THE Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), a left-leaning peasant organization, claimed Monday, April 9, that the New People’s Army surrenderers touted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are fake.
In a press conference, KMP secretary-general Antonio Flores said the presentation of so-called NPA surrenderers is just a modus operandi.
Flores issued such statement following their recent four-day international fact-finding mission in Mindanao wherein they learned that the surrender campaign of the AFP was allegedly planned for money-making.
The AFP earlier reported that under President Rodrigo Duterte’s watch, over 4,500 surrenderers of the NPA here in Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur.
"But these so-called surrenderers are either fake, forced and carried out through their deception, coercion and other unscrupulous and brutal ways," Flores said.
He added the fact-finding team in Caraga region has uncovered a pattern pointing to the military's surrender campaign as an extortion racket.
"Those who will not be intimidated and will refuse to surrender will be charged with trumped-up cases such as murder, frustrated murder, or attempted murder for supposedly participating in an armed encounter," he added.
Flores said the surrender racket of the AFP is just one among many cases of the human rights violations that have been verified by the fact-finding team, which conducted its mission from April 6 to 9.