INDEED, the change in circumstances has been significant. There was a time — from the late 1980s to the 1990s — when the insurgency was at its peak. The CPP-NPA-NDF dominated the countryside, striking fear not only among local residents but especially among politicians during election seasons.
It was an “open secret” that telecommunications companies were compelled to pay millions annually in extortion and so-called revolutionary taxes, particularly for infrastructure such as cell towers. Added to this were the “campaign fees” collected from politicians seeking to curry favor — or avoid harassment.
The CPP-NPA-NDF also managed to evade scrutiny from the Anti-Money Laundering Council by establishing an intricate network of conduit NGOs. These front organizations funneled millions of pesos from leftist groups in the Netherlands, Belgium, and other parts of Europe.
It was a lucrative era for the leadership of the communist movement — but, as with all things, it did not last forever.
Today, the CPP-NPA-NDF has been reduced to a small, fragmented group of disheartened, disorganized, and desperate armed bandits. Their ideology no longer sustains them. With all 89 guerrilla fronts reportedly dismantled, the once-feared insurgency has become a paper tiger — its growl now largely confined to social media and propaganda channels.
This drastic decline can largely be attributed to the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) through Executive Order No. 70. Through its Barangay Development Program (BDP) and the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), the task force has succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of communities in the hinterlands.
What remains of the CPP-NPA-NDF is now an irrelevant and obsolete nuisance. Even its armed members are lining up to surrender, unable to justify their struggle. For many, the New People’s Army has become little more than a nostalgic footnote — remembered only by a few aging activists still clinging to the romanticism of the 1970 First Quarter Storm.
And speaking of the First Quarter Storm:
One of the primary recruitment grounds for the CPP-NPA-NDF has long been the country’s colleges and universities. Under the guise of “student activism,” impressionable youth are enticed to join left-leaning organizations such as the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines.
Many of these recruits are brought to training camps for immersion and ideological indoctrination. Some go on to become armed fighters, while others are groomed for roles in party-list groups such as Kabataan and Gabriela. The rest become the loud — yet often unwitting—participants frequently seen in protests and demonstrations.
On March 29, marking the founding anniversary of the New People’s Army, one can expect the usual outbursts from these groups within universities — praising the CPP-NPA-NDF and echoing their familiar calls for revolution.
These actions can no longer be dismissed as mere activism. They are coordinated displays of allegiance to an internationally recognized terrorist organization.
When slogans openly encourage joining the NPA, and insurgent flags are displayed within campus grounds, the line between dissent and indoctrination is clearly crossed — veering into incitement and active recruitment.
What is even more troubling is that these incidents occur within publicly funded institutions — spaces meant to cultivate critical thinking, not to promote armed revolution.
With the battlefield shifting, the CPP-NPA-NDF has pivoted from armed struggle to parliamentary maneuvering. Its political arm, the Makabayan bloc, is now aligned with the so-called Ayuda bloc in Congress. The insurgency, it appears, has moved from the jungles to the legislative halls — leveraging the very machinery of government to undermine the state while benefiting from billions in public funds.
So, how do we make the House of Representatives free of CPP-NPA-NDF influence?
Quite simple, really: do not vote for any party-list groups aligned with the Makabayan bloc — especially now that they have found convenient political allies in the Ayuda bloc./PN
