Editorial: CPP-NPA’s ill will and motive

From the Manila Times (Jan 24): Editorial: CPP-NPA’s ill will and motive

“NO thanks” came the reply of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to President Rodrigo’s generous offer of livelihood and housing to Red fighters willing to lay down their arms.

The response was made in a statement sent to the press on Tuesday afternoon.

“Duterte’s call for NPA members to surrender, in exchange for cash, housing and jobs, is pure hogwash,” the NPA said.

The statement is premature and is indicative of the malice and bad faith the CPP-NPA has shown since the beginning of the Duterte administration.

It pointed to the counterinsurgency program CLIP (Comprehensive Local Integration Program), which it described as a “hold-over of the US-Arroyo regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya.” It claimed, without providing evidence, that the CLIP had served as a “source of corruption for AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) generals and ranking officials.”

Duterte made the assurance of protection over the weekend as two former NPA members yielded to the government in simple rites at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City.

Malacañang said: “The Chief Executive pledged that NPA surrenderees would be welcomed and accepted; assured the rebel returnees of the government’s protection and assistance as they begin to immerse [themselves]in the civilian way of life.”

Each of the former rebels was given a housing unit, financial assistance, food packs and a smartphone.

The President’s offer of protection and a return to civilian life appeared sincere by all indications, unlike the CPP-NPA leadership’s show of treachery during the peace negotiations by attacking government forces, including a presidential convoy, during a ceasefire.

The CPP-NPA should not begrudge its members who have grown tired of four decades of fruitless armed struggle, nor should it take offense at the government’s offer of assistance to them.

Tuesday’s statement was, in fact, a new low for CPP-NPA propaganda, as it also disrespected the achievements of the good men and women of the Armed Forces, particularly those who fought in the five-month siege of Marawi City.

“Red fighters are not like AFP soldiers,” the CPP-NPA said. “They are not enticed to join the armed struggle through promises of high salaries, sex with starlets and bright new toys. They do not seek constant flattery for what they do, which is to serve the people selflessly and with humility.”

What hypocrisy! Perhaps the CPP-NPA propaganda machine should take a look at Joma Sison’s lifestyle in exile in the Netherlands, where at one point the CPP founder was himself pictured with a sexy starlet, Ara Mina.

Such was Sison’s frivolity, while Red fighters—lured and indoctrinated in the passé ideology of armed struggle, placed themselves in harm’s way, separated from their families and friends.

Red fighters are certainly better off with Duterte’s offer of protection, housing and livelihood, than wait for Sison’s false promise of communist utopia.

http://www.manilatimes.net/cpp-npas-ill-will-motive/376082/