MANILA: The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) does not engage in red-tagging leftist lawmakers, President Rodrigo Duterte said and insisting that the military was actually “identifying” them as legal fronts.
Duterte said the AFP is “very correct” for identifying groups like Bayan, Makabayan, and Gabriela as “legal fronts” of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
“These legal fronts of the communists. All of them Makabayan, Bayan…they are all legal fronts, Gabriela. We are not red-tagging you. We are identifying you as members in a grand conspiracy comprising all the legal fronts that you have organised headed by NDF [National Democratic Front of the Philippines] tapos yung (then) New People’s Army at Communist Party of the Philippines,” he said.
Duterte said several former CPP-NPA members have openly attacked and criticised communists for the latter’s sheer brutality in this communal war.
“This is communal war. There is no longer any ideology. These communists no longer have ideology,” he added.
He said the communists simply wanted to overthrow the government so that they could take over.
“They just want to grab power,” he said.
Duterte accused the legal front members, particularly Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate, of accepting money” and “defend an oligarch” but did not elaborate.
“You are friends with the NPA. You co-conspirators. You’ve been a communist for a long time. I know. I know because I know,” he said.
He also attacked CPP-NPA founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, saying his guerrilla-like ideology claimed the lives of many uniformed personnel.
“What do you get from the ideology of communism?” he said.
Duterte said indigenous communities were the most affected by atrocities committed by the CPP-NPA members.
“The ones pitiful here are the poor you convince. I think 75 percent, at least in Mindanao, mga Lumad. You lumads, go home and tell your people you’re being fooled by NPA. Lumads are being killed. So if this thing goes on, the lumads, native Filipinos will become an extinct tribe if you don’t stop,” he said.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Nov. 3 said it would be hypocrisy for the CPP-NPA to say that they do not have legal fronts.
“It is hypocrisy for the CPP-NPA to say that they don’t have what they call legal fronts,” he said.
In a Senate hearing last week, Zarate denied being a member of CPP-NPA and denounced the AFP’s red-tagging of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives.
He said Bayan Muna and members of the Makabayan bloc are legitimate groups pushing for meaningful social reforms.
The CPP-NPA-NDF is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
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