The Defend CAMANAVA condemned the alleged surrender of two declared members of Anakbayan to the police in Valenzuela City on April 17. The group says it is clear that this theatrics against Anakbayan is only black propaganda, and labelling them “rebel-returnees” is “malicious”.

The released police report say “Anie”, 23, and “Reylin”, 25, residents of Valenzuela City who allegedly became members of Anakbayan for four and three years, “surrendered.” The police added that the surrender of the two was the result of a “special intelligence operation” by the PNP-Valenzuela City and Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR).

In the “surrenderer’s” “statement”, Anakbayan allegedly promised them housing and financial aid, but they only suffered sleepless nights, exhaustion and hunger while in the group. They said they regretted joining Anakbayan.

Defend CAMANAVA belied the allegations, saying “the said organization does not promise free housing and financial assistance because the point of its membership is to understand and eliminate the roots of poverty and break feudal customs.” Neither the program nor the constitution of such an organization offers anything to encourage young people to join it, according to the group.

The group asserted the forced “surrender” of the two was malicious and even worse that the city police subjected them to the “rebel returnee” program offered by the government for members of the armed revolutionary movement. This is pushed by the JTF-NCR and the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac which were both formed under Executive Order No. 70 signed in 2018 by the Duterte regime.

The group insists that Anakbayan is a legitimate organization and that state forces should not force its members to “surrender”. Anakbayan was founded on November 30, 1998 and was among the leaders of the historic EDSA 2 in 2001 and other campaigns promoting the rights of the youth.

“The said post of the police and JTF-Elcac is not new, their manipulation of (the minds of) the people is not new,” Defend CAMANAVA added.

It is a usual tactic of the state forces, in the city and especially in the countryside, to parade civilians as “surrendered” members of the New People’s Army to falsely claim victory over the revolutionary movement. Recently, the Marcos regime re-declared its target of completely defeating the revolutionary movement by the end of 2024.

Incriminating civilians in the armed revolutionary movement puts them at risk. This is a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Instead of baseless accusations, they should be given protection and guarantee of their rights.