‘Othering’ made irrelevant
Most of the remaining guerrilla fronts are operating as bandits, disrupting peace and order and conducting terror operations on their own.
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Daily TribuneMost of the remaining guerrilla fronts are operating as bandits, disrupting peace and order and conducting terror operations on their own.
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More than the recent death of Jose Maria Sison, who, for years, was a mere symbolic head of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the democratic space, widened and strengthened through the years, is leading to the painful death of the communist movement.
The half-decade rebellion, the longest in Southeast Asia, is gasping for breath, according to Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Mendel Aguilar as he revealed the field assessment of the military regarding the breakdown in the communication lines that left the revolutionary movement without an acknowledged leader.
Most of the remaining guerrilla fronts are operating as bandits, disrupting peace and order and conducting terror operations on their own.
Despite the hopeless detractors' insistence on rights abuses, the country is experiencing a steady era of freedom which is a suffocating environment for those who profess to serve the people's interest through armed struggle.
Undersecretary Severo Catura of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat described the principle of "othering" that the CPP-New People's Army and its supporters in the political opposition have successfully exploited for years.
Catura, before a United Nations meeting, cited "othering" and said that anyone claiming to be a human rights defender should be known for respecting the three key UN-identified rights and responsibilities of rights defenders.
"These are respect for the universal applicability of rights; respect and recognition of fellow human rights defenders regardless of political inclination; and ensuring that advocacies are pursued peacefully in compliance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders," he said.
"Any group that supports calls for the violent overthrow of the government cannot be deemed a human rights defender. Moreover, no human rights defender must throw its support for any organization that has been designated a terror group here and around the world by States and other international organizations, such as the European Union," he added.
The deception fostered on the people involved painting the rebels as the group that fights excesses in government while its supporters, which include rights and political groups, are those entitled to protect the public from abuse inflicted by the government.
Such a mutually beneficial relationship between the opposition and the rebellion led to the forming of the red and yellow tactical alliance that became pivotal in the 1986 EDSA Revolt.
The significance of the colors is all about the lies associated with them. Yellow was associated with reclaiming democracy and Red represented the extreme alternative if the yellow way fails.
It was once an unchallenged precept that the yellow movement prevailed over the dictatorship and whatever comes from that part of the political shade is like walking the straight path.
This belief was challenged during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte who offered nothing but the basic assurance to the people that he would make life comfortable for them by cleansing the streets of criminals and drug dependents.
It started a new revolution in Filipinos' thinking while broadening the democratic horizon as the people perceived it.
The wider democratic universe paved the way for President Ferdinand Marcos whose intentions and programs were linked to the past.
Thus, the era of the yellows and the Reds ended in irrelevance amid a republic strengthened by political diversity.
