NATIONAL security adviser (NSA) and former Armed Forces chief, Sec. Hermogenes Esperon chided some members of the opposition for their ‘half-baked’ condemnation of the bombing in Masbate last June 6, 2021, even as the ‘alliance’ carefully built by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has started to show cracks because of the incident.
During the virtual media forum of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Monday, June 14, 2021, Esperon said the condemnation of the incident made by Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts, Vice Pres. Leni Robredo and Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan, appeared as ‘half-baked for their refusal to also condemn the perpetrators, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
“Why condemn the act but not the ‘actors’ behind it,” Esperon asked.
Esperon raised the question since the CPP-NPA had already admitted to the bombing in a statement they released last June 8, 2021, two days after the attack.
In her statement the following day as reported by ‘Rappler,’ Robredo condemned the bombing, especially the NPA’s use of land mines, saying, “Land mines are murder. We condemn this incident without qualification.”
The vice president also noted that the use of anti-personnel mine (APM), the type of landmine the NPA used in Masbate, is banned by the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.
“Bawal ito sa ilalim ng Ottawa Treaty dahil walang lugar sa sibilisadong lipunan ang sandatang hindi namimili ng papaslangin. Hindi ito makatao. No goal or ideology can justify the use of such devices,” Rappler quoted Robredo as saying.
She however, stopped short from naming the CPP-NPA as the perpetrators.
Pangilinan, for his part, in a statement also last June 9, merely express his condolence to the Absalon family for their lost while also expressing his regret over the sudden death of Kieth, 21, one of the country’s most promising football player.
“He has brought pride and honor to his school and the country through his sports,” Panglinan, the LP president said.
But unlike Robredo and Pangilinan, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a member of ‘Akbayan,’ a left of center political party and one of the key allies of the LP and the Makabayan Bloc in Congress, directly condemned the CPP-NPA.
“Now that the CPP-NPA has taken full responsibility, a swift accounting of this appalling tragedy is now in order. The perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Hontiveros said.
In a separate statement last June 11, detained senator Leila de Lima, another LP stalwart, came out much better than the evasive statements of Robredo and Pangilinan, saying:
“I strongly condemn the NPA rebels’ action that led to the deaths of civilians Kieth Absalon and Nolven Absalon in Masbate City.
“Whether deliberate or inadvertent, armed actions that led to the death of non-combatants and civilians are a crime under our penal law and a violation of international humanitarian law.”
De Lima also added: “In the same spirit and measure that I denounce attacks on civilians by those trigger-happy in our uniformed personnel that I denounce this incident involving the communist group.”
Cracks in the CPP alliance
Aside from the incident splitting the opposition ranks, the CPP’s carefully nurtured secret alliance or “understanding” with other groups thru its front organizations such as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), now also appears shaky.
Both human rights organizations—quick to condemn any purported human rights violation by government state forces, were unequivocal in their condemnation of the CPP-NPA while demanding for the CPP to surrender the actual perpetrators.
On the other hand, the CPP’s front organizations in the youth, labor and peasant sectors have chosen to remain silent on the issue with the Anakbayan group at the Far Eastern University (FEU) where Kieth was a member of its football varsity team not issuing any statement up to now.
Similarly, 1Pacman partylist Rep. Michael ‘Mikee’ Romero, who had already twice hauled the Philippine National Police (PNP) to a congressional hearing on behalf of the Makabayan Bloc, is also eerily silent on the incident.