Graven image? Trillanes given statuette of 'Our Lady of Penafrancia' to save him.
The priests-turned-communists became one of the Communist Party’s strengths. Their priestly aura weakened the anti-communist caricature of communists as ruthless atheists. They easily managed to infiltrate Catholic schools and build up party cells with colleges like St. Paul’s College, to this day becoming a base for communist recruitment of idealistic youth. The outfit that reported human rights abuses during martial law, and padded the figures, was Task Force Detainees organized and funded by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines headquartered at St. Joseph’s College, which had been a major recruitment area for communists.