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CBCP: What sayeth thou about communists?

By Honesto General
Inquirer
Last updated 04:42am (Mla time) 07/25/2007

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) does not hesitate to enter into the political arena in defense of the laity.

For example, the CBCP asked for the outright repeal of the mining law for environmental reasons. Fortunately for the country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo politely listened but, just as politely, turned down the bishops.

On the heels of the May 14 elections, the CBCP put together a seven-point agenda for electoral reform. If the government listens to the bishops, the agenda will keep the political leaders busy for at least the next three years.

The bishops have frowned on the reported tit-for-tat kidnapping of the family of the alleged leader of Father Bossi’s kidnappers.

The bishops have not been able to keep their mouths shut on almost any publicity. But, incredibly, the CBCP has not said one single word about the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA) and the communist groups in the cities, such as Bayan Muna, Akbayan, Partido ng Manggagawa, Anak Pawis, Gabriela and Migrante (have I missed anyone?).

It looks like the CBCP views these communist groups in the cities as part of the democratic scene. If so, CBCP is looking at the communist problem from the wrong end.

The United States and the European Union classify the CPP, and its armed component, the NPA, as terrorist organizations. But it is the poorest of the poor laity in the farthest barrios that are in the terror grip of the NPA. Everything that the poor faithful grows and raises -- rice and corn, coconuts and copra, rattan and other forest products, cattle and hogs—are taxed 10 percent by the NPA.

The blood money extorted from the poor at the point of an Armalite rifle ends up in Manila. Someone once told me the communist national treasurer lived in one of the plush villages in Makati. And why not? He certainly can afford the luxury.

The money finances the so-called political struggle in the cities around the country: The public rallies, the TV and radio coverage, and, finally, the party-list candidacies: Some of it probably ends up in Holland to support CPP founder Jose Maria Sison’s luxurious life. The anti-Arroyo rally at the Batasan during the State of the Nation Address last Monday must have cost P1,000 per head.

The Armed Forces estimates the annual take of the NPA in the hundreds of millions of pesos a year. This is probably an exaggeration, but the Communist Party is reputedly the richest political group in the country.

The bishops are the successors of the Apostles. They are the shepherds of the flock. But it looks like the CBCP considers the communists in the cities as the flock. If so, the bishops are wrong. Their real flock is the poor laity in the distant barrios suffering under the terror grip of the NPA.

By saying absolutely nothing against the CPP/NPA terrorist organizations and the communist front groups in the cities, the shepherds have abandoned their flock.

The duty of tending to the flock includes protecting and defending the flock from the wolves that prey on it.

If I were the confessor of the CBCP, I would send them all, as penance for their sins, to the distant barrios to ask the poor laity for forgiveness. Then, and only then, would I grant them absolution.