Research group IBON clarified that election watchdog Kontra-Daya spokesperson Prof. Danilo Arao was one of IBON’s senior staff in 1999 during the time that a “former cadre” accuses him of involvement with so-called communist terrorists.

A dubious source of the National Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Jeffrey Celiz, said in a statement that he and Arao joined a workshop organized by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) in April 1999.

IBON said that Arao worked with IBON for many years as Editor-In-Chief and Research Head while lecturing at the De La Salle University (DLSU) and University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman from 1994-2001. This was before he became a full-time UP professor and editor-board member of alternative media outfit Bulatlat starting 2001.

Holding trainings and seminars with a wide range of audiences including people’s organizations is part of IBON’s mission as a research, education and advocacy institution and Arao was a very able resource person for many of these. It is, however, delusional and malicious to say that these simple capacity-building activities are organized by the Central Committee of the CPP through Arao as alleged, said IBON.

The government propaganda outfit Philippine News Agency (PNA) gives prominent space to shady paid hack Celiz’s attacks on Kontra Daya as part of the Duterte administration’s tactics to muddle glaring and valid questions being raised about election irregularities, said the group.