Show evidence on EU funding of Reds, gov’t asked

MANILA, Philippines — The European Union has asked the Duterte administration to present evidence proving that some groups that receive funds from EU states have ties to the communist rebellion, a military official said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deputy chief of staff for civil military operations, said EU funding for some groups has been placed on hold after the regional bloc was informed about their supposed ties with the rebels.

“They are auditing the funds they have released. They have put on hold those they have not released because they have been programmed already,” Parlade said, referring to EU officials, at a press briefing in Malacañang.

“The ball is now with us. We have to submit to them the documentation they are seeking,” he added.

Parlade is a member of the Philippine delegation to the 117th Session of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and the High-Level Segment of the 40th Human Rights Council. During the forum, Philippine officials responded to leftist groups’ claims about human rights abuses in the Philippines.

Parlade said EU’s ambassador had admitted that the regional bloc was supposed to release about two million euros to the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, a group that officials have accused of being a legal front of communist rebels.

He claimed that Belgium has also provided 15 million euros to seven Philippine non-government organizations (NGOs) for five years.

“We are not saying that all these NGOs are being exploited by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). We are studying what organizations are benefiting from these funds. But (those are) only two entities, the EU and the Belgian government,” he said.

Parlade said there are documents signed by CPP founder Jose Maria Sison enumerating IBON Foundation, Karapatan and Kilusang Mayo Uno as front organizations.

Countering allegations of groups aligned with communists remains a challenge, according to presidential human rights committee undersecretary Severo Catura.

“The modern human rights narrative is really a result of the influence of many front organizations masquerading as NGOs and human rights defenders,” Catura said.

“We need to fix the human rights narrative... We hope to address the negative information coming from other groups that are very critical of this administration,” he added.

Parlade said only the Duterte administration was serious in addressing communist insurgency.

“During the time of PNoy (former president Benigno Aquino III), if you remember, you will be relieved if you are not toeing the line. So let’s be frank – it’s only in this administration that we saw a serious effort to end insurgency,” he said.

Parlade said the previous administration had freed some arrested communists, affecting the drive of the military.

“Every time there is peace talks, someone is released. So really, it’s only now that the AFP felt this issue on insurgency is being seriously addressed,” he added.

More evidence

The AFP is expected to grant EU’s request.

Col. Noel Detoyato, AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief, said that on top of already existing pieces of evidence, the military is continuously gathering more to prove that EU funds for left-wing organizations are being diverted to the NPA.

Detoyato bared that the military has documents showing the paper trail of these EU fund donations to several left-wing NGOs that have been diverted to advance the rebel cause.

“Yes, they are receiving funds by deceiving (foreign donors) and diverting the money to further their terroristic activities with the ultimate aim of toppling down the government and changing our way of life,” he said.

The EU, according to Detoyato, gave 621,000 euros for the first tranche to the groups and another 1.3 million euros more are expected to come.

PNP welcomes EU request

The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday welcomed the EU’s request for the government to provide more evidence linking some NGOs to communist rebels.

“This development provides energy to spur the final push against the 50-year-old communist insurgency over the cliff by denying the underground movement of foreign support to sustain its terrorist activities in the countryside,” PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Bernard Banac said in a statement.

Banac said the positive development provides a window to address the decades-old communist insurgency.

Meanwhile, at the same press briefing, members of the delegation insisted that their trip to Europe was not a junket but could not say how much was spent for it.

“Let us just look at it this way: you spent, say P1 million or P2 million in the process, but you are able to prevent the funding worth P2 billion or P1 billion to organizations radicalizing children. I hope critics consider that,” Parlade said. – With Jaime Laude, Emmanuel Tupas