"I vehemently deny this allegation," said Arturo Tabara, chairman of the RPA-ABB’s political arm, the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas (RPMP), in a letter to The STAR.
Tabara was referring to an earlier report on the move to investigate possible connections of police officers with Marohombsar’s group, mentioning about supposed military information "linking me and the RPA-ABB" with the Pentagon.
"Our organization did not have any connection with this criminal group in the past nor at present in whatever way," Tabara said.
"This report only seeks to malign our organization as one having links with a criminal group and therefore, liable for criminal acts as well," he added.
Such links, Tabara said, would be "too farfetched for this to be an honest mistake, to say the least" in the light of the peace agreement it forged with the former Estrada administration on Dec. 6, 2000 and which the Arroyo administration affirmed in a clarificatory document signed last Feb. 2.
Government emissaries, according to Tabara, have been "very honest" in telling them about the efforts of some quarters in the Arroyo camp, including some in the military, to block the implementation of the peace accord, "maliciously citing economic and political tie-ups with the Estrada camp."
"Political kowtowing is their principal consideration rather than the overriding interest of the people for peace. They could very well be the ones responsible for this malicious attack against the RPMP-RPA/ABB," he said.
These quarters, he said, are "no less anti-peace" than the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army which "(has) done nothing but consistently demand for impossible terms with the (the government), including that of stopping peace talks (with) the RPMP-RPA/ABB while pursuing their real agenda for armed overthrow of the government."
"These people can only be the ones behind this malicious accusation against us. They want to raise issues and further stall the already much-delayed implementation of the peace agreement," Tabara added.