The suspected communists are being felled in rapid succession, and government is blaming the communists. The latest to fall was Bishop Alberto Ramento, and government is pointing at thieves. With the way the usual suspects are being rounded up for all the political killings happening now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they next incriminate an incoming typhoon.

It is not difficult, for example, to see the reason why AFP Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon submitted my book, To Suffer thy Comrades, as a piece of evidence to the Melo Commission. Along with Joel Rocamora’s and Luis Jalandoni’s book (Breaking Through and The Philippine Revolutionary Movement, respectively), it supposedly “supported the military contention that it was the CPP-NPA that were behind the (political) killings” over the past five years. At the outset, one could argue that the move defies the laws of chronology: my book was published in 2001, and it chronicled the CPP’s internal violence in the 1980s, under which I myself suffered. It cannot possibly cover events after it was launched, unless I am gifted with prescience.

 Establishing a pattern

But obviously the logic has to do with establishing a pattern: that the CPP-NPA has proven its capacity for horrendous acts before and therefore it is not impossible to imagine that they can still do it now. Perhaps. But then, we really need to give the credit (or debit) where it is due. For that, we need a credible probe.

How do we reckon with the escalating bodycount of activists mostly affiliated with the national democratic left? We can, for starters, look at the main players. At the helm is of course the head of state, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who seems hellbent on rubbing off the face of the earth any challenge to her seat in Malacañang. Legitimacy in question, she leaves no stone unturned, using every piece of stick and carrot to quash dissent. Then there is the Armed Forces of the Philippines; fractious as it is, it remains the chief pillar propping up the current administration. It also shows no qualms nor scruples in using brute force to demolish the armed opposition, targeting its assumed legal ramparts. And finally there is the CPP-NPA, representing the longest communist insurgency in Asia. It demonstrates a considerable level of flexibility in using the parliamentary and electoral arena in pursuing its protracted war to eventually seize state power while managing, so far, to skirt the issue of its own internal and excessive violence.

The State uses all fronts: political, through anti-communist and anti-terrorist rhetoric; and military, through an explicit, unequivocal employment of muscle and metal. The issue of the bloody communist internal “purges” comes in handy, because the CPP-NPA was irrefutably guilty of atrocious crimes during these operations and has never been able to credibly put it to a close nor serve justice to its victims. It is not difficult to imagine the State sanctioning mass killings of perceived enemies and placing the blame on the CPP – which is just as capable, going by its past.

As such, the miltary dredges up the purge issue, literally through its own exhumations (Leyte, Cagayan de Oro, etc.), pushing the propaganda potential to the hilt. This development is problematic, to say the least, because of its partisan character. The haphazard way the military does its exhumations – how the skeletal remains are carelessly handled and brandished crudely in front of the cameras – show that it is more concerned with milking the atrocities of the other side for maximum gain, and using it to hide their own excesses, than finding justice.

 PATH’s alternative

Which is why our group, the Peace Advocates for Truth, Healing and Justice (PATH), composed of purge survivors and victims’ families, conducts its own research, investigation and exhumation, independent of the parties in conflict. Our recent successes in finding the remains of revolutionaries killed by their own comrades two decades back show that seeking justice while carrying a non-partisan stance has enough merit. (PATH need not, however, close its doors to possible assistance from either side, especially in terms of getting information, so long as it maintains its independence and integrity.)

PATH, nevertheless, is not immune to charges of being “used” by the military, if unwittingly, for bringing up the CPP-NPA’s crimes at a time when political killings against the left are happening. Most everyone acknowledges the validity of seeking justice for the communist purges, but there are those who question its “timing.” But if you are the sister of purge victim Luz Laguna (PATH found her remains punctured by sharp instruments and shattered by a boulder), and you had been searching for her these past 21 years, the last thing you would care for is “proper timing.”

Of course the military would try to “use” the purge issue in its counter-insurgency campaign. But as Conrado de Quiros, the most vocal columnist against the State’s extra-judicial killings, writes:

“Who cares if the military uses the “killing fields” for its own end? That is not the military’s fault, or indeed those who want to bring the atrocity out into the open, that is the fault of those who wreaked it. It happened-that is God’s truth. If it did not, the military would have nothing to milk for its own ends. Each time I hear people say that incident may not be talked about except in whispers because it is an explosive subject, I see Jack Nicholson, eyebrows pinched and glaring at the world, snarling, “You can’t handle the truth.” People who spit that out are normally the ones who cannot handle the truth — about themselves.”

Furthermore, it is important not to confuse the issues, however related they are. The past and present excesses of both the military and the insurgents are very real, and should equally be addressed and condemned. The State should be held chiefly accountable for the resent spate of extra-judicial killings for, at the very least, allowing them to continue unchecked and, at the most, creating a policy that promotes and even rewards them. Government’s current anti-communist/terrorist drivel shows the level of contempt that allows it to justify the elimination of perceived enemies, most victims of which are leftist non-combatants.

 Holding the state accountable

It is important for the State to recognize the fact that murdering its political opponents, apart from being violative of fundamental principles, would not even help them in the first place. Such policy would simply generate sympathy for their enemies, and it cannot possibly escape international scrutiny. These killings need to be condemned. At the very least, even if you do not agree with the victims’ political choice, the killers are even denying them the chance to change their minds. At the most, who is to stop them from targeting you next?

The CPP-NPA, meantime cannot be blame-free. As Miriam Ferrer puts it:

“Part of the effectiveness of the language of anti-communism and resultant alienation is also due to the CPP-NPA-NDF themselves – their excesses (revolutionary taxation of rich and poor, infliction of punishments), own pandering of violence and machismo, their inclusivity and dogmatic framing of Philippine society and politics, and their counter-monologue to the state’s anti-communist mantra. The purges, the CPP-NPA-NDF hopefully recognizes by now, cannot be simply forgotten without full retribution and honest accounting before former and present comrades and the greater public. The ghosts of murdered comrades will haunt the party forever. And though not particularly convincing to explain away the recent spate of political killings among those who study their politics, and revolting for the disrespect shown the dead lying in mass graves, the purges of the 80s and 90s will remain scraps (war material) to poke around with, in the AFP and police forces’ psywar ops.”

Hence, the problem with all this is that we have a case where the the pot and the pan are both calling each other dark and greasy. The AFP and the CPP-NPA hold dismal human rights records, thus when one squeaks about violations, the other can easily squawk: “Look who’s talking!” Credibility automatically becomes suspect when an armed group that has fired too many rounds on human flesh accuses its enemy as being too violent.What we are seeing now is a bloody spiral, and we’re getting dizzy.

As the polarization and antagonism between both parties continue, along with the body count, the shouts for peace are getting drowned. Perhaps we need to shout louder. When the pot and the pan paint each other black, it’s time for the kitchen crew to step in and scrub them both clean.

References:

– de Quiros, Conrado. Philippine Daily Inquirer, There’s the Rub. 14 May 2003.

– Ferrer, Miriam Coronel. Institute for Popular Democracy Paper, Violence Against Movements, Movements Against Violence. 12 September 2006.