In the Spotlight:
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)

 
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was designated a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department on Aug. 9, 2002. The CPP is one of the most active terrorist groups in the Philippines. Manila had lobbied strenuously to have the organization designated as an FTO, although the CPP's actual terror activities have been contained within the Philippines.

The CPP was formed in 1969 by Jose Maria Sison following his break with the old, pro-Soviet Partido Komunista Pilipinas. Since then, CPP has embraced the Maoist doctrine and grown in size with the aim of overthrowing the Philippine government through guerilla warfare. Today the CPP has an 11,500-strong guerrilla arm known as the New People's Army, which opposes any U.S. presence in the Philippines. Its political wing is known as the New Democratic Front (NDF), and was created in 1976 by Fr. Luis Jalandoni in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

CPP-founder Sison is a former member of Kabataang Makabayan (the Patriotic Youth), which today forms a youth organization within the CPP. After then-President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the country in 1972, Sison was imprisoned - but was released in 1986 under an amnesty instigated by President Corazon Aquino. Since 1987, Sison has lived in exile in Utrecht, serving as chief advisor to the NDF which represents the CPP and 13 other smaller communist guerilla groups in political talks with the government in Manila.

The CPP has killed, injured, and kidnapped a number of Filipino citizens and government officials as well as U.S. citizens. While the group has remained a domestic guerrilla group that never carried out terrorist activities overseas, its political effects have crossed national borders.

The CPP reached its organizational zenith in 1980 when it led a successful campaign against the Marcos government. In 1981, Jalandoni formed the Filipino People Committee in Utrecht designed to seek support for his group's supporters in the Philippines, and to develop active links between Western European political parties, trade unions and churches, and to campaign against American involvement in the Philippines.

Throughout the 1990s, the CPP and the Philippine government engaged in a series of peace talks aimed at stabilizing the country, despite continuing sporadic guerrilla attacks on governmental assets and officials. In 1992, the Central Committee of the CCP initiated the so-called Second Phase of Rectification, a process meant to reconcile ideological, political and organizational inconsistencies within the organization. In February 1995, Sison was granted political refugee status by the Dutch Supreme Court in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.

Manila's relationship with Washington has also influenced the internal politics of the CPP. For instance, in 2000, the group suspended peace talks with the government in protest over the Filipino Senate's endorsement of the Visiting Forces Agreement allowing the resumption of large-scale military exercises with U.S. forces. This prompted the NDF to declare its intention to resume peace talks only after then-President Joseph Estrada left office.

In 2001, the CPP met with government officials for peace talks in Oslo, although these were stalled by June when the rebels killed a member of the Philippines congress. November the same year witnessed the bloodiest clash yet when fighting in a remote southern Philippine town left 18 soldiers and 10 rebels dead. Peace talks between the government and the CPP collapsed soon after the NPA assassinated two Philippine legislators. Thus far, at least 40 people have died as a result of CPP-related clashes this year.

Washington's August 2002 designation of the CPP as an FTO imposed measures against the organization in accordance with Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended. This law outlaws persons in the United States or subject to American jurisdiction from supporting those groups designated FTOs and required U.S. business institutions to block assets held by subjects related to CPP.

This designation has had other effects worldwide. For instance, in August 2002, the Dutch government froze the CPP's assets and stopped payment of Sison's housing and health benefits at the request of the United States. Despite continuing legal wrangles over his refugee status, Dutch courts ruled that, under the European Convention on Human Rights, he could not be sent back to the Philippines because he could face a death sentence.

Today the CPP struggles to remain an effective organization. Washington's labeling of it as an FTO will continue to adversely impact its organizational solidarity as well as military effectiveness. In the face of such challenges, the organization's sustainability remains to be seen.

Sources

Agence France-Presse, " Philippines to lobby EU to label CPP as terrorists," Oct. 11, 2002.

Imelda Visaya Abano, "Hundreds of CPP-NPA deployed to the Ilocos and Cordillera," Cyber Dyaryo, Sept. 14, 2001.

Orlando Buenaventura, "The Communist Party of the Philippines/National Democratic Front Network Abroad," (1989).

Project Ploughshares, "Armed Conflict Report 2002, Philippines-CPP/NPA"

U.S. Department of State, Philippine Communist Party Designated Foreign Terrorist Group.

 

By Noriyuki Gatagiri CDI Research Assistant nkatagiri@cdi.org

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