PRESIDENTIAL candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday said a coalition between communist groups and the government would undermine the efforts of previous administrations to stop the decades-old insurgency problem in the country.
Lacson said the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, have been able to strengthen their forces each time they forge unity with the government.
He said he personally experienced this during his stint as provincial commander of Isabela in 1988, two years after the EDSA People Power Revolution and after former president Corazon Aquino ordered the release of political prisoners, including Jose Ma. Sison, the founding chairman of the CPP.
At the time, Lacson said the NPA force in Isabela was very strong.
“We were wondering why they [NPAs] have powerful weapons, because you know, there was an agreement right after the EDSA Revolution. The political prisoners were released, including Joma Sison and the others, and there seems to have a direct or indirect coalition government. They were able to set in,” Lacson said during a campaign sortie in Cauayan City, Isabela.
“So, if the CPP-NPA is allied with the government, they are able to strengthen their forces with the government bureaucracy itself,” he added.
Lacson has said that he intelligence information allegedly indicating that the campaign sortie of Vice President Leni Robredo in Cavite early this month was infiltrated by front organizations of the CPP-NPA, which he described as “worrisome.”
President Duterte has also said that he has allegedly received A-1 information that the political opposition and communist rebels are working together to disrupt the May elections.
Lacson said he is making public his intel information to “warn” Robredo’s camp in case they still do not know it.
If Robredo wins in the elections, Lacson said she should learn to withstand pressure from allies to form a coalition with the communists.
“I don’t have reason to believe that VP Robredo knows this, that there is a coalition happening during her campaign sorties. If ever they win, I wish that the communists will not get in the government. They are already designated as a terrorist group by the US and there is also a pending designation case at the Manila Regional Trial Court. Once designated as a terrorist group, all its members will be issued warrants of arrest. Let us not commit the same mistake, we should learn,” he said.
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, an ally of Robredo, has challenged Lacson and Duterte to identify the alleged communists who have infiltrated the vice president’s campaign sorties.
When asked if he will identify the communists based on the intel report he got, Lacson did not give a categorical answer since the information he got were also confirmed by a rebel returnee, Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla, the President, and one retired air force Col. Hector Torrezona.
