The AFP and PNP are the biggest drug syndicates
Martin Montana
Chadli Molintas Command
New People's Army
Ilocos-Cordillera Region
July 09, 2003
The war against illegal drugs will fail because the AFP and PNP are the biggest drug syndicates in the country. The marijuana plantations in Benguet were initiated by Gen. Reynaldo Acop and carried on by his successors, while those in Kalinga are maintained by the CPLA which is now integrated into the AFP. These are open secrets which can be verified by interviewing the masses in these areas.
The Chadli Molintas Command (NPA Ilocos-Cordillera) strongly condemns the orchestrated smear campaign of the AFP-PNP and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo depicting the NPA as marijuana cultivators. The vile campaign is a crude attempt to divert public attention from the AFP-PNP�s own irredeemable reputation as the number one drug syndicate. It is also GMA�s way of backtracking, saving face on her earlier antagonistic posturing against drug dealers within the military establishment and to appease ruffled feathers.
Right from the horse�s mouth, the Presidential Task Force on Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence has found out last year that 2,423 police and military forces are members of syndicates, 1,842 of them are in active service. They form the backbone of 507 syndicates with 6,020 members operating nationwide. It is not surprising then that 12% of police personnel are drug addicts. Military officials rake in P50 billion annually by reselling seized drugs and collecting protection money.
Along with jueteng, illegal drug trade is one of the main sources of unexplained wealth among AFP and PNP generals. They make a hypocritical show of capturing drug rings while the ringleaders, who are in positions of power, remain untouchable. They make a show of uprooting marijuana in some remote mountain area � where there is no NPA � to earn medals and promotions and to hide their own complicity.
The NPA is a highly disciplined army. It is guided by revolutionary proletarian ethics. It deplores and denounces bourgeois decadence including drug abuse, gambling, prostitution, and other anti-social activities which are endemic to corrupt social systems such as capitalism and also to semi-feudal societies like the Philippines.
In areas where the NPA has established Red political power, there is no marijuana planting or drug abuse. The NPA does not cultivate marijuana. It cultivates revolutionary consciousness and the militant assertion of democratic rights among the people. The NPA does not need and will never resort to marijuana cultivation or illegal drug trade to generate funds. The voluntary and enthusiastic support of the masses amply serve all the needs of the NPA.
In areas where the NPA encounters peasants who cultivate marijuana, a vigorous educational campaign is waged to discourage the practice. The peasants are taught that revolution, not marijuana planting, is the solution to poverty and oppression. Revolutionary land reform and various socioeconomic programs are carried out so that the peasants are provided with alternative sources of livelihood.
This is in stark contrast to areas which the NPA has not yet reached, or where the AFP and PNP are in control � not only in the countryside but especially in the cities. There, crime and bourgeois decadence are rampant. Feudal and semi-feudal exploitation are at their worst. The peasants are pushed towards becoming semi-proletarians � landless and unemployed. Such conditions of dire poverty are fertile grounds for the peasants to resort to marijuana cultivation.
The war against illegal drug trade and gambling cannot be won when it is waged by those who abet, condone, and perpetuate these very same activities. In much the same way, the war against poverty and terrorism cannot be won when it is waged by the ruling classes who are the real perpetrators of poverty and terrorism. #
Back to top
| 