WE START with this bit of foreplay to set the mood…
A “useful idiot” or “useful fool” is a derogatory description of a person/persons, suggesting that the person thinks they are fighting for a cause without fully comprehending the consequences of their actions, and who does not realize they are being manipulated by the cause’s leaders or by other political players.
The phrase “useful idiots of the West” has often been attributed to Vladimir Lenin, “countless innocent although well-intentioned sentimentalists or idealists” who aided the Soviet agenda, what Lenin called “useful idiots in the Communist game.”
Of course, you may say that this is just a clever way to condescend. Perhaps. But seriously, let’s check out the facts.
To this day, despite the fact that Russia has discarded communism as an irrelevant and obsolete ideology and embraced wholeheartedly capitalism, the “useful idiots” are very much around and flourishing.
In the Philippines, the “useful idiots” are usually found in universities, particularly the University of the Philippines, and other schools with students who want to brag that they’re more militant than the “eskolar ng bayan”.
These poor naïve fools radicalized by their ageing septuagenarian professors who romanticized their youth during the so-called 1st Quarter Storm dreaming of being revolutionaries. What usually happens to these poor naïve fools is they eventually end up being used as cannon fodder by the New People’s Army (NPA), dying for an obsolete and irrelevant ideology.
Meanwhile, the other types of “useful idiots” are the so-called human rights and leftist non-government organizations usually found in Western Europe, particularly in the Netherlands – you know, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is located – that send funding to so-called human rights NGOs in the Philippines and the money almost always end up in the bank accounts of the NPA.
“An insurgency-free Philippines is within reach, but only if we sever the arteries that feed its heart. And make no mistake — those arteries are not in the mountains; they’re in posh boardrooms, international bank accounts, and unregulated NGO offices with well-meaning names and dangerous agendas.
“Foreign-funded NGOs cloaked in the garb of humanitarianism while funneling resources, directly or indirectly, into ideological insurgencies that destabilize our nation.
“No insurgency survives on slogans alone — it thrives on resources, logistics, and legitimacy, much of which is enabled by the shadow financing of dubious “non-governmental” players.” (Optic Politics 5/28/2025)
As I have said in previous columns, this 50-year-old insurgency nonsense is already in its death throes as almost all of the 89 NPA fronts have been dismantled all that’s left are the noisy “useful idiots” in the universities and the remnants of the leftist Makabayan party-list groups in Congress.
This is largely because of the Barangay Development Program (BDP), a flagship initiative of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), providing funding support to each cleared barangay previously affected by the CPP-NPA-NDF. These funds empower local governments to implement programs that directly uplift communities long neglected by conflict.
As of June 13, 2025, a total of 5,455 out of 6,045 projects under the Barangay Development Program (BDP) for fiscal years 2021-2024 have been completed, reflecting a 90.2% completion rate. These projects include farm-to-market roads, potable water systems, school buildings, health stations, and rural electrification — basic services that directly address the root causes of insurgency.
Meanwhile, under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), 1,690 former rebels — comprising 1,037 ex-New People’s Army (NPA) members and 653 Militia ng Bayan — have received government assistance as of April 30, 2025. Support includes housing, livelihood training, firearms.
Finally, “activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” (Thomas Sowell)
Unfortunately, a lot of “useful idiots” still exist in our universities./PN
