With the recent raids on offices of leftist groups in Bacolod City and Metro Manila and the arrest of several militant activists, the Duterte administration continued its crackdown on dissent and assault on democracy that began when critics started opposing his programs, especially his deadly war on drugs.
At least 60 activists were arrested and jailed following the raids on offices of militant groups Bayan Muna, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Gabriela and the National Federation of Sugar Workers in Bacolod City and Tondo, Manila. The raids were conducted on the basis of search warrants issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert, who was seen talking with Metro Manila PNP Director Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas hours before the raids in Bacolod City.
In that raid, 57 activists were arrested for allegedly participating in a firearms and explosives training when several guns and bomb devices were alleged seized during the raid. The groups claimed that the weapons and explosives were planted by operatives who participated in the raid.
A similar search warrant issued by Villavert was used to raid earlier Bayan’s office in Tondo where three activists were arrested also for alleged possession of guns and explosives.
Militant groups fear that several other search warrants issued by Villavert on Oct. 30 would be used to conduct raids on other offices of these left-leaning organizations, whom the military and President Rodrigo Duterte himself have tagged as communist fronts. Was probable cause established in issuing the warrants, except for unfounded claims that these organizations are being used as recruiting and training grounds by the Communist Party of the Philippines?
The military justified the raids when it claimed that firearms and explosives were found in these offices, and to claims that they were planted, a military spokesman ironically invoked a legal maxim that says ‘He who makes the assertions has the burden of proving his claim.’ Now, the military is shifting the burden of proof to the accused, instead of them proving that the accused militants are out to overthrow the government, as they claim.
Their only basis for arresting the activists were the guns and explosives allegedly seized during the raid, which will not pass the standard of “beyond reasonable doubt” because of claims that they were planted.
This latest crackdown on the militant left, which has been very vocal in opposing President Duterte’s deadly drug war and anti-poor programs, among other things, sends another chilling message to the administration’s critics and dissenters that it was willing to use strong arm tactics to crush legitimate dissent.
“Given the series of complaints of harassment by individuals and organizations that are vocal critics of the administration, we hope that the simultaneous raids are not intended to silence or curtail legitimate dissent and purport it as attempts to destabilize the government,” the Commission on Human Rights said in a statement.
It was not the first attempt of the Duterte administration to silence his critics and curtail legitimate dissent. The very first and foremost victim, of course, is Senator Leila de Lima, who has been in jail for more than two years on obviously trumped-up drug charges that were filed on the basis of alleged testimonies by convicted drug lords. Another high-profile victim is former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who faced impeachment proceedings in the Duterte-controlled House of Representatives and eventually removed from office by her subordinates in the Duterte-influenced Supreme Court on a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
After the administration was stopped by the court to arrest and detain harsh critic former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, it turned to investigating supply deals made by the latter’s ailing 84-year-old mother with the Philippine Navy, prejudging them as “a clear case of conflict of interest.”
Duterte also threatened to block renewal of the franchise to operate network giant ABS-CBN, stop the operations of Rappler online new service, and actually applied business pressures on the Philippine Daily Inquirer. All three media outlets gained Duterte’s ire because of their critical reporting on his administration.
The House, under defeated Duterte vice presidential running mate Speaker Alan Cayetano, is now putting ABS-CBN in a tight gauntlet to renew its franchise. Rappler and its head, Maria Ressa, on the other hand, are facing numerous charges filed by the government, while the Inquirer owners had to give up its lease on a government property in Makati.
Duterte has also placed a Damocles sword over the heads of the political opposition Liberal Party after claiming that the Liberals, whom Duterte’s avid allies call “Yellows” or “Dilawans,” were conspiring with the Communist Party of the Philippines to overthrow the government.
In December last year, Davao policemen arrested former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, along with 12 teachers, 4 pastors, 29 students and a community learning center administrator for transporting 12 lumad students from their school to Compostela Valley.
Just like the drug charges against De Lima, those filed against Ocampo and the others were obviously trumped-up charges meant to silence Ocampo, who writes a critical column for the Philippine Star, and Castro, who is also a Duterte critic in the House of Representatives, and to send a chilling message to progressives and other critics.
Backing the Davao police for the arrests, Duterte said: "Bayan [Muna] is a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Bakit pa tayo mag-drama? Alam natin that KMU [Kilusang Mayo Uno], ’yan Gabriela, they’re all communist fronts or being used by the communists. Alam ninyo lahat ’yan," Duterte said. Again, the President made accusations without presenting evidence or filing subversion charges, but the threat of arrest now hangs on the heads of members of these groups with the President himself making the accusations.
And it is happening now with the recent arrest of 60 activists in the Bacolod and Manila raids with many more expected to be detained based on Judge Villavert’s search warrants.
Also in December last year, Duterte revealed a plan to organize his own armed civilian group to be called “Duterte Death Squad” allegedly to counter the New Peoples Army’s Sparrow Units, which PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde acknowledged has been non-existent for at least three years now.
“They will do nothing but look for idlers who are prospective New People’s Army members and take them out,” Duterte said. Remember that this is the President, the leader of the country and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the national police, talking about giving authority to civilians to be judge and executioner at the same time.
Are the recent raids a precursor to the dreaded plan’s implementation? Or are they, as leaders of the militant groups say, a prelude to martial law?
As we said before, tyrants have only one response to criticisms. Instill fear.
Mr. Abelgas is a former editor of Manila Standard.
