Hatred primary weapon of CPP-NPA in pushing for change
By Priam Nepomuceno / Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Hatred is the primary tool of communist terrorists in pushing for change and the kind of revolution they want.
Thus, said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Operations, Major Gen. Edgardo de Leon during the June 28 episode of "Tagged: Debunking Lies by Telling the Truth".
"Ang pangunahing pamamaraan ng pagsusulong ng kanilang gustong pagbabago ay (their primary tool in pushing for the change they want is) hatred. The propagation of hatred against the government, against the status quo, against the present system of government)," de Leon said.
He said claims that poverty is the primary reason that some sectors join the communist terrorist movement are not true.
"Kung makikita natin, sinasabi noong araw na (In the past, poverty is being drummed up as) the root cause. I beg to disagree. Poverty is not the root cause. Poverty is just among the issues being exploited to generate public hatred so that revolution will start," he added.
The CPP-NPA, he said, is using every opportunity brought by the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic to generate and stir hatred against the government for even the slightest error in its response.
"Kaya kahit anong programang gawin ng pamahalaan para sa taumbayan, ang hahanapin nila diyan, kahit na butas, kahit na gaano kaliit na butas, palalakihin iyong butas, ang intent mag-generate ng hatred sa ating pamahalaan (So whatever program the government has for the people, they will look for faults, even the slightest ones, and magnify it. Their intent is to generate hatred against our government)," he added.
De Leon cited as an example the social amelioration program that took off in the early days of the pandemic.
"Naisip ng ating gobyerno, naisip ng ating Pangulo na bigyanng social amelioration. Sabi ko nga, itong pandemic na ito hindi po natin na-rehearse ito, hindi natin inaasahan na mangyayari ito. So noong mangyari ito, hindi lang ang Pilipinas, buong mundo ay nagulat sa mga kaganapan. Buong mundo ay gumawa ng paraan para mabawasan ang paghihirap ng taumbayan na idinulot nitong pandemic (The government and the President thought of giving the affected families social amelioration. Just what I said, this pandemic, we did not rehearsed and expected this to happen. So when this happened, not only the Philippines was surprised, in fact the whole world was surprised by the crisis. The entire world responded to help those severely affected)," he added.
But despite government efforts to cushion the suffetring of the people, de Leon said the CPP-NPA continues to stir public hatred in hopes that this will result in their desired revolution.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)