NPA protracted struggle is ‘utter madness,’ ‘criminal act’

I felt dismayed seeing the picture of Jorge Madlos in the Inquirer (Across the Nation, 12/31/13), more so after I read the accompanying article on the celebration by the underground Communist Party of the Philippines of its 45th anniversary. Madlos claimed many “victories” of his revolutionary struggle in Mindanao: zero or minimal criminal cases in the area under his control, like rape and theft, gambling and even the use of illegal drugs.

He admitted though that achieving the strategic stalemate of the people’s war is still quite far away. The revolutionary struggle is a protracted struggle, according to the Maoist ideology.

My question is: how protracted is that struggle? Until the dictatorship of the proletariat is established? That is an illusion, nonsense. The revolutionary struggle of the New People’s Army is utter madness; it is a criminal act because of the numerous innocent victims it has made among civilians and even among the police and military forces.

I used to be a close friend and ally of Madlos and the National Democratic Front, but that was during the martial law years. I believed that time that the only way to get rid of the dictator Marcos was through armed struggle and active nonviolence in the cities.

But after Edsa in 1986, I was confronted in Agusan with the horrible Antongalon massacre in which, as the Inquirer rightly said that time, the revolution devoured its own children: 48 activists from the countryside, among them two active parish workers of our parish in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, were murdered. This prompted me to leave the priesthood and marry the wife of one of those parish workers and adopt their six children. All this happened on the direct command of Madlos and the indirect orders of Jose Ma. Sison. Both Madlos and Sison (who is now hiding in Holland) should be investigated by a truth commission our government must set up in order that they can answer for the crimes they have committed against the Filipino people. This is what has happened in other countries which were afflicted by a revolutionary struggle, like those in South America and Ireland.

Madlos has the guts to say about President Aquino: “Aquino must be ousted and prosecuted,” without specifying the offenses the President should be prosecuted for. Shame on Madlos!

—ARNOLD VAN VUGT, O.Carm associate, Cagayan de Oro City