Llamas confirms: Left gaining ground in govt

RONALD Llamas, the controversial political adviser of President Benigno Aquino III, on Friday said the Democratic Left was gaining influence in the government with its push for peaceful reforms while the Communist extremists were becoming irrelevant with their call for armed revolution.

Llamas said the Democratic Left had slowly but steadily established itself as a significant force  and a constructive alternative to the “CNN,” referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.

“The Democratic  Left is open to forging alliances and working with reform-minded groups and individuals in both the public and private sector, in contrast [to] the CPP’s insistence on its monopoly of righteousness, Llamas told students and  military officers  at the National Defense College of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo.

His statement lent credence to the claim of party-list Rep. Pastor Alcover, an anti-communist lawmaker, who has said the Left has embedded its allies in key government positions, boosting its capability to take over the reigns of government.

Alcover, of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy, claims Llamas is among the leftists who were involved in the negotiations with Jose Maria Sison and the NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni to form a “coalition of government” with  President Aquino’s the Liberal Party.

But Llamas distanced himself from the coup-plotting communists, saying his group that includes Akbayan “pushes for a platform of political reform within the bounds of law and the Philippine Constitution.”

That was unlike the extremists whose leaders had long been wanting to overthrow the government and seize political power through violent means  guided by the principle of protracted war, said Llamas, considered the arch nemesis of Utrecht-based Jose Maria Sison.

Llamas’ group includes Rep. Walden Bello, former Rep. Loreta Ann Rosales, now chairman of Human Rights Commission, and NPA commander Arturo Tabara.

They were declared by the CPP in December 2004 as “counter-revolutionaries” and were thus legitimate targets for execution by its armed cadres. –Florante S. Solmerin, Manila Standard Today