Monday, November 26, 2007 Nalzaro: Why the insurgency still exists? By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
THE reason the communist insurgency still exists in the countryside despite the fall of leading communist countries and the decline in its membership is because the government continues to neglect rural folk, who still suffer abuses from landlords and authorities. If you ask 100 rebels why they joined the communist movement, 98 of them will claim they were victims of injustice and only two will say they want to change the political landscape.
The lack of education and knowledge also drove these people to join the underground movement. They can easily be influenced and deceived by some left-wing peasant organizations in the guise of nongovernment organizations (NGO) working for the interest of peasant workers.
But in reality most of these organizations are legal fronts of the underground movement. These so-called NGOs promise farmers a better future, like owning the land they are tilling if they join their causes. And because of the lack of education and better understanding of what they are going into, these farmers are brainwashed into joining the movement.
Take for example the incident involving famers from a mountain barangay in Tuburan, who are now languishing in the provincial jail after they were arrested for qualified theft. I can only sympathize with their situation. They don’t know what hit them. They find themselves in jail for “stealing” their own coconut products in the land they consider theirs.
The farmers, most of them are couples, were arrested after a court in Toledo City issued warrants of arrest against them for qualified theft in connection with the case filed by landowner Virgilia Balbuena.
The farmers claimed that Balbuena filed cases against them after they failed to give her share of the products from the land they have been tilling for several years now.
The farmers stopped giving Balbuena’s share after members of Karapatan, a human rights advocate, told them to stop doing so because the land they are tilling belongs to the government.
The farmers were deceived by this organization, which pretends to be a protector of human rights. While my heart bleeds for these farmers we cannot also blame and condemn Balbuena because she followed the legal process. She did not harass them.
As for Karapatan, did it extend any legal assistance to the farmers when they were charged? And now that they are languishing in jail, can the group provide them financial support so they can post bail?
The PNP, on the other hand, tagged some of the arrested farmers as supporters of the underground movement operating in the mid-north area. Well we cannot blame them if they support the insurgency considering what is happening to them now. The reasons I cited above may have forced them to throw their support to the underground movement. They are victims of injustice and likewise they were fooled and deceived by the legal front of the communist movement.
