Communications Secretary Martin Andanar strongly denounced the burning of four houses and a chapel by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Limonda, Opol, Misamis Oriental on Thursday.
In a statement, Andanar said destroying homes and a chapel was already an atrocity but doing it while the country grapples with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was inhumane.
“To destroy the properties and place of worship and to possibly endanger the lives of innocent people are dastardly acts by themselves, but to commit them at a time when many of our countrymen are already reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is extraordinarily callous and inhumane,” he said.
“It is disturbing and unforgivable that the CPP-NPA, which claims to champion the common people, are the ones who blatantly disregard and violate the human rights of the poor folk,” he added.
Andanar assured the affected residents that authorities under the Duterte administration will work hard and exhaust all means to capture those who committed the said crime and punish them according to the law.
“We will help coordinate with the local government and the concerned government agencies to ensure that those affected are given the assistance that they need,” he said.
“We will also coordinate with the authorities in order to remain updated on the developments regarding the incident until the matter is resolved,” he added.
Andanar is the designated Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security for Northern Mindanao.
Reports said that around 10 heavily-armed suspected communist rebels set on fire to an evangelical church and four houses in Barangay Limonda last on May 28.
Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. has also condemned the act but questioned the motive of the NPA for doing it while the country is facing a global health crisis.
“Instead of helping our marginalized brothers and sisters overcome this ordeal, their homes and place of worship are turned to ashes,” he said.
He said there was no doubt that the incident was another dastardly act committed by the communist rebels whose only objective is to instil fear, anger, and violence among the same people they profess to serve but continue to use and abuse.
“They cry for social justice but they themselves, are the main violators of human rights. This skewed perspective must come to an end,” Galvez said. (Argyll Geducos)