In the Eyes of Two NPA Recruits: 
Life in the Mountains

If one talks to Ka Gerry and gets entangled in his scrutiny of Philippine society, he/she will probably find it hard to believe that only three months ago, the boy, albeit under a different name, was the same person in a tearful farewell scene with his mother and siblings.

BY LIRA DALANGIN 
Bulatlat.com

"Mahali na ako (I'm leaving now)," he tells his mother over a staple dinner of fish and rice.

But departure for the 18-year-old boy is not a jaunt of sort for greener pastures overseas or work in Manila.  As young as 12, Gerry has seen that life of a poor family was not easy.  After Grade 6, he had to stop schooling so that his younger brothers and sisters could attend elementary school, too. 

When the news finally came that they could now own the land they're renting to till through the comprehensive agrarian reform law, Gerry thought this could bring better economic opportunities.

Alas, they discovered the owner found a way to exempt his land from the distribution program.

"Mahirap talaga ang buhay 'pag palaging may nang-aapi.  Kailangan may gagawin kang pagkilos (The life of those victimized by injustice is difficult.  You need to do something about it)," Gerry said.

Gerry said he embraced his mother tight the night he bade her farewell.

"Mahirap talaga para sa isang magulang ang mahiwalay sa mga anak.  Kahit sino sigurong magulang ayaw nito.  Gusto nilang makita na maayos ang kasasapitan niya (It is difficult for a parent to be separated from her children. She would like to see him in good conditions)," he said.

It's hard to imagine how one in the prime of his youth could be intensely resolute to say he is taking up arms.

Gerry was the third in the family to leave for the mountains.  He said his two elder brothers are also "serving the masses" in various areas of the Bicol region.  Gerry had visited them in the guerilla lairs a few times.  But his brothers' absence was sufficed by his mother's diligent recounting of their life as revolutionaries.

"Gusto ko ring umambag, gayahin sila kung anuman ang nagawa nila para sa kilusan at sa pagsilbi sa masa.  Sa tingin ko, wala nang mas epektibo pang pag-ambag kundi sumama sa kilusang rebolusyonaryo (I would also like to contribute, and give what they too gave to the movement and the people. For me, there is no higher form of service than joining the revolutionary movement)," he said.

Parting with his family was "less emotional" for 18-year-old Ka Rigor who joined a New People's Army (NPA) unit in Albay in early 2002.

"Alam ng magulang ko kung ano ang pinaglalaban ng mga NPA, at kung bakit naririto ang kanilang mga anak (My parents understand the NPA's cause and why I joined the group)," he said.

Rigor, the second among seven siblings, said he had attended rebel lectures that enlightened him on the real conditions of the poor in the countryside.

He said he was a former member of a youth organization, like other siblings in the family.

But why aim for changes through arms? 

"Yung baryo namin, saklaw ng BHB (Bagong Hukbong Bayan, the local term for NPA).  Nag-aaral pa ako noon nung ma-organisa at maipasok sa grupong kabataan.  Dito ako nabigyan ng edukasyon. Unti-unti ko talagang pinag-isipan ang pagsali rito (Our village was in an NPA guerrilla zone. I was still studying when recruited and I joined the youth group where I received revolutionary education. I thought hard about the decision to join the movement)," he said.

Gerry and Rigor found vent for their idealism in the armed movement.

At first, they served as the NPA unit's medics who give service to the communities they visit.  When the arms became available, they were given tougher tasks, including participation in tactical offensives against military targets.

But Gerry and Rigor said they sometimes ask, too, "what are we doing here?" a thought they immediately discard because the answers come quick – they want to serve the masses, they want changes.

The NPA unit where they belong wanders the vastness of Albay in the Bicol region.  A 31-year-old male fighter is the oldest in the group, but burly and elderly-looking men sometimes join them in some "operations," Rigor said.

Life in the jungle was never easy, according to them. 

All-night marches with 20 kilos of supplies and personal items on their backs and weapon on the hand, which Gerry calls, his wife – the sacred weapon that could not get wet or be struck, that could not be set down for an instant; more walks and climbs on single file – sometimes without food or water – until all the muscles in their bodies ache and their feet bleed raw inside their boots.

In the impenetrable green of the mountains, Gerry said he understood the meaning of silence.  A tiny sound when the enemy is near could cost them their lives, he adds.

Day by day, Gerry and Rigor were becoming adapted to life in the mountains. But revolutionaries should not turn stones, they said, who are all nerves, instincts, reflex, muscles, tight belly, frown.

"Unang-una, namumundok ka dahil naririto ang malawak na sektor ng lipunan na pinagsasamantalahan, mga magsasaka, at gusto mo silang tulungan.  Hindi naman kami nandito para mag-training lang (First, we go to the mountains because a large number of the exploited are here, the peasants, and we want to help them. We are not here to just undergo training)," Rigor explains.

Instead of university-educated activists steeped in ideology, more and more of the cadres being recruited the NPA are youngters who grew up in the countryside.  These young, fiery, and idealistic guerillas are worrying the Philippine military because, officials say, they could be more predisposed to violence.

Gerry, however, dispelled this notion.

"Prisipyo buod kusog (Principle and strength)," he says are what should motivated young people like them to join the guerilla movement.

"Di kailangan ang pinakamapusok na kabataan.  Di lang tapang ang kailangan.  Di tayo tulad ng reaksyunaryong pasista na walang prinsipyo, dahil tayo, may prinsipyong pinaglalaban (Principles are the most important)," Rigor adds.

"Ang pinaglalaban natin matagalang digmaan-bayan.  Di ito makakamit sa pagiging mapusok, kundi sa unti-unting pag-abante, patuloy na edukasyon, at pag-oorganisa, hanggang sa unti-unting tumaas ang kamalayan, dumami ang kasama, hanggang sa makamit ang tagumpay na sinasabi natin (We are waging a protracted people’s war. We can win it by advancing slowly through continuous education and organizing work until the political consciousness of the masses is heightened, more comrades are recruited and we achieve victory)," he said.

Gerry explains, "Kung lakas lang ang iaambag mo, di ka mananalo dahil mauubos yan, halimbawa 'pag tanda mo.  Eh matagalang labanan ito, pwedeng hanggang sa mamatay na rin kami, hindi pa tapos, pero anak naman namin ang magtutuloy (If you only contribute physical strength, you will not win because it will soon dissipate. This is a protracted war, probably still unfinished by time we die. But our children will take up the cudgel and continue the struggle)."

The conditions in the countryside make young people join the NPA.  Where they live, it is impossible not to know the brunt of poverty, injustice, oppression, and military atrocities.

In several areas where the NPA operates, government troops’ deployment, harassment, surveillance, killings, forced disappearances, bombings, strafings, house burning, and displacements are a common happening.

In many areas of the country, basic education remains wanting; health services are limited; basic social services that should be provided by the government are scarce.  The forbidding geography and inaccessibility of many communities discourage the delivery of services.

In fact, in a number of communities and as Rigor attests, children learn their three basic Rs from the NPA. If any, the presence of Rigor and Gerry in the NPA movement is proof of the persistence of the revolutionary movement and how it grows in the face of the government's war of attrition, even drawing young people to its fold.

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal would not reveal the NPA's strength, but said that in "progressive" areas, NPA recruits number to about 500 yearly.

He admits departures of guerrillas have at certain times been a problem for the movement, but said this was expected in any organization where membership is voluntary in nature.

"Nilulutas namin 'yan, kaya lang hindi kami pwedeng magbatas na walang bababa dahil hindi naman tayo mafia.  At unang-una, hindi ito pwedeng gawin sa rebolusyonanryong kilusan dahil boluntaryo ang pagsapi rito," Rosal explains.

At 18, one wonders how much longer can Gerry and Rigor and their likes could bear the hunger, the cold, the mosquito bites, and the perils of jungle living.  Add to these, how much strength of character both could display when faced with the enemy and when melancholy strikes being apart from their loved ones.

Rosal said revolutionaries are shaped through the years by knowing the answer to the question, "for whom."  He said that revolutionaries should picture themselves like travellers in a long journey who can "take a rest" when weariness sets in.

"Meron ba namang hindi nakakaramdam ng pagod?  Pero sabi ko nga, kumbaga sa naglalakad, eh di ibaba muna ang dala-dalahan at magpahinga kung napapagod na. Pagtayo uli ay mas malakas ka na," he said. Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.