Key Philippine Military and Insurgency-Related Events: Opinion: ‘Tis no Leila’s dilemma that communists have infiltrated Congress

Friday, December 11, 2020

Opinion: ‘Tis no Leila’s dilemma that communists have infiltrated Congress

Opinion piece posted to The Manila Times (Dec 11, 2020): ‘Tis no Leila’s dilemma that communists have infiltrated Congress (By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr.)

By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.

WHY, Sen. Leila de Lima, do you seem so worried about the recent goings-on at the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leadership?

You keep referring to certain CPP personalities as National Democratic Front (NDF) consultants. Don’t you suppose this only serves to confirm your complicity with communists who manage to gain their freedom during peace talks? As a lawyer, you should be well aware that those you continue to call “NDF peace consultants,” for not returning to jail, must be deemed fugitives of the law.

Oh, yes, Madam Senator, you know those “consultants” violated the agreement. They were released temporarily so they could participate in the peace negotiations back in 2017 between the government and the rebels. But that was on condition that once the negotiations were over, they would return to jail. President Duterte terminated the negotiations, and yet what did those “consultants” do? Did they return to jail as per agreement? Not one of them.

Randall Echanis, a ranking member of the CPP, made himself scarce after the peace talks ended. Too bad that he could not conceal himself from his own ilk who, for reasons only known to them, killed him in a knife attack right inside his hideout. As for Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, they proved smarter, rushing off to the sanctuary of communist terrorist jungles pronto. Ditto Tirso Alcantara.

Who else?

Well, there too, were Agaton Topacio and Eugenia Magpantay whom Senator de Lima has taken occasion to raise hell about. Last Nov. 25, 2020, a joint law enforcement operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police to serve arrest and search warrants to the two in a house in Mahabang Parang, Angono, Rizal, resulted in their wounding and eventual death while being rushed to the nearest hospital.

As far as the government is concerned, Topacio was actually @Boy/Manong/Ivean/Ching/Cosme, staff, national military commission, CPP; member, central committee, CPP; and former secretary and head, regional operations command (ROC), Central Luzon revolutionary committee.

Magpantay, on the other hand, was @Reming/Bess/Milan/Manang, head, national education department; member, central committee; member, politburo; member, execom; and member, caretaker body, all of CPP.

They were discovered to have been hiding at a safehouse in 12 Kinglet Street, Meralco Village, Mahabang Parang, Angono, Rizal and were being arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest for murder with Criminal Case # 1879-P, and search warrants 20-005, 006, 007, 008; and for attempted homicide with Criminal Case # 3124, and search warrant 20-005, 006, 007, 008. Defying arrest, they shot it out with the arresting officers.

Recovered from the suspects were the following: an M653 rifle, two cal .45 pistols, two fragmentation grenades, and several electronic devices.

That Senator de lima would decry the incident as one more case of human rights violation is no longer surprising. She is only being true to form. She is the cousin of another de Lima from Tigaon, Camarines Sur, one named Julie, the wife of Jose Maria Sison, the CPP founder. Truly as I wrote last time, santol does not fall too far from its tree.

When rebels die from fire from government forces, Leila cries out to the heavens, calling the incident a violation of human rights. But when government soldiers are downed by New People’s Army (NPA) combatants, does she even utter a hoot? Not even a whimper.

Remember the case of the Morong 38, a group of some 43 rebels masquerading as health workers but caught red-handed by a combined team of police and military, with arms and ammunition, improvised explosive devices and subversive documents of the CPP/NPA/NDF. But due to loopholes in the then Human Rights Law, de lima, who was the chairman of the Commission on Human Right sat the time, left no stone unturned in securing the release of those arrested — but for five who admitted their membership in the CPP/NPA and turned state witnesses. The five testified that the 38 were just like any of them. But the 38 had beaten it quick. Next we heard is that years later, in varied encounters with government soldiers, many of the 38 had died as NPA rebels, the latest being Lorrelaine Saligumba who was killed in Baco, Oriental Mindoro.

Current developments show how extensive the communist terrorist uprising of the CPP/NPA/NDF has infiltrated the major sectors of Philippine society.

Now bring that infiltration to the very heart of the country’s legislature, are we not nearing the communist terroristic coup de grace?

Those in the legislature, whether senators like the Hontiveroses and the Pangilinans, or congressmen like Edcel Lagman and the self-proclaimed Makabayan bloc, who are better off dubbed Kamatayan bloc, have to be engaged intensely now for what they are obviously protecting. Like Senator de lima, they sound unabashedly like protectors and coddlers of the CPP. They may not be cogs in the enormous CPP/NPA/NDF machinery, but they surely sound like allies helping these termites eating into the very fabric of the Republic. They refuse to accept the declaration of the former cadres of the CPP during the Senate inquiry. They continue to believe that the CPP and its allied organizations are simply progressive elements of society. Why?

The CPP may not be in a stage of collapse yet, but unless the government, especially the legislative branch, seizes the decisive point now, we may miss this opportunity to once and for all end this communist insurgency now.