Trillanes links housing, urban poor execs to CPP

Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV on Sunday named three government executives and said they were members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

In an emailed statement, Trillanes said he received information that at least three members of the Cabinet who oversee housing and urban poor programs of the government are involved with the CPP.

Those he mentioned are Cabinet Secretary and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chair Leoncio B. Evasco, Jr., National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino P. Escalada Jr., and Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor Chairperson Terry L. Ridon.

According to Trillanes, Evasco was elected a CPP Central Committee member in the 8th Central Committee Plenum in Mt. Susung in Dalaga, Bicol.

He also said Ridon was elected a CPP Central Committee Member in the 13th Central Committee Plenum in Quezon City, while Escalada was reportedly a CPP full member.

GMA News Online has reached out to Evasco and Ridon for comment, and is also trying to get in touch with Escalada.

Kadamay

In the same statement, Trillanes again accused Kadamay—the militant camp that illegally occupied hundreds of government housing units in Bulacan last month—of being a CPP front organization, a claim Kadamay has denied.

"If said reports are true, the wholesale takeover of several communities by Kadamay may mean the creation of sanctuaries for communist groups in Bulacan, which is strategically located near the National Capital Region," Trillanes said.

To recall, some 1,000 Kadamay members last month illegally occupied some 419 housing units in Pandi Residences 3, where they put up barricades and placards saying the housing project is free and for the masses.

Earlier this month, President Rodrigo R. Duterte told soldiers and police—the supposed beneficiaries of the housing units—that he would give up the project to the Kadamay occupants. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News