National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. (Screengrab from Senate live video)
MANILA – The pretense of being the only good organization is among the greatest tricks of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) in deceiving the people, a top security official said Tuesday.
"They want to convince that they are a good organization and that they could only be the only good organization," National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said during the Senate Committee on National Defense & Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation hearing on red-tagging.
He, however, said the group's acts prove otherwise.
"They want to deny that they kill innocent people, indigenous peoples, burn construction equipment, exact illegal taxation, and radicalize then recruit many of our youth to take up arms against the republic. They want to overthrow democracy in favor of democratic centralism which is a euphemism for a dictatorship," he added.
Esperon added that another great trick of the CPP-NPA-NDF is to "convince us it does not exist".
"It has succeeded in no small measure in concealing its conspiracy and have its cadres or personalities supporting it masquerading as patriots, freedom fighters, human rights advocates, and so on," he added.
Meanwhile, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director General Alex Monteagudo presented a 1987 documentary video of CPP-NPA-NDF founding chair Joma Sison identifying the role of front organizations and its integral part to the communist terrorist group.
In the video, Sison speaks of the building of the Communist Party, the NPA, and the NDF.
Ex-members speak up
Former rebels and members of the CPP-NPA-NDF were also presented by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to testify on the CPP-NPA-NDF’s misleading process of recruitment and mobilization.
In a press briefing after the proceedings, former NPA cadre Jeffrey "Ka Eric Almendras" Celiz said Sison made the inadvertent admission to convince sympathetic leftist groups to support the terrorist group.
Celiz admitted said one key skill of party cadres is to consistently tell falsehoods.
"Kapag nasa loob ka po sa CPP-NPA-NDF bawal ka sa sigarilyo, pambababae, droga, pero master ka dapat sa isang bisyo, sa pagsisinungaling (If you are inside the CPP-NPA-NDF, you are not allowed to smoke, womanize and do drugs but you should be a master in one vice -- telling lies)," Celiz said.
Celiz said the party operates by infiltrating government organizations like a criminal syndicate group.
The former rebels said their decision to renounce the terror groups as"redemption" from their part ways.
Loyalty to the revolution
Meanwhile, Noel Legaspi, former deputy CPP Regional Party Committee member in Far South Mindanao Region, identified the party pledge for party members of the terror group where incoming officials vow to protect the security of the party with their lives.
This, he said, justifies the killing by the parties of past members.
"Their loyalty is to the party and the revolution, not the republic and not the people who voted them to power," Legaspi said.
He also cited the members' mandate under the CPP constitution to organize secretly into "party groups" whenever they find themselves in "conservative and reactionary institutions in a broad scope".
These party groups, he said, are then directed to implement CPP policies and decisions while they are members of these institutions, gather information useful to the party, expose wrongdoings and weaknesses and recruit new members.
Another former rebel, Joy James Saguino alias 'Ka Amihan' said he was recruited at the University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo initially as a member of League of Filipino Students (LFS).
Saguino also served as secretary of Guerilla Front 20 under Sub-regional Committee 1 of Southern Mindanao Region.
“There is no red-tagging. Mr. Jeffrey Celiz (Ka Eric) was right about the connection of the so-called legal democratic organization and the CPP,” he said in his testimony.
Saguino’s statement was backed by another former student, Rey Christian Sabado. He was a student leader at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines before joining the CPP-NPA-NDF in 2015 following several orientations and recruitment attempts.
Sabado said the CPP-NPA-NDF, through Kabataan Partylist and other fronts, tried to work on his release after he was arrested by government forces in Las Navas, Northern Samar in 2019 while carrying illegal firearms.
“Huwag na po nating hayaan na yung susunod na maging biktima nitong mga nagkukunwaring progresibong organisasyon ay sila pa po mismo yung sisira sa pangarap ng ating mga anak (Let us not let these groups claiming as progressive ones destroy the dreams of our children),” Sabado said in warning the youth against the CPP-NPA-NDF’s modus of targeting the sector.
Ivy Lin Corpin, alias 'Red/Elis' claimed that she joined the organization in 2016 and worked to campaign for Vilma Valencia who was a Gabriela organizer before joining the CPP-NPA-NDF.
She name-dropped other members of legal organizations who are also part of the communist terrorist group.
Deception must stop
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said is hopeful that the CPP-NPA-NDF can no longer deceive the public and cover up their malicious intent following the outcome of Tuesday's hearing.
“It is now clear how the CPP-NPA-NDF conspire to continue their unlawful acts and terrorist ways as exposed by the resource persons today. The organization’s exploitation of issues and idealism affecting the vulnerable sectors has to stop now,” said AFP chief of staff, Gen. Gilbert Gapay, who virtually attended the hearing.
Gapay said the public hearing was a great avenue for the military as most of the AFP’s efforts focus on the preventive side.
“We are satisfied with how things turned out for us during these hearings. These sessions have allowed the truth to unfold. And for the AFP, one of the best ways to counter terrorism is to stop lies from propagating,” Gapay said.
The military, during focused military operations, has encountered individuals that are affiliated with front organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
Gapay also reiterated the military’s duty to protect the people from the deceitful and violent ways of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“CPP-NPA-NDF’s orchestrated attempts at public deception have been unmasked. As we continue to battle against these terrorists during armed conflicts, it is just as vital for us to prevent individuals, especially vulnerable sectors from being misled by the CPP-NPA-NDF’s trickery,” he said.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.(PNA)
