MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
Vice President Sara Duterte said it best, “May God have mercy on his soul.”
Her father, the former President RRD, was kinder in expressing his condolences to the family of the late CPP-NDF leader who was his professor once upon a time. Mr. Duterte called for an end to insurgencies and the 53-year-old movement. Would it be premature to say this is the end of an era?
Three days after the news from Utrecht of the leader’s passing on Dec. 16, President BBM addressed the Armed Forces on their 87th anniversary but did not refer to the report. He merely noted the insurgents’ declining numbers.
The top communist must have been a great leader, indeed, calling the shots from abroad – was he, really? – living in a country where people drink more wine than water (to keep themselves warm) while his loyal troops and propagandists carried out the war in their native land. His followers did not break ranks and now, seemingly without an heir apparent, AFP generals describe the movement as headless, with “no one of his caliber” ready to step in, step up.
News of the man’s demise broke one week before Christmas, the season celebrating the birth of a God he did not believe in, but then he was a god to his followers. How many saw him in the flesh or heard his voice? How many imagined blood staining his hands? Yet they soldiered on, burning with revolutionary fever, picking out soldiers, policemen, civilians and their “spies,” willing to die for their cause with the help of a cache of democratic tools — elections every three years, political connections, media savvy. Democracy served their purpose.
Apollo Quiboloy, pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the loudest and most vocal civilian in condemning the communist insurgency, announced on his TV station that as early as November 2021 he had “prophesied” the coming of the end of the movement’s No. 1. A former “cadre” was bolder, predicting the dead man’s presumed heirs would fight over their leader’s assets and take power.
It sounds like a dream sequence, like what you see in the movies. If that should happen in real life, will the AFP sit back and enjoy the show?