On the 50th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines on Tuesday, a ranking member of the organization called out its “deceit and lies” and said its armed wing, the New People’s Army, had “no chance of winning” its armed struggle against the government.
This developed as the Police Regional Office Cordillera condemned the NPA for attacking the CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit) Active Auxiliary Patrol Base in Uma, Lubuagan, Kalinga at dawn on Sunday, Dec. 23, killing the base commander and hurting three other personnel.
The CPP officer, who signed a statement sent to several media outlets in the Cordillera as “Ka Danny,” said he was “a witness that the CPP, NPA and NDF [National Democratic Front] are just using the party-list groups like Bayan Muna, ACT [Alliance of Concerned Teachers] and Anakpawis as fronts.”
“No chance of winning! We are the living witnesses, the former cadres and members of the crusade, of the wrongdoings of the NPA against the masses,” claimed Ka Danny, who said he was an 18-year member of the CPP and “official of the higher organ of the Legal and Unification Committee.”
“Because if they are really sincere in what they are fighting for, there will come a time that they will succeed. But in reality, they are just using the implementation of peace talks to deceive the youth and try to teach them that the country is experiencing a wrong system!” added Ka Danny, who said he was the “political officer” of three party-list congressmen from Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and ACT.
Officials of the party-list groups could not confirm Ka Danny’s identity at press time.
The statement was co-signed by Mario Ludades, one of the original 18 founders of the CPP and currently the spokesperson of the No to Communist Terrorist Group Coalition.
An indigenous peoples’ leader in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ludades said only CPP founder Jose Maria Sison remains in the party from the original 18, “and he is continuously living the grand life in the Netherlands.”
“It can be recalled that one by one, a lot of founders detached themselves from the group because of Joma’s dictatorial rule and being a self-centered style of leadership,” he said.
For the last 50 years, Ludades said the communist groups failed in delivering their promises to their members, and instead of traversing the way to democracy and success, thousands of lives have been lost “for the sake of their own war.”
“Those intellectual youth and individuals, those who were victims of purging in the organization come from the peasant group, workers, laborers, students, indigenous people. They are the ones who lost their lives for the sake of the so-called ‘peoples’ war.’ But what really hurting is the fact that innocent civilians are the real victims of their war,” said Ludades.
He said “great young people” like Edgar Jopson and Lean Alejandro became victims of the wrong ideology of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“While currently, young children are being lured to fight as NPAs,” he added, noting that the leftists were using “legal fronts” like several youth groups “to deceive and brainwash the youth to join the ‘kilusan’ or movement.”
Ludades and “Ka Danny” called on the youth “not to be deceived anymore and never patronize the fight being waged” by the communists.
Meanwhile, PROCOR head Chief Supt. Rolando Nana condemned the attack in a statement posted on the unit’s official Facebook page late on Dec. 24.
Nana said the “CNTs (Communist New People’s Army Terrorists) have been sowing fear and civil disturbance for the last 50 years.”
“They have launched attacks to government troops in PRO 5, PRO 10 and now in PROCOR; this is besides murdering government servants, AFP, and PNP personnel who are serving and protecting the community,” the statement added.
“They have shown their true color by violating the ceasefire they themselves declared. This is a manifestation that the Communist NPA Terrorists (CNTs) are not sincere in pursuing Peace,” Nana said. With PNA