The military on Monday apologized for an erroneus Facebook post that listed University of the Philippines alumni who are either dead or working as journalists as among those who joined the communist New People's Army.
The post on one of the military's Facebook properties has since been taken down following uproar over the errors. It was released as the Department of National Defense rescinded its accord with UP on the conduct of security forces on campus, accusing the university of providing safe harbor for enemies of the state.
"We have apologized Facebook, so if it will not suffice, then we will see our next option after that," said Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, the deputy armed forces chief of staff for civil military operations.
"We are truly sorry for those who were really named dun na inadvertently named, so we take responsibility for that and then yun nga corrective measures, if needed we'll do that after we get the whole picture of what really happened," he said.
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Asked to comment on some lawmakers' observation that the Facebook error reflected on the credibility of the military's so-called "red-tagging," Arevalo said: "That proves to show kung meron kaming pagkakamali we admit it. Kung wala naman talaga, pinaninindigan din yun. So for this incident, I can only speak for this incident, i cannot speak for the whole of the red-tagging incident."
On Sunday, the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and Far Eastern University rejected llegations made by Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade that their campuses serve as "recruitment havens" for Maoist guerillas.
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Parlade is a mouthpiece for the government's counter-insurgency task force. He faced a Senate investigation last year after he mentioned actresses Liza Soberano and Angel Locsin and 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray in his anti-NPA posts.
Arevalo said that "at the minimum" those who will be found at fault in the erroneous Facebook post will be punished.
