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CPP slams Parlade, SOLCOM for kidnapping political prisoner's child
The Communist Party of the Philippines denounced today the treacherous and brutal kidnapping of the 4-year old child of political prisoner Emilia Marquez last May 12. The child, MJ, was forcibly taken from his guardians in their home in Barangay Pitogo, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro by operatives of the 203rd Brigade.
The child’s guardians were held at gunpoint by ten heavily armed operatives to force them to hand over MJ. Soldiers also attempted to run over MJ’s guardians as they were leaving with the child according to reports of the National Democratic Front-Mindoro.
“Gen. Parlade and the SOLCOM are criminals for kidnapping the 4-year old child,” said CPP Chief Information Marco Valbuena.
Marquez was arrested in 2017 while taking care of then one-month old MJ in a hospital in Calapan City. She was also part of the Morong 43 health workers detained by the military during the Arroyo regime. Facing trumped up charges, MJ’s father was forced to seek safety.
“We believe MJ was kidnapped by the AFP to put pressure on his mother to cooperate with the military and turn against herself and the people’s cause. It is also a dirty tactic to pressure his father to surrender,” added Valbuena.
“This crime is part of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) war of suppression against dissenters and progressives,” Valbuena said. He cited the case of Baby River who “was practically murdered by the police” after being denied post-natal care when she was forcibly separated from her mother political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino.
This is not the first time that the AFP has resorted to such dirty tactics. In 1989, the then 5-year old daughter of CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, Andrea, and her grandmother were forcibly taken by the military to pressure his father to surrender.
“We condemn in the strongest terms Gen. Parlade and his criminal gang in the SOLCOM. They must be punished for their crimes and abuses against children’s rights,” Valbuena said.
The CPP ended with a call on human rights organizations and people’s organizations to echo the demand #ReleaseMJ and demand the release of his mother from political detention.