IS THERE a connection between the resurgence of communist insurgency in the country and governance? Certainly, yes.
Bad governance especially in the municipality, city level causes poverty, hunger, mass discontentment and dissent, widen class divisions, and deepens class conflicts – all as important ingredients for the rise and growth of insurgency.
The communist movement in our country has thrived for almost half a century now, and despite all its military, organizational and political defeats, it still managed to survive and resurge. Reason is obvious, it has an ideology, a philosophy about its ideal society and people, and the means to achieve them which serve as a guide and inspiration for its leaders, armed guerillas and mass supporters.
Without a philosophy, program and strategy, the communist movement would have a hard time capturing the hearts and minds of the people, especially working class, nor grown into a powerful force that once poise as a serious threat to the ruling order.
It is an established fact, however, that communist insurgency thrives not only by the strength of its own ideology, but also by those conditions fueled by bad governance, e.g. corrupt politicians, government acting as extension of private property of the landed class or a political dynasty, non-functioning mechanisms of participatory governance, inadequate or absence of social services, biased against the poor, patronage politics, among others.
In one of the presentations in the recent DILG national consultation on President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 70 calling to end local communist armed conflict, it was clear that the pronounced areas affected by communist insurgency are those in towns and cities where local governance is far from the standards set by Local Government Code (LGC of 1991) and United Nations definitions of good or participatory governance.
The map presented clearly identifies provinces and towns with strong and weak insurgency, and this jived with DILG database on LGUs where the governors, mayors, and barangay officials are corrupt, no Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Comprehensive Development Plan, no functional Local Development Council and Local Special Bodies, and where non-government organizations and people’s associations are marginalized.
I don’t want to go into details, but let me state clearly that where bad governance dominates, insurgency thrives and even grow by leaps and bounds. And where good governance flourish, insurgency decreases.
Why would there be insurgency if the local government acts on the core demands and programs of the insurgency movement?
How could insurgency thrive in a province or town, or barangay, when all the local chief executives, government units and agencies converged and respond right, well and good to the problems of landlessness, low productivity, education, health, social services, crimes, and many other social concerns?
Even the need for military deployment and operations would be lessened significantly, and therefore minimizes human rights violations, killings and the government expenditures in general.
Strengthening good governance is one effective way to deprive or lessen the conditions that breed and fuel insurgency.
But the basic or bigger question is, are the LGUs ready to de-empower themselves and empower the citizens? Is DILG nationwide ready and able to enforce good local governance standards without fear and favor, and even punish those who defy the program?
More than half of the country’s basic problem is solved if this is done right, well and good.
Although the bigger problem of national economy and patrimony will have to be solved by the central government, which I doubt if they are up for it, the changing and enforcing good local governance would greatly change the configuration of this country, or I must say, half of the country’s basic problem is solved.
Yes, solved, if done right, well and good.