A video showing a group of men carrying long firearms, mostly wearing green long-sleeve shirts, black pants and rain boots marched through a village believed to be in Mindanao has made the rounds since Thursday.
The video was posted on Facebook by journalist Josephine Jaron Codilla of Remate News Central on Thursday, August 1, 2019 and wrote a caption that reads: “Sa lugar na ito, sila’y naglipana.” (In this place, they are widespread.)
The video was taken by a woman, which can be overheard giggling and making brief comments as the armed men marched by where she was standing.
The video lasted six minutes and 50 seconds, showing one or two of the armed men giving high 5 to a kid spectator, exchanging greetings with a villager and another extending a handshake to a woman civilian.
The video has been getting mixed reactions on social media from Pinoy Facebook netizens, mostly, negative comments versus the NPA rebels.
The most interesting commentary on the viral video of NPA cadres came from an AFP Army Colonel Harold Cabunoc who described the video as nothing but a propaganda, gimmick of the CPP-NPA to show to the public that the CPP-NPA are very much welcomed in rural areas and they can enter villages in the countryside unharmed and unchallenged by the military.
Cabunoc described the NPA propaganda as “epic fail”.
Cabunoc called it an epic fail because it just showed the NPA’s are militarizing the barangays and not the other way around as alleged by the NPA versus the AFP.
Cabunoc remarked it was very obvious that the whole thing was scripted and the villagers were informed in advance so that they will appear natural and unafraid while the NPA insurgents made their way through the community.
In the same FB post, Cabunoc shared his opinion how to defeat the NPA insurgency problem of the country by taking away the mass base support of the insurgents and that is, it requires two-pronged strategy – military and civilian solutions.
Meanwhile, it was not clear where the video was taken but some commenters said it was somewhere in Surigao del Norte and Agusan because the woman (believed to an NPA amazona) was speaking a dialect that is mixed of Cebuano and Surigainon.
You may check out the full FB post of Col. Harold Cabunoc for details.
Bandidong NPA, sa barangay nagpabebe!
Kung nakita nyo ang video tungkol sa teroristang NPA na nasa larawan, ito ay klarong propaganda ng bandidong kinamumuhian ng mas nakararaming mamamayan.
Bakit ko nasabi yon?
Una, halata na scripted ang pagdaan kunwari nila sa barangay. Ni walang bahid ng pagkabigla o pagkatakot ang mga tao sa lugar. Halata na kinausap nila ang mga tao para ang imahe ay welcome sila sa buong barangay! Susme, lokohin nyo lolo Joma nyo.
Pangalawa, ang kumuha ng video ay halatang amasona rin ng mga terorista. Kunwari pang bystander lang pero di sya pinagalitan ng mga bandidong dumaan.
Pangalawang tanong: Bakit nila inilabas ang video na ito? Ito ang kasagutan: Ang mensahe nila ay tanggap sila ng taumbayan kahit pa man sa mga ipinalabas na persona non grata ng lokal na pamahalaan.
Sa aking analysis, epic fail ang propaganda na ito. Bakit? Pinapakita nilang sila ang nag militarize (actually, banditize) ng barangay at maging sanhi ng kapahamakan ng mga tao sa lugar. Kung susugurin ng sundalo ang barangay, aba, imagine mo ang mabibiktima sa crossfire! Dagdag pa dyan, pasanin ng mga mahihirap na tao ang pagpakain sa mga tamad na yan. Sapilitan silang nangongolekta ng suporta habang bitbit ang M16 rifle. Sanamagan!
LESSON: Ang labanan sa insurhensya ay population control. Paano makuha ang suporta ng tao? Paano ibalik ang tiwala nila sa gobyerno? Paano sila ipagtanggol sa karahasan ng mga bandido?
Therefore, di lang nakasalalay sa sundalo ang solusyon. Dapat manguna ang civil government sa pag address ng social issues na naging mitsa ng panlilinlang ng komunista para mag armas ang naabayaan at napariwarang mamamayan. Bombahin ng development, paulanan ng serbisyo publiko, paramihin ang taong kumakain ng 3 beses isang araw, walisin ang mga nang aabuso ng kapangyarihan. Iyan ang nakikita kong paraan para tuluyang maging hunghang ang itawag natin sa mga komunistang alipores ni Joma Sison.
Video below.
Your reaction?
