By SABLEE BULAON

TARLAC CITY – Militants and human rights activists are holding the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) and the Central Luzon regional police office responsible for the alleged string of disappearances and "spurious" arrests of leaders and members of the left-leaning party-list, Bayan Muna.

Roman Polintan, regional chair for Central Luzon of the radical Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-CL), said that behind the purported crackdown on Bayan Muna in the region were NOLCOM chief, Major General Rodolfo Garcia; police regional director, Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya; and, elements of the Philippine Army’s 7^th Infantry Division, and 70^th and 71^st Infantry Brigades.

Earlier, Emil Paragas, Tarlac provincial vice chair of the human rights group, Karapatan, said they have so far documented the disappearance and "illegal arrest" of at least six activists affiliated with the militant party-list in the provinces Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Aurora.

He added that they have also monitored a village-wide "militarization" in a remote town of Tarlac, where a Bayan Muna organizer and his wife were tagged by police and military authorities as communist guerillas.

Paragas said that still missing in Nueva Ecija are Juan Orcino Jr., 43, married and a resident of the Teachers’ Village in the Science City of Muñoz; and Honorio Ayroso, 34, married, of Barangay San Isidro, Cabanatuan City.

Orcino, a Bayan Muna organizer, and Ayroso, a former student activist, were allegedly seized by elements of the 71^st IB in Barangay Sto. Niño in San Jose City last February 9.

Also still missing in Aurora are small entrepreneur Rowena Bayani, 32, and tricycle driver Edwin Villaruz, 36. Both members of Bayan Muna, Paragas said that the two were nabbed by soldiers belonging to the 70^th IB last February 4 in Barangay Cabituculan West in Maria Aurora town.

He added that Karapatan-Tarlac was able to trace the whereabouts of militant farmers Rustico Pamintuan, 29, and Luz Patinga, 51, at the detention center of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF) in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

The two, who live in Barangay O’Donnell, were reportedly implicated in a sketchy kidnapping case, and were forcibly booked by NAKTAF agents backed by the Tarlac police last February 2.

Last February 25, Paragas said that the entire Barangay Maasin in Pura, Tarlac was "militarized" when combined police and military elements were reportedly looking for Lupito Mauricio, a member of the militant Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Tarlac (AMT) and a Bayan Muna organizer.

Maurico and his wife, Gina, were tagged by authorities as guerillas of the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).

Polintan said that Berroya must be further "made liable for ordering his men to conduct surveillance activities on Bayan Muna after he got wind of its plan to participate in the coming barangay elections on May."

At the same time, Karapatan-Tarlac’s Paragas noted the alleged scheme employed by both the police and the military whenever human rights advocates monitor the disappearance of activists.

"Kapag walang nakakita, gagawing simpleng missing persons. Kapag na-trace kung saan dinala ang mga biktima, biglang nagkakaroon ng kaso (When there are no witnesses, the victims are simply recorded as missing persons. But when we have traced the victims’ whereabouts, charges are suddenly filed against them)," he said.

Citing the February incident in Pura town, Polintan criticized police and military authorities for "conveniently linking Bayan Muna to the (communist-led) underground movement in order to justify the crackdown."

Paragas, meanwhile, scored on the military for claiming that the NPA has launched another bloody purge, allegedly dubbed "Oplan Missing Link-2," purportedly to rid rebel ranks of government spies.

"The timing of this military claim and the crackdown on Bayan Muna is definitely not a matter of coincidence," said Paragas.