrate the growing mass campaign to surface Balao, said Naogsan.
Balao, a founding member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), was forcibly taken by alleged military agents on Sept.r 17, 2008. Since then, the CPA, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), the Balao family, supporters and friends, have held protest actions and campaigns to demand the surfacing of James.
Naogsan said the lies being spread by state officials and their civilian colleagues are timed to disrupt foreseen activities commemorating the one-year enforced disappearance of Balao.
“What is next? A concocted firefight in some alleged rebel mountain lair where the military or police will “capture” Balao, or worse, present his body as one of several casualties? The military will stop at nothing to hide their embarrassing atrocities.”
In the case of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, two UP students abducted while working on their theses in Bulacan, one of the girls had later been brought to the house of a relative with a group of military personnel dressed as NPA guerillas to give the impression that the abducted students had joined the NPA, said Naogsan.
“Melissa Roxas, a Filipino-American volunteer health worker, was abducted and tortured by military personnel who later spread a video of a look-alike filmed in an alleged NPA camp.”
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration has the worst record in violating human rights, said Naogsan. “It even exceeded that of the Marcos dictatorship.” He said the Arroyo administration also has the worst record for honesty. “Arroyo has lied, cheated, stolen and corrupted to gain and remain in power.”
“We call on the public to come forward with any information that may shed light on the whereabouts of James M. Balao. Justice must be served to those responsible for his abduction and enforced disappearance, as well as to those who knowingly participated in the disinformation campaign meant to derail efforts to surface him.”
The CPDF reiterated its call for Fetad – a mass mobilization for a people’s war against tyranny. (Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat)
