50th CPP anniversary: Looking through five decades of violence and peace talks (Pt. 1)

From the Manila Times (Dec 28): 50th CPP anniversary: Looking through five decades of violence and peace talks (By Jumel Gabilan Estrañero)

First of three parts
BEFORE 2018 ends, another year has been celebrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for its 50th founding anniversary last December 26. According to a CPP spokesman, “This enabled us to still commemorate our 50 years as well as share to our comrades our achievements and milestones throughout the campaign, further strengthening the morale in our ranks.” (Sandara Sidlakan, spokesperson for Guerrilla Fronts 21 and 30 of the New People’s Army or NPA in northern Mindanao.)

On the other hand, the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division commander, Maj. General Rhoderick Parayno, said that 164 rebels had surrendered in Calabarzon. “The (CPP) has lost its relevance [and] is just living on propaganda,” Parayno said. “Those who understand their plight, their cause, are surrendering. They’ve not only lost 50 years. They have wasted 50 years.”

According to the military, more than 1,120 regular NPA fighters and 9,577 members of the “militia ng bayan” nationwide had surrendered to government forces from January 1 to November 28 this year.

Serving as a background of this long-hailed communist insurgents and terrorists, the CPP was established along Maoist lines on Dec. 26, 1968, by then university professor Jose Maria Sison and a handful of followers who broke away from the old Soviet-oriented party. Three months later, on March 29, 1969, the core group formed the NPA with guerrillas to replace the old Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan.

Various guerrilla platoons held their own celebrations on their respective fronts. The rebel terrorists had received calls from individuals, politicians and different groups supposedly wanting to attend the celebration. The CPP has been good in boosting the morale of their comrades even in the midst of alleged military offensive by the AFP. “Even before Christmas Day, the Army offensive in the different areas in Surigao del Sur has been relentless and has intensified but it has not broken our will and we have still managed to commemorate and celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines,” Sidlakan said.

Currently, the military stepped up its counterinsurgency operations after President Rodrigo Duterte canceled peace talks to end the 50-year communist insurgency in November 2017. Duterte has also moved to proscribe as terrorists the CPP, NPA and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the Marxist umbrella representing the rebels in the negotiations.

In a separate statement, the regional committee of the CPP on Panay Island said NPA offensives in the area increased 13 percent over last year and recruitment grew 12 percent, the biggest since 1993. It said the members of village-based rebel militia units also rose 35 percent.

Lies, deception, violence

 The CPP is also good at lying about its continued deception of the masses. Sidlakan said military offensives were continuing on December 26, with guerrillas reporting clashes in San Miguel town, Surigao del Sur province, and Sibagat town, Agusan del Sur province. Those who died, it said, were unarmed and noncombatant members of the party’s regional education and propaganda staff.

With the youth sector as the party’s backbone, students of the University of the Philippines (UP) or Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) are easily recruited to become members of the CPP, or worse, join the heavily armed terrorist group NPA. I remember the Anakbayan saying before, “The arrest is alarming since the reactionary military forces have a track record of violent and inhumane treatment of their captives, especially women.” Of course, this is mere Anakbayan propaganda.

If there is any organization responsible for recruiting women to fight our soldiers, it is the Anakbayan group. For many years, we have been saying that Anakbayan was one of the above-ground allied fronts of the CPP and the NPA. Also, Anakbayan charges the Armed Forces of the Philippines for their violent behavior, but in truth if there was no armed insurgency by the NPA or Anakbayan, then there wouldn’t be any need for soldiers to patrol the hinterlands of Negros island. The fact that the AFP does not reveal the identities of any of its captives is a proof of the AFP’s adherence to international and humanitarian law. But the NPA which accuses the military of violations of human rights, they are far worse in the sense that they are recruiting innocent and underage students to fight their lost cause.

Further, the heavy equipment of a private construction firm in South Cotabato were recently burned by the NPA. Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, spokesperson for the regional police, said 10 members of the NPA set ablaze a backhoe of Gemma Construction at the village of Lamfugon, Lake Sebu town, in South Cotabato.

In addition, on October 4, NPA rebels also burned a truck, 20 sacks of fertilizers and 18 hectares of lemon at a plantation in Agusan del Sur. The plantation at the village of Balit in San Luis town iss owned by a Charity Ampong, who has been accused by the rebels of being “despotic” towards her workers.

Let us remember that since 2015, more than a dozen heavy equipment of private firms engaged in road construction and concreting in the upland towns of South Cotabato, have been burned by the rebels. The NPA’s stand on this kind of crime is like acting a la Robin Hood. Blaming the government or company owner while giving pitiful concern for the people in the locality. Words like the workers can only have their time to rest during lunch break but they are required to rest in sheds or else their wages will be deducted.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time they have acted like this. In a statement last year, the NPA owned up to the burning of quarry equipment in Koronadal City. These equipment are valuable not just for local construction but also for agricultural uses. Clearly this is the work of the NPA, which has been mulcting the construction companies. Destruction of property is a big crime of humanity, an economic sabotage endangering the lives of many Filipinos.

Recruitment of minors

 The statement of former Bayan Muna party-list representative Satur Ocampo that communist rebels are not recruiting minors as fighters, is a blatant lie. The statement/claims made by Ocampo and the group of teachers and minors from the Salugpungan Learning Center last month are conflicting. The group of teachers and minors said that the police and military were involved in dispersing them from their school and boarding house so they sought the help of Ocampo’s group. Ocampo claimed in a television interview that as a rule, the CPP-NPA-NDF is against the recruitment of minors so definitely that could not be part of the program of the NPA.

Why do they have to take the law into their own hands, by allowing themselves to rescue the teachers and minors as they keep on saying? Were there no honest military men and police men anymore in the area? They could have asked the help of the mayor or the governor in the first place as a matter of protocol. Ocampo must know that as a former party-list representative, one must at least pay a courtesy call. Or maybe he just wanted to bypass the law?

They said that “We have consent from parents of the children when they were evacuated.” Also, they said they didn’t have time to call the police because their dispersing was already happening. And yet you can get the consent of every parent of those children in that very situation and that fast? But you don’t have time to call the police?

Everyone knows that the NPA recruits children. So, what’s new? It’s just that they were caught red-handed.

(To be continued)

[Jumel Gabilan Estrañero, a defense analyst/researcher for the government while teaching political science and international affairs. He specializes in defense security, strategy and policy, South China Sea, terrorism, global and regional politics, and special intelligence.]

https://www.manilatimes.net/50th-cpp-anniversary-looking-through-five-decades-of-violence-and-peace-talks/488785/