Opinion piece by Marit Stinus-Cabugon posted to the Manila Times (Aug 26, 2019): Ending communist insurgency
THAT the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its above-ground and underground affiliated organizations recruit in schools is quite old news, the recent publicity surrounding the matter notwithstanding. The past holds countless cases of college students who ended up in the mountains. Political science student Marvin Marquez, killed in a New People’s Army camp in Trinidad, Bohol, in July 2000, and 21-year-old nursing graduate Rachelle Mae Palang who perished in southern Negros Oriental in September 2008 are among Cebu’s most known cases of students getting involved in student activism that was a precursor to joining the NPA. This being said and even if I do not agree with the way the two pursued political and socio-economic change, even if I believe they were misguided, I see Marvin and Rachelle Mae as heroes because they chose a life away from comfort, driven by a desire to help poor farmers in the forgotten, far-off villages of Central Visayas. I knew Marvin and he was a good kid.
Their deaths are, of course, sayang. These two young persons could have accomplished more alive, fighting poverty and injustice through non-violent means.
Marvin and Rachelle Mae were recruited into the communist movement through the League of Filipino Students and College Editors Guild of the Philippines, respectively. Since the communists, unlike the government, are remarkably consistent, I don’t think this path of recruitment has changed. Neither have the encouragement, influencing, coaxing, manipulation and coercion employed by faculty members zealous to provide young blood to the movement. Many students join voluntarily but others are driven into a corner from where there is only one exit — and it leads to the mountains. Yes, this has been going on even in state universities. It is appalling and unacceptable.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) emphasizes that the department has “no problem with student activism,” or “youths who are critical thinkers,” and that “criticism, protest and resistance is part and parcel of democratic politics.” What the DILG — the government — has a problem with is when “the democratic space provided by the Constitution” is used “as a front or excuse to recruit, train, and wage armed struggle against duly constituted authority.” That “becomes a criminal act and must be prevented by the state,” according to DILG spokesman Jonathan Malaya (Aug. 22, 2019).
It is precisely the armed struggle that is the problem with the communists and the National Democratic Front, whose very existence is tied up with defending and furthering the armed struggle. Look at the Defend Negros campaign. Its updated (as of July 26) list of “EJK victims in Negros since Duterte became president” contains 87 names of persons killed in the two Negros provinces from Jan. 20, 2017 to July 28 2019. But the list is selective. Example: It does not include at least 15 – fifteen – victims killed in Negros this year between June 6 and July 18. The NPA has officially claimed six of these killings. Is the abduction and execution of policemen not condemnable? Other victims were unarmed civilians, shot dead without warning.
Negros could benefit from the peace and development approach adopted by the military and the government in Davao City. Army Community Development Teams are deployed for eight months. The teams work closely with barangay officials, police, city government and national agencies in addressing the specific concerns of a particular area and in bringing the needed services. This strategy works! Less than two years ago, 83 of Davao City’s 182 barangays were insurgency-affected (Manila-Shimbun, June 14, 2018). Today only 16 of the 83 remain to be cleared, according to the 1003rd Infantry Brigade’s Col. Nolasco Mempin. The deadline set by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for the remaining barangay to be declared “cleared, peaceful and conflict-resilient communities” is before the end of the year.
The poverty in Paquibato District helped make it an NPA stronghold and an NPA base “for the longest time,” the term used by Colonel Mempin (Sun Star Davao, August 21). This was where Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao lived and made his last stand on June 28, 2015. On Dec. 26, 2016, the NPA camp in Brgy. Lumiad hosted 300 NPA combatants and some 3,000 CPP members and supporters, gathered to celebrate the CPP anniversary.
Poverty remains. Three barangay in Paquibato top the list of acute malnutrition prevalence in children under age five in Davao City, according to the City Health Office. Barangay Sumimao has a staggering 18.64 percent wasting prevalence rate among young children. The figures for Pandaitan and Colosas are 10.1 percent and 6.78 percent, respectively. The rate for the entire city is 0.72 percent (Davao Today, July 5, 2019).
Davao City has been a source of NPA funding and recruitment for decades. The dismantling of the “CPP-NPA politico-military structure” in the city is making the imminent clearing of the rest of Mindanao a realistic goal.
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