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| Photo from captured enemy-documents. |
“It is a critical gap on the part of the government
that it doesn’t have a systematic information campaign to
counter enemy propaganda. The start of organizing is always
propaganda in whatever form it is. The cadres cannot recruit if
they are not well-trained and don’t have effective propaganda
lines. The government’s lack of strategic communications
plan is alarming,” Victor said. “The government doesn’t
really need to fight the war toe-to-toe in combat because the
local communists won’t really win a shooting war against the
Philippine government security forces. But there is an area that
the government might be missing out - the war on winning the
hearts and the minds of those that the CPP-NPA-NDF were able
to deceive because of weak and untimely dissemination of correct
information. 70% of the component of communist insurgency
is political operations, alliance, propaganda, recruitment, ISW.
These are not combat actions. The 70% for so long has been
the main gap that the government failed to address. It cannot
be addressed singularly by the armed forces because they are
political operations by nature. Take my case for example, I was
recruited not through the armed process and many of us are like
this. They recruited us through political and non-violent means.
The Abu Sayaff is not a national threat because they don’t recruit
in urban centers. They also don’t have national operations, or
much more intensified recruitment in the schools, labor and
religious sectors, and others. Given this, it is only the CPP-NPA-
NDF that is really a serious security threat. The government
must therefore a systematic information campaign to effectively address the enemy’s IPO works to derail and disrupt its entire
operations. I’m glad that there is a national task force now for
this purpose – the NTF ELCAC to advance the concept of EO
70, or the Whole-of-Nation approach to end local communist
armed conflict.”
Victor added, “More than simply engaging the CPP in
armed encounters and exposing their true nature. There is
a need for the government to develop an effective counter-
consciousness mechanism to make the people feel more as
government’s valuable partners in every program. The CPP is
effective at recruiting because it is successful in fostering an
ideological culture in the minds of the people and in making
them feel that everything the CPP is doing is for the wellbeing
of the country. In my years in the Communist organization, I
observed two glaring gaps that the government failed to address
over the years. Namely: (1) Effectively countering the CPP’s
cultural mechanism, and (2) Failure to make the people feel as
valuable partners in peace and development.”
--THE WARS WITHIN (2020 / Copy&Share)
