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A phenomenal memory
by By Paulynn P. Sicam
The Communist Party of the Philippines founded by Jose Maria Sison has a phenomenal memory. Its class, ideological and political enemies are forever.
Even after many years and many common experiences, when you think that something can already be forgotten, or at least shelved, the leaders of the left do not let go of their grudges. They maintain a rigid historical perspective that makes them see everything as relevant, never to be forgotten -- or forgiven.
Thus we have seen the left kill its former comrades -- the likes of Romulo Kintanar, Popoy Lagman and Art Tabara – whom it never forgave for having a change of heart about the revolution. And now Joma Sison has waged a very public war against Akbayan, the party list group, the leaders of whom are articulate former comrades who have deigned stand up to Bayan Muna, the New People’s Army, and now to Joma himself.
Anyone who has ever crossed the left, abandoned it, or frustrated its plans must learn to watch his or her back. Because, Joma and company never forget, they’ll manage to get back sooner or later, in one way or another.
Which is one way of looking at the current situation in Central Azucarrera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita, the 6,000-hectare agricultural estate co-owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino and the hacienda’s workers.
The Central has been closed since November 6 when a portion of the labor force went on a strike that was openly supported by the left. The srtikers refused to budge in spite of a return to work order issued by the Secretary of Labor on November 10 when she assumed jurisdiction over the dispute.
On Nov 16, on orders of the Department of Labor and Employment, which deemed the strike illegal, the picket line was dispersed by the police and military. Force was used – on both sides, so the claims go – and seven people were killed. However, of the 111 “strikers” arrested by police, only six were found to be employees of the central or Hacienda Luisita. This is significant because the violence occurred just a few days after a Bayan Muna leader reportedly visited the picket line with 20 jeepney loads of outsiders -- warm bodies to augment the strikers.
Since early November, although the Hacienda Luisita union is not on strike, the strikers have managed to keep the workers from the fields and the sugar cane has not been harvested. The Central Azucarrera de Tarlac has been closed, stopping all economic activity in the area and leaving the workers, the planters and the central idle and losing money.
Although things seemed to have quieted down after the Nov 16 incident, the new year has brought about more violent incidents. Press releases from Ricardo Ramos, who identifies himself as the president of the Central Azucarrera De Tarlac Labor Union [CATLU], describe in graphic detail three supposed incidents of violence that have occurred on and around their picket line that he is pinning on Tarlac Congressman Noynoy Aquino.
What better way for the left to get back at Noynoy’s mom, President Cory Aquino, who, in a matter of speaking, stole the revolution from the CPP in 1986?
After the violence on November 16, the organizations of the left found the opening they were looking for to mount an attack on President Aquino. They picketed her home in Quezon City and sent out numerous press releases condemning her as a ‘berdugo’ and ‘massacre queen’. However, these labels, which didn’t stick when she was president in 1987 after the so-called Mendiola massacre, didn’t stick this time around.
It is really a stretch associating the prayerful Cory Aquino, who always insists of peaceful dialogue to resolve disputes, with violence.
And so the left has turned its propaganda guns on Noynoy, Cory’s only son and political heir. Recent press releases from CATLU paint him as the person responsible for all the violence at the barricades, past and future. Nice try, guys. It probably won’t stick as well, but expect the assault on the good name of Cory and her family to continue – because the left doesn’t forget that she is the reason for their current woes.
After 14 years of resisting martial law, sacrificing lives, tirelessly campaigning in foreign lands to drum up opposition to the Marcos dictatorship, and creating a revolutionary flow, the left found itself left out of the people’s victory when EDSA happened in 1986.
Not that it was Cory Aquino’s fault. She merely took up Ninoy’s torch after he was murdered by the minions of the dictator, and followed her instincts and the wishes of the people for a determined but peaceful road to freedom, justice and democracy.
Cory Aquino didn’t buy into the violent revolution that the CPP was gearing up for. She preferred to work within the system, seizing every opportunity allowed by the dictator to further the cause of freedom and human rights. So when the dictator dangled the snap election in December of 1985, she called his bluff and put up a courageous campaign against Marcos’ mighty martial law machinery.
Refusing to play Marcos’ game, the left opted to boycott the snap elections. So when the people claimed victory at EDSA on February 25, 1986, they were not part of it. They had effectively excluded themselves from the most significant event of the decade.
Worse, after the departure of Marcos, the ranks of the CPP began to thin, with many red fighters and allies preferring to emerge from the revolutionary underground into the full light of the new democratic space that opened up after the EDSA revolution. The movement was wracked with debates and dissention about the right path to take in a post-Marcos world, until it finally cracked wide open in an ideological split in 1990.
The CPP has never recovered from the people’s victory in EDSA. And one can assume that it has not forgiven Cory Aquino for restoring our democracy through a peaceful revolution, in the process denigrating the idea of bringing about societal change through a bloody, violent revolution.
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