CPP's smoke and mirrors fail in misdirection

The recent torrent of statements and opinion pieces from so-called “legal democratic organizations” and the propaganda machinery of the Communist Party of the Philippines is no show of moral strength or integrity. It is a clear sign of panic. By flooding the public square with long polemics, the CPP hopes to misdirect the discourse from the unalterable truth of its aboveground or White area operations and "redwash" its bloodied hands from its recruitment in schools and communities.

It is desperate to hide the fact that even its legal machinery is collapsing, and its operators sense that their clock is running out. A recent opinion piece on a shady website once again used smoke and mirrors to vilify the government's whole-of-nation approach.

The cliched accusation of "red-tagging" assumes that the NSC and NTF-ELCAC, for instance,  merely apply labels without further investigation. The government names names and networks only when supported by seized internal CPP memoranda and documents, sworn confessions of former cadres, and financial trails that link “mass organizations” to armed activity. Even the CPP shoots its own foot when it periodically brags that it maintains urban party branches and negotiates “permit-to-campaign” fees with politicians. Pointing to that evidence is not persecution; it is honest public warning.

Another line of misdirection is the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on baseless red-tagging and COMELEC Resolution 11116. Both instruments punish reckless smears, not verified facts. Our advisories stand because they are documented, and when challenged, we present the proof in court. That is the essence of constitutional accountability.

The NTF-ELCAC has become its favorite target. They perennially demand an audit of the task force's books, wrongly supposing that the task force holds the purse for the Barangay Development Program. BDP funds are lodged within line agencies, flow through transparent procurement, and are double-checked by the Commission on Audit and the Senate. But what matters on the ground that the mouthpieces of the CPP conveniently leave out are the more than 3,700 formerly NPA-affected villages that now have farm-to-market roads, potable-water systems, bridges, day-care centers, and livelihood hubs. That is the BDP’s measure, not the propaganda of armchair critics.

By contrast, several organizations and partylist groups fronting for the CPP refuse independent audits despite handling billions in foreign grants. Former finance couriers have testified how supposed indigenous-school budgets and “sustainable-farm” projects fattened private accounts or bought ammunition for NPA guerrillas. If they are truly clean, let them open their books, and we will soon see that where there is smoke, there is always fire.

Legitimate activism is part of nation-building and will never be harassed. What the law will not tolerate is clandestine recruitment, extortion, or terrorist financing camouflaged as civic work. The sooner these deceptive practices end, the sooner genuine development efforts—governmental and non-governmental alike—can flourish without fear.

It is well and good that the CPP's National Propaganda Commission and all its legal self-proclaimed "alternative media" are mouthing off consistently anti-development narratives. The people listen to facts felt on the ground, not fiction framed to support communist armed violence.