Yearender
The CPP-NPA’s Quest for Victory: Impossible
Dream?
The
year 2002 dispelled whatever notion there was – peddled mainly by the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) – that the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), are on the road to
extinction.
BY
ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com
 In
the press conference called early this month by CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka
Roger” Rosal, the more important message was not the one uttered by Rosal.
(For one thing, the no-ceasefire announcement was already posted in the CPP’s
website day before the press conference.) The activity was held amid a cluster
of thatched huts in a village less than 30 minutes away from the nearest Army
detachment and hosted by a very-much alive, even buoyant, Rosal, whom the
military has “killed” several times in its press release.
The
primary message was: the CPP-NPA has regained its strength, contrary to
government claims that its members are surrendering in droves to the AFP. That
it can meet with members of the media right under the nose of the military,
proving the mass support it allegedly enjoys as well as its confidence on its
ability to defend itself.
CPP
spokesman Gregorio Rosal
Several
armed offensives by the NPA in the latter part of the year support this claim.
On Sept. 24, members of the Merardo Arce Command, the NPA unit operating in
Southern Mindanao, raided the Philippine National Police (PNP) station in Maco,
Compostela Valley, taking with them 33 high-powered firearms. Three days later,
NPA guerrillas attacked the municipal hall of Lopez, Quezon, killing the
town’s chief of police and two others. The following week, the NPA raided the
306th Provincial Mobile Group headquarters in Sampaloc, San Rafael,
Bulacan.
Some
of the NPA offensives were even volubly lauded by local residents, such as the
closure of the cement factory owned by the Goodfound Cement Corporation in
Camalig, Albay. The Taiwanese-owned company allegedly displaced farmer-tenants
without compensation, caused students in a nearby school to develop lung
problems and polluted the river from where residents get irrigation water. Thus,
on Nov. 29, the NPA’s Santos-Binamera Command raided the plant and destroyed
the control room to stop its operation. It became a joke among local radio
commentators afterward that problems should be referred to the NPA if people
want immediate action.
Ineffectual
When
the United States (U.S.) officially declared in August, followed later by the
European Union and other countries, the CPP and NPA as terrorist
organizations, the move failed to gain support in the country, outside the
president and the AFP.
Even
anti-CPP columnists such as Ramon Tulfo and peeved ex-comrades like Joel
Rocamora admit that the CPP and NPA are not terrorist organizations.
People’s
organizations and non-government groups led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
(New Patriotic Alliance), Karapatan, Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) and
Kilusang Magubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement in the Philippines) all
strongly assert that while the NPA launches armed attacks, these are limited to
military targets.
 Far
from causing demoralization and fear among CPP members and leaders, U.S.’
action and Arroyo’s instant agreement caused more political damage on the part
of the Arroyo administration, which was perceived as either being over-obedient
to the U.S. in the hope of getting Washington’s support in the 2004
presidential elections, or dominated by militarists, or both.
Ghosts
from the past
But
despite the political and military victories it scored this year, the CPP
continues to be haunted by the anti-infiltration purge that its Mindanao and
Southern Tagalog Party branches committed in mid-to late-‘80s.
Although
the CPP leadership has several times admitted the error, the issue continues to
be its Achilles heel, guaranteed to put the revolutionary leadership in the
defensive whenever raised by the military or its opponents.
But
in a three-part article published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer early this
year, a Catholic nun who herself witnessed the aftermath of the purge in
Southern Tagalog said that the incidents “were not authorized but were
aberrations” and that due penalties and restitution were done.
Using
the name Sr. Victoria Miranda, she said that once the national leaders found
out, they immediately stopped it. “The national-level cadres who arrived
immediately set the prisoners free. Victims were given first aid while the guys
from the national center went about the sordid task of reviewing the record of
investigation — every single line of it. At the end they announced with sorrow
that there was not a single DPA on the list.”
Meanwhile,
an added headache for the revolutionary left is its former comrades, called
“rejectionists” or “paksyunalista” (factionalists). Exchanges with them
range from bitter and personal verbal blows to the armed attacks, such as those
with the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (Revolutionary People’s Army) and
Revolutionary Proletarian Army- Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), armed breakaway
groups in Central Luzon and Negros, respectively.
More
offensives
 The
current political situation would no doubt be described in the coming CPP
anniversary statement as favorable for the revolutionary movement.
The
Arroyo government, if surveys are to be believed, has now become quite unpopular
as the economic crisis worsens and reports of unbridled corruption and rent
seeking – by the president’s husband no less – continue. Arroyo is now
also isolated from other political groups, including those that led the 2001
People Power uprising.
All
these, according to Rosal, will help the revolution advance. During the press
conference, he announced that NPA tactical offensives in 2003 would be bigger,
more frequent and more intensive.
According
to him, the Communist Party is now stronger in all aspects than when it started
the rectification movement in 1992. He
said that the 128 guerrilla fronts each have a platoon to company size armed
force. Although armed offensives were more frequent this year than the previous
year, only 10 of the fronts were active in military work.
“E,
paano pa kung ang bawat isang front ay magdaos ng opensiba (Imagine if each
front would launch an offensive)!” he said.
Later
in the evening, the 54-year old Party leader would croon the classic song,
“Impossible Dream,” the footage of which some media men would use to refer
to the seeming impossibility of winning the armed revolution.
But
for Rosal, and perhaps the rest of the CPP, the song is far from being a song of
hopelessness. The lyrics reflect courage and determination; it speaks of running
“where the brave dare not go,” of trying “even when the arms are too
weary.” For them, revolutionary victory is not an impossible dream.
Bulatlat.com
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