‘Please standby for new accounts,’ regional NPA spokesperson announces

Social media platform Twitter has “permanently suspended” accounts connected with personalities and groups of the underground Left in the Philippines, a regional New People’s Army (NPA) spokesperson announced.

Apolinario Gatmaitan Command (AGC)-NPA Negros spokesperson Juanito Magbanua told journalists that Twitter has removed the account of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesperson Marco Valbuena along with the AGC and the National Democratic Front-Negros on Monday, August 1.

Valbuena’s Twitter account is the last known social media platform openly connected with the CPP spokesperson.

Other known CPP, NPA and NDF accounts, including that of CPP founder and NDF-Philippines chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison have earlier been banned by other social networking services such as Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook said that the decision came after the underground groups have violated its community standards on propagating violence.

Valbuena last June said the suspensions were “part of heightened efforts to silence anti-imperialist voices on social media on the pretext of the sham US ‘war against terror’.”

Last June, Twitter accounts @prwc_info, @cpp_angbayan and @sineproletaryo have been suspended along with Sison’s, a move that Valbuena said came “without warning or advice.”

Magbanua said he disagrees with the latest suspension of their other social media accounts as well.

“We see this as another round of attacks against the Philippine revolutionary movement that exposes the truth of what is happening especially in the countryside and calls out the ruling class for the worsening oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people,” Magbanua told reporters.

He said that the “attacks” would not deter them from continuing their revolution.

“The people’s democratic revolution goes on. We will continue to fight back in all fields of battle,” Gatmaitan said.

“Please standby for new accounts,” he added.

Magbanua has since told reporters the creation of a new Twitter account by 2:28 PM. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)