Military apologizes for inconsistencies in list of students who are allegedly NPAs

The Armed Forces of the Philippines' Civil-Military Operations Office (J7) apologized on Sunday night for "inconsistencies" in the list of students who allegedly joined the New People's Army which it posted recently.

"We sincerely apologize for those who were inadvertently affected by inconsistencies regarding the List of Students who joined the NPA (Died or Captured) that was posted in the AFP Information Exchange Facebook account," it said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

"That article has since been immediately taken down or deleted from our social media accounts," it added.

A probe has been started to find out how the list was published, the office said.

"The Office of the J7, AFP is already conducting an internal investigation as to how the list got published. Personnel who are responsible will be held to account," the statement said.

"We want to assure the public that we are now reviewing our processes and procedures to ensure that similar incident will not happen again in the future," it said.

"The Office of J7, AFP remains committed to providing and disseminating information on social media platforms that will contribute to a better Philippines for all," it added.

UP alumni

The said list of students is different from the list of UP alumni allegedly recruited to join the NPA which was also posted on the Facebook page of AFP Information Exchange.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday said that the AFP will apologize to a lawyer whom they included in that list of UP alumni who were supposed members of the NPA.

In an interview, Lorenzana was asked if the AFP will apologize to lawyer Rafael Aquino.

“Yes, the AFP will apologize. What reason will they give? I do not know. It’s an unpardonable gaffe,” Lorenzana said.

In a statement on January 21, Aquino sought an apology from the AFP after it included him in its list of University of the Philippines students who supposedly joined the NPA who were captured or killed.

Aquino, who is part of the team of lawyers deployed by the Free Legal Assistance Group to represent one group of petitioners for 36 others questioning the validity of Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 before the Supreme Court, said he has never been part of the NPA. 

Former Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla was also on the said list of UP alumni who allegedly joined the NPA.

“Talagang nakakatawa, kung hindi man nakakalungkot, itong naging listahan ng AFP and I’m even more apprehensive doon sa mga taong naka-listahan ko. They don’t deserve this. None of us deserve this,” he said.

UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo on Sunday decried the “baseless” red-tagging of several alumni by the AFP.

Nemenzo said the AFP’s list of “UP Students who became NPA (Dead or Captured),” which was posted then deleted on the AFP Information Exchange Facebook page, named several esteemed professionals.

“It is unthinkable that despite the millions of taxpayers’ money poured into military intelligence, the AFP is making such baseless accusations, in the process violating the civil liberties and putting at risk the lives of responsible citizens who are actively contributing to nation-building in their chosen professions,” he said in a statement.

Nemenzo also expressed alarm at the possibility that the AFP “may be harboring a database of a much longer list of UP students across many years, wrongly and similarly accused as NPA.”

“We are worried that a military database that is riddled with factual errors may unduly become the basis for overt and covert military action against our students and alumni across four decades or more,” he said.

The red-tagging followed the Department of National Defense (DND)’s unilateral abrogation of a 31-year-old pact with UP that prevents state forces from freely entering the campus without prior coordination.

The DND claimed that UP campuses were being used as venues for the “clandestine recruitment” of students into the armed rebellion.

Lieutenant General  Antonio Parlade Jr., spokesman for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, also claimed recruitment was taking place in several other schools.

Four of the universities named objected to their “irresponsible” inclusion in the list.

Parlade on Sunday said the source of the military’s list of UP alumni who were supposedly recruited by communist rebels must apologize for the errors made.

“They have to apologize kung merong pagkakamali doon. The source has to apologize,” he said.

Regarding the list of students, however, Parlade said it is more accurate.

“I don’t know kung ano ang reference nila kasi iba doon sa listahan na hawak namin ni Secretary Lorenzana. Itong naka-post ngayon, although mas konti, ayan, mas accurate ‘yan,” Parlade claimed. —KG, GMA News