Du30 on the CPP/NPA: Calling a spade, a spade

In the 66 years that I have lived my life, I have learned of famous Communist revolutions that rocked the Free World. First and foremost was the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when the Communists overthrew the Czar of Russia putting a bloody end to the Russian Aristocracy. Then came the Communist Revolution of Mao Zedong that overthrew the democratic, but corrupt Kuomintang (KMT) of the Republic of China and sent Chiang Kaishek (he took over from Dr. Sun Yat-sen) to the Island of Formosa (Taiwan), where the Republic of China still continues up to this day.

Then there’s the famous revolution of Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra of Cuba, against Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista, where Communism still thrives today. The only non-communist revolution that we have noted is the Iranian Revolution of the Ayatollah Khomeini. All these revolutions have made an impact on our lives in the sense that their violent takeovers of legitimate governments were front-page news in the world’s media.

Then there was the supposed “revolution” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that originally grew from the post World War II Hukbalahap of Luis Taruc, which was neutralized by the late Pres. Ramon Magsaysay in the 1950s when he was Secretary of National Defense, where he led the most successful anti-guerrilla campaign in history, with his motto, “Find them, Fool them, Fight them and Finish them, then offer them the hand of peace.” Pres. Magsaysay became known as the Best President we ever had.

But a decade later, Jose Maria Sison founded the Communist Party of the Philippines on Dec. 26, 1968. For the record, I looked into Wikipedia on what they wrote about the CPP and this is what they wrote. “The Communist Party of the Philippines (Filipino: Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a revolutionary organization, classed as a terrorist group by many Western powers, and the leading communist party in the Philippines formed by Jose Maria Sison on December 26, 1968.

It has been fighting a guerrilla war against the state since the late 1960s. It has remained an underground political organization and has been operating in a clandestine manner since its founding. It aims to overthrow the Philippine government through armed revolution. It has direct leadership over the New People’s Army, which serves as its armed wing, and the National Democratic Front.”

But with Russia turning away from Communism, 49 years later, the supposed Communist revolution in the Philippines has fizzled into mere banditry, terrorizing the countryside, demanding “Revolutionary taxes” from private companies and operating deep in the countryside. If you ask me, the CPP has never contributed anything for the good of the Filipino people. While so many people hated the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship, little do Millennials know that then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law because of the real threat of Communism.

The infamous bombing of the miting de avance of the Liberal Party (LP) in Plaza Miranda on Aug. 21, 1971 was the brainchild of CPP Chairman Joma Sison as written by the late Sen. Jovito Salonga. His game plan was to blame Marcos for the bombing of Plaza Miranda and cause chaos in the country. This forced the hand of Marcos to declare Martial Law. So in a sense, if there was no Communist threat, Pres. Marcos

could never find any reason to declare Martial Law. Blame this on Joma and the communists!

One curious historical note about the bombing of Plaza Miranda was the absence of LP’s top presidential candidate, then Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. who wasn’t on the LP stage when the grenades were thrown into the crowd. Many pundits believed that Joma himself warned Ninoy. Then after the Marcos dictatorship was ousted in the EDSA Revolution, one of the first things that Pres. Cory Aquino did was to free the jailed Joma Sison in exchange for nothing. This fueled more rumors that Tita Cory paid her family’s debt to Joma. So were the Aquinos’ “sleeping with the enemy?”

The Philippines was expected to be one of the Asian dominoes to fall into Communist hands, especially after the Fall of Saigon, which ended the Vietnam War. But that did not happen and thankfully, the Philippines despite our corrupt political system remains a democratic nation.

Last Tuesday no less than Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte declared the CPP and the NPAs as terrorist organization in accordance with the Human Security Act (Republic Act No. 9372). Finally we have a President who truly calls a spade a spade. The supposed communist rebellion never threatened any town or cities in the Philippines. In fact the Maute terror group did better than them when they took over Marawi City. So Pres. Duterte did right in declaring the Reds as the terrorists they really are!