Llamas hits Reds' tag on 'democratic left'

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Ronald Llamas called the attention of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic (CPP-NPA-NDF) for branding members of the so-called democratic left as counter-revolutionaries, making them targets of the insurgents’ liquidation operations.

“Three leaders of the Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, the Democratic Left party (of) which I am a member, were included in a diagram of groups branded as counter-revolutionaries by the CPP leaderships,” declared Llamas in a lecture at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) at Camp Aguinaldo late last week. 

Llamas was among the invited lecturers asked by the students to speak on “The Democratic Left and the CPP-NPA-NDF.” 

Also singled out by CPP were Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, Etta Rosales, chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Ric Reyes, currently president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), he said.

Also listed were Arturo Tabara, and Filemon “Popoy” Lagman, who, just before the Ang Bayan article came out, had been assassinated. 

“This seemingly innocuous inclusion in a diagram of “counter-revolutionaries had an underlying – and more chilling – message: that these Akbayan leaders were enemies of the revolution and were thus legitimate targets for execution by the CPP and its armed cadres,” Llamas said. 

Describing the CPP-NPA-NDF as arrogant and hostile towards members of the Democratic Left such as Akbayan, Llamas said this made their group different from Sison’s group who in return continue to espouse violence as their means to effect political change. 

Llamas group, also known as “rejectionist,” has shunned violence and adopted the free and open participation in the elections and other forms of democratic engagement to effect political change, a move considered by Sison and his group as an unforgivable sin.

“In Sison’s own words, Akbayan is a small reformist group that is viciously opposed to the CPP line of new democratic revolution, through protracted people’s war,” Llamas said. 

However, he failed to mention in his lecture about his supposed secret trips to Utrecht, the Netherlands, where Sison is currently on a self-imposed exile, to convince the CPP founding chair to return home for national reconciliation.

There were other reports that Llamas himself is directly working and pushing for Sison to return to the country in line with the ongoing government efforts to end the country’s decades-long insurgency problem. 

He only said later in his lecture that opening up for genuine democratic participation is an important step towards quelling political extremism and discouraging violent means to advance political, social, or cultural agendas. 

“Creating a political environment that allows for a broader degree of participation in the political system – whether in elections, public policy advocacy, or formal representation in government – makes it more likely that citizens will choose to express themselves and work to advance their views within the system and less likely that they will be drawn to, or even consider, the violent methods advocated by groups such as the CPP-NPA-NDF,” Llamas said.