On January 10, the Cagayan Provincial Prosecutor’s Office issued a subpoena against Dero Montesclaros, including peasant activists Isabelo Adviento and Cita Managuelod, human rights workers Jackie Valencia, and Agnes Mesina. The respondents were accused of being members of the Regional White Area Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and for allegedly gathering supplies and cash for the party’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), between 2017 and 2019.
They were ordered to submit counter-affidavits and other evidence to respond to the complaint filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Regional Field Unit 2.
In 2020, Deo was red-tagged by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and accused of being a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and NPA for his work reporting on rights violations, farmers’ issues and environmental issues in Cagayan Valley.