Presidential candidates say roots of communist insurgency should be addressed
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:43 p.m.) — The root causes and social problems that lead to Filipinos joining the communist insurgency should themselves be addressed in order to confront the armed struggle, presidential candidates said Tuesday evening.
At the SMNI Presidential Debates on Tuesday evening, labor leader Leody de Guzman pointed to what he said were the social ills that led to people rebelling against the government. All candidates were also in favor of resuming peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines.
In a statement Wednesday, the CPP noted that candidates' statements on peace talks "add to the mounting calls of peace advocates and progressive organizations to resume the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations after the proven failure of the Duterte regime's all-out war against the revolutionary movement."
Speaking in Filipino, de Guzman said Tuesday night that: "The way I see it, no person wants to take up arms and fight against the government forces in full battle gear with complete firearms and tanks...but the history of our country is one of oppression and violence."
"Even us workers, we don't want to go out in the sun and hold demonstrations, but if we're taken advantage of by capitalists, we're made contractual or prevented from unionizing...we don't want to do it, but it happens. It's the same way in the state of our society."
This came after the five presidential candidates who attended the debates were asked what vice-presidential candidate Walden Bello described as an anti-Left question: Are the CPP-NPA friends or foes?
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — the son of the late dictator who premised the 1972 declaration of martial law on the communist insurgency — said he rejects armed struggle, arguing that the government is right to defend itself against sectors that try to bring it down.
"Whatever the explanation is, I can't agree with an ideology that includes armed struggle...that's not in the law anymore," he said.
In response, De Guzman said that he didn’t agree that the New People’s Army was simply made up of terrorists, saying the focus should be on the root problems its members were fighting for, including livelihood for workers and farmers, education, and health, among others.
“I see them as a revolutionary group calling for social change and justice,” he said in Filipino. “It’s the result of the exploitation by a number of those in society.”
De Guzman, the only candidate who refused to call the CPP terrorists, called for a “true democracy” in the country that “doesn’t just serve the interests of the few.”
“Until that becomes our system in society, opposition by way of strikes, protests, all the way to armed struggle, will not end.”
Giving an example of state-sponsored violence, De Guzman pointed to the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the father of his rival candidate under whose Martial Law regime 34,000 were tortured by law enforcement personnel while some 3,240 were killed.
SMNI is owned by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the spiritual adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte who has openly endorsed Marcos and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. Quiboloy has been indicted for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling.
At the filing of certificates of candidacy, the outlet's reporters asked candidates questions about their alleged ties to the Communist Party of the Philippines, according to a report by Rappler.
NTF-ELCAC present at debates
Being left-leaning, or even a communist for that matter is not illegal in the Philippines, which presidential candidate Norberto Gonzales acknowledged.
"It's legal in the country and guaranteed by the Constitution. Why do we need armed struggle?" he asked.
The answer to his question is in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict's tactic of red-tagging progressive groups and personalities.
Red-tagging is defined by Philippine jurisprudence as “the act of labeling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy... by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”
Present at the debates Tuesday evening were NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lorraine Badoy and supposed former CPP cadre and NTF-ELCAC star witness Jeffrey Celiz. Badoy has been documented spreading fake news and baseless red-tagging allegations on more than one occasion.
On the other hand, Celiz has presented contradictory statements in separate interviews and Senate hearings, claiming that he was recruited by the Communist Party and the West Visayas State University, and in another interview, the University of the Philippines Diliman.
As De Guzman shared his thoughts on the roots of armed struggle in the country, the camera on SMNI's live stream panned towards Badoy, who was visibly laughing at the presidential candidate. Even the debate's panelists were careful to praise the NTF-ELCAC's achievements as they framed their questions.
"The old style of peace negotiations had no effect, but when the Duterte government diverted and focused more on the localized negotiations, that bore fruit through the NTF-ELCAC. What is clear to you [between the two] and will you continue these?" panelist and reporter MJ Mondejar asked.
Gonzales for his part said in Filipino: “I’m sorry, but for me they are enemies.” The audience applauded him for this.
“But we don’t have a law that defines how we look at them or that gives us a solution,” he said.
“Technically they are enemies of the state, but their calls should also be addressed,” presidential candidate and former Palace spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
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