THE CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE OF THE HONORABLE Jovito S. Palparan Jr. of party-list group Bantay has none of the humming bustle of other congressional offices. There are no constituents in scuffed leather waiting outside to speak to the honorable congressman. The security guards and Cafgus he claims to represent are not in evidence. The shelves are bare of anything but telephone books. The in-tray is empty; the bulletin board is blank. A plump woman occupies one of the room’s several wooden desks, reading the Wellbeing section of the Manila Bulletin.
At the moment, the congressman is seeking a senatorial seat in next year’s elections. He says his decision is due to leftist candidates on the senatorial ballot. “I’d like to give opposition to a number of candidates who are identified with the Communist Party of the Philippines. I will campaign against left-leaning parties.”
Palparan believes communism is evil. “It should not exist,” he says. “It should not exist.”
The communism that Palparan battles is not simply the ragtag armies of men shadowing the forests of Central Luzon and Mindanao with stolen M16s. He is against “the whole of it,” the entirety of the ideology, both “the violence and the government system.” He does not delineate between socialism and communism, or the communism of Mao or the communism of Trotsky or the communism of Marx. “They’re all the same, you know.” All of its members are violent, all variations of the left evil. Although it is difficult to determine what precisely Palparan fears from communism, his witch-hunt is very clear.
This is his campaign platform: he is Jovito Palparan, and he goes to the Senate to denounce the communists.
Although communism has long become a legitimate political ideology, for Palparan, communism is dangerous to democracy, and communists in office more dangerous. He claims that communists write laws detrimental to the Filipino people. There are many of these laws, he says in a Dec. 1, 2009 interview. Pressed to specify which laws, the good congressman was at a loss. Asked again, he claimed there were too many. Asked for just one, he paused.
Those communists, he said, voted against the ROTC bill.
Communism must be wiped out, says the ex-general. It is easy to distinguish a communist. A communist follows a set of unquestioned beliefs, and promotes his ideology as if it will lead to paradise. As by his definition devout Roman Catholics can also be considered enemies of the state, it is to the benefit of Catholics (as well as Christians, Muslims and Bayani Fernando supporters) that the good congressman offered another standard for hunting down communists. A communist, says Palparan, can also be distinguished by body language.
He takes as an example Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. “This left, who are what we call moderate, they don’t want to be called communist here in this country. Baraquel doesn’t want to be called a communist.” Although he says she may not yet be a “true communist,” her “body language is going towards that, you know.” It is possible that “she could just be taking some rest.”
There are many progressives whose intentions he suspects. Take Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima, who, true, may be doing her job, but who is also a close relative of Julie de Lima, wife of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sision. “That’s why we tend to suspect her intention. Their relationship is something to look at.”
For Palparan, the entire left is communist. Progressives are communist. All moderates, says Palparan, will all become communist. “The biggest deception of the left is their claim that they want to alleviate the plight of the people in poverty. In fact, they want people to continually be poor and become abused and helpless so that their organization can get advantage of people and take them on their side.”
This is why Palparan seeks his seat in the Senate. He believes all communists should be prosecuted, not only members of the New People’s Army. His legislative platform boils down to a single promise: to return the repealed Anti-Subversion Law, the same law repealed in 1986 that gave President Ferdinand Marcos the excuse to throw thousands of lawyers, doctors, journalists, human rights activists and the occasional senator into jail, the same law that has been repealed all over the democratic world, in recognition of the fact that freedom of expression and assembly cannot be penalized simply because what is expressed is contrary to the state.
Given Palparan’s definition of what a subversive is—a leftist-cum-moderate-cum-h
Palparan, whom the government-appointed Melo Commission in 2006 called a “prime suspect behind the extrajudicial killings,” calls himself an inspirational leader. Reminded that many men have been tortured and mutilated at military hands, he claims that sometimes, his men cannot help themselves as they have seen the NPA’s victims. When it is proven his men are responsible, he moves them to another assignment. They are not removed from service, but of course he tells them that mutilation is wrong.
“Perhaps I inspired some people. My involvement, if I have to be guilty, is that I inspire people to violate the law.”
He has few opinions on national issues, and says he needs time to study them. He will run with any party who offers. Palparan says he has always been interested in the law, long before he was a soldier.
“I admired lawyers. When I was in Leyte, lawyers became politicians. I appreciated one powerful politician, Congressman Yñiguez. He was campaigning in our barrio, and he has followers, and he is in charge, you know, and people listened to him. So as a young, young, very young boy, Grade 1, Grade 2 boy, I just thought that I wanted that. People listened to him, you know. That’s one thing. People listened to him. You want to be listened; you want to be heard. That’s why I admired him for that. And I thought that, yeah, I wanted that. When you walk in, you’re somebody.”
* * *
Personal interview conducted August 2009; ANC interview December 2009. Many thanks to Erwin Romulo and the Philippine Free Press. -Patricia Evangelista
At the moment, the congressman is seeking a senatorial seat in next year’s elections. He says his decision is due to leftist candidates on the senatorial ballot. “I’d like to give opposition to a number of candidates who are identified with the Communist Party of the Philippines. I will campaign against left-leaning parties.”
Palparan believes communism is evil. “It should not exist,” he says. “It should not exist.”
The communism that Palparan battles is not simply the ragtag armies of men shadowing the forests of Central Luzon and Mindanao with stolen M16s. He is against “the whole of it,” the entirety of the ideology, both “the violence and the government system.” He does not delineate between socialism and communism, or the communism of Mao or the communism of Trotsky or the communism of Marx. “They’re all the same, you know.” All of its members are violent, all variations of the left evil. Although it is difficult to determine what precisely Palparan fears from communism, his witch-hunt is very clear.
This is his campaign platform: he is Jovito Palparan, and he goes to the Senate to denounce the communists.
Although communism has long become a legitimate political ideology, for Palparan, communism is dangerous to democracy, and communists in office more dangerous. He claims that communists write laws detrimental to the Filipino people. There are many of these laws, he says in a Dec. 1, 2009 interview. Pressed to specify which laws, the good congressman was at a loss. Asked again, he claimed there were too many. Asked for just one, he paused.
Those communists, he said, voted against the ROTC bill.
Communism must be wiped out, says the ex-general. It is easy to distinguish a communist. A communist follows a set of unquestioned beliefs, and promotes his ideology as if it will lead to paradise. As by his definition devout Roman Catholics can also be considered enemies of the state, it is to the benefit of Catholics (as well as Christians, Muslims and Bayani Fernando supporters) that the good congressman offered another standard for hunting down communists. A communist, says Palparan, can also be distinguished by body language.
He takes as an example Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. “This left, who are what we call moderate, they don’t want to be called communist here in this country. Baraquel doesn’t want to be called a communist.” Although he says she may not yet be a “true communist,” her “body language is going towards that, you know.” It is possible that “she could just be taking some rest.”
There are many progressives whose intentions he suspects. Take Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima, who, true, may be doing her job, but who is also a close relative of Julie de Lima, wife of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sision. “That’s why we tend to suspect her intention. Their relationship is something to look at.”
For Palparan, the entire left is communist. Progressives are communist. All moderates, says Palparan, will all become communist. “The biggest deception of the left is their claim that they want to alleviate the plight of the people in poverty. In fact, they want people to continually be poor and become abused and helpless so that their organization can get advantage of people and take them on their side.”
This is why Palparan seeks his seat in the Senate. He believes all communists should be prosecuted, not only members of the New People’s Army. His legislative platform boils down to a single promise: to return the repealed Anti-Subversion Law, the same law repealed in 1986 that gave President Ferdinand Marcos the excuse to throw thousands of lawyers, doctors, journalists, human rights activists and the occasional senator into jail, the same law that has been repealed all over the democratic world, in recognition of the fact that freedom of expression and assembly cannot be penalized simply because what is expressed is contrary to the state.
Given Palparan’s definition of what a subversive is—a leftist-cum-moderate-cum-h
Palparan, whom the government-appointed Melo Commission in 2006 called a “prime suspect behind the extrajudicial killings,” calls himself an inspirational leader. Reminded that many men have been tortured and mutilated at military hands, he claims that sometimes, his men cannot help themselves as they have seen the NPA’s victims. When it is proven his men are responsible, he moves them to another assignment. They are not removed from service, but of course he tells them that mutilation is wrong.
“Perhaps I inspired some people. My involvement, if I have to be guilty, is that I inspire people to violate the law.”
He has few opinions on national issues, and says he needs time to study them. He will run with any party who offers. Palparan says he has always been interested in the law, long before he was a soldier.
“I admired lawyers. When I was in Leyte, lawyers became politicians. I appreciated one powerful politician, Congressman Yñiguez. He was campaigning in our barrio, and he has followers, and he is in charge, you know, and people listened to him. So as a young, young, very young boy, Grade 1, Grade 2 boy, I just thought that I wanted that. People listened to him, you know. That’s one thing. People listened to him. You want to be listened; you want to be heard. That’s why I admired him for that. And I thought that, yeah, I wanted that. When you walk in, you’re somebody.”
* * *
Personal interview conducted August 2009; ANC interview December 2009. Many thanks to Erwin Romulo and the Philippine Free Press. -Patricia Evangelista
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak, instrument of the wise. ....................................................