Philippine NSA Gonzales wants House leftists labeled Reds

Manila-- While other thought the Cold War was over. for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, his crusade against communism is on a high gear!

Gonzales is proposing to “label” left-leaning party-list candidates as communists to caution voters, particularly soldiers and policemen, against voting what he calls democracy’s enemies into the halls of Congress.

In an interview with state-run dzRB radio yesterday, Gonzales said: “There will be plenty who will run in the party-lists in the coming elections and we have to describe them all. As national security adviser, it is important [for me] to show soldiers and police what groups are being used by the communists to continue their bad intentions on the public.”

He proposed that an independent group be formed to give a “neutral description of each political party.”

Gonzales was adamant about labeling the political parties for the benefit of the soldiers. “There should be no partisan politics inside the Armed Forces. As a citizen of the republic, they should focus on choosing what is right in the coming elections.”

Left gaining seats

He noted how the left-leaning groups have been getting more seats in the House of Representatives since 1998 when sectoral representatives were voted into office rather than appointed by the President.

Based on data culled by a national newspaper, two of the 13 party-list representatives that won in 1998 were leftist (Sanlakas and Akbayan). In the 2001 polls, seven out of 20 party-list winners were left of center. Their number increased further in the 2001 elections when 10 of the 24 party-list members were leftists. Congress can have up to 50 sectoral representatives as party-list members because a representative can sit in the House of Representatives by garnering at least two percent of the votes cast.

“My only interest is that communists should not be allowed to enter Congress because a big accident will happen to our democracy. They do not believe in democracy; they look at the weaknesses of our democracy and [use them] to strengthen their rebellion. That is wrong,” Gonzales said.

‘We have to be vigilant’

In Kidapawan City, Gonzales warned on Friday of the possibility of a communist takeover in government if people would continue “to support its fronts now operating in various forms and disguises.”

“We have to be vigilant if we don’t want a communist takeover,” he said during the provincial peace and order meeting chaired by North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol.

Although Gonzales did not say which groups were fronting for the communists, authorities had earlier named Bayan Muna, Kilusang Mayo Uno and other militant groups as the legal arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Officials of the said groups, who are often referred to as militants, denied any ties with the underground communists.

Prayer rally

Gonzales said the current political situation was being taken advantage of by the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, with the help of leftist organizations and militant groups.

Gonzales said the threat of a communist takeover was also bolstered by the support of rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the terror group Jemaah Islamiya.

He said people should be vigilant and authorities should be on maximum alert for today’s prayer rally, which was being spearheaded by the Catholic Church.

Getting senile?

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran, who has been in jail for the last ten months, yesterday scored Gonzales for warning that leftist provocateurs were out to sabotage today’s anti-Charter change rally at the Rizal Park.

He said Gonzales’ allegation was unsubstantiated and pointed out that progressive groups were also expected to join the rally, which was organized by the Catholic Church.

“Norberto Gonzales must be getting senile. Can’t he think of anything new to say? He’s getting paid to be national security adviser, but he keeps recycling old reports that have never been substantiated,” Beltran said.

“He doesn’t even have the imagination to think of new allegations or the creativity to come up with something more plausible. The only violence that could happen [today] could only come from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the mercenary groups it works with,” he added.

The lawmaker said the Arroyo administration was “the one with a deadly allergy to street protests and mass gatherings, especially to those with the potential to develop into a political uprising.”

Beltran said today’s prayer rally “is a testament to the potency of collective action.”

He said that even if the activity was packaged as one of thanksgiving for the defeat of the constituent assembly, it still sent shivers down the spine of the “administration, hence Gonzales’ bogus security reading.”

Insecure administration

“Malacañang and its allies try to dismiss the prayer rally as somewhat inconsequential, but at the same time it can’t help but make a big deal out of it by drumbeating scenarios of violence and chaos. These are definite signs of a highly insecure administration,” Beltran said.

He said that members of militant people’s organizations and progressive party-lists Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Gabriela Women’s Party would come in full force to attend and support the prayer rally.


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