BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The Anti-Terrorism Council’s designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines as a terrorist group is also directed at the legal political opposition, CPP Central Committee information officer Marco Valbuena claimed yesterday.
He said the terrorist tag goes beyond the CPP, indicating that other groups and individuals can take the necessary steps, both legal and political, as part of the defense of their legal rights.
Valbuena said they are being persecuted “because of their patriotic and democratic cause and because they have relentlessly criticized and opposed Duterte’s fascism, corruption and oppression against the people.”
He cited the threat of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that the designation will have implications on individuals and organizations, mostly victims of government’s red-tagging and indicted without court procedure, as “legal fronts” of the CPP.
Valbuena said the freezing of bank accounts will not have implications on the CPP because the party does not maintain bank accounts.
He said the freezing of bank accounts will be directed to “various organizations that have been accused of funneling funds to the NPA (New People’s Army) including party-list organizations, other political parties, religious and human rights organizations, unions, service-oriented nongovernment organizations, community schools and others.”