#FACTCHECK: PNP offices' claim that Ninoy Aquino was linked to NPA HAS NO BASIS
CLAIM: PNP offices claim Ninoy Aquino linked to NPA
On August 21, 2022, the 39th death anniversary of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., several offices of the Philippine National Police (PNP) claimed that the slain senator was linked to the New Peoples’ Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The Sta. Margarita Samar Station, Quezon Maritime Police Station, and Batangas Maritime Police Station posted anti-communist messages on social media and used the hashtags “NinoyNotAHero” and “NinoyNPA” to promote them.
RATING: NO BASIS
FACTS:
There is no evidence to support the claim that Aquino was linked to the NPA.
According to a tracker on militant organizations worldwide maintained by Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, only Jose Maria “Joma” Sison and Bernabe “Kumander Dante” Buscayno were listed as founders of the CPP-NPA.
Aquino was not cited as a founder or member in the “brief review of the history” of the CPP issued on the 20th anniversary of its reestablishment in 1988.
In an interview in March 2016, Sison, CPP’s chairperson, stated that Aquino “could not have been a communist or founder of the [CPP]” because he was, “well-known as a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) asset from the time he was a war correspondent in Korea.”
Sison also maintained that while Aquino was “not known to be hostile to the CPP”, no formal ties were forged between them.
The posts have since been taken down and are now being investigated.
Police Brig. Gen. Roderick Alba, Public Information Office chief of the PNP, said that anyone found accountable will be subject to appropriate disciplinary actions.
SOURCES
Sarao, Zacarias, PNP takes down social media posts that red-tagged Ninoy Aquino, Inquirer.net, August 21, 2022. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1650590/pnp-takes-down-social-media-posts-that-red-tagged-ninoy-aquino.
Philstar.com, PNP says to probe Batangas, Quezon police units over 'NinoyNPA' posts, August 21, 2022. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/08/21/2204139/pnp-says-probe-batangas-quezon-police-units-over-ninoynpa-posts.
Cabuenas, Jon Viktor, PNP probes units’ posts linking Ninoy to NPA, vows disciplinary action, GMA News, August 21, 2022. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/842277/pnp-probes-units-posts-linking-ninoy-to-npa-vows-disciplinary-action/story/.
Stanford University: Center for International Security and Cooperation, Mapping Militant Organizations: Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army, Aug. 24, 2015. https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/communist-party-philippines-new-peoples-army.
Liwanag, A. (1988), Brief Review of the History of the Communist Party of the Philippines: On the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of its Reestablishment.
Jose Maria Sison 1 YouTube, Joma Sison Interview on Martial Law and the Plaza Miranda Bombing, March 29, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=825&v=UzdWZlDzTRM&feature=youtu.be.
Jose Maria Sison blog, On Ninoy Aquino’s relationship with the CPP-NPA, July 24, 2010. https://josemariasison.org/joma-sison-interview-on-martial-law-and-the-plaza-miranda-bombing/.
