THE Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) yesterday maintained that the Gabriela party-list posters found in suspected New People’s Army (NPA) safehouses in Quezon City and Bulacan were discovered by officers conducting the search in the presence of witnesses.

PNP-CIDG director, Major General Albert Ignatius D. Ferro issued the statement amid allegations by the party-list group that the Gabriela posters were merely “planted’ by the CIDG.

“The operations conducted by 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,” the official said.

He added that members of the raiding team also strictly followed the Police Operational Procedures during the operation.

“The PNP neither condones 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,” Ferro said.

“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,” he added.

“The PNP CIDG will not be fazed by these allegations and will continue to stand for truth and justice,” he also said.

Six suspected CPP/NPA personalities wanted for murder, multiple murder, homicide and arson were arrested during the raids. Recovered from their possession were firearms, explosives, cash and several posters representing Gabriela and Bayan-Muna party lists.

Gabriela expressed complete disapproval and claimed that the PNP is attempting to link their organization with the CPP-NPA.

The group pointed out that in the poster that was recovered by the police, instead of “Para sa babae, bata at bayan” the words “Para sa babe, bata at bayan” were written on the tarpaulin. Gabriela denied that they own the poster with the misspelled slogan.

The group accused the PNP-CIDG in particular and the PNP in general of “planting” the pieces of evidence and peddling wrong information.

However, the PNP-CIDG released photos taken during the search which showed the Gabriela tarpaulins with the words “Para sa babe, bata at bayan!”

Gabriela earlier categorically disowned the tarpaulins with the slogan “Para sa Babe, Bata at Bayan,” claiming that such slogan digresses from their 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,” the group said.

PNP chief, General Dionardo B. Carlos on Tuesday afternoon announced the capture of the six suspects led by Gil Peralta, a regular member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines who was arrested in his rented house in Bgy. Maribolo, Q.C.

The PNP chief described Peralta as among the convenors of the CPP’s 2nd Congress who was also identified as a secretary of the CPP/NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyon-Cagayan Valley, the 1st Deputy Secretary and Finance Officer of the CPP/NPA’s Regional Organizational Department in Cagayan Valley.

He said that Peralta has been identified as one of the “brains” behind a number of NPA atrocities in Cagayan Valley including the burning of several heavy equipment of the DDT Construction Company in Lal-lo, Cagayan in October 2020 and an attack on a CAFGU Active Auxiliary detachment in Sto. Niño municipality in July 2019.

The suspect was also implicated in the ambush-killing of former Lasam, Cagayan councilor Marjorie April Salazar and civilians Eduardo Asuten, John Rey Cortes and Aiza Salvador Manuel.

The other five suspects who were arrested n Bgy. San Vicente in Santa Maria, Bulacan were identified as Irene Agcaoili alias ‘Ayang,’ tagged as the finance head of the KR-CV who is wanted for murder, multiple attempted murder and robbery and who carries a P700,000 bounty on her head; Lourdes Bulan alias ‘Simang,’ another KR-CV Executive Committee member wanted for murder and multiple attempted murder; Roy de la Cruz alias ‘Mick/Bonel/Niño,’ said to be an intelligence officer of KR-CV; Arcadio Tangonan alias ‘Mariano Ramos’; and Natividad Santos.

Recovered during the Bulacan raid were two caliber .45 semi-automatic pistols, one cal. 5.56 Colt M-16 automatic rifle, one 9mm Armscor pistol, three hand grenades, several improvised explosive devices, assorted magazines with live ammunition, 12 non-electric blasting caps, six improvised boosters of a 100x25mm and two improvised 205x60mm boosters.

Last Sunday, PNP Intelligence Group agents under Brigadier Gen. Neil B. Alinsañgan also arrested Salome Crisostomo-Ujano, a top CPP/NPA leader during an operation in Malolos City in Bulacan.

The 64-year-old woman carries a P5 million bounty on her head offered by the Department of National Defense-Department of the Interior and Local Government.