Accurate: PNP distributes publication red-tagging partylists
Video posts by netizens, as well as tweet replies by the Philippine National Police (PNP), confirm reports of the alleged distribution of an official publication by PNP red-tagging Bayan Muna and Kabataan Party-lists on election day, May 13.
Various photos were posted on Twitter on the afternoon of election day, in which PNP’s “Pulis Serbis Balita” was said to be distributed at election precincts, such as in Sampaloc, Manila.
Consequently, alternative news site Bulatlat posted a tweet showing police distributing a certain newspaper, to which PNP’s Police Community Relations Group (PCRG) account made a direct reply addressing this.
According to PNP-PCRG, the newspaper being distributed is a publication released by the agency twice a week. In the said tweet, it links an album of the publication, “Pulis Serbis Balita,” which is available on Facebook.
While PNP-PCRG expresses that the distributed publication is not black propaganda, the article, entitled “High-powered firearm, election campaign materials ng Party List Groups, narekober sa Palawan,” claims that a high-powered firearm was retrieved alongside election campaign materials of Bayan Muna and Kabataan Party-lists in a joint operation reportedly undertaken in Rizal, Palawan, last May 3.
Specifically, it claims that various ideological works of communists were recovered.
On Facebook, a number of videos have also been posted, in which individuals, including police, can be seen distributing the publication in various cities in the National Capital Region.
Under Art. XXII, Sec. 261.i of the Omnibus Election Code, the intervention of public officers or employees may be considered as an election offense:
… any officer, employee, or member or the Armed Forces of the Philippines, or any police force, special forces, home defense forces, barangay self-defense units and all other para-military units that now exist or which may hereafter be organized who, directly or indirectly, intervenes in any election campaign or engages in any partisan political activity, except to vote or to preserve public order, if he is a peace officer.
Kontra Daya-Metro Manila also reported in a Facebook post that PNP officers were distributing newspapers that contain stories linking the Makabayan partylist bloc with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army in one of Manila’s precincts is accurate.
In a post on 12:03 p.m., May 13, Kontra Daya, a vote-watch group, claimed said the PNP newsletter Pulis Serbis Balita, distributed outside General Licerio Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila, “red-tagged” progressive partylists. It includes photos of officers walking around the vicinity distributing the newsletter.
In the first article on the newsletter’s second page, the fourth paragraph begins with:
Ayon kay Major General Antonio Perlade, Jr., ang mga miyembro ng Makabayan bloc ang sumisira sa mga kabataan sa pamamagitan ng pag-indoktrina ng mga ideolohiyang makakaliwa na pinatotoo rin ng mga tribal leader at mga guro, laong-lalo na sa bahagi ng Mindanao (According to Major General Antonio Perlade, Jr., the members of Makabayan bloc destroy the youth by indoctrinating them of left-wing ideology as attested by the tribal leaders and teachers especially in some parts of Mindanao)"
Kontra Daya’s photos of the newsletter matched the pages of the Pulis Serbis Balita Vol. III Number 13 (May 1, 2019) uploaded on the Facebook of the Global Police Community Relations on March 10, 2019. In an interview with Tsek.ph, Kontra Daya’s spokesperson Rex Cesora, said local watchers and Kontra Daya members took the pictures.
Several photos of the newsletter being distributed in Sampaloc were also taken in San Juan City.
Redtagging is defined as calling for the persecution of a person or group of persons due to “known or suspected communist sympathies.
The Kontra Daya post has garnered 302 reactions, 423 shares, and 91 comments at the time of writing.
SOURCES:
abbydescula19. (2019, May 13). PNP Officers, namimigay ng mga BLACK PROPAGANDA na babasahin! | Sampaloc Manila #Halalan2019 #KontraDaya [Twitter post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/abbydesacula19/status/1127824576233099264
chantzeco. (2019, May 13). The PNP tabloid that was making rounds in Sampaloc, Manila. So obviously kinuha na ang marami pang kopya para di na kumalat pa. #KontraDaya. [Twitter post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/chantzeco/status/1127834906023739392.
Global Police Community Relations. [GlobalPCR]. (2019, May 10). Pulis Serbis Balita Vol. III No. 13 (May 1-10, 2019) [Facebook photo album]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/pg/GlobalPCR/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2297823070238954.
Kontra Daya – Metro Manila. [kontradayametromanila]. (2019, May 13). URGENT ALERT: An unidentified man distributes PNP publication contatining malicious accusations against Bayan Muna and other Makabayan Partylists inside Geronimo Elementary School in Sampalo, Manila. #KontraDaya #VoteReportPH [Facebook video]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/pg/kontradayametromanila/videos/?ref=page_internal.
De Castro, Obet. (2019, May 13). [Facebook video on police officers distributing Pulis Serbis Balita]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/obet.decastro.7/posts/2322446467863099?_rdc=1&_rdr.
Commission on Elections. (1985). Article XXII. In Omnibus Election Code. Retrieved from https://www.comelec.gov.ph/?r=References/RelatedLaws/OmnibusElectionCode/OECArt22.
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