MILITANT organization Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) in Northern Mindanao has condemned the Armed Forces of the Philippines for claiming that the laptop computers they recovered were evidences of the Red October plot.

In a news report, the AFP showed the laptops they seized from the 13 church workers and activists from Northern Mindanao they arrested last July 4 at General Santos City.

The military claimed that the 13 individuals were allegedly members of Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA). The pieces of evidence recovered from them is supposedly connected with the Red October plot that supposedly seeks to unseat President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a statement however, MAT-Northern Mindanao refuted the Red October claim, pointing out that the "upsurge of protests does not need any grand plans such as Red October."

"The upsurge has been building up ever since the first blood was spilled in the government’s tokhang operations. The red in this October is the red of the blood of the activists it has killed, the lives destroyed by each bomb dropped to flatten the Islamic City of Marawi, and all the blood spilled that became victim of the Martial Law in Mindanao," the group said.

The group insisted that no one needs to call for Duterte's ouster as his failing economic programs, erratic logic, and policy to silence his oppositions are already enough for his administration to come stumbling down.

They added that the government is busy in finding justification to intensify attacks against his critics, instead of addressing the challenges his administration faces.

"Now they are trying to craft a narrative pulling together separate incidences that they think fit a destabilization plot. The GenSan 13 - activists and church workers illegally arrested on July 4 this year - has become its whipping boy twice abused. Their computer equipment are now displayed as evidences of the grand plan had been seized illegally from them. Without having been served justice yet for their illegal detention, they now face possible trumped up charges just to satisfy the plotline of the Red October," it says.

The group called the Red October plot as imaginary and only shows this administration's symptomatic government that knows its sins.

"It cannot move without having to check its back, always wary of its own constituency, always insecure. The government has created its own demon – itself. And it is scared of its shadow. The people condemns the Red October and the further attack of the state towards the people and its democratic rights. In the midst of economic and political crisis, there is no other way but to stand our ground and advance peoples’ rights for genuine freedom and democracy," it added.

Lieutenant General Benjamin Madrigal, Commander of Eastern Mindanao Command, in a statement last week said the “CPP NPA Terrorist Group (CNTG) objective ever since is to overthrow the democratic government and replace it with an authoritarian socialist form, and ever since, this threat has pulled down our country’s growth and development.

He said the communist group has been conducting such movements in Davao and Caraga regions wherein the left-leaning groups carry special Indigenous People (IP) campaign narratives such as "Bakwit Lumad”, Attack on IP schools, and "Lakbay Lumad" (Lakbay Europe, Lakbayan or Manilakbayan) to encourage massive participation.

The AFP however assured that the group will not succeed in their attempt for the President's ouster and will instead focus on addressing the issues of the marginalized sector.