Southern Luzon Command chief, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr. (PNA File photo)
MANILA – Armed rebellions that dragged on for so long are not successful, a ranking military official told Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairperson Jose Maria "Joma" Sison.
Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) chief, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., in a commentary posted in Manila Times online edition on April 1.
"Take a close look at the history of revolutions. All successful people’s uprisings have been those that didn’t take so long to triumph. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which gave rise to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is a classic example. Remember the movie 'Ten Days That Shook The World'? It’s all about that upheaval and it’s so titled because, indeed, 10 days was all it took for the Bolsheviks to crush the centuries-old Romanov dynasty of Czar Nicholas 2nd," he said.
Parlade also chided Sison that despite the 51 years of existence of the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, there is still no improvement on the terrorist group and is still ragtag.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
"Counting from the time you and Bernabe Buscayno dared organize an armed rebellion against the government in 1969, you have been at it for 51 years already. My God, that’s more than half a century and yet you remain no better than the ragtag ‘Hukbalahap’ remnants with which you formed your so-called people’s army in the beginning," he added.
With 51 years that Sison and his comrades have given to their revolution, Parlade said the CPP-NPA should have won a long time ago and established a socialist government 150 times grander than the former Soviet Union.
"Coming down to the second half of the past century, we see the forces of Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro ousting dictator Fulgencio Batista in an armed revolt that consumed the longer part of more or less a year. With that as a benchmark, you should have established by now a socialist state in the Philippines 50 times as big as that in Cuba," he added.
He added that instead of emulating the accomplishments of revolutionary elements in Russia and Cuba, Sison and his compatriots only had mobile ragtag elements incapable of establishing political control even in a small territory.
"Oh, yes, you always say, protracted people’s war. Mao Zedong did it in China, sure. But that was in the 1920s to the 1930s. No central government in place. The vast China country splintered among warring feudal lords, later partitioned among Western powers. Mao Zedong was correct in his semi-feudal, semi-colonial conception of Chinese society at the time. This validated his national democratic program of government and a strategy of wave-by-wave encirclement of the cities from the countryside," he said.
He also challenged Sison to explain what national democracy he is talking about as the Philippines and its people have long achieved democracy with their own means and power.
"What bureaucrat capitalism when we have a president that has social welfare at the heart of his government for which, in fact, he persists in fighting corruption, which has been the lifeline of oligarchic control of public utilities in the past. Water. Energy. Infrastructure. What have you?" he said."Where are the cities and where is the countryside in an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands?! My God, Mr. Sison. Enough of your Mao Zedong copycat protracted people’s war.”
With Sison's group getting nowhere despite their 51 years of struggle, Parlade said the CPP founding chair is probably allowing the conflict to drag on to justify their collection of revolutionary taxes and donations from sympathetic Western groups allied to the CPP-NPA.
"Or is that precisely what you want, for it to keep going? Just keep the pretense of struggle, keep funds coming from your terroristic collections of so-called revolutionary tax or from donations of Western groups, which you have swindled to fund your secret ventures in capitalism like running a remittance business out of billions donated by your Western cohorts," he added.
Despite Sison's refusal to give up his causeless fight, Parlade assured that with him at the helm of SOLCOM, communist rebels will soon see the end of the road in his areas of operation.
No surprise
"Sure, you did launch attacks on government troops, beginning March 21, in Kabansalan, Sibugay, Zamboanga; Lianga, Surigao; and Kapalong, Davao del Norte; and you did kill a number of indigenous people supportive of localized initiatives and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ElCAC)," he added.
He, however, said these atrocities did not surprise the Armed Forces of the Philippines as it knew quite early that such tactical moves will be ordered and carried out nationwide by the communists in celebration of NPA’s 51st founding anniversary.
"No matter whether the troops you attacked were on a humanitarian mission, front-line responders against the menace of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Sheer Sison arrogance in not reciprocating the suspension of military operations declared by President Rodrigo Duterte to support the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases," he added.
Duterte earlier declared a unilateral ceasefire from March 19 to April 15 to allow the AFP to focus on efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Parlade said atrocities committed by the communist rebels under the behest of Sison will not go unpunished.
"On March 27, the CPP-NPA terrorists in the provinces of Rizal and Quezon were poised to launch an attack on our communities in Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal. For sure the area had been your mass base, but painstaking efforts by the NTF ElCAC had, for a time now, won over the Puray folk to the government’s side," he added.
Acting on the community’s info that the NPA was planning to attack, the troops executed a community defensive posture a kilometer away from the village.
This resulted in the failure of the NPA attack; the killing of a high-ranking officer of the rebels; and the recovery of an M-16 rifle, a hand grenade, a rifle grenade, and several CPP and Militia ng Bayan group paraphernalia.
"Sure, one government soldier died in the encounter. But that is just the way it should be. In this fight, it’s impossible not to have heroes," Parlade said.
More returnees
With this death of a loyal and dedicated soldier, much more of the communist terrorists are killed or have voluntarily surrendered to the government for more peaceful and productive lives, he added.
Highlighting these claims are reports from Army commanders in Quezon who have reported the voluntary surrender of three CPP-NPA Terrorists, including Arnel Merenio Abrencillo, 23, resident of Barangay Malabahay, Macalelon, Quezon.
Confiscated by the Army’s 85th Infantry Battalion (85IB) and the 2nd Infantry Division from the surrenderers were with M-16 and caliber.30 M-1 Garand rifles.
"The day before, March 2020, the 80IB(Infantry Battalion) and 1IB assisted the Provincial Task Force Elcac in facilitating the voluntary surrender of two CNTs: Jayson Alpahora Capatasan, aka Alwin/Aldrin/Oka/Oca, and July Pepito Penaverde, aka Erwin/Endong. Capatasan was the vice squad leader of platoon 4A2 of Barangay Magsikap, while Penaverde was a member of the same platoon," Parlade said.
On March 27, the Municipal Task Force ELCAC facilitated the voluntary surrender of two high-ranking communists to Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro Mayor Andres Dangeros and municipal local government operations officer Bernadette Encina.
Dominador Penciano Jr., alias Totsie/Jai/Jess/Nari, and Joel Mejaro y Dapok, aka Lenny/Libby, surrendered upon seeing the government’s sincerity in its implementation of Executive Order 70 program.
"That’s not the end of the sad story of your NPA members in the SOLCOM area, Mr. Sison," Parlade said.
On the eve of the NPA anniversary on March 29, 40 regular NPA and Militia ng Bayan members surrendered to the government as a result of the Regional Task Force ELCAC’s collaboration in General Nakar in Quezon, and Kalayaan and Sta. Rosa in Laguna.
The group turned in 14 firearms and war materiel, including one M-16, one M-14, two carbine, and one Garand rifles, as well as five pistols, rifle grenades, and ammunition.
"Topping the surrender of all the above was the killing of Julius Giron, whom AFP chief-of-staff (Gen.) Felimon Santos Jr. identified as chairman of the CPP and of its Military Commission, the position held by Benito Tiamson before being arrested in Cebu City in 2014. The top CPP-NPA honcho was killed in Barangay Queen of Peace, Baguio City in a firefight with soldiers of the Northern Luzon Command and city police (last March 13)," he added.
Also killed in the operation was Lourdes Tan Torres, a member of the CPP executive committee and the CPP National Health Bureau, and an unidentified bodyguard of Giron.
"With the death of your top stooge in the Philippines — stooge because you actually run the show from your armchair in the Netherlands — need I stress it to your face: your envisaged grand NPA anniversary celebration just went pfffttt…," Parlade said.
"Quo vadis from here, Joma? As for me, I’m sworn to end your terrorism in my turf within my term," he said. (PNA)
