Bato dela Rosa: Ruling on CPP-NPA proscription case won’t affect gov’t anti-insurgency efforts

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday said the government's counter-insurgency efforts will not be affected by a local court's dismissal of the proscription case that seeks to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as terrorist groups.

"Kahit na hindi sila na-proscribe, it doesn't hinder our efforts, the efforts of the government to fight his menace of the society," Dela Rosa, chairperson of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee, said in a phone interview with reporters.

Dela Rosa lamented that the efforts to declare the CPP and NPA as terrorists did not succeed but he said he respects the decision of the court.

"We respect the decision of the court. Whatever rulings that they made, we fully respect their decision but personally, ako ay nasasayangan. Sayang," the former national police chief said.

"Had it been the other way around, e malaking tulong po sana yon sa problema atin sa insurgency," he added.

In a 135-page resolution penned by Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 said a perusal of the CPP-NPA’s program shows that it is organized not for the purpose of engaging in terrorism.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the proscription case in 2018 seeking to declare the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group under Section 17 of the Human Security Act (HSA) of 2007.

Citing the HSA, the court defined terrorism as the commission of certain acts, "thereby sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand." — RSJ, GMA News