By Paulo Loreto Lim

With the Department of Justice (DOJ) filing a petition before the Manila City Regional Trial Court to have the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) formally classified as a terror organization, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recently stressed the importance of the declaration.

“Mahalaga na madeklarang terorista ang NPA (It is important to declare the NPA as terrorists),” said AFP spokesperson, Brigadier General Bienvenido Datuin, Jr. “Sila na ngayon ay kahanay ng mga grupong Abu Sayyaf at Maute (They are now parallel with Abu Sayyaf and Maute).”

Earlier this week, DOJ filed a petition calling for the formal classification, citing RA 9372, or the Human Security Act of 2007, which defines what constitutes a terror organization and dictates all judicial processes and penalties associated with specific violations.

Last month, after President Rodrigo Duterte signed a proclamation declaring the CPP-NPA a terror organization, the Negros Occidental chapter of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the CPP, on separate occasions, likened Duterte to infamous German dictator Adolf Hitler and called for the Philippine president’s ouster./PLL, WDJ