DILG receives reports of Reds' alleged plan to disrupt Marcos inauguration
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) received reports of an alleged plan of the communist group to disrupt the inauguration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on June 30.
“We are taking these intelligence reports seriously and we will do what is necessary to thwart any attempt to embarrass or discredit the forthcoming inauguration," Undersecretary and NTF ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said.
Malaya made this statement following the revelation made by former cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) that the communist terrorist group is planning to muddle or disrupt the oath-taking ceremony of Marcos.
Malaya said the DILG will not allow any plot by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its allied and front organizations to embarrass or discredit the incoming administration.
Malaya said government security agencies have finalized all security preparations, including mobilization of around 6,200 police officers around the National Museum in the coming days.
He said the leftist organizers have been organizing in Tarlac, Cavite, Pampanga, Laguna in the past weeks to mobilize people.
“They are even misleading the youth to join them in their protest actions,” he said.
He also noted that the PNP will have additional mobile forces on standby.
“We respect the people’s rights to free expression, peaceably assemble, and the exercise of their democratic rights but this has to be done within the bounds of the law. Therefore, we advise all protesters to hold their peaceful demonstrations in Manila’s designated freedom parks such as Plaza Miranda, Plaza Dilao, Plaza Moriones, and Liwasang Bonifacio. There are so many to choose from,” he added.
According to the DILG, during the press briefing of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) on Monday, former rebels Orlando Baluyot, now chairman of Tinang Samahang Nayon Multi-Purpose Cooperative, and Ka Pong Sibayan, a farmer from Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion said the radical left has started organizing farmers in their province for this purpose.
The former rebels said aside from Hacienda Tinang, officials and members of CPP-NPA-NDF front organizations have also been meeting with farmers from nearby Hacienda Murcia and Barangay Central inside Hacienda Luisita.
Malaya also recalled the warning made earlier by incoming Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile about a plot to embarrass the incoming administration.
“I just picked up what I consider to be credible information that there are groups in America and in the Philippines planning and preparing to cause serious embarrassment and trouble for our newly-elected President,” Enrile said in a Facebook post.
“Caution is the name of the game. You are just starting you[r] travel in troubled waters. Your adversaries have not stopped. To borrow a phrase from someone, right now ‘they are hiding their brightness and biding their time,’” he added.
Enrile also suggested the security officials of the next administration intensify gathering of intelligence information.
“I have humble unsolicited advice for the national security officials of the new regime. Instead of making soft and pacific statements seemingly intended to quiet and to gain the cooperation, trust, and confidence of the habitual trouble makers in this country, I suggest that they should sharpen their intelligence information,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS
