PHL communist insurgency, ‘the most brutal in the world’ (Part One)

By Cecilio Arillo, Businessmirror, Aug 20, 2018

Part One

IN the words of journalist Ross Munro, a well-known political observer of Southeast Asian politics and author of the revealing story on the rise and fall of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge, “The Philippines is saddled with a communist insurgency that is the fastest-growing, most threatening and…the most brutal in the world today.”

Jose Maria Sison and Bernabe Buscayno, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and chief of the New People’s Army (NPA), respectively, together with some 450 others belonging to the second and third echelons of the CPP leadership were captured and jailed during the administration of President Ferdinand E. Marcos between 1972 and 1985.

They were released, together with their social democrat allies, by wealthy housewife Corazon Cojuangco Aquino in 1986 in compliance with her campaign promise when she assumed presidential power. Her tactical alliance with the left was confirmed by her Press Secretary Teodoro Benigno in a press statement: “During 1986 campaign the Aquino party entered into an agreement with the left for the purpose of defeating Marcos in the polls.”

Political analysts were unanimous in their conclusion: “The rise of the communist insurgency in the Philippines was primarily brought about by the strong ties the Aquino administration has forged with the CPP and the implementation of a failed cease-fire agreement, which gave the insurgents the breathing room to regroup.”

Ms. Elizabeth Barnes, writing for the Detroit News, said in her article “20,000 Filipinos Suffer in Aquino Family Farm” that: “There are very strong evidence indicating that both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army were organized in Hacienda Luisita.” An intelligence report, which was part of the voluminous evidence used on the rebellion and sedition case filed against Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., showed that the CPP and the NPA were organized in Hacienda Luisita on December 26, 1968, and March 29, 1969, respectively; and it was determined that Benigno Aquino Jr. was spearheading the formation of the CPP/NPA, hoping to use it in the 1972 presidential election. Apparently the late Benigno Aquino Jr. forgot the very instructive Chinese proverb: “He who rides the tiger ends up in the belly of the tiger.”

This partnership was interpreted by some critics, “that the president [Mrs. Aquino] has made a Faustian bargain [a deal with the devil, best exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental to many Christian tradition, according to Wikipedia] with the communists: She has traded the soul of her government—democratic commitments—in exchange for its continued life.” Thus, the 1987 Philippine Constitution provided for the legalization of the CPP and the removal of American military facilities.

The CPP, with its military arm the NPA, “has an effective influence in 62 percent of the countryside,” according to then-Gen. Fidel V. Ramos and Richard Armitage, secretary of defense of the Philippines and the United States of America, respectively. On the other hand, Gen. Richard Stillwell, former US undersecretary of defense and retired commanding general of the United States forces in South Korea, boldly said: “The Philippine Communist is the only force…that has its act together. It is highly motivated, and tightly disciplined.”

The J-3 (Operations) Report

This military intelligence report, which was leaked to the press, revealed that the Philippine military is losing its war with the insurgents. The J-3 report, a highly classified counterinsurgency operations report to the chief of staff, Gen. Renato de Villa, stated: “The Armed Forces of the Philippines lost all major battles but one and won only minor ones with the New People’s Army in the first quarter of 1988.”

A report prepared by the US Congressional Research Service, entitled “Philippines Under Aquino [Updated October 26, 1987],” also pointed out that “the [Aquino] government has had less success in the countryside. Few NPA rank-and-file members have surrendered. The NPA, in fact, grew by an estimated 9 percent in 1986, and the number of infiltrated barangays continued upward.”

A number of conditions persist in the countryside that created opportunities for the communists. These included high levels of unemployment and poverty; the breakdown of traditional social and support institutions; weak local governments; ineffective local police and security forces; a military hampered by inadequate resources and training; and the absence of cooperation at the local level among the civilian governments, the military and civic leaders.

Comparatively, during the administration of President Marcos, despite a cut of almost 20 percent on the defense budget from 1982 onward, the counterinsurgency situation was described by a senior military officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as follows: “Reduction on the defense budget did not lead to the reduction of anti-insurgency activities of the armed forces. We successfully contained the CPP/NPA activities not only through purely military and combat operations but also by maintaining a high and effective level of cooperation among civilian and civic leaders through the organization of Peace and Oder Coordinating Councils at the regional, provincial, municipal and village or barangay levels.”

To be continued