ON JUNE 12, we celebrated our Independence Day. It was 123 years ago when we were liberated from Spanish colonialism, but over the past five decades, we have not fully enjoyed our freedom as we are suffering from the violence and threats of the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG). When will we achieve our full freedom from this bloody revolution?
Recently, a soldier was killed in an ambush perpetrated by the CTG following a gift-giving activity to the Indigenous Peoples of Buenavista, Quezon. Also recently, two people were killed, among them a young footballer of the Far Eastern University (FEU), while a minor was wounded in an anti-personnel land mine planted by the CTG in Masbate.
Are these acts of desperation that they cannot accept defeat, after the government reported a large number of rebels surrendered to the government, including exploited masses who withdrew their support to the terrorist organization?
Are they trying to terrorize the Filipino people by killing civilians just to brag about their strength the fact that they are dwindling?
The Task Force Balik Loob reported a total of 17,958 rebels surrendered from July 2016 to May 28 of this year. Among these, 3,684 were “regular members” of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP); 2,039 were from the people’s militia; 1,760 were from the National Democratic Front’s (NDF) Underground Mass Organizations (UGMO); and 7,074 others weare mass supporters, while at least 2,789 surrenderers were still under verification by the task force.
Quite a promising figure and this is giving us a gleam of hope, that the CTG will soon be defeated with the continuous surrender of NPA rebels. We look forward to celebrating our full independence.
Let us remind ourselves what we must do to preserve our freedom. As ordinary citizens, we may not have the capability to fight terrorism, but we could help our government by becoming a productive citizen and by not participating in the violence.
Let us show them that even they are working like termites to destroy our freedom, they will certainly fail. – GAB DAGUIO, Baguio City <gabdagz21@gmail.com>
