'Barangayanihan' project a publicity stunt to curb criticism — groups
MANILA, Philippines — A human rights watchdog on Wednesday said a police version of community pantries, where beneficiaries would be asked to post on social media about the outreach program is a public relations move that will not curb criticism of government pandemic response.
Reacting to a story by Philstar.com earlier this week, rights group Karapatan pointed out that the Philippine National Police project, according to the police's own project brief, is in compliance with directives from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
To recall, the NTF-ELCAC is the national government's "whole of nation" anti-insurgency task force which earlier red-tagged the same community pantries efforts that police are now putting up themselves.
"After profiling, harassing, red-tagging, and outright demonizing community pantries and their organizers, the NTF-ELCAC and the PNP are now insidiously attempting to hijack mutual aid initiatives by setting up their own ‘community’ pantries and ‘feeding programs’ with ‘planted’ beneficiaries," Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said in a statement.
The PNP said the project brief was poorly worded and that they only meant to make sure the project would be documented.
"Clearly, these directives show that the PNP’s program is nothing more than a cheap PR stunt to salvage the NTF-ELCAC’s image amid growing calls to defund it," Karapatan said.
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Community pantry-like 'Barangayanihan' project?
The national police this week began rolling out its "PNP Barangayanihan", a police version of community pantries that sociologists and scholars said may distort the original narrative behind the pantries.
In a memorandum dated Wednesday, April 21 first seen by Philstar.com, the PNP Police Regional Office 10 shared a project brief for “Barangayanihan,” a Police-Community Relations Activity the project brief said was “[i]nspired by the Maginhawa Community Pantry” but in compliance with Executive Order No. 70.
Among the project’s proposed activities was to set up kitchens to serve breakfast lugaw in barangays and using “planted beneficiary civilians” who would take and upload pictures of the activities “to manifest [the] community’s appreciation.”
The project brief also cited the executive order which created the red-tagging NTF-ELCAC and institutionalized its ‘whole-of-nation' approach to fighting the communist insurgency in the country.
“That this project brief was made to comply under Executive Order No. 70 shows how far the Duterte regime is willing to go in its deceptive counterinsurgency propaganda that even mutual aid initiatives such as community pantries are being hijacked — even weaponized — by the NTF-ELCAC while red-tagging and discrediting the initiatives led by mass organizations and even ordinary individuals,” Palabay said.
Gag order on NTF-ELCAC spox not enough
In the face of public criticism of attempts to red-tag the community pantries, the task force has ordered its spokespersons Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorrain Badoy to stop commenting on them. NTF-ELCAC has also said it supports the pantries.
"Badoy and Parlade have always been and will always be a danger to the public. Many ordinary people have become their victims and their lives were put in danger because of the endless Red-tagging and harassment against them,” Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela) said.
Gabriela is among the activists that the task force and other government officials have red-tagged.
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"A gag order...is not enough. They must be fired from their respective agencies to teach them a lesson that they should not abuse their position and authority as public servants," the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said for its part.
Palabay said that "ordering the likes of Parlade and Badoy to cease from red-tagging community pantries is not enough."
"They should be fired from their posts, and the NTF-ELCAC should be defunded or abolished so that its funds can be rechanneled to provide basic social services and adequate government aid to families, households, and communities amid this crisis rather than using the people’s money for deception and State terrorism."
CPP: Fake 'bayanihan' will not alter criticisms of PNP and AFP
The Communist Party of the Philippines also called the adaptation of the red-tagged community pantries "utterly hypocritical" on the part of state forces who were first documented harassing organizers of the pantries.
"These poor imitations of the community pantries is a desperate effort to counter negative publicity over the spate of killings and abuse of power perpetrated by the police and anomalies involving the PNP," CPP information officer Marco Valbuena said.
"These PNP 'bayanihan' are counterfeit because they are merely using public funds to give dole-out small aid. This is pure fakery. They are ordered to do so merely to make it appear that the government is doing something...Because of their fascist abuses, crimes and suppression of the people, the people hate the police and military to the marrow of their bones. No amount of counterfeit 'bayanihan' activities can change that." he added.
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