Leftist solons decry proclamation tagging CPP-NPA a terrorist group

Leftist lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Tuesday decried President Rodrigo Duterte's proclamation formally categorizing the Communist Party of the Philippines, including its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA), as a terrorist group.

In a statement, Anakpawis party-list Representative Ariel Casilao said that for decades, the NPA has not been considered a terrorist group, given their goals of genuine land reform, national industrialization, and freedom from foreign dictates.

"Even President Duterte admitted that they are majorly composed of peasants who clamor for land, offered them land, jobs and housing, in exchange for their surrender," he said of the NPA.

"They are waging an armed struggle for legitimate cause for poor Filipinos, totally different from the Abu Sayyaf, whose founder was trained by the US, against the USSR in Afghanistan, and IS who is reported repeatedly to be supported by the US in the Middle East," he added.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday that the CPP-NPA has been declared as a designated, identified terrorist organization under RA 10168, otherwise known as the Human Security Act, a move which came barely two weeks after Duterte formally terminated the peace talks with the communist group.

"So as the President has stated before, he has finally classified the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization within the purview of the Human Security Act," Roque added.

Casilao said that with the termination of the peace talks, Duterte has shut down opportunities for both panels to address the root causes of armed conflict.

For his part, ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio claimed that Roque was wrong in referring to RA 10168 as the Human Security Act, as this is actually the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.

"This indicates that the proclamation is not targeted primarily at the CPP-NPA, but will be used to go after legal left-wing organizations and individuals based on allegations that they are providing financial support to the CPP-NPA," he said.

Tinio said the proclamation will only provide for more trumped-up charges against leftist organizations meant to harass, intimidate, jail and silence them.

This, as the administration launches a crackdown on what he called the "legal Left"—the extrajudicial killings of activists such as Fr. Tito Paez.

"However, history has shown that the Filipino people will respond to  greater repression with more widespread resistance," Tinio said. — BM, GMA News