Insurgency: Keep Quiet

 For some of those fighting with the NPA the revolution is a family affair.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1119140

Parents will do everything for their children like abandoning a lost cause of the New People’s Army (NPA).

“Michael” and his partner “Gian”, who are members of the Komiteng Larangang Gerilya South Ilocos Sur (KLG-SIS) of the Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee (ICRC) under the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), surrendered to authorities on October 15 at Barangay Karikitan, Conner, Apayao.

When they came forward to return to the folds of the law, they did not just bring a long firearm and ammunition and two grenades but also their eight-month-old child, the main reason for their surrender.

In Ilocano, the couple said, “we decided to abandon the armed struggle because of the hardship we experienced in the underground movement, the difficulties of living on the mountains without certainties of life, and the lack of food.”

Michael joined the NPA mid of 2016 while Gian joined in February 2017. They met in the mountains and started a relationship that bore them a son, who eventually became the reason for them to abandon a lost cause.

The two said they want to live a peaceful life with their eight-month-old son.

After their oath of allegiance administered by Philippine National Police chief, General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan on Monday, the couple showed to the general their son.

Cascolan handed to the couple an “envelope” as his assistance to the child.

Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) record shows that from 2018 to October 18, a total of 256 NPAs and their supporters have surrendered to the government.

Out of the number, 92 are Communist New People’s Army Terrorist Group (CTG) members, 139 “Militia ng Bayan” (MB), and 25 supporters.

Did the PNP Chief give his won personal money as assistance for the baby? It seems so and that would be in addition to whatever they get from ELCAC. Funny that the majority of surrenders in the Cordillera region are not actual NPA fighters but just supporters. That's actually par for the course though. One pair of fighters who recently surrendered are  father/son duo.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1118219

According to the 94IB, the 40-year-old rebel surrendered with his 16-year-old son to ensure the safety of the minor, following their involvement in the series of encounters with government troops in the hinterlands of Himamaylan and neighboring Binalbagan town and Kabankalan City.

The father, known as alias “Joker”, turned over a .38-caliber pistol while his son, alias “Jacking”, handed a .30-caliber Springfield sniper rifle to Lt. Col. Angelo Guzman, commander of 94IB.

The boy, who was recruited by the NPA when he was only 11, was assigned as a medical officer of Sentro De Gravidad Platoon of Central Negros Front 2.

Joker and Jacking. How does one get a nickname like Jacking? Being a medical officer at age 11 is quite amazing. They must be desperate. Why kind of skills did he learn during his time in the field?

Aside from all the bribe money surrenderees are promised the PNP now says they will offer continual support to ex-rebels.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1349953/cascolan-assures-pnp-to-continuously-assist-ex-rebels-who-surrendered

Cascolan, who presided over a Baguio City program on Monday morning for several former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who surrendered their firearms, said that they are looking at placing assistance desks in barangays so that rebels who want out can approach authorities.

“As I’ve said, we will be going to the barangays, we will be establishing assistance desks, as least two PNP (officers) per assistance desk per barangay.  We’ll be looking at our PNP response team doon sa mga barangays,” he told reporters in Baguio.

“In barangays we need to go closer to them, we need to be very, very visible. In so doing, your areas where someone surrendered, and at least give confidence to […] their surrender, that will continue, ”he added.

“We envision this development for our DIPOs as one of our frontline units in peace and order functions, particularly our crusade against communist insurgents and other threat groups in far-flung areas across the country,” Cascolan said in a statement.[ac]

How do they surrender now? It seems they just approach the nearest AFP or PNP detachment and offer up themselves. The ECLAC program might seem great but from all that's been said in the past one can't help but think this is more psy-ops. Here is a recent psy-op which is pretty transparent.

The following banner appeared along Roxas Blvd in Manila declaring the NPA persona non grata.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/10/22/news/latest-stories/manila-govt-takes-down-anti-communist-tarpaulin/783957/

The tarpaulin in question read, “Ang teroristang (The terrorists) CPP-NPA-NDF, ay (is) ‘persona non grata’ sa (in) Metro Manila,” referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing, the New People’s Army, and its political wing, the National Democratic Front. 

Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso previously issued a statement, saying: “Spread love, not hate, in the midst of this pandemic. Filipino kapwa Filipino magkaisa muna. (All fellow Filipinos should unite for now.)”

Manila Mayor Isco Moreno's justification for taking this banner down, spread hate not love during the pandemic, is interesting but even more interesting what what former AFP Chief and now DILG Secretary Año had to say about the matter.

https://mb.com.ph/2020/10/22/ano-welcomes-banners-declaring-npa-ndf-persona-non-grata-1/

“Panahon na talaga para ano yan e, tapusin na nila. Sino pa ba ang naniniwala sa kumunista ngayon? Wala nang kumunista sa boung mundo sila na lang (It is time for them to end it (communism). Are there any people who still believe in the communist? There are no more communist in the world, except them),’’ Año said.

In defending his stance, Año said the people who put up the tarpaulin banners in Manila are fed up with the communists as they merely expressed their sentiments in peaceful ways, devoid of violence and vandalism. 

Clueless on what group put up the anti-red tarps, Año said it is not definitely the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict). 

“I don’t think galing sa ELCAC yan (it is from the (ELCAC). I should know kung galing sa ELCAC yan (if it came from the ELCAC),’’ he added. 

Maintaining that “there are a lot of groups supportive of the ELCAC and anti-CPP-NPA’’, Año said “you cannot prevent those groups, even a lot of LGUs (local government units) in the provinces and cities from declaring the CPP-NPA and NDF “persona non grata.’’

Two things to note here. First, "Are there any people who still believe in the communist? There are no more communist in the world, except them" is a stupid statement. Right next door to this country is Vietnam and China. Both are communist countries. 

Second of all, Año acting mystified about who hung this sign is also ridiculous. Sure there may be groups supportive of the ELCAC but who has the money and time to put this up especially during the pandemic when everyone is hard hit for cash? The NPA is not even particularly active in Manila as they are most active in Mindanao.  The biggest clues alerting us to who hung this sign are the PNP and NTF logos on the tarpaulin. The NTF logo might be hard to discern but zoom in and it will become clear what it is.

https://www.army.mil.ph/atr-website/images/2020/pdf-files/FINAL%20Army%20Journal%20p1-52.pdf page 10

NTF-ECLAC spokesman Parlade gave away the game.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1351744/fwd-parlade-asks-isko-this-time-are-you-welcoming-npa-into-manila

“I don’t know who ordered it and I’m not privy to the latest decision of NTF ELCAC on this,” Parlade said in his personal Facebook account regarding as to who placed the tarpaulins.  “But why not? 96 cities nationwide already declared the CPP NPA as PNG, so my question really is WHY JUST NOW in Manila?”

“Why would even Manila order the removal of these tarps?  Is Mayor Isko welcoming this terrorist? Let’s clarify from Yorme the basis for his action? Is it fear of retribution?” he asked.

That is practically an admission that the NTF-ELCAC put up the banners. Even more amazing is Parlade's red-tagging of the Mayor of Manila! How ridiculous is that? This week Parlade has been in hot water for making not-so veiled threats against actress Liza Soberano for speaking with Gabriela.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/10/23/2051738/general-warns-soberano-catriona-keeping-ties-gabriela

A military general warned actress Liza Soberano that her association with a women’s rights group may put her in the same path as those killed in encounters with troops or raped by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) chief and spokesman for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), gave the warning in a statement directed at Soberano on Wednesday night.

Parlade advised Soberano, who spoke in an online forum on gender-based abuse hosted by the Gabriela Women’s Party earlier this week, not to engage in what he described as an “underground mass organization.”

“Liza Soberano, there’s still a chance to abdicate that group. If you don’t, you will suffer the same fate as Josephine Anne Lapira @ELLA, former Deputy Secretary General of Gabriela Youth of UP, Manila and defender of women’s rights, even against sexual predators amongst her comrades in the NPA unit she joined which is clearly stated in her handwritten letter addressed to a certain @EMIL,” the general said.

Lapira, a 22-year-old student at the University of the Philippines-Manila, was killed in what was reported as an encounter between communist rebels and government forces in Batangas in November 2017.

Following her appearance in the online forum to support women’s rights, Soberano was criticized by netizens and labeled as a communist sympathizer in some social media platforms.

“Let us not red-tag Liza Soberano. It’s not fair to her. She is merely supporting advocacy for women’s rights. She has to be protected in the exercise of her rights. Is she an NPA? No, of course not. Not yet,” Parlade said.

He said that Soberano and other celebrity targets, like Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, should not be red-tagged and instead be educated on the supposed violent agenda of the communist Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA), which he said is fronted by Gabriela.

“The choice is yours Liza. And so with you Catriona,” said Parlade, who also alluded to the supposed association of actress Angel Locsin and her sister to the underground movement linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA.

The amount of doublespeak in this statement is nuts. He does not outright accuse her of being an NPA but slyly indicates she is on that path by saying, "Not yet."  Far from accusing Gabriela of being merely an "underground mass organization" Parlade actually believes they are a terrorist organization.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1351573/parlade-claims-gabriela-part-of-terrorist-organization

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. on Friday alleged that women’s group Gabriela is “part of the terrorist organization.” 

Parlade made the allegation after he was accused of “red-tagging” actress Liza Soberano when he warned her about engaging with Gabriela.

In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, Parlade claimed that Gabriela, especially those nominated as party-list members, are allegedly connected with communists. 

“You cannot be nominated as a party list representative of Gabriela, as well as Makabayan bloc member if you are not a hard-bearing member,” he also claimed. 

“They cannot deny it, it’s the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) who nominates these people, so are they part of the terrorist organization? Yes, definitely. Definitely,” the military official said.

A strong statement but as of now the NTF-ECLAC is still gathering evidence to prove this accusation.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/10/23/2051755/anti-communist-task-force-gathering-evidence-formally-tag-cpp-allies-terrorists

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said it is “consolidating” evidence against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its supposed allies for them to be formally tagged as terrorists under the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act.

“We are consolidating evidence to support the designation of this Communist Party of the Philippines as a terrorist organization including all its alliances,” NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. told ANC’s Headstart on Friday.

Parlade also said, “We’re just waiting for this designation and proscription of these organizations to be proscribed as terrorist organizations.”

During the interview, Parlade accused the women’s party Gabriela, youth organizations Anakbayan and League of Filipino Students, labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, human rights group Karapatan, thinktank IBON Foundation, and lawyers’ group National Union of People’s Lawyers as “legal fronts” of the CPP.

These organizations have routinely denied the charge, which is frequently brought up against them by military and government officials.

The AFP has had 50 years to consolidate and gather the evidence to prove that these groups are terrorist organizations. So far nothing has materialized except empty charges. That is why DND Secretary Lorenzana has advised Paralde and the AFP to keep quiet if they have no evidence to back up these claims.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1351882/just-keep-quiet-lorenzana-tells-parlade-military

“My thoughts about that is if there is no evidence yet, do not talk about it,” Lorenzana told reporters, adding that he will seek a meeting with other members of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

Lorenzana said he would ask for a meeting with Parlade, who is the NTF-Elcac spokesperson aside from being commander of the military’s Southern Luzon Command, and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon to discuss the matter.

“Although Elcac is a very good idea, it is not right to shotgun everybody. [We] should be selective. We should have evidence … Otherwise, just keep quiet,” the defense secretary said.

That is good advice which should be followed by all the investigators in the government. Don't make accusations until you have the evidence. Don't tip off the target. Catch them by surprise. Only a moron would tell his targets that they are under surveillance!

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/10/26/2052411/makabayan-bloc-party-lists-under-surveillance-parlade-says

"We have this Anti-Terror Law now. It's actually in effect, and we have to do our job to make sure that we are focusing on the right persons and we are properly implementing the law," Parlade said on Monday.

"Part of that is making sure that we have a strong case against people and organizations who, by the way, has been declared as a terrorist organization," he added. 

Speaking in an interview aired over ANC, Parlade hurled accusations that all the members of the Makabayan bloc, the group of rogressive party-lists in the House of Representatives—whom he referred to as the "Kamatayan Bloc"—were "card-bearing members" of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

He did not care to provide evidence for this claim.  

This did not sit well with the Makabayan bloc of course. They call it harassment. Especially with no court order and no evidence.

However Lorenzana claims that Sison himself has red-tagged Gabriela and other groups included in Makabayan. 

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/10/25/lorenzana-parlade-npa-gabriela-soberano-red-tagging.html

"Gen. Parlade said that what he meant was to warn and caution these celebrities in joining or advocating fronts of the CPP/NP/NDF, which Gabriela is one. Just to be clear we were not the ones who red-tagged them. It was Jose Maria Sison himself who identified them as fronts of the CPP/NP/NDF," he said.

Lorenzana added, "To accuse us (military and police) of red-tagging them in the face of Sison's admission is the height of naïveté."

He does not say where Sison did this red tagging but it is likely from a speech he gave in 1987.

The transcript is as follows:

That is the most progressive productive and political force in the Philippines. It is true that a minority class, especially only the party which represents it, cannot win there at the Philippine revolution all by itself. Any rate even while there are the forces around revolution there are the legal democratic forces in the Philippines the biggest of this is Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or BAYAN. It has a membership of more than 2 million members and more than 1,000 member organizations. 

Its biggest component organizations are Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), which is the labor center; Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP); GABRIELA, the women’s alliance; League of Filipino Students (LFS); Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Kadamay and so on.

As I have earlier pointed out Partido ng Bayan founded last August 30 and 31 was an outgrowth of Bayan the big coalition. It started with 50,000 charter members and as of November 22 last year its membership rose to more than 500,000. 

This is not an insignificant party. If we compare it with PDP Laban which is the favorite party on the of Mrs. Aquino. PDP Laban has only 200,000 as of November 1986 despite the advantages that being in power allows. In the face of terror tactics and other special measures being taken against Partido ng Bayan should it withdraw from the arena of electoral and other legal struggles? No it should not. Not even Marcos enjoying the powers of an autocrat could put down Bayan the coalition and all its component organizations. 

As Marcos tried to put them put them down they only became stronger in the course of struggle. Is it true that the Philippine left or the progressive forces representing the fundamental interest of the working class and peasantry being marginalized by the ascendance of Mrs. Aquino to the presidency and by such so-called democratic operations as now being unfolded before our eyes? If you recall Marcos while he was still being referred to as the champion of democracy and as an effective anti-communist fighter, he was being lauded by the United States for his citizens assemblies referenda and elections. 

But those voting exercises did not prevent all forms of organization and all forms of struggle taking the line of national democracy. If we recall Muyang ban Vu (?) he used to hold voting exercises in worn sizable boats but soon afterwards he would be, his government would be put out, by what was then a People's Revolutionary Government developing in the countryside. 

While the big compradors and landlords in the Philippines can arrange boating exercises every so many years the people's revolutionary forces are doing their political work daily and our building organs of people self-government in the countryside. To link itself with the biggest class the peasantry by sending its caters to the countryside among the peasantry the communist party links up with that most numerous class and ensure that the basic alliance of the working class and the peasantry is built. So the basic alliance of the working people link itself with the urban petty bourgeoisie consisting of the small traders and entrepreneurs and the general run of professionals and highly, highly skilled technicians.

These three social forces together compose the basic forces of the Philippine revolution. Further on these basic forces of the revolution link up with the middle bourgeoise to make what is called the National United Front. At the moment the most consolidated expression of the National United Front is the underground. It is a united front for armed revolution and it is the national democratic front. The National United Front however is not only for the purpose of armed struggle it is also for legal struggle. There has to be a combination of the two forms of struggle that is the way how the Filipino revolutionaries conceive of their strategy.

The bolded text is the most important but I have included all for context. In this speech from 1987 Sison say quite bluntly that Gabriela and other groups are legal fronts for the Philippine revolution under the umbrella of Bayan. He ends by saying the Filipino revolutionaries strategy is a combination of both armed and legal struggle.

This admission only brings up more questions and makes the AFP, PNP, and DND appear even more incompetent. If these groups are indeed communist fronts then why are they not outlawed? Why do they have members in the House of Representatives? Why has substantial evidence against them not been complied the past 33 years since this speech? To not have gathered evidence in the face of Sison's admission is the height of incompetence.