By PNA
MANILA — The members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) are ‘stragglers’ whose ideology does not fit in the Philippines, National Security Adviser (NSA) Secretary Hermogenes Esperon said.
“Ang Communist Party at New People’s Army ay talagang nagsimula sa kasinungalingan at panggigipit at mga illegal na activities (The CPP-NPA really started in deceit, extortion, and illegal activities),” Esperon said in an interview posted by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar on Facebook on Sunday.
In the video interview, Esperon enumerated the crimes which the CPP-NPA has been involved, which included the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, extortion from local businessmen and politicians, mass murder of comrades, and violation of indigenous peoples’ rights.
He said the CPP-NPA cannot deny these as their own comrades confessed the organization’s involvement in these crimes.
“Ngayon gising na gising na ang ating mga katutubo lalo na diyan sa Mindanao, talagang umaalma na sila, alam na nila yung ginagawang tunay ng New People’s Army at Communist Party of the Philippines (The indigenous peoples, especially those in Mindanao, their eyes have now been opened, they now resist as they now know the real doings of the NPA and CPP),” he said.
Esperon also called party-list organizations Gabriela, Kabataan, Anakpawis, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT Teachers) and labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno as “terrorist front organizations”.
“Hindi ko sinasabi na lahat sila ay NPA ngunit sinusuportahan nila yung NPA, tingnan mo yung nangyari dun sa Talaingod, sinong makikita mo dun? (I’m not saying they are all NPA but they support the NPA. If you take a look at the Talaingod incident, who can we see there?),” Esperon said.
He said ACT Teachers party-list representative France Castro and former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo as among those arrested in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, after allegedly holding 14 minors without parental consent and permit from the LGU.
“Kinuha nila yung mga batang yun upang gawing mga warriors… Kung hindi sila front organizations, why can’t they condemn the New People’s Army? Iligal ang New People’s Army dahil ang pag-armas at labanan mo ang gobyerno (They got these children to train them as warriors. If these groups are not front organizations, why can’t they condemn the New People’s Army? The NPA’s doings are illegal because they are armed to fight the government),” Esperon said.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte has called on barangay officials and tribal leaders to strongly resist the CPP-NPA and cooperate with the government in ending the communist insurgency in the country.
The US State Department and the European Union have both tagged the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.
