Opinion: 52 years of NPA

Opinion piece posted to the Manila Times (Mar 29, 2021): 52 years of NPA (By Marit Stinus-Cabugon)

TODAY is the 52nd founding anniversary of the communist New People’s Army (NPA). More than half a century of “protracted war” in the Philippine countryside has brought nothing but loss of lives, destruction to land and property, and billions of pesos spent on ammunition and war materiel rather than on education, infrastructure, healthcare and other services needed by the people.

The killing by the NPA of five policemen in an ambush in Labo, Camarines Norte last March 19 was another tragic loss of lives. In the wake of the ambush, the Communist Party of the Philippines advised the police and the military to simply surrender when facing superior rebel forces.

Alas, on the very same day that the statement was released, 10 NPA combatants were slain in an encounter in Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. This is the same barangay where youths — including members of Kabataang Makabayan — celebrated the CPP anniversary in December 2018 complete with banners and formation.

The Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC)-NPA Central Negros is the most active and most lethal of the NPA commands in Negros — maybe in the entire Visayas — responsible for a long list of liquidations and ambushes, mostly in Guihulngan City, over the years. For instance, on July 21, 2017, the LPC killed six Guihulngan City policemen, including the chief of police, in an ambush. This year, the LPC has claimed responsibility for the murders of Cafgu member Mico Dinoy and former Cafgu Lander Garde.

Losing 11 fighters — 10 killed and one captured (from Trinidad, Guihulngan City, and nearby barangays in Canlaon City and Isabela) — and 11 pieces of high-powered fire arms in a single day was the biggest setback for the NPA in Negros in years. The troops from the 62nd Infantry Battalion, 33rd Division Reconnaissance Company and 16th Scout Ranger Company deserve to be congratulated for the successful operation. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of a time of peace and development for Central Negros in general, Guihulngan City in particular, and bring an end to insurgency for good.

On the murder of Antonio Cabanatan

The brutal double murder of Antonio Cabanatan, 74, and Florenda Yap, 65, in Iloilo City last December 2020 remains unsolved to this day. The two were strangled to death and bore marks on their bodies suggesting that they had been subjected to torture. The executive committee of the CPP central committee in a March 17 statement said that the elderly couple had been abducted sometime in October 2020, and tortured and murdered. The house where they were found was rented, but not by them. In fact, the neighbors didn’t even know that anyone lived there. A white van and a motorcycle were seen leaving sometime in late evening (of the day of their abduction). The CPP claims that the house is or was a safe house of the military or police.

The police did not immediately identify the victims. However, a number of IDs was found at the house, and since Cabanatan was a hunchback, identification should not have been difficult. The CPP said it “took time to confirm [the victims’] identities because of disruptions in communication lines [and] intense military operations,” among others, (March 17 statement).

Cabanatan and Yap were victims of a brutal crime for which there is no place in a civilized society. Whoever the victims were and whatever they may or may not have done — including participating in, planning or abetting NPA atrocities in the past — the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Cabanatan’s story is instructive in how the revolutionary movement works, how political education and awareness, organizing and warfare are fused, how each constitutes a part of a whole, one part meaningless without the other. Political understanding comes first as it provides the reason and goal for the armed struggle. This is how the CPP-NPA and the National Democratic Front work and why they are still around after half a decade. This is why guerrilla warfare training starts with political education.

Cabanatan “started his revolutionary work as a student-activist upon joining the Kabataang Makabayan in Cebu in 1967 . . . . He led in expanding the national democratic propaganda movement in Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Leyte, Samar up to Northern Mindanao. He led in establishing chapters of progressive organizations of the student-youth, workers, farmers, fisherfolk and other democratic sectors.” Cabanatan became a party member in 1971. Later he “led in expanding guerrilla warfare in [Samar]. The intensification of tactical offensives and expansion of the [NPA], spread of antifeudal campaigns and mass struggles, strengthening of propaganda work and political education,” among others, all contributed to the ouster of then-President Ferdinand Marcos.

The gruesome murder of Cabanatan and his wife, if not credibly solved with the perpetrators brought to justice, will — ironically — become a confirmation that the couple was justified in waging war on the government.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/03/29/opinion/columnists/52-years-of-npa/856656/