(PNA) — A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict scored former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño for defending and justifying efforts by progressive groups linked to the communist rebels to allegedly recruit students and minors to boost their ranks.
“I believe what Teddy Casiño said about recruitment in Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students, Kabataan, etc., and other organizations is correct. That’s the only good thing there. The rest is disastrous already and he doesn’t want these organizations to be faulted for joining the New People’s Army,” Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade said in a statement to the Philippine News Agency yesterday.
Earlier, the former party-list representative said students joining militant groups are getting exposed to the issues and problems affecting the country and are thus realizing their obligations as citizens. “Ang maganda lang sa ganyang organisasyon, nae-expose sila (mga estudyante) sa iba’t ibang isyu ng ating lipunan. Eventually when they grow older, kung saan man sila mapadpad, at least hindi bumibitaw sa kanila na meron silang obligasyon sa ating mamamayan, sa ating bansa,” Casiño was quoted as saying.
As a scholar of Bayan Muna during his student days, Parlade said the former party-list representative is duty-bound to support its cause, all the way, good or bad.
“That’s what happened to these activists ‘who wanted to become good leaders.’ Like Teddy Casiño, many of them ended with criminal records after being involved in NPA like Myles Albasin (a University of the Philippines Cebu and member of the Mabinay 6). Some were involved in criminal acts after being Communist Party of the Philippines members themselves. Of course, they say those are trumped-up charges, like involvement in Inopacan, Leyte massacre, kidnapping and trafficking of Indigenous Peoples minors in Talaingod like (former Bayan Muna Rep.) Satur Ocampo and (ACT party-list Rep.) France Castro. The others are more careful that’s why they have managed to evade criminal cases,” he added.
But many of the idealist recruits of these militant organizations end up dead after attacking or ambushing government troops like UP Los Baños undergraduate student John Carlos Capistrano Alberto who was shot and killed after a firefight with military personnel in Luisiana, Laguna last February and Central Luzon State University veterinary student Katkat Ramos who was recruited by the communist rebels in 2002 and later killed by the NPA.
All these minors get in return for being deceived by the communist rebels, Parlade said, is space at the marble slabs of the “Bantayog ng Kagitingan” in Quezon City.
“Of course, Casiño will not tell us, how they agitate the students from being plain activists of Anakbayan and Kabataan, joining rallies versus tuition hike, oil price, which are normal and allowed as part of our democratic and academic freedom. But Casiño won’t tell you how they will slowly indoctrinate these kids into becoming more violent activists by recruiting them deeper into the Underground Mass Organizations and becoming CPP candidates and full-time party members,” Parlade said.
He also slammed leaders of militant organizations for not telling their student recruits that they are gradually being led away from legal open mass organization into an illegal and criminal group advocating for armed struggle and toppling the duly-elected government and its leaders.
One of the UGMOs Parlade is describing is the Kabataan Makabayan which is hiding under the umbrella of the Anakbayan, LFS, and Kabataan progressive groups.
“If you are a law student and member of NUPL (National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers), they will not tell you their underground works unless you have been recruited in the Lupon ng mga Manananggol ng Bayan, in which case you are already a full-time party member,” he added.
These things were kept hidden by the CPP-NPA and their allies to provide them with the means to infiltrate all sectors in the Philippines.
“That’s why (CPP founder) Jose Maria ‘Joma’ Sison, will continue to call them as simply ‘progressive allies’ in his pursuit of his National ‘Democratic’ Revolution. Nobody will admit that they are part of the ‘armed struggle’ or communist revolution, otherwise, you will all be scared from entertaining them, let alone vote for them. That’s the reason why they call themselves ‘Makabayan’ instead of ‘Kamatayan Bloc’ and harass or accuse anyone who exposes them for ‘red-tagging’,” Parlade added.
Due to this duplicitous tactic, he said communist rebels are able to infiltrate practically every sector and subvert it to do their dirty work.
“That’s the duplicitous nature of Joma’s CPP. That’s what they call the ‘revolutionary dual tactics’ to infiltrate the schools, the church, the government, the peasant sector, the women (sector), the Overseas Filipino Workers, the UN system, the non-government organizations, human rights lawyers, volunteer workers, environmentalists, scientists, actors, the media, the peace advocates, government workers, laborers, fisherfolk, informal settlers, and for that matter, all vulnerable sectors,” he said.
Because of this ability to conceal themselves in the open, Parlade said the country has been largely kept in the dark of all subversive and illegal activities of the communist rebels and their allies, he added.
“This is what kept us in the dark for 50 long years, until a President (Rodrigo R. Duterte) said enough with their b*lls**t,” he said.
Parlade was referring to the Chief Executive’s Executive Order 70 which was signed by Duterte in December 2018. This mandates the creation of the NTF ELCAC and directs all government agencies to render all the necessary support to peace-building programs, plans, and activities for the campaign.
The CPP and its armed wing, the NPA, are listed as terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Parlade urged all leaders and representatives of party-list groups to do their utmost in ensuring the safe return of these minors who were recruited by communist rebels.
“If you recall my post to (Bayan Muna party-list Rep.) Mr. Zarate in April, I told him about these grieving parents who were begging for their AFP to rescue these children, minors, in school. Now, more of them are coming out, because many of them have not returned home and are feared to be already in the hills with the NPAs. Like I said, we are simply trying to end this violence and conflict. As some of you are back in Congress, help us in this crusade by contributing in the Senate inquiry. Scapegoating will not get us anywhere,” he added. (PNA)
