The deception and temerity of Makabayan

This is in reaction to Liza Maza’s reply (“Otazas’ killing offshoot of gov’t’s failure to act on people’s grievances,” Opinion, 11/9/15) to a reader’s challenge for Makabayan to condemn the murder of Mayor Dario Otaza of Loreto, Agusan del Sur, and his son by the New People’s Army.

Maza and her comrades can be expected to challenge the position of Human Rights Watch that the killing was plain murder, but never to criticize the NPA. In fact, she justifies the murder because of the premium she gives to the NPA’s list of Otaza’s alleged crimes. Indeed, she could have saved some media space by using “we” instead of “the revolutionary movement” in her defense of the imposition of the death penalty.

Makabayan has the temerity to trumpet the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) as the appropriate means to seek redress for human rights violations, as if the signed agreement has kept the NPA from using landmines (Part III, Article 2, Paragraph 15) and attacking civilians and nonmilitary targets (Part IV, Article 4, Paragraph 4).

The extreme Left’s deception and misdirection are again at play as Makabayan promotes the CARHRIHL as a ploy to revive the stalled peace talks under the 28-year-old Hague Declaration framework that certainly fits well with the protracted war strategy of the Philippine communists.

—FRANCISCO HILARIO, [email protected]