Marco Valbuena | Chief Information Officer | Communist Party of the Philippines
In a press conference last April 10, officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Bukidnon shamelessly presented notorious paramilitary leader Alde “Butsoy” Salusad as a “top NPA leader” or “former NPA commander,” who supposedly had “surrendered” and “cleared” his name.
This deliberate misrepresentation by the PNP is a gross insult to the public, especially to those who suffered from the atrocities of the New Indigenous People’s Army for Reform (NIPAR), the paramilitary force trained and armed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which Salusad heads.
This is not the first time that Salusad has “surrendered.” Local journalists were quick to point out this fact. They questioned Provincial Director PCOL Jovit L. Culaway, who was forced to admit that Salusad was not an NPA member but a “fugitive criminal.”
As leader of the NIPAR, Salusad has acted and served the interests of the AFP and big corporations, especially mining companies operating in Bukidnon. This paramilitary group terrorize Lumad communities to drive them away from their communities and protect destructive mining and plantation activities.
Under the AFP’s behest and protection, Salusad is responsible for the killing of anti-mining advocates Datu Jimmy Liguyon (March 5, 2012), Abundio Mantugohon (January 11, 2012), Datu Erning Mantugohon (October 10, 2012), Mabini “Toto” Manobia and Zaldy Ambayot (October 17, 2013), and 6-month pregnant Makenet Gayoran (July 30, 2016).
It is despicable that the PNP promised to provide him with police escorts and unrestricted family visits, highlighting the impunity enjoyed by criminals who collaborate with state forces.
Granting amnesty to Salusad is a ludicrous charade, emblematic of the amnesty program’s true purpose: to shield state-sponsored criminals from accountability while perpetuating a façade of peace and reconciliation.
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The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is the revolutionary united front organization of the Filipino people fighting for national freedom and for the democratic rights of the people. The NDFP seeks to develop and coordinate all progressive classes, sectors and forces in the Filipino people’s struggle to end the rule of US imperialism and its local allies of big landlords and compradors, and attain national and social liberation.