![[OPINION] Don’t pass the anti-terror bill; legalize the Communist party instead](https://i.headtopics.com/images/2020/6/8/rapplerdotcom/opinion-don-t-pass-the-anti-terror-bill-legalize-the-communist-party-instead-1269873396931854336.webp)
'[We] envisage a future when the entire apparatus of the CPP becomes legal, where the CPP, as the CPP, will stand for elections and subject its ideas to open debate.' Opinion
Let us not kid ourselves: the proposed anti-terrorism bill is a measure aimed at combatting the Communist Party of the Philippines . Certainly, the military also wants more leeway to go after extremist Islamists. Still, groups like the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Maute faction are so obviously inimical to national security that our government does not need a law enshrining a vague definition of terrorism to go after them.
Currently, the CPP is only legal on paper. President Ramos repealed the anti-subversion law in 1992, making membership in the CPP technically legal. However, with laws like the Human Security Act, it has been easy for the government to argue that membership in the Party makes one an accessory to rebellion. Such laws, therefore, drive Communism further underground and make it difficult for the state to moderate the party through electoral politics.
The fall of Marcos and the return of constitutional politics, no matter how flawed, dissipated political tensions. As a result, the Party split in 1992 into different factions that each had a different vision of revolution in the post-authoritarian period. But more importantly, many of its cadres opted for open politics. Until today, there are tensions within the Party, with certain groups more open to peaceful, parliamentary reform than others.
Unlike the 1970s when people walked around with pictures of Ka Dante and communards at UP Diliman renamed a building to honor the NPA’s first commander, today’s CPP’s guerrilla leaders are no longer household names . These days, no NPA kumander can match the charisma and reach of Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago, who has emerged as an articulate voice of youth activism.
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