Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Maxey: A bridge too far
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
AN ANALYST of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has exposed the real face of what he calls "a single politico-military complex pursuing armed overthrow of the government."
The analyst, Jesuit priest Romeo Intengan, in a paper presented before a recent symposium organized by the AFP and the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), identified that "face" as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). An all too familiar face.
Aside from the NPA's 7,400 regular fighters, Intengan, who is the president of the Center for Strategic Studies, said it has "tens of thousands" of "part-time combatants" engaging government forces in a protracted war for the past 37 years. These are on call by the NPA and take part in combat, he added. But whenever these NPA militia are killed in battle, militant groups (those we see marching in our streets occasionally) always claim that the "victims" were ordinary farmers on a vigil. This is guaranteed to give the government a bad image. Another familiar ploy.
According to Intengan, the CPP has under its firm grip and control the NPA's and NDF's legal projections in the form of multi-sectoral and sectoral legal mass organizations, party-list groups and other political formations.
Little wonder then that such groupings, like Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis, Anak ng Bayan, Gabriela and Migrantes -- all identified as supporters of the communist insurgency -- are quick to denounce what they claim are abuses perpetrated by the military and police against "peasants" during operations in the hinterlands and the killings of militants by unidentified gunmen. But we never ever hear these same groups denouncing rebel attacks on government installations, their imposition of so-called "revolutionary taxes" in the countryside, their destruction of cell sites, or heavy equipment utilized for development, their use of landmines, which is against the Geneva Convention, their kangaroo court-type of revolutionary justice and similar atrocities.
Far from being just another communist movement, the CPP-NPA-NDF is organizationally complex, sophisticated and efficient. "Effectively addressing it requires adequate understanding of their organizational dynamics, including their command and control system," the Intengan paper said.
In view of the foregoing assessment of the communist insurgency in this country, it appears now that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's directive two months back to the security forces to cripple the insurgency "in two years" is unrealistic, despite the release of one billion pesos in additional counter-insurgency funds to the military and the police.
After 37 years?
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (August 9, 2006 issue)
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