Ex-communist leader blames leftists for rash of killings

The Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces have found an ally in a former communist rebel, who is now a pro-democracy advocate.Former communist rebel Pastor Alcover Jr. said militant groups should not blame the military for the killings within their ranks as the murders could have been perpetrated by communist rebels.

“They have only themselves to blame because they have chosen a life of violence and an ideology that tramples on human rights and justifies murder as a shortcut to resolving a problem,” he said.

Alcover, Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) chairman, said it is difficult to get out of the Communist Party of the Philippines “because your former comrades will doubt your every move, viewing you as a threat to the organization.”

“That is the problem that you will have to face in leaving an organization that does not believe in peace,” he said.

“If you become a member of a party that promotes and tolerates violence, then you cannot rule out the possibility that you could become a victim of violence yourself.

“Leftist leaders only have themselves to blame for the rash of killings plaguing their ranks,” Alcover said.

He said the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) had even come out with a statement in a newspaper ordering that he be killed.

“Upon leaving the party, your former comrades would come up with all sorts of charges for crimes that you did not commit, to justify the death sentence they had carried out on you,” he said.

“My death sentence stays to this day, even after leaving the party 25 years ago.”

Alcover did not discount the possibility that the NPA could be responsible for the series of assassinations of members of leftist groups and former communist leaders.

He himself was sentenced to death in absentia by the CPP when he left the movement in 1981, he added.

Alcover said several of his former colleagues in the CPP-NPA like Art Abara, Romulo Kintanar, journalist Leo Enriquez and former mayor Vic Villordon have all been killed by their erstwhile comrades.

“Communist insurgents should be prepared for the consequences of starting the cycle of violence when they raised arms against the government, and should stop recklessly blaming the police or the military for the rash of killings among their ranks,” he said.

Alcover said a massive information campaign in the countryside should be undertaken by the government to counter the propaganda of the CPP-NPA.

“(The CPP-NPA) has mastered the art of deception,” he said.

He has been organizing forums to inform the people about the true motives of the CPP-NPA and counter their propaganda campaign in rural areas, Alcover said.

President Arroyo has given the PNP and AFP ten weeks to solve the killings of journalists and militants.

Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said yesterday the government is open to an international fact-finding body looking into the country’s human rights situation, including the spate of extra-judicial killings.

“The issue is of utmost concern to the government, and the government is as eager as everyone else to halt the killings and solve these cases,” he said.

“President Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent order to the police and the Department of Justice to resolve these cases in 10 weeks sprung from the sincere desire to prosecute and punish the perpetrators.”

However, Gonzales said any independent probe team may not involve the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the CPP’s negotiating arm. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Katherine Adraneda, Philippine Star