BY DELFIN T. MALLARI, Jr.
of Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 26, 2018

DTM: Once again PRRD has declared that the peace talks are finished, while threatening to destroy the Leftist groups. In your experience as KM founder, the foremost militant group in the country, what is the effect of such threat? Does this generate fear and apprehension in your ranks. Or they become more daring in criticizing the Duterte government. Lastly, is there sufficient basis to call them communist front.

JMS: The Leftist groups that you refer to are patriotic and progressive mass organizations that express the people´s demands for national independence and democracy against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes represented by the incumbent president of the neocolonial republic.

It is wrong for Duterte to say sweepingly that they are all communists or they are mere facade of communists. They act legally and pursue an anti-imperialist and democratic line. And they constitute themselves as a broad united front of forces for national sovereignty and democracy against puppetry, tyranny and corruption. They include people from various walks of life and represent different schools or currents of thought and belief.

They have a just common cause and they are not at all frightened by threats and acts of military and police suppression by any regime, be it that of the late Marcos or current copycat Duterte. Instead, they become challenged and become even more resolute and militant in struggle and become stronger in the process.

When Kabataang Makabayan and other legal mass organizations went underground because of the Marcos fascist dictatorship, in big numbers their members joined the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People´s Army and helped these to spread nationwide and become stronger. Duterte is utterly stupid if he has not learned this historical lesson.