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Next year, the Communist Party of the Philippines will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its founding. Since 1968, the CPP has waged an armed struggle in the countryside with the aim of toppling the government and creating a Maoist society. The guerrilla warfare pursued by the CPP is now the longest running insurgency in Southeast Asia.
Based on official documents on its Web site, the CPP is not yet on the threshold of clinching victory in the country. It claims to be operating at the strategic defensive phase of the protracted people's war. But the CPP continues to be the number one national security threat in the Philippines. Its armed forces, though much smaller than the military, are strategically scattered throughout the archipelago. In short, the armed rebellion led by the CPP is neither winning nor losing at the moment.
For the government, the CPP is the major stumbling block preventing the Philippines from achieving sustained economic growth like its more prosperous Asian neighbours. The CPP is blamed for the disunity and perpetual chaos in the country. The government insists that poverty will not be eradicated and foreign investors will shy away from the country as long as communist rebels are lurking in the provinces.
For the communists, the armed revolution is the antidote to widespread poverty. The CPP reminds the government that communists did not create corruption, landlessness, inequality and oppression. Rebels assert that hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people sympathize with the communist cause since the revolution aims to uplift the welfare and dignity of workers, peasants and the poor.
Despite its failure to capture state power the CPP wields a little, and sometimes significant, influence on Philippine politics. During the Marcos dictatorship from 1972 to 1986, the CPP played a key role in sustaining the pro-democracy movement. The CPP was the most consistent and formidable political force that opposed martial law during the Marcos years. It gained prestige and strength as it persevered in undermining the unjust Marcos rule.
After the downfall of Marcos, the CPP did not renounce its armed struggle. Peace talks were initiated between the government and the communist rebels, but they soon broke down after disagreements on the framework of the negotiations. An amnesty program was offered but it was ineffective in encouraging the rebels to surrender their arms.
A turning point in the history of the CPP was the rectification movement during the early 1990s. The CPP affirmed its adherence to the Maoist line of encircling the cities from the countryside. There were a number of cadres who disagreed with this theory and proposed urban insurrection as a model for advancing the Philippine revolution. There were members of the party who wanted to embrace a peaceful transition to socialism. The CPP also apologized for the brutal killing of some its own members wrongly accused of being double agents of the government. Those who disagreed with the basic principles of the movement broke away from the CPP.
According to the military, the rectification movement diminished the strength of the CPP and permanently affected the winning chances of the revolution. To entice disillusioned rebels into joining mainstream society, the government repealed the anti-subversion law. Congress also passed the party-list system to persuade the CPP to participate in the elections.
The CPP responded by pointing out that conditions in the Philippines were still conducive to waging an armed revolution. Poverty had worsened, land reform had not been implemented and the elite continued to rely on the military to protect their economic and political interests. The CPP also dismissed the token representation granted by the government to accommodate communists in Congress.
Another reason the CPP has refused to join mainstream politics is the dominance of militarist thinking in the government. While Marcos was removed from power, the generals continued to dictate the policies in dealing with the extreme left. It is wrong to assume that peace talks, amnesty programs and economic incentives were the tactics of the government to solve the insurgency. Since the Marcos era, the principal approach of the government in dealing with the CPP was to use violent and repressive tools against the armed and even the unarmed members of the left.
Accused sympathizers of the CPP are harassed and persecuted. Hundreds of peasant communities suspected of being influenced by communists are subjected to food blockades and hamletting. The rampant human rights violations in the Philippines are linked to the military strategy of liquidating the rebels and their alleged support base among the civilian population. The total war approach has resulted in the brutal assassination, massacre, torture and kidnapping of non-combatant leftists and even innocent individuals.
The CPP is criticized by political scientists for its refusal to join the elections. But admission to membership in the CPP is like signing a death warrant. The military will not allow communists to be part of the government. In the Philippines, "the only good communist is a dead communist."
The government has vowed to crush the rebel movement in three years. But the CPP seems resolute in continuing its armed struggle. Perhaps the CPP is inspired by the rebellion started by Francisco Dagohoy, who opposed Spanish colonialism for 85 years during the 1700s.
At a time when communism is supposed to be dead, a Maoist revolution is surviving in the Philippines. There is nothing surprising about this seemingly historical aberration since poverty, injustice, exploitation, repression and foreign intervention are equally astonishing in Philippine society. There are old-school Maoists, but the Philippines has plenty of old-school reactionaries as well.
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(Mong Palatino is a Filipino youth activist, correspondent for Global Voices and news editor of Yehey!, a Philippine-based Web portal. He can be reached at mongpalatino@gmail.com. His website is www.mongpalatino.motime.com. ©Copyright Mong Palatino.)
