The Lenten season is meaningless only to those who think religion is the opium of the people. And so the communist New People’s Army raided the compound of a gold mining company in Masbate the other day, torching five buildings and two pieces of heavy equipment owned by Filminera Resources Corp. Why? Because, police said, the company refused to yield to NPA extortion and pay "revolutionary taxes." In another attack also in Masbate, the NPA killed a policeman.
Since being included in a list of foreign terrorist organizations drawn up by the United States and its allies, Philippine communist rebels have had to scrounge for funding sources. The inclusion in the list has led to more extortion activities, with private companies including telecommunications firms among the favorite targets. Rebel extortion has driven away investments and has been one of the biggest hindrances to the development of impoverished rural communities.
Will this scourge ever end? Only if the government changes its tack in its anti-insurgency campaign. The communists were at their strongest during the Marcos regime, when extrajudicial killings and other forms of state oppression and injustice turned people against the government. Now, incongruously, an administration born of people power is using strategies reminiscent of the dictatorship to fight the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines, including organizations tagged as CPP-NPA fronts. And as in the days of authoritarian rule, the government is again becoming the biggest recruiter for the communist movement.
The attacks staged by the NPA during Holy Week will be condemned. Can the attacks be stopped? A few rebels may be arrested, wounded or killed, but the movement will not run out of adherents. Not with the way the counterinsurgency campaign is being carried out.