DJB slams Leftist Party Listers

From Dean Bocobo:

The party list groups are not fooling anybody. Until they categorically and publicly renounce the violence of the CPP NPA, they can hardly expect sympathy from a disbelieving public who cannot accept their sophisticated and convoluted refusal to take such a simple and forthright stand. They can only expect more public apathy towards their alleged plight at the hands of the Military, which is after all, fighting a deadly communist insurgency that is also involved in all kinds of organized criminal activities like extortion, collection of revolutionary taxes, kidnapping, assassination and blackmail.

I agree with Deanie na the Lefty party list groups should publicly renounce the violence of the CPP NPA.

And you're right na most of our public is not outraged by these assassinations. Which is good news I guess for the corrupt military officials involved in these activities.

But I don't think these people are being killed because they failed to condemn or renounce the atrocities committed by the NPAs.

They're being killed because a) Arroyo sees them as a threat (after GLORIAGATE) b) the CPR policy did not do the job.

Arroyo initially didn't see these leftist groups as a threat when she was trying to get their support to oust erap back in 2000. GMA also tolerated these groups kapag nagra-rally sila during her first term (2001-2004).

Naging problematic lang sila kay Arroyo nung sumabog ang Gloriagate scandal noong 2005. hindi kasi nakuha sa CPR, kaya idinaan sa Palparan method ang pag-control sa mga grupong ito.

But I don't see the party list groups as a terrorist threat. I don't see Mr. Satur Ocampo or Teddy Casino or Lisa Masa as dangerous people. We welcomed these Lefty groups into the political process back in the 90s even tho we knew that many of them still have sympathies with the CPP/NPA.

These groups posed no problems during Erap and Ramos' time. Sure, their rallies can be annoying sometimes, pero hindi problema yan. Kasi kasama yan sa democracy natin.

IMO, Bayan Muna, Sanlakas and Gabriela are your typical lefty orgs that causes no harm if you just leave them alone and not pay too much attention to them, like what Ramos or Erap did. Erap didn't see them as a threat, so he allowed these groups to hold rallies at Mendiola, just like his predecessor Ramos (siguro dahil hindi sila insecure sa legitimacy nila, ano?)

(Hindi ang kaliwa ang nagpabagsak kay erap kundi ang military, simbahan at civil society.)

IIRC, humina rin ang lakas at "popularidad" ng NPAs during the 90s at early 2000, dahil sa a) mga terroristic activities nito b) young people prefer to join the lefty party list groups than "armed resistance" c) walang legitimacy issues ang dating presidente natin (ramos, erap).

Again, to solve our NPA problem, ito ang message ko para sa lahat.

Get tough on terrorism, without becoming monsters ourselves. We need to go after the bad guys, not our critics. Kasi kapag pinapatay mo naman yung mga student activists at mga party list critics mo sa Kaliwa, abe e, mali yan. The Military needs to be able to distinguish between the killing real terrorists (yes) and assassinating Arroyo's critics from the left (Big NO!).