By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE DEATH of six commies in a reported encounter between the Philippine Army and New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Lubi, Barangay Tabugon, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental really “shocked” Negrenses.
It’s pitiable. More so that one of the six fatalities was reportedly pregnant. On social media, many ordinary Negrenses expressed empathy to the victims’ families.
The Army claimed it was a legitimate encounter. But progressive groups said otherwise. One thing’s sure: peace remains elusive in Negros.
One Negros mayor exclaimed: “This is (already) exasperating!”
Question: Is there a “forever” for NPA in Negros?
Perhaps, yes. There’s this brainy quote from murdered American civil rights activist Medgar Evers: “You can kill a man, but you cannot kill an idea.”
‘ICONS’ OF WAR, PEACE
Just a little rewind: Negros has two “servants of God” – one became an “icon of war” and the other an “icon of peace”.
Fr. Frank Fernandez, a former Catholic priest-turned-spokesman-slash-consultant for the National Democratic Front and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was one of the “most respected” entities among Negros’ insurgents. He was known as “Ka Frank” among followers in the underground movement. He was brilliant. He was definitely an “icon of rebellion” not just in Negros but in the entire country.
Opposite to Ka Frank was the late Bacolod Diocese Bishop Emeritus Antonio Y. Fortich. A social activist and victim of Martial Law, he was hailed as an “icon of peace” in Negros. On July 2, 2003 he passed away with an “unfulfilled mission” – to make Negros an island of peace.
‘INDEFINABLE’
The sitting Abang-Lingkod party-list representative Joseph Stephen Paduano, known for his nom de guerre “Carapali Lualhati”, was also once a “hyperactive” member of the NPA in Negros.
In the ‘90s, however, he was among the renegades that formed NPA’s breakaway faction – the Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Bongcayao Brigade (RPA-ABB).
This EB Magalona town native “discredited government to the max”. Thus, his entry to the House of Representatives sometime in 2014 was perceived to be a “boon” for Negros’ quest for peace and order.
Lo and behold, nothing changed.
‘BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE’
Gov. Eugenio Jose “Bong” Lacson once said Negros’ insurgency remains a “headache” of his administration. He said he’s offering everything to those who want to surrender, including academic scholarship for their kids, yet “nothing progressed”.
What needs to be addressed or cured?
A mayor said roads, waters, electricity are the “best answers”.
Even the Army is using their “full strength” to subdue the NPA, but to no avail still.
It is safe to conclude that the “very promise” of the sitting Army’s 3rd Infantry Division commander, Major General Marion Sison, to finish the NPA in Negros by December this year would definitely be “beyond impossible”.
NOT POVERTY
Forgive me if I am wrong, but in my nearly 30 years in the media, I can personally attest that poverty ain’t the cause of Negros’ insurgency.
There are lots of poor people in Negros but they hate rebellion…they hate terrorism. I myself came from a poor family from the poor village of Cudangdang in EB Magalona. But never did I wish to join the NPA. I never aspired to embrace their terroristic ideologies.
Question: How can we fight radicalization?
It’s tricky, as in!
MISSING THE TARGET
We’re fighting this insurgency problem for over 50 years now. We want our brothers in the mountains to abandon their “mighty cause” against the government, and live peacefully. Some heeded our call, others remain “hard headed”.
Perhaps, we “missed the target”. Hence, it’s high time for our government and Army officials to go back to the drawing board and draft something viable to end rebellion in Negros Island.
In sum, let’s be reminded of what American social reformer, abolitionist, orator and statesman Frederick Douglass had stressed before: “The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.
What’s that?
Time to dig anew for the “correct answer”./PN
