After saying nothing wrong with working with the left, Legarda condemns terrorism
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda said that she “denounce[s], condemn[s] all forms of violence and terrorism” nearly a week after her impassioned speech on the Senate floor where she declared that there is nothing wrong with working with the left.
Still, Legarda stood pat on her belief that peace negotiations are the way to go when it comes to ending armed conflict, which she said has hindered the country’s development for over half a century.
“I am in favor of peace talks that are built upon a genuine desire to come to an agreement, which are within our democratic framework and in accordance with all our laws,” she said in a manifestation during Monday’s plenary session.
She added: “I believe the best way to achieve this is by building mutual understanding through good faith discussions, through which we can find that we have more that unites us than what sets us apart.”
Last Wednesday, Legarda argued that there is nothing illegal in being a leftist in reaction to Sen. Francis Tolentino’s proposal for the government to require public officials to disclose ties to people who belong to groups tagged by the government as terrorists, like the Abu Sayyaf and the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
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“Believing in policies and philosophies that may be left of center, so to speak, does not make anyone subversive,” Legarda said then, adding that she has worked with the left and that there is “nothing wrong with that.”
Legarda also pointed out that the CPP, NPA and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, a coalition of revolutionary communist groups, have not been proscribed by the Court of Appeals as terrorists, as required by law.
The CPP, NPA and NDFP, however, have been designated by the Anti-Terrorism Council, composed of nine Cabinet members, as terrorists.
Following Legarda’s speech, she was targeted by red-tagging, or accusations that she is a member of armed, underground communist organizations herself.
But she assured in her latest manifestation that she, a Philippine Air Force reservist, will remain the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ ally in the Senate.
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