|
Wikipedia.org describes this young woman as “the
most popular young actress.” Thousands of other websites list her
as one of the sexiest and most beautiful Filipina actress; to others
she is the No. 1. I am, of course, referring to Angel Locsin, young,
beautiful and fast-rising star in the Philippine show biz. Recently,
Locsin stepped into the political world by endorsing party-list
party Kabataan in a much viewed video. Such celebrity endorsement
surely makes one curious to know what Kabataan is all about. What is
the product that Locsin is endorsing for free?
Kabataan is the political party
of the organization Anakbayan and the sister party of Gabriela,
Bayan Muna and Anakpawis. These parties are known to be front
parties of the CPP-NPA. Three years ago, Anakbayan also joined the
party-list elections but this time it is participating under the
name Kabataan. When you hear the name Anakbayan and you are from
Cebu, you think of July 2, 2000, when Anakbayan-Cebu chairman Marvin
Marquez was killed in an encounter in Trinidad, Bohol, together with
seven other young men and women. Marvin with his 25 years was just a
few years older than Locsin today. Silvino “Ka Bino” Clamucha,
the regional spokesman for the NPA, told dyAB (ABS-CBN) that only
about 20 of the men in the rebel camp were armed, while about
30—including Marvin and the other fatalities—were unarmed. “We
do not know how he got to the alleged rebel camp, but it was part of
his exposure trip, being a youth organizer here in Cebu, to also
organize the farmer-youths,” Jaime Paglinawan, then of Bayan,
later of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), told the media.
On July 6, 2000, Sun Star Cebu
reported that “Silvino Clamucha, NPA Central Visayas spokesman,
told dyAB that Marquez officially joined the NPA by the last week of
June.” In another interview, Clamucha “confirmed that
occasionally, student activists in Cebu visit rebel camps in Bohol
for exposure trips.” Marvin’s parents only knew that their son
“was an active student leader and an official of Anakbayan-Cebu.”
Among the fatalities were also a staff of FARDEC, the NGO affiliated
with KMP, a 12-year-old boy who was visiting his NPA-rebel brother,
a 20-year old-daughter of a former KMP leader and a 22-year-old man
whose father thought he was working in Manila.
Task Force Against Militarization,
a coalition comprising Gabriela, Bayan and a number of their sister
organizations, conducted a fact-finding mission. Gabriela reported
that the military had “finished off” at least two of the female
fatalities, quoting the findings of the local health officer and
mortician that the women had been shot at close range. Farmers had
also told Gabriela about military harassment. However, the following
day, the health officer issued a statement that it wasn’t part of
her job “to determine the distance from which gunshot wounds were
inflicted.” Nobody from Gabriela interviewed her about the gunshot
wounds. Farmers also denied that they were being harassed by the
military. The Commission on Human Rights-Eastern Visayas conducted
an investigation and found all the allegations of the Task Force
Against Militarization baseless.
The then-vice-president of
Anakbayan-Visayas had “warned that the death of the student leader
might only encourage the youth to join the armed struggle,” and
that “all Anakbayan members were ‘agitated’ upon learning of
Marquez’s death” (Sun Star July 6 2000). But Marvin, the
25-year-old chairman of Anakbayan-Cebu, was already part of the NPA,
reassigned by the movement from a legal front to the NPA, and he was
killed in the rebel camp during an encounter between his army and
the AFP. The CHR7 found that the encounter was a legitimate military
operation with a military target even if not all the NPA rebels were
armed combatants. The encounter lasted for almost eight hours, one
soldier was killed and two seriously wounded.
Anakbayan never acknowledged the
truth about Marvin. So while Marvin’s death happened seven years
ago, Anakbayan remains the same as then. Kabataan is just a
well-chosen new name for an organization whose agenda is reflected
in what happened in Bohol in 2000, and the massive effort to deceive
the public. This is the party being endorsed by Ms. Locsin and other
young, probably idealistic and well-meaning, celebrities.
|
