Youth activist leader and Kabataan Party List Representative Sarah Jane Elago calls for the resignation of Philippine National Police (PNP), Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to resign, after the government filed cases against people connected to the Communist party of the Philippines (CPP).
The string of cases filed against progressive leaders is “obviously” part of a crackdown against leftist organizations, a youth lawmaker said Wednesday.
“In fact, its tactics are no different from those that other administrations have used—from extrajudicial killings, outright violations of human rights, to trumped-up charges,” Elago said in a statement.
“Chief Ropnald Dela Rosa said there will be no more killings under the resumed Tokhang but that is a dead promise. People lost trust with the PNP. He should resign”, Elago added.
On Tuesday, Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate received a subpoena from the Manila City Prosecutor for violations of the Marcos-era Public Assembly Act (Batas Pambansa Blg. 880), and the Revised Penal Code’s Art. 148 or committing direct assault and resistance, and Art. 151 or disobedience to a person in authority for supposedly leading the protest against United States President Donald Trump during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit last year.
Also charged are former Bayan Muna Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Satur Ocampo, and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) leader Roberto “Obet” De Castro.
Advertisement Elago strongly condemned the “crackdown” on progressive leaders, which came days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared that the government would go after the so-called “legal fronts” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA).
She said it was ironic for the police to file the charges when it was the authorities who used all the weapons— the truncheons, the shields, the water cannons, and a new sonic weapon, the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)—to disperse the protesters.
“How ironic that those who had all the means to injure, and even to kill, the rallyists, now willingly appear to be the victims,” she said.
“Instead of sowing fear, their strategies only expose the fascist inclinations and tyrannical character of the Duterte regime, thereby strengthening the mass movement and giving us all the more reason to resist and to fight its swift rise to a full-blown dictatorship,” she explained.
Dela Rosa is set to retire early this year but Duterte extended his service as PNP Chief.