Opinion: CPP -- Just a matter of time

Opinion piece posted to The Manila Times (Jan 22, 2021): CPP: Just a matter of time (By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.)



THE Supreme Court hearing on the 37 petitions by various groups and individuals against the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) should be an interesting development to watch. The arguments being raised so far by the petitioners are all anchored on the presumption that with the ATL, the state will have tremendous powers to be abused, i.e., to trample on the rights and liberties of citizens. These groups continue to believe their own propaganda that there is a state policy to disregard human rights and that the law will only embolden the security sector in committing more violations in the exercise of its powers to protect citizens from terrorists.

At the risk of violating the rule on sub judice, I would like to expound on these assertions and analyze why these militant groups are saying this. Offhand I can confidently say that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is feeling the heat, and its leaders and members know that very soon the organization will crumble, thanks to the passage of the ATL.

From the very beginning, during the deliberations of the bill proposing the ATL, it was over-emphasized that the law would not curtail the civil liberties of our people. The Constitution no less protects freedom of expression, of dissent, and peaceful assembly, and the ATL reiterates these important foundations of our democracy. But militants and their supporters insist that activism is the main target of this law rather than terrorism. This is because Jose Ma. Sison laced the youth’s delicate minds with that poison called “communism” and offered his utopian world as an alternative to our chaotic democratic system. But did he say he is going to destroy democracy with it? No, he used his dual revolutionary tactics, creating organizations that appeared to advance democratic and liberal principles, and tagged them as his progressive allies.

The Makabayan bloc in the House (which many now call Kamatayan bloc) is at the forefront of these opposition against the ATL. If we recall, these are the same individuals who have been complaining of being red-tagged, which led to the Senate inquiry on the issue. But just like their argument in the Senate hearings, they refuse to admit that they are subversives and deny their ties with the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA). Sison himself has also labeled them as Reds for being part of his solidarity network in the International League of Peoples Struggles (ilps.info). But what is more damning is the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) website, which identifies all these underground organizations running the “legal” front organizations (ndfp.org).

If you don’t understand what I am talking about, go to the website and make a quick check of all the member organizations of the NDFP and see for yourself those organizations in crimson red logos and insignias, typical of the revolutionary organizations during the Bolshevik era.

Very prominent in the group is the Bagong Hukbong Bayan (NPA), which is responsible for all these ambushes, assassinations, arson and murder of Indigenous Peoples leaders opposing the communists’ encroachment in their ancestral domain. What has this group to do with the Kamatayan bloc? Everything, and this is the reason why they are frantic and delirious now that there is a law that penalizes preparatory acts of terrorism.

Section 6 of the ATL provides that planning, training, preparing and facilitating acts of terror makes one accountable under the law. Attempting or conspiring to commit a terror act (Section 7), proposal to commit a terrorist act (Section 8) and inciting to commit a terrorist act (Section 9) are all clearly defined in this law. Finally, there is Section 10, recruitment and membership to these terror groups, and Section 12, providing material support to terrorist groups. Now aren’t these the very same acts which our resource persons in the Senate defense and security committee hearing have said about the organizations they used to belong to? Do the members of the Kamatayan bloc have an alibi? Yes, but it remains an alibi.

Let us go through some of these organizations (there are a hundred of them) to explain this intricate network of dubious organizations created by Sison.

The NDFP is the shield that protects the party (CPP) and the army (NPA). It is established in such a way that they build on from the basic alliances comprising youth, women, peasant/labor sectors. From here are born such organizations as Anakbayan, Kabataan, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, etc. from the youth sector; Gabriela, Gabriela-Youth, Amihan for the women; and the Kilusang Mayo Uno, Anakpawis and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas for the peasant, farmer and labor sector. Are these organizations terrorist organizations? Yes and no. These organizations, although classified as open mass organizations (aboveground), are run by party groups or cells of the CPP, hence they will have to be watched while doing their operation underground.

Going back to NDFP.org, it identifies the red cells operating Kabataan, LFS and CEGP as Kabataang Makabayan (KM), while Makibaka, another NDFP organization is the underground cell of the CPP that is running Gabriela and Gabriela-Youth. Says who? Well, ask those who have been inside the organization Iike Ambassador Bobi Tiglao, Roberto Bobby Garcia, Ruben Guevarra (former central committee member) and recently, Joy James Saquino@Amihan, Noel Legaspi@Efren, or Jeffry Celis@Eric.

The list of organizations created by the CPP and those infiltrated is long but for our purposes now we are only touching on KM and Makibaka since the two have provided the most number of recruits to the CPP-NPA in recent years. I did not want to belabor readers too much on this, but it is important that we understand the interplay of these aboveground and underground organizations, especially in light of this controversy on the ATL and now the abrogation of the University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense accord.

The CPP has managed to perpetuate and orchestrate violence through its massive and extensive propaganda machinery embedded and run by all these “progressive” alliances of Sison. Lies and deceit have been mastered by these organizations in order to maintain their cover as “legal” fronts. But clearly though, the KM of Anakbayan and Kabataan, and the Makibaka of Gabriela are organizations running parallel to the BHB (NPA) — the terrorist organization that the Kamatayan bloc calls its friends. They are ahead in propaganda by a thousand miles but the the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or NTF-Elcac is quickly catching up. It’s only a matter of time.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/01/22/opinion/columnists/cpp-just-a-matter-of-time/830602/