Gov’t treating dissent as crime–Colmenares
Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares accused the Duterte administration of treating dissent as a crime, denouncing the arrest of nine members of militant groups in a series of operations by the military last week.
At a forum on Saturday at UP Hotel, Colmenares said members of Gabriela, Anakpawis and Bayan Muna were arrested in separate military operations.
“Activists are being treated as criminals,” he said at the forum.
“This is not just a threat to activists but also for ordinary citizens, who protest increases in prices,” he added.
Colmenares, a senatorial candidate, also denounced Malacañang for a crackdown on activists, which included a plan to form a task force to end insurgency by the end of 2018.
Communist tag
He said the military had branded those protesting high prices and abuses as communists.
“That is the mind set of the military,” Colmenares said. “That is the thinking” of President Duterte, he added.
“Malacañang is the mastermind of the crackdown on political dissent,” he said.
Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus agreed with Colmenares, saying the treatment of activists as criminals showed the tyrannical rule of the Duterte administration.
“We can now feel how tyrannical this government is,” she said at the same forum.