AKO Bicol party-list decries harassment by NPA guerrillas

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The AKO Bicol (AKB) party-list group has decried the harassment by the New People’s Army (NPA) of its supporters campaigning in Masbate, Sorsogon and Catanduanes.

Lawyer Rodel Batocabe, one of the AKB party-list representatives, said the harassment has been going on since the start of the campaign period.

“Based on our monitoring there were already eight incidents where our supporters were intimidated,” Batocabe said in a press conference yesterday morning.

The insurgents, according to Batocabe, even warned local candidates in Daraga, Albay last month to stop wearing AKB T-shirts and posting AKB campaign materials.

The candidates were also warned not to report the incidents to the police, and since they were unsure of the rebels’ identities, they refused to file complaints out of fear for their lives.

Despite the harassment, Batocabe said it is still the people who will decide which party-list group they will vote for on May 13.

“This has been proven in the past elections when AKB was voted number one among the party-list groups in the country,” he said.

He said he could not understand why leftist party-list groups are threatened by the AKB when its goal is to help the people through its various projects.