“This is a new low.”
Earlier this week, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or NTF-ELCAC, criticized presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo for lying about a deal with members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.
This even as CPP founder, Jose Maria “Joma” Sison himself tweeted his official endorsement of her candidacy.
According to NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson for Sectoral Concerns and Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy, Robredo’s denial comes as an insult “to the intelligence of the Filipino people” as she keeps on “pretending they have not made a pact with the devil, the communist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF.”
“This endorsement of Leni Robredo is an endorsement of the Central Committee of the CPP-NPA-NDF, an organization that has been designated a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council and that has also been declared a terrorist organization by the Philippines, US, UK, New Zealand, EU, Australia, and Canada,” Badoy furthers adding Robredo has formed a “tactical alliance” with communist terrorists that is “mutually beneficial to the both of them.”
“And anything that benefits this terrorist organization means more pain and suffering for the Filipino people,” she said.
Badoy even cited Robredo’s March 4 campaign sortie in Cavite, wherein she shared the stage with the Makabayan bloc whom the NTF-ELCAC spokesperson describes as communist “operatives.”
While Robredo cannot deny the fact she is being endorsed by both the Underground and Legal Left, the Makabayan bloc can outrightly deny Badoy’s allegation of its linkage with CPP-NPA-NDF and simply hide under the cloak of red-tagging.
But a denial without substantiating it with facts and actions loses its credibility.
Last year, a promising football player, along with his cousin, was killed by a landmine purportedly planted by the NPA in their hometown in Masbate.
Kieth Absalon, a 21-year-old football player of the Far Eastern University, and his cousin, Nolven Absalon, were killed while biking in Barangay Anas in Masbate, after a landmine detonated along their route.
Nolven’s son, 16-year-old Chrisbin Daniel was also wounded in the blast.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, two soldiers were killed when a group of NPA attacked an aid distribution center in Eastern Samar, seizing the relief goods intended for the province’s residents.
And in November also in 2020, a group of NPA tried to hijack relief goods intended for the victims of Typhoon Ulysses in Quezon. Fortunately, the Army was able to foil the attack.
Did the Legal Left denounce all those atrocities? No. in fact, ever since, they have always turned a blind eye on atrocities committed by the underground organizations.
Now, what was the basis of unity between Robredo and the Makabayan bloc? Just for the Legal Left to throw its support to her? In exchange for what?
Robredo, in her campaign, promised to resume the peace talks between the government and the Underground Left and this is supported by the Legal Left.
But has Robredo ever broached the idea of asking the Legal Left to denounce the atrocities committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF against the people? Shouldn’t this be an essential part of the confidence-building between the government and the communist group?
However, it’s not only the Legal Left who has kept mum on the supposed atrocities of their underground counterpart as even Robredo has been silent on the matter. Dangerously silent.
Has Robredo simply chosen to ignore that fact as she is desperate for the more or less three million command votes the Left can deliver? (Don’t count on it though. Just remember Manny Villar’s experience in 2010.)
Badoy is right. All Robredo has to do to “redeem” herself is to publicly denounce the CPP-NPA-NDF and all the atrocities they have committed and work with the NTF-ELCAC.
There’s nothing wrong with forming alliances with other groups in furtherance of one political ambition but aside from the mutual benefits it would generate between her camp and that of the Left, the interests of the people whom she would be serving once she gets elected, should be taken into consideration and should be first and foremost on the agenda.
But instead of addressing the issue straightforwardly, her spokesperson, Barry Gutierrez, again, raises the issue of red-tagging which he says has hit a “new low,” and is basically aimed at trying to dampen the energy of the Vice President’s campaign.
Why the refusal to condemn the Underground Left’s atrocities and enjoin the Legal Left to do so? Again, why the silence? Would Robredo rather enter into an agreement with anyone including the devil himself just so they could deliver votes for her at the expense of the people?
Robredo is as dangerous as the Underground Left.