The year 2003 began with the murder of Romulo Kintanar, the former head of the New People's Army, on 23 January by his former comrades in the NPA. Kintanar was supposedly guilty of "counter-revolutionary" activities, and sentenced to death by a CPP-led "people's court". The Communist Party of the Philippines not only admitted it had ordered Kintanar's murder, it also warned that more people had been found guilty by their peoples courts.
Kintanar had been helping many of his former comrades in the NPA start a new life after leaving the movement. He was also a consultant to many progressive groups who were rivals of the CPP-NPA.
On 4 February 2003, NPAs murdered Raymundo Tejeno, a peasant leader in the Bondoc peninsula. Tejeno was municipal leader of the Malayang Kalipunan ng Maliliit na Magbubukid ng San Narciso (MAKAMMASA or Federation of Small Farmers of San Narciso), which is affiliated with UNORKA (Pambansang Ugnayan ng Nagsasariling Lokal na mga Samahang Mamamayan sa Kanauyunan , or National Coordination of Autonomous Local Rural People’s Organizations).
On 28 May 2003, Florante Ocmen was abducted and then murdered by NPA guerillas in
Jabonga, Agusan del Norte
province. Ocmen was the local leader of the Pandayan para sa Sosyalistang Pilipinas ,
which is affiliated with the Akbayan! Citizen's Action Party.
Both Tejeno and Ocmen showed signs of having been tortured before being killed.
The CPP-NPA, in order to be true to its progressive and pro-people ideals, should stop this
campaign of murdering members of other progressive groups. It should respect the human
rights of its members, those of rival groups, as well as of the general population.
In 1998, the National Democratic Front (which includes the CPP-NPA) signed a "Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law" with the
Philippine government. In this agreement, the NDF assumed human rights responsibilities
of the same level as that of the Philippine government.
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