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In the third quarter of 1998, Elena received a Party assignment. As a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), she was designated as a cadre tasked with helping lead an NGO operating in Western Mindanao. On paper, the organization focused on disaster preparedness, disaster management education, and measures designed to reduce the impact of natural and human-induced disasters. Its programs targeted remote communities in the region's hinterlands, areas often expo

Where does responsible campus oversight end, and where does political surveillance begin?

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

Twenty-one former rebels in Agusan del Norte have taken another step toward rebuilding their lives after receiving more than P1.78 million in government assistance under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), reinforcing the government’s continuing push for peace and reintegration.

Ang lohika ng islogang ito ay naging bato na pamukpok sa ulo mismo ng CPP-NPA-NDFP. Ang islogang "Di matalo-talo" ay hindi lengwahe ng kilusang nagpupunyaging manalo.

To them, the ruling does not mean that former rebel witnesses were lying. It does not mean that the support networks they described never existed.

When reportage takes its cue from the truth and not from a preferred narrative, the armed identity and organizational role of the dead become matters of public importance.

From the viewpoint of those who once carried arms in the countryside, the clashes in Toboso and Cauayan represent further confirmation that the armed revolution in Negros has entered its final phase, not just tactical defeats or temporary setbacks as portrayed by the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. Those who have lived the reality of the NPA’s internal dynamics offer a particularly sobering assessment of the situation in Negros. Former rebels

For ordinary Filipinos, these charades do not provide clarity but only exhaustion. We are tired and distrustful.

A former student leader from and member of was among five individuals killed in an armed encounter between government troops and alleged members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Cauayan, Negros Occidental on May 16. The fatality was identified by the Philippine Army as Francis Vince Y. Dingding, a University of the Philippines - Cebu Computer Science alumnus who allegedly served as a political instructor of the Southeast Front-D of the

Those student leaders casually affirming armed struggle today are dangerously detached from the realities of armed struggle.

Their statements were striking not because of what they said, but because of what they intentionally refused to say.

Sulong Tayo! presents itself as a fresh start, a coalition of independent students finally breaking free from old labels. But the pattern we have traced—from STAND UP's 2023 admissions of systemic sexual harassment, to the USC's catastrophic mishandling of the Jobert Pillas rape case, to the steady rebranding from Laban Kabataan to Sulong Tayo!—tells us that it is more than mere political spin. This is not just about one coalition avoiding accountability. This is about a s

KORONADAL CITY, SOUTH COTABATO — What once began as lives trapped in armed struggle is now slowly transforming into stories of recovery, livelihood, and renewed hope as former rebels in South Cotabato continue to receive support from the government through various reintegration and livelihood programs.

The flyers are colorful. The slogan, “Tunay, Palaban, Makabayan” rolls off the tongue with practiced ease. The candidates smile from campaign materials, flanked by the word “independent” in careful, deliberate typeface. But no one is fooled. The Sulong Tayo! Coalition, which announced itself last Thursday with much fanfare and a five-point common agenda, is not a new political formation. It is not a fresh alternative. It is not an independent movement of students finall

Entry into an active NPA guerrilla zone, or sonang gerilya, is never casual or open to ordinary civilians. Standard NPA protocol is clear. Urban youth and students undergo rigorous screening before being allowed into guerrilla areas. This includes ideological vetting, political education, physical and psychological evaluation, and security checks. By the time they reach the actual camp and operate alongside armed units, they are no longer ordinary civilians. They have been

In a statement released on April 27 regarding the deaths of UP students Alyssa Alano and Maureen Santuyo during an armed encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental, the University of the Philippines expressed sadness over the deaths of the two students and several others killed in the military operation. The statement emphasized assistance for the victims’ families, support for an independent investigation by the Commission on Human Rights, and the right of students to engage in

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. was firm in his rejection of calls to resume peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines. “No. I object to any peace talks with the NPA,” he said. “The Filipinos are at peace. They are the ones disturbing the peace.”

The CPP and the NPA seem to be drawing great value from the same incident, ideological, political, and organizational-wise.

In the so-called National Democratic revolution, the life of an activist or cadre is often measured less by conviction and more by its propaganda value.