Makabayan bloc lawmakers Carlos Zarate and Sarah Elago said they would no longer attend the Senate’s hearing on the military’s alleged red-tagging.
Bayan Muna Representative Zarate said he and Elago of Kabataan said in his letter to Senate defense committee chair Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Monday that they would stop attending the inquiry which resumed today, December 1.
“The undersigned and Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan Partylist) have decided to excuse ourselves from participating further in the December 1 hearing. With your kind indulgence, we submit that we have already presented and made clear our position on the subject of red-tagging and terrorist tagging that the Senate is investigating,” Zarate said.
He said Makabayan House representatives now need to focus on performing the legislative duties since the 18th Congress would soon go on a Christmas break.
Meanwhile, Koalisyong Makabayan officers, led by former Bayan Muna congressman Neri Colmenares would still attend the red-tagging hearing.
Zarate insisted that the Senate panel has been “reduced to a venue for witch-hunting” by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Makabayan lawmakers stop attending red-tagging hearing
“Instead of looking at the deadly effects of red-tagging and terrorist-tagging, especially on its victims, the Senate hearings are being used by the NTF-ELCAC as a platform to further vilify us with sweeping and baseless accusations, false statements, and malicious innuendos,” said Zarate.
“The Senate hearing has been reduced to a venue for witch-hunting. We hope that this travesty will no longer be allowed and will be stopped,” he added.
During his public address Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte particularly slammed Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, the CPP founding chairman and NDF chief political consultant, and Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate.
“’Yang si Zarate… Alam mo sabihin ko, nangangailangan ka ng pera. That’s the only reason komunista ka to defend an oligarch,” he added. “‘Di ka naman summa cum laude. Pareho naman tayong pumasa ng bar.”
The President even compared seeing Zarate to seeing a dog’s feces.
“Alam mo sa totoo, Zarate, ‘pag nakikita kita sa TV para akong nakakita ng tae ng iro. Para akong nakakita ng tae ng aso, sa totoo lang,” he added.