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Last
week newspapers reported a statement from the Communist
Party of the Philippines (CPP) calling “on the
revolutionary forces under its leadership to give full
support to the struggle of the Bangsamoro for national
self-determination and the return of their ancestral
lands.”
The CPP
statement included marching orders to the New People’s
Army (NPA):
“The CPP
instructs the New People’s Army throughout the country
to intensify tactical offensives against the fascist
Armed Forces as a concrete step to support the
resumption of the revolutionary armed struggle of the
Bangsamoro as well as to take advantage of the present
preoccupation of the enemy forces in fending off the
Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces” (philippinerevolution.net).
Not
surprisingly, the CPP was criticized and called
Machiavellian. In response, Jose Maria Sison (Joma), who
felt alluded to because he is the usual suspect in
matters of this sort, came out with his usual “Who me?”
rejoinder.
He said:
“Contrary to the propaganda issued by the psy-war
experts of the Arroyo regime, I am not in any position
to issue orders to the New People’s Army [NPA] to
undertake tactical offensives in sympathy with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front [MILF]. My role as NDFP
[National Democratic Front of the Philippines] chief
political consultant is assisting peace negotiations and
not issuing military orders to the NPA” (kilusan.net).
There is
a famous saying that goes, “Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss
people.”
I have a
small mind. I have great difficulty separating people
from ideas and ideals they spout. For example:
Suppose
Joma’s communist party were to take over the country,
would he still allow the MILF to secede?
If he
will not permit outright secession, will he allow the
establishment of an MILF ancestral domain with an
autonomous government that can enter into treaties, have
its own central bank, make its own economic-development
programs and dispense justice under Sharia law through
its own police force and army?
I asked
those questions earlier and one of Joma’s acolytes
posted the following reply:
“The
answer of the Left to that question is clear. We respect
the right to secede from an oppressive State, just like
what we have now. When the State is no longer
oppressive, and when that State upholds the rights and
the interests of the Moro, secession won’t be needed
anymore” (Translated from Pilipino).
Switik!
Anyway,
like I said earlier, I have a small mind, I cannot
debate with the indoctrinated so I’ll stick to
personalities.
A man
who calls himself Armando Liwanag chairs the CPP. He
took over from an Amado Guerrero, also known as Jose
Maria Sison.
I
suspect Armando Liwanag, like Amado Guerrero, is a
pseudonym of Jose Maria Sison. A former member of the
underground assured me that it was. I asked him for
proof.
The
former rebel said, “I have no proof that Armando is not
a real person, but in all my years in the underground, I
never did nor did I run across anybody who actually saw,
heard, smelled, tasted or touched him.”
He
added, “Have you ever seen a picture or video or heard
an audiotape of Joma and Armando together?”
My mind,
however small, easily understood what my friend was
getting at—either Armando Liwanag is Joma or a ghost
chairs the CPP and gives orders to the NPA.
And so,
if Joma and Armando are one and the same, what sort of
person is he who uses one name to issue orders for
tactical offensives against the State and another name
to deny he ordered what he ordered? Should I even bother
to listen to the ideas spewed forth by this two-faced
excuse for a revolutionary?
My
answer to my own questions is a quote from former US
President Lyndon B. Johnson, “I may not know much, but I
know the difference between chicken shit and chicken
salad.”
And
that’s why I find Joma unpalatable.
Buencamino is a fellow of Action for Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph). |
