Of all the tactics to fight the insurgency I would never have thought that a Fahrenheit 451 type of censorship would have ever crossed the government's mind. But apparently it has as one university has purged all its materials related to the insurgency.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1487962/books-documents-on-govt-ndfp-talks-purged-from-library |
Books and documents on the peace negotiations between the government of the Philippines (GRP) and the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have been removed from the library of a state university in the north.
Evangeline Cabello, chief librarian of the Kalinga State University (KSU) Bulanao Campus in Tabuk City, told the Inquirer on Tuesday that she pulled out the books on the NDFP after a group of policemen and soldiers came and inspected the library on Sept. 1.
“They removed the NDFP pamphlets [from the shelves] and took these with them,” Cabello told Inquirer Northern Luzon in a phone interview.
She said she decided to remove the books to “protect [the students] from being recruited to join communist groups.”
The books are being kept by the university “somewhere else,” she said.
Among others, copies of the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) have been removed, as well as:
• The Declaration of Understanding
• The NDFP Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection, and Welfare of Children
• The GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations Major Arguments and Joint Statements for Sept. 1, 1980-June 2018
• The GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations Major Written Agreements and Outstanding Issues
• NDF Adherence to International Humanitarian Law: Letters to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Secretary General
• NDFP Adherence to International Humanitarian Law: On Prisoners of War
• Two articles on the People’s Struggles for Just Peace
• The NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee Perspectives on Social and Economic Reforms.
The regional task force to end local community armed conflict in the Cordillera has lauded the removal of the books and documents from the KSU library as part of its so-called “whole-of-nation” approach to the insurgency.
Cabello said she was of two minds about her action.
“I acted on my own … but with personal reservations because I think some of those books should not have been removed from the library,” she said.
The KSU president, Dr. Eduardo Bagtang, confirmed that pulling the books off the library’s shelves was Cabello’s sole decision.
He added, however, that he would review the chief librarian’s move.
For some reason the AFP and PNP decided to inspect the library of this university. They then removed NDFP pamphlets and took them with them. In response the librarian, with some reservations, decided to remove certain books to protect students from being recruited into the CPP. The RTF ELCAC lauded the removal of the documents calling it part of the whole-of-nation approach to end the insurgency. None of that makes sense.
Why was the PNP and AFP inspecting the contents of this university library? How exactly will removing materials related to the peace talks prevent students from being recruited into the CPP? Have they inspected or will they be inspecting other libraries for CPP materials? The whole thing stinks of absurdity and totalitarianism. I thought it was professors and certain groups who snookered students into joining the CPP. Now its reading that will make one a dyed-in-the-wool Red.
Adding further to the absurdity of the situation the government admits that the lack of face-to-face classes has actually deprived the CPP-NPA of the chance to entice students to join them.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1153509 |
Ruthless members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) conduct recruitment within their families, luring even children as their membership continues to decrease.
The health crisis has suspended face-to-face classes since last year, thus depriving the CPP-NPA of the chance to entice students to leave schools and join them.
The insurgents have since turned to relatives and indigenous peoples communities, not sparing even minors, according to Maj. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the 4th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
“(What happens is they persuade their younger relatives, even children, to be NPA members. That’s what we learned recently from those who have surrendered to us),” Brawner bared during the “Tagged” virtual media briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Monday.
But Brawner said the CPP-NPA has lost the trust and support of the masses.
“(They also do not have the support of the people anymore, even from their mass bases, so the only ones left supporting them are their relatives),” he said.
If communism is a family affair then so is the Abu Sayyaf.
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| http://mindanaoexaminernewspaper.blogspot.com/2021/09/sayyaf-pa-son-yield-in-sulu.html |
A father and his son who are both Abu Sayyaf terrorists have surrendered to the military on Wednesday in Sulu and security officials were quick to say that the duo would be reintegrated into the society as part of the government’s peace efforts in the southern province.
The terrorists, Haliluddin Isniruddin, 65; and Bennajar Isniruddin, 39, also yielded a grenade launcher and a rifle following their surrender to the 2ndSpecial Forces Battalion headed by Lt. Col. Benito Ramos, Jr. in Talipao town.
Ramos also presented the terrorists to Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, commander of the 11th Infantry Division, who praised the soldiers for their feat. Gonzales welcomed the surrender of the two men and thanked all those who worked in convincing the duo to return to the fold of the law.
The military did not say when the duo joined the terrorist group or if they had killed soldiers and civilians in the past.
Gonzales lauded the efforts of the local governments for their unwavering support in ending violence and promoting peace and development in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
“We have this (Abu Sayyaf Returnee Reintegration) program with local government units that give a lot of opportunities for you to start anew. With our sustained efforts, the downfall of the ASG is inevitable. We will continue our concerted efforts to achieve our short and long-term goals.”
A father-son duo surrendered but the military won't say when they joined or if they had killed soldiers and civilians. But isn't that important? Why would the government want to enroll murderers in a program that will lavish them with all kinds of benefits?
One new benefit the government is offering to NPA surrenderees is COVID-19 vaccination.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1153329 |
A military official on Sunday has offered coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination to Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) rebels returning to the government fold, after swab tests on some captured and a slain NPA rebel yielded positive results.
Maj. Gen. Romeo S. Brawner Jr., commander of Army’s 4thInfantry Division, said three of the 10 CPP-NPA terrorists, including one minor, captured in the Sept. 8 clash in the San Fernando, Bukidnon were Covid positive.
Another NPA rebel who was killed in an encounter in Talakag, Bukidnon on Sept. 9 also turned out positive of Covid-19.
In the Valencia City clash on Sept. 10, three of the four captured rebels, including two minors, yielded positive results on the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or swab tests.
“Many in the NPA ranks possibly have Covid-19 as evidenced by the positive test results of the captured and dead CNTs (communist New People’s Army terrorists). Nais ko pong ipaalam sa kanila na wala pong pinipili ang COVID-19, sundalo, kapulisan, mga kawani, simpleng mamamayan at maging mga myembro ng CPP-NPA-NDF ay tinatablan din ng nakakamatay na Covid-19 (Covid-19 infection chooses no one). We are willing to provide Covid-19 vaccines to the CTG [communist terrorist group] if they will decide to abandon the armed struggle and cooperate with us,” Brawner Jr. said.
Rebel-fatalities were immediately buried upon learning that some of them have tested positive on the Covid-19 test.
Brawner Jr. appealed to the CPP-NPA leadership to abandon the armed conflict adding that the country is currently confronting an unseen enemy that is even more serious, deadly, and exempts no one.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1153718 |
More than 100 members of a progressive group organized by the New People’s Army (NPA) have formally abandoned the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) through a ceremony in Naval, Biliran on Wednesday.
After their disaffiliation from the People Surge Alliance, residents from seven towns in the province joined the Biliran Integrated Peace and Development Workers Federation (BIPDWF) to help sustain peace efforts in the province.
Many former members of the progressive group are from the towns of Culaba, Caibiran, Cabucgayan, Biliran, Naval, Almeria, and Kawayan.
“If we have been fighting the spread coronavirus, we have to stop also this ‘insurgency virus’ that has plagued the country in the past 53 years. There has been no armed encounter in Biliran, but the NPA used different tactics to deceive the people here,” Oliveros said.
The CPP-NPA is nothing like COVID-19. But the fight against both is rather similar. Both are marked by incompetence, idiocy, and corruption. God forbid the fight against COVID-19 should last for 53 years.
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