Insurgency is propaganda war
By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. / The Manila Times
A LOT has been said about how unorthodox the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) has been in handling this fight against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). To some it is a total surprise, and they are definitely happy that finally the government is speaking up for them, for the misery and violence they have gone through the 52 years of the CPP’s armed struggle. To the vocal few, they are furious that the status quo has been disturbed because of the stubborn resolve of two NTF-Elcac spokespersons, now being accused of being “red-taggers,” to persevere in this approach. Never in the history of this country has the Filipino nation been so roused at seeing the CPP in such a frantic, if not chaotic mode, trying to deflect attacks by the government against all the fronts of the CPP, on all fronts, i.e., from the ground, underground and over.
To the initiated and to those who have been following the developments of the underground, they are convinced that the CPP is now in a defensive mode. At this point, they are the “reaksyonaryo.” And with the CPP actions come the reaction, wittingly or unwittingly, from the different sectors of society who have benefited for a very long time from the exploitation by the communists of our political situation. The decadence of our political institution is now showing its ugly face, as if to confirm what observers and netizens are saying that this communist insurgency of Jose Maria Sison has indeed succeeded in destroying one of the pillars of our democracy — the Senate.
Fifteen senators were asking for my head and they are willing to take the risk of defunding the NTF-Elcac because of an allegation we can easily disprove.
Red-tagging?
Of what import is this issue that the majority of the senators are willing to take the blow of our citizens for a childish act of taking back funds for long-delayed projects necessary to uplift the living conditions of our poor citizens in the farthest recesses of the archipelago? The Barangay Development Program is touted as the game changer in the government’s fight to win the hearts and minds of our neglected citizens, why, oh why would they withdraw it?