Congress must act vs. NPA violence and greed, says ANAD

By ANAD Partylist
May 8, 2012

QUEZON CITY  –  Amidst the series of killings of civilians and government security personnel, torching of equipments, reckless and relentless detonation of Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs), unabated exploitation and manipulation of Indigenous People (Lumads) violently perpetrated by the Maoist terrorist New Peoples Army (NPA) in the different parts of the country, Congress is not doing and has not done anything to address this nagging problem faced by the country for more than 4 decades.

ANAD Rep. Jun Alcover pointed to the strafing of the civilian houses in Barangay Taylor, Las Navas, Northern Samar killing a 4-year old John Lloyd Elizalde, last April 26; and the killing of about 11 soldiers and a civilian in Brgy. Gumhang, Tinoc, Ifugao, last April 25 saying that these are the most bizarre of all the 30 violent incidents deliberately perpetrated by Maoist terrorists, while Congress was on recess from March 15 to May 6, 2012.

“Yet government has not done anything to address this serious concerns,” he said adding that even media seems not interested in reporting the NPA initiated violence in their respective outfits. Rep. Alcover was referring to the failure of media to report the death of John Lloyd resulting from the strafing of the houses in Brgy. Taylor.

Referring to the effective manipulation and use of government resources, particularly the perks and privileges of Congress, by personalities from Maoist and other communist organizations (under the partylist system of representation), “(They) are making their respective mark in the decisions and actions of government…their entry and permutations in the pedestal of power and authority already has exhibited the distortions and fallacies they could make and enforce!” the sole pro-democracy solon said as he described them as ‘stoically silent, numb, deaf, and dumb on the unrivaled violence and oppression committed by the Maoist terrorist NPAs against innocent and helpless Filipinos, in the countryside.

Rep. Alcover lamented the fact that Malacañang, particularly the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) failed, if not refused, to send to Congress, particularly the Committee on Peace, Unity, and Reconciliation, the ‘meats and bones’ of the recently signed agreement by the government with the MILF. “No one should fault us for coming out with this kind of understanding and assertions of situations and conditions because most of us here are forced to subsist on what has been reported by media,” he added.

On the issue that the House leadership seems dependent on Malacañang’s order, Rep. Alcover asked, “Do we still have to wait for signals from Malacañang before Congress acts or moves? Has Congress abrogated its duties, responsibilities, and everything that we’ve sworn before the Filipino people to the formidable powers of the Executive?”