The government wants progressive leftist organizations to
become active participants in the country's politics to give them an
opportunity to air their views, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said
on Wednesday.
A spate of killings in Mindanao ,
including the slaying of Lumads, has called attention to the need for the
government to distinguish between armed communist guerillas and those who
belong to legal fronts.
On views that, following the repeal of the Anti-Subversion
Law, the New People's Army (NPA) gained momentum in some areas and grew bolder
with the support of organizations that are considered legal, Lacierda said the
Supreme Court has already declared the Anti-Subversion Law unconstitutional and
this cannot be reversed.
"Now, certainly, we want the progressive left to come
join the mainstream," he told reporters during a media briefing in
Malacañang.
"That is why you have the participation of Bayan Muna,
Bayan, and all the other progressive left organizations, which is good because
they participate in the mainstream society. They are able to discourse in
public their views," he explained.
"As to whether they are fronts of the New People's Army
and all that, that is not something that we would like to comment on. It is up
to them to convince people what their organizations are."
As to whether these organizations are violating the law,
there are laws and guidelines that the government must enforce, he said.
There are laws for specific crimes, for instance, sedition
or inciting to sedition, Lacierda said, adding that it is up to authorities to
determine whether these groups break the rules.
"Alam nila kung ano 'yung batas. ‘Yan po ay isang bagay
na, on the progressive left, kaya sila bumaba, kaya sila nag-join ng mainstream
ay talagang kailangan din natin ang kanilang tinig para magkaroon ng mas
magandang diskusyon sa publiko," he said.
Members of the NPA are suspected of being behind the recent
killing of a Lumad mayor and his son in Agusan del Sur province.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=817914
Since the ideological split that took place within the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in the mid-1990s there have been two overarching ideological tendencies within the above ground Philippine Left ---The Reaffirmists and the Rejectionists.
ReplyDeleteThe Reaffirmists essentially reaffirmed the primacy of the CPP's strategic line of peasant-based armed struggle where rebel forces seek the violent overthrow of the democratically elected Philippine government.
The Rejectionists, on the other hand eschew armed struggle in favor of participation in the Philippine political process.
The Reaffirmsts are represented by CPP fronts such as the Makabayan political coalition and umbrella front organizations such as the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-New Patriotic Alliance) and KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights).
The Rejectionists are characterized by groups such as Akbayan, Sanlakas, Buklaran ng Manggagawa (BMP-Solidarity of Philippine Workers), etc.
It is difficult to reconcile the legality of Reaffirmist (CPP) front groups with the fact that ideolgically they support clandestine insurgent organizations such as the National Democratic Front (the political wing of the CPP) and the New People's Army (the military wing of the CPP) that are committed to the violent overthrow of the central government in Manila.