Peace talks with Reds? Not with your Caser

THE third Senate inquiry into red-tagging was converted by the Kamatayan bloc into a propaganda platform, capitalizing on the death of New People’s Army (NPA) member Jevylin Cullamat, the youngest daughter of Rep. Eufemia Cullamat of the Bayan Muna party-list.

Ironically, all the allegations of Rep. Cullamat against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were debunked by her two other children. In a recorded interview, her son Jesryn Cullamat narrated in detail how the Army took pains to wrap the cadaver of Jevylin and walked more than five hours to bring the body to her family — in a better condition than when she was found abandoned by her comrades. He confirmed that the Special Forces soldiers treated her with respect and with dignity. Jickson, her other son, gave an interview enumerating the many forms of assistance that the Army had brought to their once neglected community. They were of course happy about it, contrary to what Representative Cullamat claimed was the misery brought by government troops to the Indigenous People’s (IP) communities.