Consumers Domain
By Ian Seruelo

An irresponsible military officer

 “Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.”

—Groucho Marx

 For sure, by now you have come across this recent event involving an AFP officer and the Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI). The military officer is in the person of Col. Oscar Lasangue who a few days ago branded the PRDCI, a legitimate developmental non-government organization (NGO) serving several POs (people's organizations), as a front organization of the CPP-NPA.

PRDCI is a member of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) network among its varied involvement here in Iloilo and the region. Its leaders and organizers are known in the NGO and PO community. The institution has been active in pursuing projects jointly with local government units and has in fact implemented outreach activities with some units of the military.

In the NGO-PO circle, we are amazed and at the same time amused by the apparent non-sense move of Lasangue. As of this writing Lasangue refused to retract his reckless statement and asserts that he is standing by his “intelligence” report. Tsk.. tsk.. Is “intelligence” now becoming to be scarce among our military officers? (Damo pa kamo da?)

Now, this column would like to give way to the press statement below of the FDC regarding the issue.

PRDCI is a victim of malicious propaganda

and moronic intelligence work

The Freedom form Debt Coalition (FDC) condemns in the strongest terms the malicious acts of Col. Oscar Lasangue, chief of the Community Relations Service of the AFP in linking the Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI) to the Communist Party of the Philippines – New Peoples' Army (CPP-NPA).

Clearly, Lasangue has an agenda loaded with ulterior motives in his current irresponsible action. Whatever his motives are, we do not know but what is clear is that this reckless officer has done a great disservice to the NGO (non-government organization) and PO (people's organization) community in the whole of the region.

A simple check of the background of PRDCI and its links and networks will dispel the hallucinations of Lasangue who is supposed to be a sane and rationale officer.

PRDCI is a an active member of FDC – Iloilo Chapter and its partner NGOs based in Metro Manila are also members of FDC, a nation-wide advocacy-research-campaigns coalition. Both PRDCI and FDC are also active members of the Iloilo Coalition of NGOs and POs (ICON), a province-wide coalition of civil society organizations, recognized even by local government units and the media, as groups involved in a wide spectrum of legitimate developmental work.

Again, an elementary check on the activities of all the mentioned coalitions will dismiss whatever dark theories Lasangue has. A simple analysis of all the other networks and linkages of ICON, FDC and PRDCI will not lend an iota of credence to the moronic intelligence work of Lasangue!

Now that Lasangue has engaged in such reckless accusations, we fear what this officer and the AFP will do next. Will this be a precedent that any organization or entity engaged in developmental work or advocacies for changes in government policies be branded as members or fronts of CPP-NPA at the whims of an immature military officer?

Will this be an initial step and a virtual license to monitor and harass NGO and PO leaders and organizers who are connected to Lasangue's own list of CPP-NPA front organizations?

Will this careless branding be used for other covert military and intelligence activities that will lead to the violation of the basic human rights of people engaged in NGO and PO work?

This sheer ridiculousness of Lasangue may seem a small issue but what we fear most is the effect of such to the communities where PRDCI and our groups operate. PRDCI and many other NGOs and POs are performing tasks mostly where the government miserably failed such as the protection of the environment, promotion of sustainable agriculture, gender mainstreaming, defending human rights, advancing alternative views on world trade and progressive developmental policies, providing education and services and many others.

In destroying the credibility of PRDCI and the NGO-PO network as a whole in these communities, we don't know what Lasangue wants to achieve. If Lasangue thinks that his malicious propaganda work is part of “community relations” as the name of his department (Community Relations Service) connotes then we do not know how the AFP defines the phrase. Will Col. Oscar Lansague be willing and capable to shoulder the tasks of PRDCI that has for so many years contributed to the upliftment of different marginalized communities and promoted the protection of the environment?

FDC demand nothing less from Col. Oscar Lasangue than a sincere retraction of his irresponsible statements and a public apology to PRDCI and the NGO-PO community as a whole. Further we demand that Lasangue and all those under the Community Relations Service department of the AFP undergo a re-education of their roles and responsibilities.

(For comments and suggestions please email ianseruelo@yahoo.com or send text message to 0919-3486337.)