The AFP and PNP are again engaged in dirty psywar tricks. Last Tuesday, police officials paraded Emerito Lipio who they claim to be a "self-confessed" member of the NPA purportedly involved in the abduction of activist Jonas Burgos last April 28.
The truth is Lipio is not a member of the NPA. He was among seven leaders of the Central Luzon chapter of the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston, United Association of Drivers and Operators Nationwide) who were abducted by military and police operatives in Angeles City, Pampanga on July 3, 2006. Operatives of the Philippine Army's 69th Infantry Battallion carried out the abduction of the seven. Six of the seven abducted drivers were released.
Lipio was never released. He was declared missing by his friends and relatives since then. It turns out that he has been held under secret military detention for more than a year and subjected to severe physical and psychological torture to coerce him to "admit" to being a member of the NPA and do whatever his abductors and jailors want him to do.
Now, after more than a year in military captivity, he has been forced to make false public statements claiming to have direct knowledge about Jonas Burgos' abduction.
The supposed NPA leader who, in Lipio's script, gave him instructions to place Burgos under surveillance is a certain Delfin de Guzman who has been under military detention since May 11, 2006. De Guzman, who has never been connected in any way with the NPA, was seized by military agents from his home in Barangay San Mateo, Norzagaray Bulacan and paraded before the media by then AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga.
The original purpose of the AFP was to use de Guzman as a "witness" to identify Philip Limjoco before the media as an NPA commander. But the AFP abandoned this gimmick when the top military and security officials decided not to admit having taken Limjoco. De Guzman was also used as a "witness" to claim that the "Erap 5" – supporters of former President Joseph Estrada who were abducted and tortured by AFP intelligence agents – were connected with the NPA.
The AFP has since then recycled its psywar utilization of de Guzman. He is now made to appear now as the mastermind of the Jonas Burgos abduction. Apparently, the stupid psywar artists of the AFP forgot the small detail that de Guzman has been under military detention when the crime was supposedly hatched and carried out.
In trying to cover up the role of the AFP in the abduction of Jonas Burgos and making it appear that the NPA isresponsible, the military and police are now frantically weaving one untenable lie after another as a cover-up to their crime. In the process, their lies have gotten entangled in inconsistencies and contradictions and have become even more incredible.
Allow us to reiterate: Jonas Burgos is not a member of the NPA. The NPA has nothing to do with his abduction. All evidences point to the AFP as responsible for the abduction of Jonas Burgos. The CPP and NPA condemn the military abduction of Burgos and will carry out all necessary actions to punish the perpetrators of this crime.
We call on the family and friends of Jonas Burgos, human rights advocates and lawyers, fighters for democracy and all others concerned about Jonas' abduction to demand a thorough investigation of Lipio's and de Guzman's situation. Lipio and de Guzman are victims as well. All means must be exerted to ferret out the truth behind their abduction and incommunicado detention since more than a year ago.
It would also be wise for the families and friends of Lipio and de Guzman to demand that they be given independent counsel, allowed private visits by their counsel and families and subjected to physical and phsychological examinations to determine the extent of the torture inflicted upon them.
