THE Duterte administration assured Sunday the security of former President Benigno Aquino III and other individuals whom the communist leadership ordered to be arrested for the Kidapawan massacre last year.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella belittled the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Southern Mindanao for "indicting" Aquino, North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista, North Cotabato Representative Nancy Catamco, several other government civilian personalities and military and police officials for the "bloody dispersal" of Lumad and farmers who barricaded the national highway in Kidapawan City on April 1, 2016.
"We only have one government and one justice system in the Philippines. Only the appropriate body can rule on the issue of the violent dispersal of farmers in Kidapawan," he said in a statement.
"Be that as it may, security measures are in place to guarantee the protection of the former President and other personalities mentioned by the announcement of the National Democratic Front," he said.
On Saturday, the NDF in Southern Mindanao Region (SMR) released what it called as the "indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law" against Aquino and others.
The Maoist group said the indictment was issued following a "thorough investigation."
"The indictment recommended that the named respondents, after due trial by a People’s Court, 'be meted out with appropriate penalties for having committed the above-mentioned acts constituting war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law.' It also effectively prescribed the arrest of said respondents," said Rubi del Mundo, NDF-SMR spokesperson, in a statement.
Two civilians died while 34 were seriously injured, including 22 people who sustained gunshot wounds, the NDF noted.
Last year, some 3,000 farmers, seeking for the government's assistance due to the drought affecting their area, occupied the Davao-Cotabato Highway, prompting the police and the military to disperse them.
The previous administration had blamed that certain group exploited the situation. (SDR/SunStar Philippines)