Opinion: The NDF and its last anniversary

Opinion piece posted to the Manila Times (Apr 16, 2021): The NDF and its last anniversary (By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.)

NATURA non facit saltus — nature does not make jumps, or so they say. That belief in continuity was ingrained in our scientific culture to the point that we have always thought this insurgency will stay. I will have to agree with Nassim Nicolas Taleb in his book Fooled by Randomness, especially since this extant case of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) is one proof that 52 years of struggle can possibly be ended in a blink of an eye. That catalyst was provided by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

My last article was a fearless forecast of the NPA’s demise in the very near future — 2021. Developments in the past two years at the strategic level, as well as on the ground, portend the down-spiraling of the CPP armed wing.

After the creation of the NTF-Elcac, chaired by no less than the Commander in Chief himself, the government was able to craft a plan that addresses all the programs of the CPP. With the interplay of the actions of the legal cooperation cluster, international engagement cluster, and the peace and law enforcement development support (Pleds) cluster composed of the security sector, the CPP now faces their biggest problem — the drying up of their funds.

After efforts to expose clearly the links of Gabriela, ACT and Anakbayan with the armed struggle, these organizations now face the prospect of being defunded by their European donors of the financial support that they have been receiving for who knows how long. After the successful engagements with the European Union and Belgium, documents would establish this foreign funding, which was of course channeled to semi-legal entities. As of this writing, the NTF-Elcac has validated the questionable existence of these organizations through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These organs carry different names, but have the same board of directors and addresses, and with expired registrations. These groups which are also listed as party-list groups, now face disqualification not only for receiving foreign funding, but more significantly, for their involvement in the armed struggle. To this day of course, they deny it, even after the series of Senate inquiries held to settle the issue of red-tagging, but casually caused the unmasking of these organizations as fronts for the violent agenda of the CPP founder, Jose Ma Sison.

Just recently, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) announced the freezing of the funds of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), as well as funding for the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Home and Altar for Renewal, Action, and Nurture (UCCP Haran). This is further aggravating the case of CPP funding, especially since many of the CPP finance officers were reportedly disappearing with millions of party funds. In short, they are absconding with the monies of their own organization, possibly in anticipation of the collapse of the CPP. This is the common grievance expressed of recently surrendered rebels. They did not know where the millions of extortion money went when their fighters can hardly survive in the mountains, especially as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have stepped up their hunt for the armed group.

Insurgencies all over the world have always been asymmetrical. Because of the apparent disparity between contending forces, this internal conflict is always marred by issues of excessive use of force, hence the fascist-tagging. It’s a good thing that the thinking senators did not bite the bait of criminalizing red-tagging. It is simply the Left’s defense, when they face a more situationally aware NTF-Elcac which can distinguish between the dissenters allowed by law from the underground and violent dissidents. As they aptly said, it cannot rule against a government which is simply identifying them as such — Reds.

Yet some senators are not as smart — they insist on filing a bill to criminalize red-tagging. That to me is another indicator of an organization which now feels threatened with extinction.

Talking about extinction of terror groups, you cannot help but bring up the issue of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). As we went around Europe, the US and Australia to seek our allies’ support in ending terrorism by stopping their foreign funding, we were continually asked the same question: At your end, what has the Philippine government done to criminalize membership in this terrorist group, which they have all declared a terrorist organization? Well, the answer is in the ATC, which is now the subject of an ongoing petition from at least 37 organizations and individuals. Some of them have since converged into an alliance calling itself 1Sambayan, for whatever the name is worth.

When we graduated in 1987, the NPA strength was at its peak with 26,000 red fighters. By 1992, it was down to 11,000 and at 6,000 by 1995. When the counter-insurgency function was transferred by the AFP to the PNP and the party-list system effected in 1995, the CPP-NPA personnel strength again started to rise. It was up to 11,930 by 2007 when the Makabayan bloc got the largest number of party-list seats, with eight representatives. The NPA strength always climbed up every time there was ceasefire and peace talks. It hit its lowest with 3,789 in 2019, one NPA short than the previous year. This was mind-boggling because during that AFP campaign period, more than 3,400 NPA members were either killed, captured or surrendered.

So, where did the NPA get its replenishment of warriors?

In 2017, the CPP documents captured from central committee members Adelberto Silva and Vicente Ladlad, the National United Front Commission head, revealed that Anakbayan alone was able to recruit 8,635 young children, ages 13 to 17, into their ranks and this was as of September 2015. On top of this, there were these indigenous peoples recruited in the Salugpungan schools, Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, Inc. (Alcadev), Tribal Filipino Program in Surigao del Sur (Trifpss), Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development Inc. (Clans), and UCCP Haran. The 23 minors rescued at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Talamban, Cebu, were just a few of them. Earlier in 2018, five of these indigenous children from Surigao were trafficked to Abra, via their Manilakbayan. Many of these indigenous children are being housed and radicalized at UP Diliman. With their Save Our School (SOS) campaign, these indigenous peoples are being toured in many universities and schools, in order to generate sympathy for their lies. For the most part, it is actually to generate funding from rich university students and foreign funders oblivious to this “taktikang bakwit” of the CPP.

Who orchestrates most of these funding-generating activities of the CPP? It is the National Democratic Front (NDF).

On April 24, the NDF will celebrate its 48th anniversary. Is there a reason for them to celebrate? Certainly. Not only because it could be their last also, but because of their many contributions to the armed struggle. To the armed struggle, let us be very clear about that.

If NDF Negros chairman Concha Araneta is to be believed, the NDF Negros is very proud to have contributed more than 50 casualties from the government side. The NDF statement culled from their archives also clearly show how they raise their heads high for their many contributions to the armed struggle. They do it through the NDF member organizations which you can see in their website ndfp.org.

NDF member organizations

Among the prominent ones are the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), League of Filipino Students (LFS), Anakbayan, Kabataan and National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP); the Lupon ng Manananggol para sa Bayan (Lumaban) of National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL); Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Makibaka) of Gabriela; Katipunan ng mga Gurong Makabayan (Kaguma) of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT); Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions (RCTU) of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU); Compatriot of Courage; Christians for National Liberation (CNL) from the religious sector; and finally the Hukbong Mapagpalayang Bayan (HMB), or New People’s Army (NPA). Yes, the NPA is very much a part of the NDF, but all these members of the NDF, including their consultants Satur Ocampo, Randall Echanis, etc. refused to admit their complicity in all those bloody and violent attacks committed by the NPAs, ably supported by Karapatan, IBON, RMP, etc.

Is it any wonder then why they are so against red-tagging allegedly by the government, particularly by me? Their continuous exposure, not by us, but by their former colleagues, will spell their demise. “Front” has always been their only cover and why they have survived through the years. They call it the “revolutionary dual tactics,” where they call themselves democratic forces when all they are are communists; they classify themselves as progressive groups when all they do is create misery for the people; they attack the viciousness of tyrant governments and fascist leaders, when their constitution clearly states their adherence to a democratic and proletarian dictatorship; they denounce all kinds of abuse, of women, children, the poor, peasants, the IPs when what they do is exploit these sectors to the hilt.

One and the same – CPP-NPA-NDF

After five decades, they can no longer hide from us. We thank profusely the members of the Sambayanan, a group of former cadres of the CPP-NPA-NDF, for educating us on the duplicity of these monsters.

They managed to get seats in Congress, we will take them back. They managed to solidify their alliances with some senators, we will publicly disrobe them. They operate “legitimate” businesses now, we shall unmask them with all the legal tools we have in the government’s arsenal. They have expanded their network in the society, we will dismantle them.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/04/09/opinion/columnists/the-ndf-and-its-last-anniversary/861619/