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UN rights investigator 'brainwashed' by Left -- Gonzalez
By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 07:36pm (Mla time) 02/15/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- United Nations Commission on Human Rights' (UNCHR) special rapporteur Philip Alston's concern over government's treatment of perceived legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) indicates he may have been "brainwashed" by the Left, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Thursday.

"I thought he was already brainwashed. You know he first met not with government but with Karapatan," the leftist human rights group, Gonzalez told reporters after meeting with Alston in his office in Manila.

Alston, said Gonzalez, was concerned that government considers the alleged legal fronts as its enemies.

"Well, he said that his concern is that we have already validated the communist party but we are still considering the fronts as enemies," Gonzalez said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales have campaigned against party-list groups they accuse of being communist front organizations.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo' s security adviser has said he wants left-leaning party-list groups to be labeled communists to warn voters against them.

With the repeal of the anti-subversion law, the CPP is not longer considered an outlawed organization.

The government has been involved in peace negotiations with the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF), but the talks have been suspended.

The justice secretary said Alston maintained that the leftist party list groups were using their funds legally. "He was sticking to his position that if the communist party is legal, all the funds are legal," he said.

But Gonzalez said he told Alston that the legal fronts have been fighting the government.

"As long as the communist party is considered legal they can play a part in the government. The problem here is they are legal on the surface...But they have the armed wing and they should also be considered as part of the armed wing because they are contributing to the armed wing," he said.

Military and government officials have accused leftist party lists of funneling their congressional pork barrel to the New People's Army (NPA).

Gonzalez said the government has documents and a videotape showing Jose Maria Sison, the NDF's chief political consultant, and his wife identifying the militant groups Migrante, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and Gabriela as fronts of the communist party.

While Gonzalez acknowledged that Alston's report to the UN, if unfavorable, would reflect on the Philippines, the UN cannot impose sanctions on the country.

Nevertheless the justice secretary said his meeting with Alston was "not antagonistic" and that he thought he disarmed the UN representative.

He also said he showed Alston a copy of Time magazine's February 5, 2007 issue in which the NPA was said to be involved in the killing of its former comrades.

Human rights groups estimate that extrajudicial killings have claimed more than 830 lives, mostly of left-wing activists, and blamed these on an alleged government policy to silence its critics. But the government denies the charge and maintains most of the deaths are the result of a supposed purge within communist rebel ranks.