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Our confused and anachronistic Reds should grow up
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2012-11-25
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The face off between party-list groups Akbayan and Bayan Muna almost went overboard into hair pulling and biting. It started when Bayan Muna moved to disqualify Akbayan as a party-list group on the grounds that several Akbayan members are holding important positions in the President Benigno S. Aquino III (P-Noy) government and that Akbayan has been receiving large sums of money from donors.
Akbayan retaliated and urged the Comelec (Commission on Elections) to disqualify what they call “communist party-list groups” — obviously referring to Bayan Muna and its allied groups. Akbayan further claimed that the “communist party-list group” or Bayan Muna had diverted about P770 million in pork barrel funds to support the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
In the spirit of the conscientious purge of party-list groups, the two party-list groups were reviewed by the Comelec and acted upon. The Comelec under Chairman Sixto Brillantes has been doing a good job of purging the party-list groups, removing those that are nothing more than fronts for political dynasties. The disqualifications of Ang Galing Pinoy of Mikee Arroyo and Black and White Movement underscored Comelec actions that are done sans fear or favor. Comelec decided to allow Akbayan and Bayan Muna to run in the 2010 elections.
In the political spectrum, both Akbayan and Bayan Muna are considered as part of the Left. Akbayan is positioned as moderate Left while Bayan Muna is part of the militant Left and they’re suspected to be front organizations of the armed communist insurgency, the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front). Should the link between Bayan Muna and its other affiliated organizations with the CPP-NPA-NDF be legally established, Bayan Muna could be declared an outlawed organization.
In the Aquino era, the Bayan Muna and its other affiliate organizations — Gabriela, Anakpawis, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Kabataan and Katribu Indigenous Peoples Sectoral Party — have opted to see and highlight what they consider the worst side of the administration. The foreign media have never been this upbeat and positive in writing about P-Noy and the better place where he is bringing us. Insofar as Bayan Muna is concerned, P-Noy is just as bad as Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).
Of course, the majority of Filipinos do not believe Bayan Muna. It’s easy to see how positively different P-Noy is compared to Marcos and GMA. Bayan Muna credibility is reflected in how their two senatorial candidates in the 2010 elections have landed among the cellar dwellers.
Oddly, the militant Left has failed to attract the cellar dwellers of the socio-economic totem pole. The extreme Left never learned the lessons of evolution and they’re stuck with their usual attention-getting methods — like the burning of effigies, flash demonstrations, assaults on the US Embassy and so forth. They haven’t realized that they’ve not grown. They haven’t even understood that the two erstwhile biggest promoters of communism, Russia and China, have become capitalists and enjoying it. Perhaps, the Left should label their group as the Peter Pan Party, after the fabled Boy who never grew up.
At one time while watching the television news, a demonstration at Mendiola, which was organized by the Bayan Muna affiliates, was caught on camera trying to generate tension and conflict. They provoke these tensions and conflicts so that they can claim that a Fascist regime rules the land.
Upon hearing my comment that the Reds never grew up, my nurse commented: “Titigil lang ang mga yan sir kapag presidente na si Joma (They’ll only stop sir when Joma becomes president).” Joma is none other than Jose Ma. Sison — the chairman of the CPP-NDF, who operates from Utrecht.
My nurse should have been naturally attracted to the Left, the ordinary working persons who live in squatter areas and barely have enough to feed, clothe and educate their children. My nurse totally rejects them and considers them as nuisance to efforts to rebuild our country. The extreme Left, or at times called the Reds, have established an image of DESTROYERS OF THE STATUS QUO but they miserably failed to sell us any economic plan or program that will raise everybody’s standard of living.
For most Filipinos, a destroyer of the status quo is seen as a destabilizer — one that must be feared, fought if need be and neutralized. Filipinos cannot see any benefit from destroying the status quo, as the Reds want to do. They haven’t offered a superior product. Filipinos realize that the Reds have a track record of inflicting greater hardships on a nation when they take over. Filipinos have heard of the “Killing Fields” in Cambodia that was instigated by the communist Pol Pot.
They’ve also heard of the ordeals the Chinese have suffered under Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong sought to erase all memories of the old status quo and indoctrinate all Chinese to what Mao’s Red Book teaches. Instead of improving Chinese lives, Mao made Chinese lives more miserable. Mao failed to eradicate the Confucian values of the Chinese and his methods are now being condemned.
Teddy Casino should do his homework first before he goes into a political battle. He cannot sell to a right thinking Filipino that notion that P-Noy abets human rights abuses. A group that’s distrusted by many cannot expect to smear a political leader who enjoys phenomenal trust and approval ratings.
Teddy Casino and his ilk should study marketing 101 and learn the basic principle that marketing an ideology starts and ends with the consumer. It’s not about having an ideology that will equalize wealth — something that most folks realize doesn’t really happen and doesn’t work. It’s all about furnishing the Filipino with the political order that he craves for in his mind.
The Left attracts some of the most idealistic, patriotic and dedicated nationalists. It’s a pity and a national loss that they’re now being forced to sell a product that had long been removed from the shelves. We should pray that these nationalists will be enlightened and will redirect their energies to more productive endeavors that will move our country forward.
Shakespeare: “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”
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