Filtered By: Topstories
News

Bayan leader slams Duterte's plan to form squad vs. NPA hitmen


Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes on Wednesday denounced the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to create a unit that will be focused on "crushing" the New People's Army's assassination squad.

In a statement, Reyes said the Chief Executive has defied the law and encouraged more extrajudicial killings in making the remark,  especially that the planned squad would target communists.

"He wants to do to revolutionaries and activists what he did to alleged drug addicts. He is inciting a killing spree against government critics, human right defenders and just about everyone else tagged by the government as 'Red,'" Reyes said.

"The death squads are of course illegal and should not be the least tolerated," he added.

Reyes reiterated that waging an all-out war against communist rebels would not address the root causes of the armed conflict in the country.

"The peace talks have a better chance of achieving that, especially if the reforms are serious. With all-out war, Duterte will only transform the country into killing fields," the activist leader said.

Last Tuesday, Duterte said he would "match the talent" of NPA's special partisan unit, known as the sparrow units that are targeting authorities and government officials, as he lamented the continued attacks on soldiers by the Reds.

The President also made claims that he was trying to "make peace" with communists, but the rebels continue to attack and kill security forces. —Anna Felicia Bajo/LBG, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT