IN THE recent Senate Committee on National Defense hearing regarding red-tagging, former Bayan Muna Partylist representative and Spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Teddy Casiño refused to condemn the CPP-NPA-NDF and said that he does not consider them as enemies. He then added that they (the CPP-NPA) are fellow filipinos that should be engaged in healthier engagements by the government which, he falsely believes, would otherwise be denied them if they are to be treated as enemies.
Here we have the statement of a former member of Congress, a representative of a party-list, who wholeheartedly believes the misconception that the CPP-NPA are not enemies of the State, and has the mistaken assumption that the armed struggle and confrontation by these groups, either actually done by them (NPA) or through their guidance and command (CPP) are mere overt displays of childish trantrums in order to obtain attention and thus recognition and parity with the establishment democratic government. In other words waging war against the government, according to the statement of Mr. Casiño, is simply a manner of calling out the government and inviting them to the negotiating table.
Now that is a lot of nonsense. Nothing can be further from the truth.
It is important to understand that the whole idea behind the CPP-NPA engaging the government in a protracted armed confrontation is simply to overthrow and topple the present democratic government and replaced it with a communist regime. And ever since its formation in the 70s' they have actively sought just that. If you can trust the words of former priest, former communist rebel and former chairman of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) Conrado 'Ka Ambo" Balweg, it would be futile to engage the CPP-NPA in any form of peace talks since their concept of peace is for them taking the reins of government under communist rule. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNJyKA9gao&ab_channel=MgaBobongNPANiJOMA)
So here, we have a democratic government on the one hand trying to win over the CPP-NPA back into the democratic fold, and on the other hand we have an armed communist group bent on replacing the present democratic system of government with its own brand of communist rule. There is absolutely no talking points or basis for any kind of peace talks with the CPP-NPA. The established government can never risk being toppled and replaced, likewise the CPP-NPA will never disown its ideology o communism and its objective to topple the government and replace it with its own. This is the hard truth that people raised in a democratic system must understand and acknowledged.
The first step is to accept that the CPP-NPA is waging a war against the government with the intention of replacing the democratic system by way of an armed struggle and confrontation against the duly established armed forces of the government. Therefore by that acceptance we now understand, and can logically infer, that the CPP-NPA is in fact an enemy of the State. In fact for more than four decades the CPP-NPA has been waging an armed rebellion against the government. (https://stanford.app.box.com/s/9mgudg981m006642sjbo5nvp3fudyz53)
There is nothing wrong with being a communist or being left-leaning per se, that is allowed under the constitution via the right to free association. What cannot be countenanced is taking up arms against the government and waging war against it.
That is why we come to the next step of denouncing and condemning those who would commit atrocities and terroristic acts against the duly constituted democratic government, not to force them to commit more despicable and violent acts against the government and its people, but to unmask them for what and who they truly are and to warn them that enough is enough.
Mr. Casiño got it partly right when he said that the CPP-NPA are fellow Filipinos and they should be engaged in healthier engagements -- which the present administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, as well as several previous administrations, have tried to do through failed "peace talks" -- but he is undoubtedly wrong when he insists that they are not enemies of the State. When you take up arms and through a violent confrontation go up against the government then you are an enemy of the State. Plain and simple. Even in a rebellion for a supposedly just cause or for the redress of perceived grievances, when an armed confrontation or conflict is conducted against the agents of the State in order to inflict grievous harm or death then for that moment you are to be considered as an enemy of the State.
However Mr. Casiño or his beliefs is not the real problem of the government but the fact that a group of congressmen allied with Mr. Casiño, and who are duly elected representatives of their respective party lists, have stated recently that they too are averse in condemning the dastardly acts perpetrated by the CPP-NPA against the State arguing that it is similar to not condemning the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which took up arms against the government for legitimate concerns.
This group, the Makabayan bloc composed of representatives from Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women's party-list, Kabataan party-list, and Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list, is deluded enough to believe that the CPP-NPA is waging an armed war against the government for legitimate concerns such as those espoused by the MNLF or the MILF. What they fail to even comprehend is that the MNLF and the MILF fought a struggle for the Bangsamoro identity which they believe is their birthright and heritage. It was not a struggle for ideology. This cannot be said for the struggle of the CPP-NPA which has already been revealed as nothing less than the overthrow of the existing democratic government and replacing it with a communist regime.
So this Makabayan bloc of party-list congresspersons, who have taken a solemn oath as a public officer, "to uphold and defend the Constitution; that he will bear true faith and allegiance to it; obey the laws, legal orders and decrees promulgated by the duly constituted authorities; will well and faithfully discharge to the best of his ability the duties of the office or position upon which he is about to enter; and that he voluntarily assumes the obligation imposed by his oath of office, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion.' (Sec. 40, Chapter 10, Executive Order No. 292), have no desire whatsoever to condemn the terroristic acts perpetrated by an armed group that is an enemy of the State. These supposedly respectable members of Congress are being paid by taxpayers money through the State, and are receiving various emoluments and benefits, as befitting an elected public official of a democratic government.
Go figure.