The president’s invitation follows the government’s intensification of military operations against the NPA and the subsequent wave of NPA fighters and supporters surrendering and pledging allegiance to the Philippine flag. Media spectacle and propaganda offensive, scoffed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and warned that Mr. Duterte was becoming the NPA’s No. If some of these surrenderees are fake or “ghost surrenderees,” as claimed by the CPP, it probably wouldn’t be the first time that the government presented such. Support programs such as livelihood assistance and skills training targeting individual surrenderees have limited impact compared to bringing—and sustaining—development initiatives and basic services to under-serviced rural communities. It is the ideology and how it resonates with the real-life struggles and suffering of millions of Filipinos that keep the communist insurgency going.

Source: Manila Times February 18, 2018 16:30 UTC