PAMALAKAYA slams Andanar for peddling fake news, red-tagging on Negros mass arrests
Manila, Philippines — Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary and Communications Chief of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Martin Andanar has earned the ire of the progressive fishers group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) on Saturday, over his statement that the raid of progressive organizations’ offices and mass arrest of more than 50 activists in Bacolod City on the night of October 31, were legitimate.
In a statement, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson Fernando Hicap said that Andanar’s position as mouth-piece of the fascist body speaks for itself and reeks of psychological warfare and mass deception operations.
“His job is to peddle lies in defense of the fascist forces who trample people’s basic rights and due process. He is utilizing all government resources and machinery to deceive the people, away from the truth being exposed by activists in Negros,” Hicap said.
He exposed himself as a legal dunce when he publicized the alleged confiscated items as evidence such as “Kilusang Mayo Uno flags, megaphones, microphones.”
“Andanar, as feathered with the fascist operatives, with the illusionary aim of red-tagging legal organizations, has actually weakened their case, as the firearms they planted do not go hand in hand with equipments used during rallies,” Hicap said.
Among arrested were leaders of people’s organizations belong to the National Federation of Sugar Workers, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Kilusang Mayo Uno, and others, who usually hold legal and peaceful rallies demanding genuine agrarian reform, wage hikes and other reforms, likewise criticizing anti-people programs and policies.
He also slammed the fascist mouthpiece for red-tagging and baseless accusation when he said that “these communist terrorist organizations have employed by masking themselves as ‘progressive groups.’”
“This taxpayers-paid bureaucrat is babbling claptrap which has no legal basis but exclusive propaganda of fascists in the government. This incident will be a black-eye for the Duterte regime as it only exposed itself as intolerant of criticism, an absolutist and averse to human rights,” he said.
PAMALAKAYA reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested activists and urged democratic sectors to join the call for a stop of the de facto martial law rule in Negros. ###
