MANILA — Human rights alliance Karapatan on Friday condemned in strongest terms the “Rally for Peace and Prosperity” in Mendiola last Wednesday, January 29, supposedly organized by several “cause-oriented” groups with the endorsement of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The rights group said that the “protest” against progressive lawmakers and organizations is “a desperate attempt by the government to manufacture support for its fascist and anti-people policies.”

“Complete with high-quality print standees, placards, streamers, and a DILG memo to boot, the government is merely making a fool of itself by staging a so-called protest against people’s organizations and solons of the Makabayan bloc. One must wonder how much taxpayer’s money was wasted on it by the DILG amid other pressing and urgent matters,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

A DILG memo endorsing the event signed by DILG Secretary Eduardo Año stated that the rally is “in support to the implementation of Executive Order No. 70” which institutionalizes the whole-of-nation approach in the government’s counterinsurgency program and the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which has facilitated countless fascist attacks against the people since it was formed.

Along with mobilizing the entire civilian government for counterinsurgency through the NTF-ELCAC, the whole-of-nation approach also mobilizes the private sector and civil society organizations. (Stacy Ang/IA/CPH)