RP can’t shed off Third World image because of insurgency — Gonzales

The decades-old insurgency waged by the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels is preventing the country from shedding its Third World image and achieving full economic progress, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said yesterday.

"Our vision of making the Philippines a First World (country) can be achieved only through the mobilization of the entire Filipino people towards this common goal," Gonzales told an assembly of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP).

He stressed the government is bent on crushing the communist insurgency in the next three to five years to achieve the goal.

"Crushing the communist insurgency is a major task in the unfinished work for the resurrection of the country," Gonzales said.

"We are often told that poverty is the cause of insurgency. This is not true. What is true is the reverse. The ideology-based rebellion is taking advantage of poverty, and it is worsening poverty. The communists’ biggest sin is that they are making fools of all of us," Gonzales said.

The decades-old communist insurgency has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The peace negotiations between the government and the communists bogged down in July last year after the rebels announced they would wait for the next administration before resuming negotiations. Malacañang swiftly responded by revoking immunity passes of the negotiators of the National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA in the peace talks in the Netherlands.

The rebels then took the initiative by stepping up tactical offensives against government troops in the countryside.

Authorities noted the NPA also intensified its extortion activities. The military estimate NPA strength at around 8,000 armed regulars.

Gonzales said the NPA offers fresh recruits false hopes by promising to free them from poverty and oppression through armed struggle.

He said the government could not focus on implementing reforms since it is also busy deflecting attacks or fighting off insurgents who have been bombing various government and private targets with great abandon.

The NPA also contributes to the oppression of the people by "eating up" precious government resources, Gonzales said.

Among them is the use of the pork barrel funds of the leftist party- list representations to advance their cause, he said.

Another way is to force the government to utilize its financial resources in anti-insurgency campaign instead of social programs and livelihood projects in the countryside.

Gonzales earlier sought an investigation into the alleged misuse by leftist congressmen of their pork barrel funds to support the operations of the NPA.

He said the communist rebels are also sabotaging government’s economic development efforts by bombing installations, harassing businessmen by collecting revolutionary taxes, and scaring investors.

Gonzales likened NPA to termites "that slowly but surely destroy a house."

He said government should re-evaluate its anti-poverty programs to hasten the defeat of the insurgents.

Gonzales suggested the government should finance the development of communities surrounding the 2,000 rebel-infested barangays and showcase them as "models for democracy-driven progress."