Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines' Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations (PNA File photo)
MANILA – The cold-blooded torture and execution of four undercover police by members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) in Ayungon town, Negros Oriental on July 18 is nothing new as they have been committing atrocities left and right for the past 50 years.
This, according to Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC), in a statement Monday which condemned all gruesome acts perpetrated by the communist terrorists.
"What else is new? The CPP-NPA has been doing these barbaric acts ever since. Last June 14, they beheaded a CAFGU member Ryard Badiang in Surigao Sur. A few weeks ago we found the body of an NPA medic they tortured, killed and buried in a shallow grave, after being suspected of being a government spy," he said.
Parlade, who is also Armed Forces of the Philippines' Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations, said the rebels have no qualms in killing these four police officers as they been known to brutally torture and kill their own supporters whom they suspect of betraying them.
These atrocities, he said, are made for the public viewing as the CPP-NPA have posted them on their website in 2018 as part of their anniversary statements.
"If they can torture and brutally kill their own kind, more than 6,000 of them during the Oplan 'Missing Link, Kadena de Amor, Ahos, Zombie, and Oplan Olympia' during the purge in the early and mid 1980's (see the CPP Anniversary Statements published in the CPP website in 2018), torturing and killing four, police agents at that, is peanuts to the CPP-NPA," he added.
Parlade lauded Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher Carlos Conde for calling the killing of the four police officers as a serious violation of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by the rebel group, in his Facebook post last July 20.
"But is Mr. Conde saying that it is only now that he knew about these IHL violations of the CPP-NPA? As a member of College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) during his student days, and later of NUJP which are both front organizations of the CPP, is he now declaring he did not know about the killings that most of their colleagues from the CPP and NPA have been doing through the years?" he added.
Although Conde admittedly is now out of the CPP-NPA ambit since joining HRW, Parlade said the former is still allied with the communist organization.
"After joining the HRW, Mr. Conde is technically out of direct supervision and discipline of the CPP, but remains an ally. He has not severed his links with the NDF (National Democratic Fron)t but remains a significant partner of the CPP," he said.
Conde's Facebook post shows he doesn’t agree to the killings of the four police officers perpetrated by the CPP-NPA in Ayungon, Negros Oriental. Earlier reports claimed that the undercover police officers were lured by their rebel contact into an NPA trap where they were captured, disarmed, tortured and executed.
"But this time Mr. Conde is now saying that he is not agreeable to these killings in Ayungon by his former colleagues in the communist terrorist group. Is he, therefore, ready to condemn this dastardly act of summary execution? If this is true, you are heaven-sent Mr. Conde. This is exactly what we are saying -- activism is welcome but this killing is an act of terrorism," Parlade added.
Work together
He said the HRW and the government, along with other members of militant groups, deceived by the double-talk of the CPP-NPA, can work together to denounce the brutalities and atrocities committed the rebel group.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
"Mr. Conde can bring along his former colleagues from NUJP and even NUPL(National Union of Peoples' Lawyers) and Karapatan, but only if they believe that they, too, were deceived by the CPP. This is only possible if they can condemn the violence of this communist terrorist group," he said.
He added that it is time that these individuals separate themselves from the CPP and help the government in pursuing and defending the human rights of the country's vulnerable sectors.
"At this point, we also urge all the other exploited members of the Kamatayan Bloc, the poor teachers of ACT (Alliance of Concerned Teachers) the unwitting mothers of GABRIELA, our youth in LFS (League of Filipino Students) ANAKBAYAN and KABATAAN who were exploited for their naivete, our innocent OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) who joined MIGRANTE for protection while overseas, and the many more who are joining the street march this Monday for SONA (State-Of-the-Nation Address)," Parlade said.
Thin line
While activism is always welcome in a democracy, many of these rallyists do not realize they very thin line they are threading which is only a step to espousing terrorism.
"Many of them do not know what they are shouting about. Their activism is welcome in this democracy, but they don't realize the very thin line they are threading, which is only a step to espousing terror. Many were only too poor not to accept payment to join the protest. Many of these students are joining, only because their CPP cadre teachers require them to be in the streets in order for them to get better grades. Indeed, many of these laborers were promised many things by the CPP, in order for them to join the rallies," he said.
Parlade also expressed hope that many of these individuals, deceived by the communist rebels, will return to the government voluntarily and work together to achieve peace and progress.
This can be achieved, he said, with the help of the NTF ELCAC that is willing to welcome them with open arms and thus prove to the world that poverty is the result of insurgency and not the other way around.
"We hope most of you will wake up and realize how you were hoodwinked by the CPP into blind obedience. We hope many of you will be enlightened, just like Mr. Conde," he added.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1075623
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