Home 
Iloilo City ? Militant human rights groups here accused the military yesterday of hacking their email account and sending a fake press release that lauded Army programs in the hinterland villages of Capiz and Iloilo.
The Human Rights Information Center (HRIC) and the Panay Alliance-Karapatan alleged that the e-mail sent Tuesday night to media outlets and reporters from their email account hric?ilo09@yahoo.com was part of the military's campaign to malign legal organizations and link them with the New People's Army (NPA) and other underground groups.
The Army's 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) denied the allegations. ?We do not do those kinds of things. Our troops are too busy conducting operations in the hinterlands to waste time on such matters,? 3rd ID public information officer, 1st Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
But Karapatan claimed the military violated their right to privacy. ?Panay Alliance condemns this underhanded act as it violates the right to privacy enshrined in our Constitution. The deception of using the name of an organization to disseminate foul information directed against organizations that espouse human rights infringe on the rights of the people to organize, to freely express opinions and to seek redress of grievances,? the groups said in a statement emailed Thursday.
The e-mail that was signed by a certain ?Leeboy? called on ?comrades? to see the real situation in the rebel's Central and Eastern Front areas on Panay Island.
?Leeboy? is the nickname of Jose Ely Garachico, the information officer of HRIC and Panay Alliance-Karapatan.
The e-mail had two attached files - a statement lauding projects of the Army's 47th Infantry Battalion (47IB) and another file with mug shots of eight NPA rebels who were captured in an Army raid in Calinog town in Iloilo last month.
The attached statement written in Hiligaynon but with Bisaya words among others lauded the putting up of toilet bowls, waiting sheds and outposts for village watchmen in the towns of Calinog and Lambunao in Iloilo and in Dumarao town in Capiz.
The statement ended with a call on the NPAs to surrender to the 47th IB because of the ?futility of the revolutionary movement.?
Reached by the Inquirer by phone yesterday, Garachico decried the fake press statement.
?It's a cheap shot and an obvious black propaganda devoid of any creativity. It appears that they are either too desperate, dumb or both to do this,? he said.
Garachico said that the contents of the email gave away the real sender and motive of the fake press release. Aside from his incomplete name in the email, Garachico said that Army projects and other details in the statement were only known to the military. The pictures of the captured rebels holding signs that indicated their names and alleged criminal violations were also taken after they were arrested.
