MINDLESS 'INTEL'
Group slams communist tag

By Erly C. Garcia

Officers and members of the Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI) assailed Col. Oscar Lasangue, chief of the Community Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the region, for linking the organization with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

In a statement released to the media last Friday PRDCI executive director Andres Tionko, Jr. demanded that Lasangue “should take back his accusation that we are a rebel front.”

He said, “the irresponsible statement of Col. Lasangue is causing anxiety to some members of the staff. It could damage the credibility of PRDCI with its partners and pose a threat to the security and well-being of our field personnel.”

Tionko explained that PRDCI is an organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and recognized and accredited by the local governments of the eight municipalities in central Iloilo where it operates and extends support services.

PRDCI's activities involve organizing people's groups and networking with local governments towards sustainable agriculture and rehabilitation of the Magapa-Suague River .

Among its interventions are organic farming, institutional building and gender mainstreaming. Partner municipalities are Janiuay, Maasin, Badiangan, New Lucena, Mina, Pototan, Barotac Nuevo and Dumangas.

OVERREACTION

Last March 28 the Mina police prevented the PRDCI from holding a seminar in Brgy. Dala, Mina, Iloilo citing the group's failure to secure a permit with the municipal mayor.

Later, Army spokesman Col. Lasangue disclosed that intelligence reports show that PRDCI along with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan has links with the CPP-NPA.

Tionko said their group was supposed to hold the annual Productivity Systems Enhancement Conference March 29-30, 2005 at a training center in barangay Dala, Mina.

The training center is operated by the Dala Small Farmers and Farmworkers Association (DASFFA) who was the host of the activity.

It was learned that the police was on full alert that time in connection with the anniversary of the CPP-NPA the next day.

Tionko said the police simply overreacted. He said the people in Mina know PRDCI and its projects well. He added, the organization operates in 10 of the town's 22 barangays.

Tionko also cited that PRDCI conducted a medical mission in Badiangan last year with the Philippine Army's Task Force Panay as partner.

WRONG INTEL REPORT

Earlier, service vehicles of two local officials were tagged by police intelligence as carriers of suicide bombers deployed by the Jemaah Islamiyah.

Intelligence information received by the police identified the Isuzu Crosswind bearing plate number XGX 518 and a maroon pick up with plate number JMZ 111 as the vehicles that supposedly carry suicide bombers.

It turned out however that the said vehicles belong to City Councilor Marietta Orleans and Calinog Mayor Alex Centena, respectively.

Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 regional director Chief Supt. Doroteo Reyes II in a previous interview said the mistake was only normal. What was important, he said, was that they have preempted any eventualities related to the earlier warning by terrorist groups that they would employ bombing activities during the Holy Week.

“Anyway our men did not violate any human rights when they checked on the vehicles named in the intelligence report,” Reyes said.

As to the military's haste in giving PRDCI the “red tag”, Tionko said: “The shabby handling of the issue speaks mountains of the intelligence capacity of the AFP and its Civil Relations Services unit. It's either Col. Lasangue and his intelligence sources are not intelligent at all or they are hatching a sinister plot against PRDCI.”