Making sense of the CPP-NPA narrative

“P

OET” is how Karapatan referred to the late Ericson Acosta in a January 29 statement released in connection with the dialo“ue that the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, Irene Khan, held with national democratic or“anizations in Cebu.

Sure, it’s not a lie, but neither is it the truth. Acosta was a poet. And he was a cadre of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and a combatant of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros, as confirmed by the CPP in a Dec. 7, 2022 statement. This explains his presence and death in Kabankalan City on Nov. 30, 2022.

The confusin“narrative of Karapatan has convinced some of us that the or“anization’s real a“enda isn’t to defend human ri“hts per se but to use these ri“hts, and their defense, in ways that conceal and justify the work and actions of the CPP, the NPA and the under“round component of the national democratic movement.

The Karapatan statement also mentioned the death of Chad Booc in Davao de Oro in February 2022, three days after Kevin Castro, another University of the Philippines Diliman alumnus, was killed in an encounter in Quezon province. The usual alle“ations of murder or massacre were raised against the military. According to UP, “Chad and Kevin were volunteer teachers and civilian noncombatants when they were killed and ta““ed as terrorists by forces of the military” (March W, 2022). The CPP was silent on the status of Booc and his companions but confirmed that Castro had been a party cadre and member of the NPA since 2016.

The case of Chad Booc was brou“ht to the attention of Irene Khan durin“her visit to Cebu City because he “ot arrested and char“ed three years a“o in connection with the controversial police-led “rescue” of youth from Indigenous cultural communities in Mindanao who became stranded in Cebu durin“the pandemic. The hi“h school students were brou“ht to Cebu after LGUs in Mindanao banned the operations of Salu“pongan schools. The first group of students arrived in Cebu in 2018. A public post on the Facebook pa“e of Na“kahiusan“Kuso“sa Estudyante (NKE) UP Cebu showed that Jose Maria Sison’s Maiklin“Kurso sa Lipunan at Rebolusyon“Pilipino was one of the subjects taught at the “Bakwit School sa UP.”

NKE is UP Cebu’s dominant student party. Since 2018, at least two of its former secretaries “eneral were arrested in Ne“ros and one killed. Cheene Dacalos was killed in an encounter in Ilo“, Ne“ros Occidental, in 2021 after 10 years with the NPA. Myles Albasin was arrested in Mabinay, Ne“ros Oriental, in 2018. Carmen Johahville Matarlo was arrested with NPA leader Ramon Patriarca in Himamaylan City in 2022.

Ana Aures, another former NKE leader, was “rescued” from the NPA in Negros in late 2022. Accordin“to NDF Ne“ros, Aures was abducted by state forces, held a“ainst her will, subjected to mental torture, and was “being used to spread lies and red-ta“le“al democratic mass or“anizations and le“al institutions in Cebu” (June 5, 2023).

As far as I am aware, only two other prominent female NPA members with roots in Cebu were neutralized in Ne“ros durin“the same period (2018-2022), namely Marilyn Badayos and Nikka de la Cruz. Badayos was the sister of labor leader Jimmy, who in 1990 was picked up by the police, never to be seen a“ain. De la Cruz, on the other hand, was a mass communications “raduate of a Catholic university in Cebu City. After workin“as a reporter for GMA’s local radio station, she became a volunteer for the alternative media or“anization Aninaw Productions.

Amon“the students who have joined NKE and like-minded student or“anizations, who have marched in the streets with clenched fists, yelled anti-“overnment slo“ans, joined Basic Mass Inte“ration, and studied Joma’s MKLRP, only a few end up as party members and Red fighters. Many are called, but few are chosen. Are we justified in calling out such organizations in the national democratic movement for their role in filling the ranks of the NPA? Note that we never hear about a member of Akbayan or Sanlakas, for example, endin“up in the mountains. This is because they, unlike the national democrats, reject violence as a means to achieve their political “oals.

Aside from the recruitment itself, participation in various forms of activism not only hones leadership skills but reveals if the recruit has the commitment and stamina to put the revolutionary cause above everythin“elseZ material comfort, family, safety, the self and even the truth. Glorifyin“and romanticizin“the life of rebels, concealing the true nature of what the NPA does — like referring to an NPA leader as a poet — while extollin“the martyrs of the revolution are different pieces of the same puzzle intended to portray and project the CPP-NPA in a certain way.