THE REDS’ ‘TRUE COLORS’

Ifind it absurd when some uninformed Filipinos find President Duterte’s Proclamation No. 360, “Declaring the termination of peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army” a disappointment while caring nothing about the attacks, extortion and other atrocities these Maoist rebels commit.

If they find the termination of peace negotiations with the NDFCPP-NPA horrendous, then I don’t know how they are supposed to make sense of the deaths and destruction of properties and communities brought forth by them.

Most Filipinos don’t have any idea how hard it is to thrive in far-flung provinces and communities like ours while facing threats of violence and attacks made by these communist rebels. They don’t know how painful a struggle it is not to enjoy one’s life to its fullest potential as we are compelled to periodically relocate just because some Maoist rebels and bandits are destroying and plundering barangays and other innocent lives.

But then, I can’t blame the uninformed majority for having misplaced confidence toward the NDF-CPP-NPA and its organizational units. I find this “blinded belief” owing to the communists’ success in making a fool out of all of us when they conducted and disguised themselves in a manner that would make them appear as the “champion” and “hero” of the oppressed and the poor. In previous decades, both thriving and struggling “Juan dela Cruz” believed that they had been fighting only for magnanimous causes such as the socalled “liberation of the masses,” “equality,” and “progress.” Consequently, most Filipinos fail to see the NDF-CPP-NPA’s true colors and the deceit it continuously employs in order to justify the attainment of its selfish objectives, which obviously never really included Filipinos’ welfare in the first place.

As someone who has witnessed the NDF-CPP-NPA’s atrocities despite decades of peace talks spearheaded by the government, I do believe it is high time to put an end to these communists’ existence.

The NDF-CPP-NPA is but a mere scintilla of this peace-loving and progressive country. We should not let this amalgamate of unscrupulous criminals ruin the aspirations of our present and future generations and hamper the peace and development, which our far-flung communities equally deserve. RAYMUNDO CUNTAPAY, raymundocee@yahoo.com