Bulatlat: CPP hits Bato’s witch-hunt

Posted to the pro-Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)/National Democratic Front (NDF) online propaganda publication Bulatlat (Aug 10, 2019): CPP hits Bato’s witch-hunt (By Anne Marxze Umil)

“By waving the red banner of national democracy, these student activists have kept the flames of Bonifacio, Sakay and Recto’s nationalism burning to inspire the Filipino people in their struggle to assert the country’s sovereignty.”

MANILA – Amid the controversy over the alleged missing students, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) gives honor to the youth activists and their parents who have remained steadfast in the struggle for national democracy.

“By waving the red banner of national democracy, these student activists have kept the flames of Bonifacio, Sakay and Recto’s nationalism burning to inspire the Filipino people in their struggle to assert the country’s sovereignty,” the CPP said in a statement.

Last Wednesday, Aug. 7, the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs have conducted an inquiry to the alleged missing students who are members of Anakbayan. In the inquiry, parents of the said students gave testimonies about their children they deemed as missing after being recruited by the said group.

The CPP condemned Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa’s “anti-activist witch-hunt.”

“He has shamelessly exploited private family problems to drive a wedge between some parents and their activist children with the aim of maligning activism and radicalism,” the CPP said.

Five parents came to testify on the said at the Senate led by Dela Rosa. The parents alleged that their children who were recruited by Anakbayan were kidnapped and brainwashed.

However, Alicia Lucena, a senior high school student of Far Eastern University, belied that she was kidnapped or even brainwashed by the group. In her Facebook post, she said it was her decision to leave their house as she was put under house arrest by her parents.

For the CPP, “Student activism and radicalism is a force for change, progress, social justice and democracy.”

Read: FQS: A Look Back at Those Days of Disquiet https://www.bulatlat.com/2010/01/31/fqs-a-look-back-at-those-days-of-disquiet/

“Student activists of the national democratic movement were among the most resilient in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship in the darkest days of martial law. They were among the prime movers in the uprising against the corrupt Estrada regime. They have consistently fought for the interests of the Filipino people despite the threats to life under the Duterte regime,” the group said.

Lucena also said that accusations against her by Dela Rosa and President Duterte’s cohorts are “painful and outrageous.” She asserts that she joined the organization because she is aware of the problems plaguing the society, thus she decided to devote her time to push for genuine reforms.

She told the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Duterte regime to not use her and her family to “cover up for its inutility and rotten administration.”

The CPP also denounced Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde “for depicting recruitment of activists as a crime after issuing veiled threats against progressive university professors” He is now calling for a recall of past agreements between universities and the Department of National Defense which prohibits the presence of military and police forces from school campuses.

In a separate statement, CPP founder and National Democratic Front of the Philippines Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison said that students and teachers will oppose the military presence.

“Everywhere the Duterte terror regime is using the anti-national and anti-democratic ‘whole nation approach’ of Executive Order 70 to spread red-tagging and the communist scare, put under surveillance and militarize all civilian sectors of society and impose fascist dictatorship on the people,” Sison said.

https://www.bulatlat.com/2019/08/10/cpp-hits-batos-witch-hunt/