Rep. Alcover says Fil-Am activist was a "communist group member"

CEBU, Philippines - Anti-communist partylist group Rep. Pastor “Jun” Alcover reiterated that Filipina-American activist Melissa Roxas was a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) and that all her statements in the media are just part of the “script” to destroy the Arroyo administration.

Alcover, a representative of Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy, at a press conference yesterday, presented pictures and video footage showing a woman undergoing an armed training in a forested area. He claimed the woman was Roxas at an NPA camp in Aurora province.

Alcover said that Roxas’ statements are just part of the drama to destroy the administration, especially to malign the name of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Roxas, a member of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in the United States, said she was abducted and tortured in Tarlac province last May by armed men whom she later claimed to be members of the military.Alcover said a woman who wanted to leave the NPA sent him the materials through courier early this month. He, however, did not identify the woman.

During the press conference, Alcover also read excerpts of a letter from the woman who claimed that Roxas was called by her NPA comrades as “Ka Aya” during their training in Aurora. The woman also claimed in her letter to Alcover that Roxas was abducted by her comrades because she wanted to leave the rebel group.

Being a former NPA member himself, Alcover said he first believed that the rebel group was behind Roxas’ abduction and confirmed this after he attended several press conferences of Roxas. She is the first Filipina American to be abducted and tortured while she was engaging in health care and humanitarian work in the Philippines.

Roxas, an American citizen from Los Angeles, was abducted by suspected Philippine military agents on May 19 in the city of La Paz in Tarlac province. Also abducted were her companions, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc. The incident happened after they provided humanitarian relief to impoverished communities in the area.

Melissa claimed her abductors severely beat and starved her, while accusing her of being a rebel.

Alcover is also calling for the ouster of Comission on Human Rights Chairman Leila de Lima alleging that her credibility is tainted being a relative of the wife of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison. — Jasmin R. Uy/WAB (THE FREEMAN)