A Happy New Year to all our valued readers

HONG KONG – While this is the time of year that we do our last column for 2019, I normally do not travel at this time since many flights are booked to somewhere. However, a few months ago, my wife asked me to bring her to Hong Kong for her birthday last Sunday, and since we are already here, go to Macao and spent our first day of the new year out of the country. This is why I’m right here in Hong Kong Disneyland with my whole family to enjoy a New Year holiday. 

As expected the New Terminal 2 was full of passengers, but our Cathay Pacific flight was not as full as I expected. What we did not predict was the weather in Hong Kong was rainy and foggy. However, since Disneyland in Hong Kong is a bit far from the almost weekly rallies that have disturbed the Hong Kong economy, there were still a lot of people who went to Hong Kong Disneyland even with the rains. So in a way I cannot say anything about the Hong Kong rallies except what is published in the papers.

What I like about our Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong is when you board their Boeing 777, you get to choose newspapers and yes, they carried The Freeman and the Philippine STAR, which for a Sunday got me up to date with the important news of the day. The big surprise for me was the STAR headline where the Philippine Army apologized for putting manipulated photos of the rebels.

From the STAR news we’ve read that Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has ordered Army chief Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay to conduct an investigation into the release of fake images of 306 alleged New People’s Army (NPA) surrenderees in Masbate last Thursday. The manipulated photos had gone viral online and put in question the government’s drive against communist insurgents. Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Army spokesman, said the releasing unit, the 9th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office, has given their side of the doctored photos, which had been circulated by at least two online news outlets.

As a keen observer of this war against the Communist insurgents, we have always believed that the propagandists of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or the National Democratic Front (NDF) have always beaten the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Of course we have no way knowing how the “Friends” of the CPP/NDF/NPA working inside the national papers have also one way or another manipulated certain news items about the communist insurgency.

So while this incident in selling a manipulated news photo is entirely wrong, at least Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has ordered Army chief Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay to conduct an investigation into the release of fake images. This is more than enough proof that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) doesn’t fathom fake news and would stop it when they find out that the news is not real. On this alone, I salute the AFP for publicly saying that an investigation would be done.

But what about the crimes of the CPP/NDF/NPA like the big news we got in the 1980s when a mass grave was unearthed in the town of Inopacan, Leyte. We’ve read the accounts of the military and witnesses, that most of the victims bore brutal marks of crushed skulls still in  blindfold. They suffered severe flesh wounds and broken bones even before they were shot with multiple gunshots. Their deaths remain the most painful in Philippine forensic history, including the fact that others were even buried alive while most were mutilated. It is also believed that some of the victims were raped by their comrades before they were finally tortured and killed.

After the mass grave discovery in 2006, the Philippine Army filed 15 counts of murder before the Manila Regional Trial Court against couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Vicente Ladlad, Randal Echaniz, Rafael Baylosis, Exusperado Lloren and several others, including CPP chairman Jose Maria Sison.  Pres. Rodrigo Duterte has many times said that he wants to talk with CPP Chairman Jose “Joma” Sison.

To be totally honest about it… I don’t believe that Joma Sison would abandon his armed struggle for the last 50 years simply because Pres. Duterte wants to talk to him. Sison knows the various warrants of arrest against him are not fake news, and that evidence would reveal that he just might end up being thrown to jail.

So at this point, I would rather ask Pres. Duterte to make that pledge of ending the CPP/NDF/NPA struggle in the Year 2020 and this is one huge chance that a President Duterte can achieve this monumental goal. The Filipino people would believe that Pres. Duterte could achieve this in a year than his attempt to talk to Joma Sison. It’s a more doable thing to do!

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