Military apologizes for erroneous list of UP students in NPA

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has apologized for the “inconsistencies” in its list of University of the Philippines (UP) students who allegedly joined the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

In a statement, the AFP Information Exhange said the Office of the Civil-Military Operations (J7) has launched an investigation on the matter and assured that the personnel responsible for publishing the list will be held responsible.

“We sincerely apologize for those who were inadvertently affected by inconsistencies regarding the list of students who joined the NPA (died or captured) that was posted in the AFP Information Exchange Facebook account. That article has since been immediately taken down or deleted from our social media accounts,” the AFP Information Exchange said in its statement.

“We want to assure the public that we are now reviewing our processes and procedures to ensure that similar incident will not happen again in the future,” it added.

The AFP was heavily criticized after several UP alumni, whose names were on the list, held a virtual press conference on January 23 to deny that they joined the NPA, and show that they are alive and well, not dead nor captured as indicated in the military’s list.

UP alumni Alexander Padilla, Liza Magtoto, Rafael Angelo Aquino and Marie Liza Dacanay demanded for an apology from the AFP. Dacanay also said she was considering the filing of charges against the military.

The list was released after Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered the unilateral termination of the accord that prevents police and military personnel from conducting operations inside UP campuses without giving prior notice to the administration.

Lorenzana ordered the AFP to apologize for the erroneous list, which he said was an “unpardonable gaffe.” (SunStar Philippines)