Introduction

Reading newspapers my eyes stopped at a report on the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines, GOP, and the Communist Party of the Philippines, CPP. It was about the Norwegian Government which had been kind enough to facilitate the talks as my thoughts drifted off to the time when Jerry and I twenty years ago, later alone, were in the Philippines to meet the people who struggled to be free from the clutches of oppression. But, since then alliances had changed and I remembered the interview we had on communism and other matters with Father Balweg and discussed what could happen. We did not know then that the National Democratic Front, NDF, of which the Communist Party of the Philippines, CPP, was a prominent member, would actually split up which led to the CPP standing alone. The more democratically inclined members of the NDF were not altogether happy with the leaders of the CPP who required reaffirming their allegiance, notably those residing in the Netherlands. Living in exile for a long time the co-founder of the CPP, Jose Maria Sison, had taken refuge in what among Philippinos had become known as barrio Utrecht, a town in the centre Netherlands. Quite a few Philippinos live there, among them Luiz Jalandoni, like Balweg a formerly priest, is an important leader then of the NDF now of the CPP. What actually happened between the organizations of the NDF had much to do with the deep penetrating agents as they were called. These agents were trained to infiltrate and so within the ranks of the NPA some of them had risen only to then command their soldiers to kill traitors. Since from then nobody knew for certain anymore who could be trusted and who not; as a result a purification drive was not just a suggestion but a command. This, to many of the other organizations was a bridge too far; to chose between pledging allegiance to the CPP and its leaders and being loyal to their own organization in casu the combination of organizations making up the NDF. On the other hand the planned divide and rule policy carefully orchestrated by deploying these deep penetrating agents had been so successful that, according to the leaders of the CPP, loyalties had to be confirmed. Consequently not everyone felt compelled to do that and so broad based discussions followed on different levels before the NDF finally split up due of the staunch stand of the CPP leaders. Even the members of the Filippijnengroep, also based in Utrecht, consisting of men and women of who most had worked in the Philippines as Dutch volunteers, found it difficult to choose and were ultimately sidelined.

Though Jerry and I knew and had often had discussions with Sison and Jalandoni after the ‘situation’ had resulted in the split, eventually we lost contact too. Still, considering the impact the ‘deep penetrating agents’ had made on the organizations, Jalandoni and Sison had a strong point: how could anyone be trusted if they did not swear before the organization which had suffered so much due to the betrayal of the agents which had been among them for years; they had even climbed up to the highest circles. To Sison, Jalandoni and others the party and with it the NDF could only be saved if this exercise of swearing to the party was carried out

The last time we actually were in close touch was when the peace negotiators of the Philippine Government met for a round of talks with the, then still, intact NDF team of negotiators in The Hague, The Netherlands,. With Jalandoni presiding over the press conference and Byron and others present and representing the NDF as a whole, we were stunned that the very much admired ‘Joma’, as Jose Maria Sison was affectionally called, appeared at the press conference too. As he co-signed the press release which showed the result of the negotiations he had joined the NDF group like he was their true leader. These peace talks were held during the reign of Corazon Aquino, wife of the slain Benigno, or Ninoy, Aquino. She had become Pangulo (President of the Philippines) due to the People’s Power Revolution which ultimately drove Dictator Ferdinand Marcos from his homeland. The press conference was rather intriguing because the Government’s side had consultants who had been part of, or were known to be close to, the NDF. Commander Dante for instance was a well-known and once notorious NPA member but had given up his membership. During the early days of the NPA Dante had been very close to Sison. He lived near to hacienda Luisita, a large primarily sugar plantation which is owned by the Aquino extended family. (Until today the owners did not comply with the Act on Comprehensive Agrarian Land Reform passed under her jurisdiction). However after several attempts on his life he had called it quits and began his own educational farm through he meant to educate peasants in ecological farming. Also others, well known human rights activists, were present on the Government’s side. So, after the press conference all, both sides now, wanted to be portrayed with their hero Sison, a man who had spent many years in prison and was considered the ideological front man of the party. Though officially not holding any post then anymore, it was clear that a word from him carried far and beyond. As it looked like salvation was near and hopes were raised to arrive at an honorable solution to the deep rooted conflict when not much later the fateful days of the discovery of the deep penetrating agents and its consequences came to light. Later when Aquino was succeeded by the movie actor Estrada things for the ordinary people went from bad to worse. He unleashed a war in the south, in Mindanao, and though Estrada was primarily the hero of the poor he was forced out of office because of self enrichment and enrichment of his cronies. Another black page in the history turned it was now the popular Gloria Macapagal who won the election for the presidency, daughter of a former president of the Philippines. New hopes were raised of course but it did not take her very long to have the left, the fighters for human rights and all their NGO’s and political Parties like Bayan and the remnants of the NDF with the CPP in front to condemn her. Today, with the peace negotiations hopelessly on the backburner, I felt the situation for the many poor people of the Philippines had not improved; this despite the many initiatives taken to the contrary. Reading the outcries of Sison from his Utrecht base on the Dutch Government arresting him on the suspicion of having ordered key people killed, which was obviously infused by the Philippine Government, I thought back on our visit to the New People’s Army years ago. What had their struggle come to? What had they sacrificed in vain? Juxtaposing the developments of this year against our experiences then I felt compelled to write the story I had neglected to do for such a long time. When at the time the Filippijnengroep was still close to the NPA they were the ones who facilitated us to get in touch, to physically to be with them. And though long overdue I thank the members of the group here for the privilege. Yes, there were many snags on the way to meet the New People’s Army face to face and yes things could have been better, but who am I to complain about small things, mostly snags caused by the relay organization in the Philippines, not the NPA itself.

Thinking back on these exasperating encounters with sturdy and convinced people I wondered what had happened to them. I know from at least two how they had fared: Pedro the man of Bugnay and commander of the NPA Kalinga had died in a peculiar accident, a tree fell on him. Balweg, we had affectionally called the ‘philosopher´ had left the NPA and had begun his own army like so many disgruntled others had done before him. Adored like a hero a feature film on him was produced and had hit the screens in Manila too. I was dismayed when I heard he had died too.