You can tell the Philippines’ communists are getting desperate. They now ally themselves with the Yellowtards (the bloc of partisans rabidly loyal to the Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan) and their capitalist cohorts in Big Corporate Media. The most loyal of these corporate behemoths, ABS-CBN, now deploy their most bankable talent to the “cause”. The recent circus being kicked up surrounds popular starlets Liza Soberano and Angel Locsin — the earlier having visibly demonstrated support for communist front GABRIELA (which advertises itself as a “women’s issues” advocacy) and the latter coming to her defense.
GABRIELA is cited by no less than Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Joma Sison as one of their front organisations and a tool in their “revolution” to destroy the reactionary capitalist order. Sison said in an old video that recently emerged that the “biggest component organisation” of BAYAN is the Kilusang Mayo Uno (First of May Movement or KMU). He also cited Gabriela, the “women’s alliance”, the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) among others as also being part of this coalition of legal fronts.
In its Asia Report No 202 issued the 14th February 2012, The International Crisis Group cited GABRIELA as one of several groups with “links (denied) to the underground” that won seats in Congress in 2004 after striking a deal with then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that allowed her to campaign in territory controlled by the CPP’s terrorist arm, the New People’s Army (NPA).
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The report describes how the CPP-NPA use tactics to make it difficult for the police and military to operate. Their “use of front organisations obscures who is affiliated with whom”.
In many areas where the NPA is strong, the insurgents have been operating for decades. Local communities and politicians work around the conflict, often making pragmatic decisions to collaborate with one side or the other or both. This inhibits efforts to quash the insurgency by military and police, whose relations with local government units are fraught. Also caught in the middle is the Catholic Church, which wields considerable authority. Even for civil society groups running programs in affected barangays (villages), the CPP-NPA use of front organisations obscures who is affiliated with whom.
Partisans, “activists”, and “thought leaders” within the Philippines’ broader Opposition lap up the notion that groups like GABRIELA are not terrorists yet seem to shy away from challenging them to categorically denounce the terrorist activities of the NPA. Indeed, when “red tagged” by those who do dare to take them up on their obvious communist links, the Opposition prefer to play the all-too-familiar Victim Card and go all crybaby over what they insist is a death sentence.
If it weren’t for the appalling dishonesty in the positions taken by the Opposition to ensure the communists are on their side (and vice versa), it would be quite laughable how these people seek to insult the intelligence of the Filipino people.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Ms. Soberano could start advocating for those rights in the company she works for. I don’t understand why these women have to consort with groups they don’t really know well without consulting or considering political context. What are the “handlers” doing? But then that’s the nature of business that exploits.
Until the government repeal the Law that allowed these “communist front organizations”, to operate legally, without being bothered…this will be the situation in our country.
They even have their own territories now; they had allied themselves, with the Aquino Cojuangco political axis; the Roman Catholic Church liberation theology minded clergy; the oligarchs; and some political opportunists…
We have the same political scenario; when Marcos was removed by the U.S./C.I.A. coup d’ etat…
Soberano and Locsin are the “Poster Girls” of the CPP/NPA. Some women, who join the radical fronts of the commies, became the “Pleasure Women” of the NPA soldiers. One was made pregnant, and had a baby, who died of disease; and they used the baby’s death , as a commie political cause.
It is easy for the government, to defeat these commie rebels…however, crooked politicians needed them to win elections !
What the hell is “red-tagged” anyway? Nobody outside The Philippines cares what goes on in that failure of a country anyway.
You may be right. It has probably reached a point of no return. Nobody wants to give way.
Welcome to the “failed state” club… US has become a failed state, irrelevant now to the Philippines