The accusations of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez against Bayan Muna smacks of a witch hunt, Siegfred Deduro, Bayan Muna vice president for Visayas, said yesterday.

Deduro said he was responding to Gonzalez accusations that the Bayan Muna's Priority Development Assistance Fund allocation for hospitals in Negros were channeled to the New People's Army.

"We challenge Secretary Gonzalez to prove his unfounded and malicious accusations. This is a classic case of shooting first before asking questions. A simple query to hospitals in Negros where BM PDAF funds are allocated would dispel his (Gonzalez) wild imagination," Deduro said in a press release. "We are in close coordination with representatives of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the directors of the hospitals. They will attest to the fact that BM recommended patients are indeed poor and marginalized," Deduro added.

"In addition to allocation to hospitals, there are 29 (multi-purpose buildings, classrooms, foot bridges, and road improvement) BM projects throughout Negros island. Four of these projects are still under construction," he said.

This recent witch hunt of Bayan Muna and other progressive partylist organizations is clearly discriminatory in the face of the cover-up of the Arroyo administration of the "fertilizer scam" where prominent members of Congress are involved, he said.*

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