Female community organizer reports threats by alleged OPAPP members

MANILA, Philippines — Individuals who introduced themselves as members of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process reportedly threatened and harassed a female community organizer on Wednesday, prompting the Gabriela Women’s Party – a chapter of which the community leader is a president of – to condemn the incident.

In a statement on Friday, the party list bared that Elizabeth Maynigo, a community leader and Gabriela Marikina chapter president, was forced to enter a vehicle where men who identified themselves as members of the OPAPP (now the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity) pressured her to detail the activities of other Gabriela members. 

“While she was being questioned inside the vehicle, Maynigo said that there were other men guarding (them) outside the vehicle. She was being encouraged to be an ‘agent’ for the OPPAP and to report to them all activities of Gabriela Women’s Party in Marikina City,” the statement said in Filipino. 

Maynigo was also threatened with a warrant of arrest for rebellion if she did not cooperate with their demands, according to the statement by Gabriela. 

“The incident took place while (Maynigo) was taking care of her father in a hospital,” the party list said.  

Maynigo has previously reported being visited by unidentified men riding a motorcycle at her home address and seeing members of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the area, the party list added. 

“This scheme is similar to what was done to our leaders and members in Bagac, Bataan where the OPAPP and NTF-ELCAC forced them to declare themselves as fake surrendered rebels,” the party list said.

The party list added that the incident follows earlier cases of harassment experienced by other Gabriela members from alleged state officials.

“This tactic of fear places Maynigo’s and her family’s safety at risk, and it should be stopped,” the party list said.