Military slams militant groups' spying yarn

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Adherence to the principles of the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan has been an advocacy of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and surveillance of cause-oriented groups is not part of its direction.

This was declared by Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division spokesman Major John Andrada in reaction to accusations from Gabriela and Bayan-Panay that elements of the 61st Infantry Battalion in Calinog, Iloilo have been spying on some of their members.

“Sa aming strategy na IPSP Bayanihan, ang paniniktik ay isang bagay na hindi angkop sa aming strategy into eventually winning the peace,” Andrada said.

Surveillance operation is tantamount to harassment, the cause-oriented groups alleged, but Andrada countered that it could be the other way around.

“It’s as if that we’re the ones being harassed kasi sa mga accusations nila to one of our field units. It was just based on personal presumptions and observations,” he said.

Andrada said these groups have not presented any evidence or proofs to support their allegations, adding that the 3rd ID sent out operational directives to its units only to follow up the implementation of the IPSP Bayanihan scheme.

The IPSP Bayanihan is the brainchild of newly-installed 3rd ID commander Major Gen. Emmanuel Bautista. “Instilling fear or harassing people is not part of that strategy,” said Andrada.

He said the IPSP Bayanihan highlights the importance of increased involvement of stakeholders, the national and local government agencies, non-government entities and the entire citizenry in addressing peace and security concerns.

It also gives equal emphasis to combat and non-combat dimensions of military operations, Andrada said, explaining that the program departs from the old parameters into non-combative format in resolving the country’s peace and security problems.

Under the IPSP, the AFP’s desired end state is that “capabilities of internal armed threats are reduced to a level that they can no longer threaten the stability of the state and civil authorities can ensure the safety and well-being of the Filipino people,” Andrada said. (FREEMAN)