Reds waging political offensive—AFP

THE military said the communist organization in the country is stepping up its political rhetoric and venturing into the open political battlefield.

Armed Forces Civil Relations Service chief Brig. Gen. Eduardo del Rosario said the Communist Party of the Philippines, through its political arm, the National Democratic Front, and its military arm, the New People’s Army, has heightened its “issue-based offensives” to lure the AFP into a political engagement.

Del Rosario said they were expecting the rebels to use the Rabusa expose, the Palparan issue, and the Pestano case to vilify the AFP.

Former AFP treasurer Col. George Rabusa came out with an expose on alleged graft and corruption in the military, implicating some former chiefs of staff and a few senior officers still in active service.

Meanwhile, retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, current representative of the party-list group Bantay in the House of Representatives, is now a fugitive after a Bulacan regional trial court ordered his arrest for allegedly masterminding the abduction of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, both students of the University of the Philippines, in July 2006.

Cadapan and Empeno are still missing.

And last week, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales reversed the decision of her predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, that had cleared six Navy officers and four retired officers in the death of Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño in 1995.

“We’re well aware of their [CPP-NPA-NDF] strategy. Despite this, the morale of our soldiers remained high because our commanders are at their best performance so far to inform and educate our troops of what was going on,” Del Rosario said.

He said a possible new front against the military would most likely be the case of the so-called Morong 43, a group of health workers who were rounded up by police and military operatives in Morong, Bataan in February 2010 as alleged members of the communist movement.

The AFP claimed the 43 were attending a bomb-making seminar at a farm house in Morong when they were rounded up.

Del Rosario said the political strategy of the left is aimed at destroying the foundations of the military and police, including the judiciary. –Florante S. Solmerin, Manila Standard Today