NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY . . . FREEDOM FIGHTERS? ? ? ? OR THE TYRANT’S PRAETORIAN GUARD

Agnes Lopez Reano

 

 

           Freedom means a state or quality wherein one is free from oppression, prejudice and repression while fighter means one who fights or is inclined to fight.  Taken from the meaning of the two words, “freedom fighters” means a group of people or a person who is/are willing to fight for the sake of the majority that they may be free from oppression, prejudice and repression.

 

            For almost four decades, the CPP-NDF claims that their armed component the New People’s Army or the Bagong Hukbong Bayan is the “people’s champion of human rights”, the “liberator of the Filipino people”, and “freedom fighters”.  For such a long time the Filipino people  believed them, even going up to the extent of extending financial, logistical and moral support to the NPA.  Such were the situations five years ago; from then on people realized and witnessed the true intent of the CPP-NPA-NDF.  From their own doings and activities they self-destruct and finally lose grip on the people’s trust and confidence.

 

            For almost four decade . . . the NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY or the NPA or in Tagalog ANG BAGONG HUKBONG BAYAN, the armed component of the CPP-NDF claimed to be “freedom fighters”.  But the argument is do they live up to the name?  Or they are only using it to hide their true identity to legitimize their clandestine operations of robbing the Filipino people of their prize possessions and liberty? 

 From the circumstances and situations that we witness and from the evidences of their atrocities and activities nationwide, from summary executions of innocent civilians, continuous spate of widespread killings of police, soldiers, CAFGU volunteers, government officials and former rebels who wanted to have a normal life with their families, bombing of cell sites, torching of public utility buses, extortions, robberies, harassments not only of civilians but politicians as well, who refused to support them, exploitation of women and minors, recruitments of students and youths, used of landmines, the paranoid purging operations within its ranks of political cadres and ordinary red fighters and many other strings of atrocities . . .  this is not clearly what they are.

 

           They drum beat and tagged themselves as “revolutionaries”, while definitely doing the opposite.  This charade is only for the sake of fleecing and milking the Filipino people not only of their financial assets but “using” our people as a means to accumulate wealth and as an instrument to blatantly exploit power. These clearly belied their claims that they are “Freedom Fighters” but instead prove that the rebel group is not a revolutionary movement as it claims to be but a big-time extortion gang that operates nationwide.

 

           Four decades of sham and travesty, four decades of grotesque and farcical imitations of the Filipino people’s rights and concerns have drained our country’s resources and manpower. The war that is being waged by these charlatans sapped our youth’s talents and energy and shattered our nation’s sovereignty and economic stability.

 

           Freedom fighters? ? ? Let’s take a closer look on the NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY, with a string of atrocities documented and undocumented.  As a former NPA rebel I wish to share with you, dear readers, some of the grotesque activities we committed against the very people we promised to serve and protect.

 

            FORCED RECRUITMENT OF MINORS AND STUDENTS . . . Young people suffer as much as their parents do in terms of economic exploitation and political repression they endure from the very hands of the groups that called themselves “protector of the people.” They are deprived of their basic rights to education, health care and the like and are often victims of the revolutionary movement’s twisted and vested interests.  They are easy prey to the deceptions and exploitations of the communist front organizations and its armed component. The students and youths who fall prey to their false promises will forever suffer and are emotionally and psychologically scarred. Youths who dreamed of finishing their studies end up either in an unmarked grave in the mountains or living a shattered life. This is contrary to what they always claimed . . . that they are in the forefront of championing the rights of a child.

           NPA KILLINGS AND LIQUIDATIONS . . . The Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed component, the New People’s Army, had liquidated over a thousand people from 2000 up to May 2006, and majority of their victims were civilians. Documents gathered from the military revealed that in a span of six years, the CPP-NPA perpetrated 1,130 liquidations, resulting in the killing of 1,227 people. The victims included 384 soldiers, policemen and intelligence operatives and 843 civilians.

           Only 320 of the killings though could be considered in furtherance of Party objectives, the targets being suspected government informants or rebel returnees who wanted to lead a normal life. Most of the liquidations occurred in CPP/ NPA infested areas of Bicol, Central Luzon, Southern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Southern Tagalog and CARAGA, in that order. Bicol region accounted for 341 of the liquidations, or 30.1 % of the total.

           The liquidations are part of the special tactical operations of the communist party against people it considered a hindrance to the movement. The operations were carried out by the Special Armed Partisan Unit (SPARU), an NPA group usually based in the countryside but which is sometimes deployed in urban areas. These killings are not only to remove people whom they believe to be against the revolutions but to terrorize and coerced the civilians into supporting them.

         The priority targets of the group are soldiers, policemen and government intelligence agents, suspected government informants, rebel returnees, members of civilian volunteer organizations and barangay tanods, uncooperative local officials and party members. The military report said 12 party leaders; three of them central committee members were liquidated. They were former NPA chief Romulo Kintanar, who was shot dead on January 23, 2003 in Quezon City; former Secretary of the Visayas Commission Arturo Tabara, killed on Sept. 26, 2004, also in Quezon City, and former Secretary of the Bicol Regional Party Committee Sotero Llamas, assassinated on May 29 this year in Tabaco City, Albay. Eight members who bolted the party were also ordered killed. They were Bartolome Quizon, Reynaldo Lagman, Felixberto Macalino, Proceso Gabika, Daniel Batoy, Rodrigo Sugalan, Rufino Cadugo, and Rogelio Magbato. The communist rebels also resorted to SPARU operations to terrorize the populace, especially in areas where resistance to the communist movement was strong. This is particularly the case in regions where the guerilla fronts are not so developed. The increasing targets of such operations, according to the report, have been unarmed ordinary civilians and local barangay officials.

 

           EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN AND MINORS . . . young women who are recruited to join the New People’s Army suffered sexual assault and harassments, and the worst were raped by male members. They served as “sex slaves” of NPA commanders who disregards the credo of “igalang ang mga kababaihan” or respect for women. NPA leaders who preached that they are waging this bloody war to promote equality and regain people’s rights are the very same people who sexually abused women inside the movement. This runs contrary to their claim that they uphold women’s and children’s rights.  

           One case was of a 17 year old girl from Nueva Ecija, who was identified as “Ka Rina”.  She was recruited by the armed components operating in the province of Nueva Ecija sometimes in l997 with a promise that she will be sent to school and that they will extend financial assistance to her family aside from the salary that she will receive.  Because of financial need the girl believed that finally she will be able to help her family only to find out that she will be serving the carnal needs of male members of the New People’s Army in Nueva Ecija. 

           To put a stop on the nightly sexual assault she suffered, she was forced to cohabit with her commander and became his “sex toy”.  For almost three years she endured being a sex slave and finally in 2007 she decided that once and for all, her suffering must stop and decided to go back to the folds of the government. 

           Other women NPA members were not as lucky as Ka Rina, others were raped and killed while others were brutally maimed and scarred for life, not only sexually but psychologically and emotionally as well.

           Young children who were recruited on the other hand served as slaves performing as errand boys, cooking their foods, “pasa bilis”, guides, washing and other mundane chores who denigrate these children as nothing but “tsimoys and tsimays”.  Some still served as members of the “recovery team”, a group of children who are tasked to collect personal things from soldiers and policemen who are victims of ambush and raids and civilians who are summarily executed.  Children who are members of this group are jeopardized, and they are constantly put in the midst of danger.

           FORCED COLLECTIONS OF REVOLUTIONARY TAX . . . Businessmen, capitalist and even politicians are victims of these bandits. The NPA has become a destroyer of infrastructure and other public facilities, a collaborator profiting from organized crime such as narco-trafficking, illegal logging and illegal gambling, and a mercenary force that hires itself to landlords and traditional politicians. 

           Documents seized by the military showed that the NPA will demand three to 10 percent of a candidate’s campaign fund in exchange for a permit to campaign or permit-to-win in rebel-held areas, as they claimed. While it claims to be the protector of the people, the NPA has blocked progress in the countryside by discouraging investments because of its frequent attacks on companies and businesses that refuse to pay revolutionary tax.

           Aside from these practices, the NPA also enforced the “Sangay Collection” or the PITU-PITO/DOS-DOS in layman’s term “Butaw”.  This alone collects millions of pesos from supporters who were deceived and led to believe that they are fighting for their cause and will liberate them from oppression and corruptions. From these collections the leaders and members of the Central committee, the likes of JOSE MARIA SISON, LUIS JALANDONI, FIDEL AGCOILI, and others are living luxuriously in The Netherlands.
You dear readers, as sources of all the funds and manpower, can justifiably ask this question from these people . . . WHERE DOES THE FUND GOES? 

           To shed some lights on the very same question that I asked when I was still a member of the BRPC in Bicol Region. Based from hints and pieces of information that I gathered from conversations and meetings of the unit I formerly belonged, the huge amount of money from all these rackets and operations goes to the coffer of the CENTRAL COMMITTEE which is headed by JOSE MARIA SISON, the tyrant’s of the Filipino people.

           Joma and his cohorts, for all their promises to the Filipino, the promise of liberation from the clutches of elites and Panginoong May Lupa (PML) and from the bondage of the soil, freedom from poverty and inequality, their sweet tongue and false promises finally come to its dead end. The swashbuckling, conceited and egocentric JOSE MARIA SISON BARED HIS OWN SOUL, FINALLY IT IS CLEAR, HE IS NOT THE MESIAH WHO WILL LIBERATE THE FILIPINO PEOPLE FROM SUFFERINGS AND HARDSHIPS, INSTEAD HE IS THE TYRANT AND THE NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY IS HIS PREATORIAN GUARD.