MANILA – Activist organizations and Makabayan bloc members can legally be recognized as “Reds” by renouncing the communist group’s armed struggle, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said leftist groups and activists should “come out” and admit that they are indeed members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), noting such membership has been decriminalized since the presidency of the late Cory Aquino.
Roque added that leftist lawmakers should also renounce the criminal acts of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP. “Since the time of Cory, na-decriminalize na nga iyong pagiging member ng CPP. So come out with it and admit na ‘oo member kami ng Communist Party of the Philippines’,” Roque said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
“But the crime is the New People’s Army, because that is rebellion, taking up arms against the government, killing civilians and soldiers,” he added.
“The fact is, kung ikaw ay member ng CPP pwede kang maging legal but you have to renounce the use of arms. Magagaling naman sila sa parliamentary politics, pinakamarami sila sa partylist groups bakit hindi pa nila i-renounce iyong use of arms. Iyon lang po ang hinihingi,” he went on.
President Duterte during his public address on Monday, slammed progressive organizations accusing them of being legal fronts of the communist rebels.
According to Duterte, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was correct in identifying the groups “as members in the grand conspiracy comprising all the legal fronts that they have organized headed by the National Democratic Front.”
Among the groups that Duterte mentioned were the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives which is composed of six lawmakers from Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers Partylist, Gabriela Women’s Party, and Kabataan Partylist.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate brushed off the President’s recent attack as a diversionary tactic meant to move important issues out of the public eye.
“That’s a classic President Duterte. He has been doing that in his weekly address. It so happens that yesterday kami na naman ‘yong kaniyang parang (we were his) flavor of the week,” Zarate told ANC.
“He’s been doing that to all his critics and just anybody who criticizes the policies of the present administration,” he added./PN
