Negros-based NGO helping farmers exposes lies, inaccuracies in terror financing complaint
By MAVERICK AVILA
Bulatlat.com
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Another accusation of “terrorist financing” against three development workers in Negros highlight a troubling pattern of targeting non-profit organizations in the country.
On January 2, 2025, just a day after New Year’s celebrations, three development workers from Negros Occidental were arrested on alleged violation of the Section 8 of the R. A. No. 10168, also known as The Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012. Dharyl Albañez, Federico Salvilla, and Perla Pavillar were detained in Isabela Municipal Police Station. Albañez and Salvilla face two counts of the said violation, while Pavillar faces three.
The arrest was based on the charges filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Iloilo City on December 3, 2024, enlisting five individuals who are said to be staff members of the Paghida-et sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG), Inc., naming Pavillar, Salvilla, and Albañez among the accused. PDG and other communities are calling out inaccuracies.
In an exclusive interview with Bulatlat, legal counsel Rey Gorgonio said that the main witness, Roy Moreño, whose sworn statements were the basis of the charges filed, has no credibility.
Inconsistency after another
Moreño, who claims to be a CPP-NPA [Communist Party of the Philippines- New People’s Army] “finance and logistics officer,” is PRO-6’s key witness. His sworn statements reportedly led PMSG Francisco John Dumdumaya, an Anti-Money Laundering Council investigator, to file the case in April.
Gorgonio cited instances why Moreño credibility is questionable.
“He is an alleged surrenderee, but there is no record of him being an NPA. While he claims to have been a member, witnesses assert he has never been part of the NPA,” said Gorgonio.
Moreño also claimed that he was one of the alleged NPA members “…who ambushed the 62nd Infantry Battalion but it was UCCP Pastor Jimie Teves and along with other accused dubbed as the Himamaylan 7,” said Gorgonio.
“The army unfortunately did not even mention the name of Roy Moreño who claimed to be the one who perpetrated the ambush,” Gorgonio added.
The Himamaylan 7 was accused of masterminding the ambush where the alleged money came from PDG, which was used in purchasing arms and bullets to ambush the army.
After five years, the Himamaylan 7 were acquitted of murder charges and released after last November 19, 2024. Judge Rodney Magbanua of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 61 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, ruled that there was insufficient evidence against Teves and his companions.
Moreño was never part of them.
“Roy Moreño is a liar being used by the military to target development workers,” Gorgonio told Bulatlat.
Gorgonio added that the basis of these charges are inaccurate because while Albañez is a development worker, he has never been a staff or a member of the organization since its founding.
“We pointed this out in Albañez’s counter affidavit but obviously the prosecutors did not even dare to tackle the credibility of the accompanying witness,” said Gorgonio.
Albañez served as the executive director of Kristiyanong Katilingban Lubos Itib Ong Sang Grupo, Inc. (KMALIG), a member organization of the September 21 Movement, an alliance dedicated to advocating for the protection of human rights.
“[T]his fact underscores the falsity of the charges against him,” the official statement of the PDG read.
Contrary to the reports, it was Albañez, not Salvilla, who posted bail set at P400,000 for two counts of charges. Salvilla and Pavillar remain in custody. Gorgonio said they’re looking into filing a reduction of bail for both Salvilla and Pavillar before the trial.
The other two accused are Clarissa Ramos and Felipe Gelle. Ramos sought asylum abroad after the death of her husband and then executive director and founder of PDG, Benjamin Ramos. The whereabouts of Gelle has yet to be known.
PDG strongly denied the terrorist financing accusations.
Not the first blow
The arrest of the three development workers is certainly not the first blow. On November 6, 2018, its former executive director and founder, Benjamin Ramos Jr., was shot dead by a riding-in-tandem. A year before he was killed, he was red-tagged and faced several accounts of threats and harassment.
But while Ramos was killed during the Duterte administration, attacks can be traced since the Arroyo administration in her implementation of the Oplan Bantay Laya, the latest iteration of counterinsurgency plans originally formulated during the Marcos dictatorship.
“He is the only human rights lawyer who appears in court for pro-bono work defending farmers and tagged alleged NPA around 2001 to 2008 and that’s the start when PDG and himself received threats,” recalled Junjun Genol, management body member of the organization.
When PDG established their human rights program in 2005, attacks only got worse.
“Upon doing documentation of human rights violations and fact-finding missions, I remember, Pedring (Salvilla), one of the accused, was threatened with a P300,000 bounty for his head,” recalled Genol.
Members and staff of the organizations would receive text containing harassments. According to Genol, the premise of the harassment was to negotiate with the staff members to stay with the organization and be an eye. Or else, they would be killed.
Like Salvilla, Pavillar received threats and was encouraged by suspected intelligence agents to coordinate with military forces.
The case was different for Gelle. He received a piece of paper which contains his photo edited to appear he is inside a coffin.
“You’re next after Atty. Benjamin Ramos Jr.,” Genol recalled reading the paper. This was two weeks after the funeral of Ramos.
At its core
PDG, at its core, has spent decades advocating for agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture, and the rights of small farmers and fisherfolk in Southern Negros. Genol told Bulatlat that PDG was founded in 1987 in response to the Negros famine.
Under Marcosian rule in the early 1980s, the sugar industry’s decline severely affected the socio-economic conditions in Negros Occidental, leaving hacienda workers and landless rural families struggling to survive.
Facilitating access to land from haciendas became PDG’s major agenda.
“With an official contract and partnership with DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), we have facilitated the recovery of more than 5,200 hectares from haciendas given to small farmers over the last 36 years,” said Genol.
PDG also developed a socio-economic program to support farmers. The organization has distributed over 800 adult carabaos to farmers, developed 20 community-led farms with a total of 35 hectares.
Beyond their advocacy for farmers in Negros, they have worked with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to implement a 100-hectare Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the barangays of Lumbia and Abaca and other baragays in the municipality of Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
These efforts of these communities, along with PDG, are supported by their respective Local Government Unit (LGU). Support decreased after the series of attacks, said Genol.
A blow for farmers and fisherfolks too
PDG’s growing concern is their partnership with LGUs.
“We have a good relationship with municipalities here in Negros as we’re a member of municipal development planning councils to support communities,” said Genol.
With the establishment of NTF-ELCAC in December 2018 requiring involvement from city mayors, acquiring program accreditations from municipalities became difficult. “At least 3 mayors talked to us saying they have no choice but to keep their distance from PDG,” said Genol.
PDG has been forced to shift its focus from delivering services to farmers and fisherfolk to campaigning against threats and harassment.
Genol told Bulatlat how the majority of their “…time is consumed over facing threats and harassments like when our only two active community development officers, Salvilla and Pavillar, received charges last April, 40% of their time are redirected.”
Following accusations against two active PDG staff members on trumped-up charges under the Terrorism Financing and Suppression Act of 2012, the organization was notified of its bank account closures on July 17, 2024.
Legal counsel Gorgonio said “PDG is subject to the guidelines of the Anti-Terrorism Council on money laundering. They may freeze PDG’s account, which would jeopardize the delivery of basic services to the sectors it currently serves.”
Bulatlat asked Gorgonio if there were other grounds on the alleged purchasing of arms, “No, they all are just testimonial evidence with nothing concrete, mainly from Roy Moreño.” (RVO)
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