How communists captured Church clergy and schools

THIS is the fourth of a series publishing articles from a rather remarkable blog by Roberto “Beto” Reyes narrating his experience in the communist movement. We owe this patriot — and skillful writer — for providing us with rich material for future historians to source for this crucial part of our history.

In this part, Reyes details how the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) organizers used worldviews and language that are not Maoist to recruit clergy and active laymen of the Catholic Church into their fronts to later easily draft them — after experiencing “state violence” — to join the party’s armed struggle. This part also narrates the party’s modus operandi, as it were, in convincing even the religious to join their atheist organization, which continues to this day.