ILOILO City – The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) based in Jamindan, Capiz expressed support to the Anti-Terrorism Council’s (ATC) classification of the National Democratic Front (NDF) as a terrorist organization.
“We should not allow ourselves to be deceived by their propaganda,” said 3ID spokesperson, Major Cenon Pancito III, “using the common tao to advance their selfish motives of overthrowing the government, gain power and steal resources from the people themselves.”
He said 3ID joins the Department of National Defense (DND) in backing the move of the ATC.
“It is common knowledge that these terrorists or the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) are deceitful,” Pancito said.
The classification would also “affirm the duplicity” of the CPP.
“We have to draw the line as to who are the enemies of the state,” Pancito said. “Our problem with insurgency does not end with the armed rebels and their brains, the CPP. Our problem also includes those legal fronts that operate their extortion machinery and recruit individuals as their fighters.”
ATC said the NDF is “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP and NPA, which were already designated as terror groups.
The ATC, in a resolution dated June 23, emphasized that “Article X [of the 2016 CPP Constitution] showed that the NDF aka NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) is the core and most consolidated group that provides support to the armed and organizational expansion of the CPP-NPA.”
“Members of the NDF aka NDFP continue to lure and/or recruit people to join the NPA, while the CPP itself admitted and maintained, through public media releases as well as in CPP documents and revelations of former members, the direct and indispensable role of the NDF aka NDFP in its armed operations,” the resolution added.
Pancito further said the classification would allow the government to freeze assets of the NDF, which was established in April 1973.
The ATC has also designated as terrorists exiled CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, his wife Julieta, and the rest of the 19-member central committee of the CPP.
In a statement on July 20, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the DND is hoping the classification will push government efforts to solve the security issues in the Philippines.
“The Department hopes that this development justifies and enables the defense sector to move forward in its efforts to address internal security concerns and lay the foundations of sustainable, lasting peace and national development,” Lorenzana said./PN
