Claim: Late Mountain Province mayor used to be an NPA
Rating: FALSE
The Facts: In a recent video in SMNI, reporters spoke at length about certain progressive groups supposedly exposed as CPP-NPA fronts by deceased Sadanga, Mountain Province mayor Gabino Ganggangan, who passed away in January of 2022.
Among the claims made in the video are that Ganggangan used to be a member of the New People’s Army (NPA).
“Ganggangan is a respected tribal leader, elected mayor, well-loved mayor, and used to be NPA,” the video says.
This is False.
Ganggangan was a staunch advocate of the government’s anti-communist movement and vocally supported the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), even supporting their calls to declare certain progressive groups in the Cordillera such as the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) persona non grata.
There is no record to support the SMNI claim that he is formerly a member of the NPA.
Ganggangan was once associated with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), a separatist group from the NPA, as an aide to founder Conrado Balweg, but not the NPA.
The CPLA was actually used as an auxiliary force against the NPA.
The CPLA would eventually dissolve after a 2011 closure agreement with the government.
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