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People still ask me, sometimes with curiosity and sometimes with judgment, why I left the armed movement. The truth is more complicated than a single word.

Kapag matagal kang namuhay sa isang mundong hiwalay sa lipunan, unti-unting lumiliit ang mundong ginagalawan mo. Dahil sa mahabang panahon ng pagkabukod sa kabundukan, marami ang nawawalan ng tiwala na kaya pa nilang bumuo ng normal na buhay sa ibaba. Ang organisasyon na lamang ang tanging nagiging mundo nila. Ang tinatawag naming "rev family"—ang mga kasama—ang nagiging tanging pamilyang kinikilala nila. Sa bawat paglipas ng panahon, unti-unting natatakot ang mga hukbo na mu

On July 10, two men were found shot dead in Victorias City — Jerome Seballos, 59, and Alex Cunanan, 58. Two days later, the NPA's Roselyn Jean Pelle Command claimed responsibility, saying its "Special Partisan Unit" had carried out a "death penalty" against both, accusing Seballos of working as a military informant. Two men were executed in their own barangay, and the killers announced it publicly as a warning to everyone else. That is what spy-tagging is for. It is not, i

Ngayon, nakabalik na ako sa lungsod at nakakabalita na sa mga nakilala ko at nakasama ko sa lungsod, at pakikibakang parlyamentaryo, hindi ko maiwasan mapansin ang agwat namin. Yung mga naging instruktor ko sa BKP* ay mga instruktor na ngayon sa iba’t ibang kulehiyo sa UP. May mga parangal, may mga posisyon, may mga katungkulan. Yung mga nakasama ko sa mga Cultural Night upang pataasin ang kapasyahang tumungo sa kanayunan ay nagpopost ng stories na nasa gym na may mamahali

But his is not only a story about gender. His is also a story about poverty, recruitment, ideology, fear, and the long road home.

Very few of us former rebels knew Bobet before his tragic death. But when the news came, we grieved because his life represented the same ordinary dream we once shared before ideology taught us to look down on ordinary dreams as too small, too reformist, too insufficient.

Inside the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA), she was "Ka Kira" - an organizer, recruiter, cadre, and believer in the revolution. Today, however, she is simply Mara: a daughter, a partner, a peace advocate, and a former rebel determined to help others find the path she once struggled to take. Her story did not begin in the mountains. It began when she was only fourteen years old. Growing up in a family with relatives working overseas, Mar

TULUNAN, COTABATO — Belly Berana Jr. was raised in a family where the revolution was not something distant or abstract. It was part of their everyday life. And long before he carried a firearm as a fighter of the New People’s Army, he had already inherited the war of his parents. He and his three siblings grew up under the care of their grandmother while their parents worked underground as cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA. Their community in Pantu

“Maraming hugot o pinag-ugatan ang concept,” paliwanag ni Eder. “Isa rito ang patuloy na economic crisis dahil sa mataas na presyo ng langis. Ngayon naman, ito ay panahon ng Kuwaresma — panahon ng pagtutulungan, pagbibigayan, at pag-asa. Ang ‘Rise’ ay gusto nating ipamulat sa bawat isa ang kahalagahan ng pagtayo sa sarili sa panahon ng krisis.”

Kamakailan, sinalakay ng mga progresibong grupo ang headquarters ng Petron, kasama ang mga tsuper at ilang sektor na direktang tinatamaan ng pagtaas ng presyo ng langis. Mabigat ang kanilang mga punto: posibleng pumalo sa ₱120 kada litro ang diesel, umaabot sa ₱90,000 ang buwanang gastos ng mga driver, at sa kabila nito, tila patuloy ang kita ng malalaking kumpanya—umaabot pa nga sa bilyon-bilyon. Idinidiin nila ang umano’y profiteering ng oil giants, at ang papel ng Oil Dere

Sa aktwal na istruktura ng industriya ng langis sa Pilipinas, limitado ang kontrol ng mga lokal na kumpanya sa presyo. Ang presyo ng produktong petrolyo ay nakabatay sa galaw ng pandaigdigang merkado. Ibig sabihin, ang mga kumpanyang lokal ay price takers, hindi price setters. Sumasabay sila sa pagtaas at pagbaba ng presyo sa pandaigdigang merkado, kasama ang iba pang salik tulad ng palitan ng dolyar at piso, gastos sa transportasyon, at buwis. Sa ganitong konteksto, ang nara

The recent online attacks against former members of the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP–NPA) in Southern Tagalog suggest a shift in the group’s tactics. Instead of focusing on armed encounters on the ground, the movement’s regional leadership has increasingly directed its messaging and propaganda against former rebels who have left the organization. The Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC), in recent weeks, released a series of publ

Student journalists from the publication of the University of Mindanao, The Primum, reportedly stepped down from their editorial posts after the university administration imposed restrictions on their coverage. The directives allegedly instructed the student publication to avoid politically inclined content and limit reporting strictly to university-related activities. The situation further escalated when the publication’s official social media page was reportedly deleted, ra

A recent rally staged by Gabriela Women’s Partylist in Davao, including the Indigenous Peoples women’s organization Sabokahan, illustrated this troubling contradiction. One of the protest placards read: “Bilat ang hinagiban, palagputon mga kawatan!!! Get get out!!!” [The vagina is the weapon, oust the thieves]. At first glance, the slogan appeared to have been designed to provoke attention. And it certainly succeeded in that regard. But attention alone does not equate to

EDSA at 40: Reform, Not Ruin, Is the Braver Work of Democracy

Sa entabladong minsang tila napakalayo sa kanyang realidad, nakahanda ngayong umakyat si Erick Simogan, o mas kilala bilang Mimi — hindi bilang mandirigma sa kabundukan, kundi bilang isang magtatapos ng Senior High School sa Rizal.

these former rebels are no longer armed combatants. They are civilians. For decades, the same movement argued that those killed in encounter

Habang mas tumatagal ako sa pagninilay, mas nauunawaan ko na ang digmaan labas sa romantisasyon ng propaganda. Sa papel, ang rebolusyon ay apoy ng katarungan. Sa aktwal, ito ay apoy na maaaring sumunog sa mga tahanan ng mismong mga taong nais mong ipagtanggol. Sa bawat engkwentro, hindi ideolohiya ang unang nasasaktan kundi tao. Magsasaka. Kabataan. Pamilya.

The NABANGANI Fact-Finding and Solidarity Mission has presented a synthesis of its on-the-ground findings during their media forum on February 3, 2026 at the Max’s Restaurant, Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City. They addressed claims that circulated on social media following the January 1, 2026 armed encounter between government forces and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Barangay Cabacao, Abra de Ilog.

Legal on the Surface, Clandestine at the Core: The CPP’s Front Organizations and the Machinery of Deception