The depiction of Jose Maria Sison as a literary figure instead of being the capu de tuti capi of the country’s biggest syndicate can very well, in a nutshell, describe the real nature of the Communist insurrection.
It is crucial at this point of the country’s anti-Communist war that the Filipino people should have a common understanding and definition of the Communist rebellion unlike in the past 50 years when it meant many things to many people.
Historical accounts have shown that even the religious and sugarcane planters once thought of the Communists as allies, a necessary force, a counterbalance of terror to the Marcos I government.
During the Cory Aquino presidency, they were seen as a voice of reason, a reminder of the social ills spawned by Marcos that have yet to be addressed.
And so it went on that even as the Communists were slaughtering soldiers and policemen, some mayors and local officials were cozying up to them, afraid their corrupt ways would also be discovered or that they, too, woild also be murdered.
The time has come for Negrenses to have a common understanding about the insurgency and come to terms with it, now thst the Army has finally crushed it in the countryside by dismantling all six guerrilla fronts in Negros island.
Those who have not really gone to the countryside and the barrios – including the mentally-feeble and emotionally frail kids (or those unemployed or unemployable young ones) and their aging dotard counterparts – mourn for the death of the NPA as if it was like Jesus nailed to the cross.
This ignorant and merry lot who care more for puppies and militants in other parts of the globe who slaughter civilians, revel in chaos and conflict and cannot, even in their own bedroom, build something as simple as making up their own bed.
They are the type who hate ROTC and believe that the family is feudal and patriarchal.
Some of them are men who join Communist front organizations with the hopes of getting laid by liberal-minded women who believe in free sex.
The Communist ideology was proven to be a disaster in Russia, Cuba and China.
It shatters families, rends apart societies and, as the model revolution of China, Joma’s model, has shown, it can only bring never-ending fighting, conflict, and destruction.
The first thing Negrenses have to understand then is that Communists are a deceptive lot: masters of disguise and dual tactics.
For instance, its urban cadres may sound and look sophisticated, refined or even appear as patrons of the art, introducung themselves as poets or writers winning a few awards here and there or even appear to you as a priest or a rights advocate while in the countryside, they can appear as humble peasants, sometimes even a barangay official or a member of an indigenous people’s community.
Subversion and subterfuge are two key elements of the Communist terrorist operative who believes that a principal tactic in the urban centers is to use existing laws against the State to, in the words of then rebel leader Frank Fernandez, use these like a rock to hit the State on the head.
The Communist terrorist rebellion is about to be defeated completely in the countryside, thanks to the courage and steadfastness of soldiers who lose sleep so we can be safe in our homes, but it has yet to be rooted out to be finally crushed.
That final defeat is for us to do.
For the real roots of rebellion are within each of us, in our minds and our hearts.
More in the next episode.
