THE Department of Agrarian Reform Employees Association in Northern Mindanao (Darea-10) yesterday disaffiliated itself from the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) redtagging the organization as a “communist front.”
Darea-10 President Modenita Mabaylan said their 423-member association wanted to remain loyal to the government and remain independent from any ties with Courage.
Mabaylan said their move came after their group’s national chapter issued a resolution on March 10, 2022, disaffiliating with Courage.
Darea national president Jocelyn Chua and leaders of its 10 Darea chapters nationwide signed the resolution.
The Darea-10 is the first chapter to publicly announce the disaffiliation with Courage.
To support the claims of Darea-10, the Philippine Army and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency brought former communist rebels who narrated to the reporters at Wednesday’s press conference how Courage is allegedly a front organization.
Courage National President Santiago Dasmariñas jr. calls the move by Darea-10 “outright red tagging” and questions why the Northern Mindanao-based association did it.
Dasmariñas said the red-tagging of Courage put the lives of its members at risk.
“We suspect this has something to do with the government plan of ‘rightsizing’ the bureaucracy,” he said.
Dasmariñas said the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., plans to lay off thousands of government employees by merging, revamping, and abolishing several state agencies.
“By painting us red, the government is already putting a chain on us so we can not defend the government employees,” Dasmariñas said.
