Manila government slanders Filipino revolutionary leaders by MIM The u.$.-backed Philippine government stepped up its smear campaign against Jose Maria Sison and officials of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in recent months. Jose Maria Sison founded the re-established Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) which leads the NDFP and Filipino masses in Protracted People's War against imperialism, bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism. The Philippine military claims it has evidence linking Jose Maria Sison to the murder of 4,000 Party members, red fighters, and masses during "Kampanyang Ahos," a wave of "anti-infiltration" hysteria which affected the Communist Party and the New People's Army in 1985-1986. The army boldly states that a recently discovered mass grave contains the bodies of "purged" revolutionary cadres.(1) The u.$-backed military also says it will file murder charges against Sison and Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Hashim Salamat for a bus-bombing which killed 45 people in February.(2) There is no evidence supporting any of the military's claims. According to Sison's lawyers, the Manila government has not presented any evidence against Sison to the government of the Netherlands, where he lives in exile.(3) The Philippine Justice Secretary certified in 1998 that there were no pending criminal charges against Sison.(4) The CPP officially denounced "Kampanyang Ahos" in 1992, when it launched the Second Great Rectification Movement. According to CPP documents, "Ahos" led to the arrest, interrogation, and unjust punishment of "hundreds and hundreds of cadres, activists, and ordinary peasants."(5) The rectification movement sought to hold the campaign's masterminds responsible for their actions. Ironically, Sison -- who was in maximum security prison and held no position of authority in the Party during the campaign -- was one of the first to press for an investigation of "Ahos."(4) Several news stories in Philippine mainstream media have misreported the dates of "Kampanyang Ahos" so that it incorrectly appears to overlap with Sison's release.(1) The individuals principally responsible for "Ahos" were eventually expelled from the movement. Several have openly joined the reactionary Manila government or become intelligence assets. Benjamin de Vera, for example, is now the regional director of the misnamed Department of Agrarian Reform. Yet Estrada has nothing to say about people of these ilk who continue to deny their role in "Ahos," while attacking Sison and the CPP. Nothing links the recently discovered mass grave to "Kampanyang Ahos" or the New People's Army (NPA). Sison notes that it is "probable that the skeletons being dug up and displayed by the military in Cagayan de Oro City belong to victims of military, police, and paramilitary forces."(7) As for the bus bombing, both the National Democratic Front (NDFP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front have denounced it and ridiculed the allegations that they had anything to do with it. Sison stated: "The National Democratic Front firmly upholds the principle of serving the people and opposes all terrorist bombings because these harm civilians rather than the appropriate military targets of the New People's Army... It is highly probable that the terrorist bombings are directly connected with the military psywar scheme of the regime to create the pretext for escalating repression or with internal contradictions of military factions."(6) There is precedent for this. Former dictator Marcos orchestrated a series of bombings in Manila in 1971 and 1972 (which he blamed on the NPA and bourgeois democrat Benigno Aquino) to justify his declaration of martial law.(8) The Philippine ruling class is also plagued by factionalism; coups and counter- coups by rival military factions were common in the late 1980s. The attacks on Sison and other NDFP officials living abroad are obviously psychological warfare aimed at discrediting the revolutionary principles that Sison represents. Reactionaries will always try to paint revolutionaries as people "without a single virtue" and spread dissension and fear among revolutionaries and the masses. This is not a particularly subtle technique; it amounts to making up a big lie and then sticking to it. But it is a desperate technique. The bigger the lies get, the more ludicrous and foolish the reactionaries look. In this case, the smear campaign against Sison and other NDFP leaders only highlights the Manila government's hypocriscy and crimes. While the military makes these outlandish accusations against Sison, Philippine President Estrada grants a pardon to convicted mass murderer Norberto Manero. Manero's "hands drip with the blood of the Italian Priest Tullio Favali and hundreds of others whose heads he had chopped off on the mere suspicion that they were fighters of the New People's Army or Moro fighters struggling for the Moro people's right to self-determination."(4) As reported in previous issues of MIM Notes, the Manila government has broken agreements it signed with the NDFP and summarily executed prisoners of war. For its part, the NPA has treated its prisoners of war fairly and has released many -- including a captured general -- over the last few years. The Philippine military placed these prisoners of war in jeopardy by insisting on carrying out offensives while in the area where the NPA planned to release the prisoners. The regime of President Estrada has also embraced many of the former dictator Marcos' goons and minions. Marcos' Wife Imelda brags that once again "we practically own everything in the Philippines," while she, Estrada, and crooked lawyers conspire to withhold compensation from the thousands and thousands of victims of martial law.(9) The Estrada regime openly cozies up to these fascists. The CPP and the National Democratic Front have issued arrest warrants for them.(10) By remaining true to its revolutionary principles and building a movement to overthrow the corrupt, u.$.-puppet Manila regime, the CPP has indeed "achieved a great deal" in its work. Because of its ability to remain rooted in the masses and make honest if painful self-criticism, the psychological-warfare tactics of the reactionaries are doomed to fail. "I hold that it is bad as far as we are concerned if a person, a political party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, for in that case it would definitely mean that we have sunk to the level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work." -- Mao Zedong "On the Third Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese people's Anti-Japanese Military and Political College," 26 May 1939. Notes: 1. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 23 February 2000. 2. Agence France-Presse, 28 February 2000. 3. Jose Maria Sison, "Smear campaign is directed and encouraged by Mr. Estrada," 23 February 2000. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ 4. Antonio Zumel, "Accusation against Sison and Jalandoni are a product of Estrada's psywar dirty tricks department," 14 February 2000. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ 5. Communist Party of the Philippines, "General review of important events and decisions from 1980 to 1991." 6. Jose Maria Sison, "Terrorist bombings are the handiwork of military psywar," 2 March 2000. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ 7. Jose Maria Sison, "Estrada proves himself a dumb and dirty player," 8 February 2000. Available at : http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ 8. Jose Maria Sison, "The Philippine Revolution: The Leaders View," New York: Taylor and Fracis, 1989. p. 71. 9. MIM Notes 179, 1 February 1999. 10. MIM Notes 174, 15 November 1999.