I fully know that our people are anxious right now about the COVID-19 pandemic which plagues our country and the world today. And this is understandable. Considering the latest figures of infections in our country, which is at 276,289 (as of 4:00 P.M., September 17, based on Department of Health data), where 63,408 are active cases, and 4,785 are deaths, the feeling of being worried about our own personal health and that of our families can just never be denied. And our people all deserve to the protected against this virus, I so uphold.
But this is not what I am about to write at length in this piece. Instead, I would like to present that there is another equally contagious and dangerous virus or plague that have been mainstreaming in our society for over five decades now —51 years to be precise.
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This different kind of virus is just too perilous and too deceiving, that it was able to pierce into several sectors of our society, including our own bureaucracy, our Indigenous Peoples (IPs), as well as our youth. It is called Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), which, in our parlance at the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), is collectively known as Communist Terrorist Group (CTG).
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The CPP was established on December 26, 1968, when maybe a lot of us in this present generation were not born yet, or were just in their young adolescence. And in over 51 years of existence in our noble society, what has this CPP-NPA-NDF done and contributed for our beloved country?
Maybe a lot. But all for selfish advancement.
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When the NPA launched what was called “Purging” from 1983 until the 1990s, thousands of their members, whom they claimed traitors to their movement, were killed by their organization itself. Over 10,000 civilians and thousand military were also killed because of their violence and extremism.
With their misplaced ideologies, the CPP-NPA-NDF plunged our country into real poverty. Data from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) showed that billion pesos were lost on our economy every year because of the attacks and atrocities perpetrated by the NPA. Our economy also lost another billion pesos year per year due to NPA extortion among our TELCOs, mining, transport, power generators, and other businesses. They also demanded for 3-5% share in every government infrastructure project, which was estimated to worth a billion peso as well.
Data also showed that the CTG was able to collect P5.4 billion in just a span of three years, from 2016-2018. This amount was just a conservative estimate because a lot of victims failed to present themselves to authorities for fear of being retaliated by the NPA.
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Our country is fortunate enough to have a present President who firmly believes that there is enough reason now to halt the sufferings of the Filipino people from the CTG, which, up until present, clings on a failed ideology.
This is why, on December 4, 2018, President Duterte signed into law Executive Order No. 70, establishing the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), a mechanism for a whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach in defeating the CPP-NPA-NDF.
Our President has his heart set on ending this long-embedded problem with this terrorist group under his administration, and with this in his top priorities, he calls on every Filipino to support this campaign.
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For over 51 years, our government has done all within its powers and mandate, to address insurgency and terrorism in our country. Every past administration had launched several strategies to defeat the enemy —ranging from ‘search and destroy’ strategy during the 70s and 80s, to the ‘Lambat Bitag/SOT during the 90s, and the National Internal Security Plan (NISP) in 2001.
But did we succeed? No!
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Maybe there were times when we were able to weaken their force, but we really never completely subdued the enemy. Why is that?
Well, it’s because the CPP-NPA-NDF is excellent at propaganda, and this they were able to prove for 51 years. It is in this aspect that our government failed on.
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Our government lost to the CPP-NPA-NDF in the realm of propaganda, because we never had a comprehensive information campaign to let our people know what government programs and services are available to them. The CPP-NPA-NDF was able to narrate their lies, whereas we in the government failed to present the truth.
Our government needs not to invent lies to defeat the enemy. It just needs to present facts and truths. How important is this?
To cite an example, when the government builds road networks in remote areas where IPs live, the CPP-NPA-NDF will resort to destroying the image of the government by influencing the belief of the beneficiaries, through narratives such as “anong pakinabang nyo dyan, eh wala naman kayong kotse? Ginawa lang yan ng gobyerno para sa mga negosyante na pagsasamantalahan kayo.” Many times, these kinds of CTG narratives succeeded in influencing the vulnerable groups into believing their lies, leaving beneficiaries disappointed at the government.
These kinds of CTG propaganda leaves our government on the losing end because we were not able to explain to beneficiaries the noble intent and purpose of why we’re implementing the project.
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This is how significant an information campaign is, if only to defeat our enemy —the CTG— and not miss an opportunity to make our people really feel the “malasakit” of our government. And this is what we are doing now at the NTF-ELCAC.
We will never falter in our mission to let our people know and feel that the government is there for them and for their welfare. We will never drag our feet into accomplishing this mission, if only to ensure that every Filipino is safe from harm and atrocities being perpetrated by the communist terrorist group.
But this we can never do all alone. Our people has to be vigilant as well, by denouncing the CTG and decrying leftist organizations to lay their hands off them.