A word war between the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Gabriela party-list group sparked on Wednesday, Nov. 17, on the issue of planting of evidence.
The point of contention? A wrong spelling of a word in one of the seized tarpaulins being used by the Gabriela.
Instead of babae (woman), the word was allegedly misspelled to "babe", according to Gabriela which the group said is proof that it was planted in a bid to connect the group to the communist rebels.
"We categorically disown the tarpaulins with the slogan "Para sa Babe, Bata at Bayan," as such slogan digresses from our original slogan "Para sa Babae, Bata at Bayan." Maybe the police officers have been so accustomed to using "babe" in their flirtatious relations with several women, or they were rushing to print the fake tarps ahead of our own printing without diligent proofreading," Gabriela said in a statement.
"In any case, the PNP has been caught red-handed with this typographical error in the fake tarps in their desperate attempt to red-tag us. Lamentably, public funds are being splurged on operations like this seeking to distort and misrepresent our advocacy for women and children," it added.
Based on the CIDG report, the tarpaulins of Gabriela and Bayan Muna, along with firearms, explosives and cash were seized during a simultaneous raids in Quezon City and Bulacan.
Nabbed were Gil Peralta, an alleged member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines; Irene Agcaoili, allegedly the finance officer of the Komiteng Rehiyon Cagaya Valley (KR-CV); Lourdes Bulan, allegedly an executive committee member of the KR-CV; Roy dela Cruz, allegedly the intelligence officer of the KR-CV), Arcadio Tangonan and Natividad Santos.
The group added that what happened was just a preview of the schemes that the government is planning to employ in the 2022 elections.
"These red-tagging gimmicks, while not new, seek to place the lives and safety of our members and leaders on the line. We strongly condemn these publicly funded gimmicks and assert our firm stance against red-tagging and fake news," the statement read.
But CIDG director Police Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro denied the allegation of planting of evidence, saying the operations were legitimate were carried out based on the arrest warrants issued by courts handling the cases.
“The operations conducted by the your PNP were legitimate and the police officers were armed with valid arrest warrants issued by the court. The pieces of evidence that were inadvertently found in the possession of the wanted persons were properly inventoried in the presence of barangay officials," said Ferro.
"Our personnel strictly followed the Police Operational Procedures during the operation. The PNP neither condone planting of evidence nor does it authorize red-tagging. And the PNP has no participation in the creation of these materials. Nevertheless, the CIDG welcomes inquiries or investigation to shed light on this matter," he added.
Ferro added that Gabriela merely wants to discredit the police involved in the operation and that this was not the first instance that law enforcement personnel discovered Gabriela and Bayan Muna party-list materials along with contrabands during legitimate operations.
"The PNP CIDG will not be fazed by these allegations and will continue to stand for truth and justice," he said.