AFP urged to stop intimidating youth party-list group

Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel today
asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to stop its apparent
campaign of intimidation against leaders and members of the
newly-formed Kabataan party-list organization and to respect their
rights to participate in the democratic process.

Pimentel was appalled by the reports that the AFP has sent letters to
the parents of Kabataan party list members inquiring about the
background and purpose of the group and voicing suspicion that they
may be engaged in activities that may be inimical to the security and
stability of society.

He said the Kabataan should be accorded the respect that befits a
legitimate organization that aims to encourage and guide its members
in actively contributing their expertise and energies to
nation-building, especially since it has been accredited by the
Commission on Elections as a party-list group.

"It would be a travesty of the democratic process if legal
organization like Kabataan are subjected to harassment and looked upon
with suspicion as if they are threats to society," the young Pimentel
said.

He said the AFP's practice of undergoing background check on peaceful
organization could not but have chilling effects on their members in
the wake of ongoing government-military hate campaign on militant,
leftist organizations.

The hate-campaign has degenerated into the extra-judicial killings of
leftist activists whom the security and military authorities have
tagged as enemies of the state.

Pimentel said it is lamentable that the AFP has gone to the extent of
deploying soldiers in urban poor communities in Metro Manila to check
the activities of leftist organizations and to dissuade the residents
from voting for them in the party-list elections in May.
-30-