CPP/NPA/NDF is the enemy of the people, not the gov't -- Esperon
The government is not the enemy of the people but the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) and its front organizations.
These groups have been stunting the modernization of the country over the past 52 years, according to National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr., also the Director-General of the National Security Council (NSC), when he appeared Tuesday before the Senate National Defense and Security Committee chaired by Senator Panfilo M. Lacson on the issue of the military allegedly red-tagging militant groups such as ‘’Gabriela.’’
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he welcomed the committee hearing to debunk accusations of the Makabayan bloc that the military is red-tagging them.
He asked Esperon and Department of Interior and Local Government Eduardo Ano to present their case to the committee.
Lorenzana welcomed the committee hearing in order to dispose once and for all ‘’the true color of these people who are trying to destroy our democracy.’’
Esperon said there are some 5,000 armed insurgents in the country.
The former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief said the NPA is the armed component of the CPP while the CPP is the ‘’brains, the mastermind.’’
The NDF, on the other hand, is the shield.
Esperon said the government does not allow the present generation and the succeeding generation to be under the yoke of the communists.