CPP propaganda no longer gaining traction
Effort to ‘romanticize’ Tariman on social media only gained jeers, sneers
THE ‘Age of the Internet’ and ‘Social Media’ that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its front organizations used to previously dominate to deliver their propaganda and narrative of events have been increasingly turning against them with more and more ‘Netizens’ not hesitating to slam them in their own social media accounts.
A case in point is the effort by ‘Pinoy Weekly’ to add to the “glorification” and “romanticization” of Kerima ‘Ka Ella’ Tariman, a ranking member of the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA) who was killed in an encounter last August 20, 2021 at the outskirt of Silay City, Negros Occidental.
Also killed in the encounter was her companion, a certain ‘Ka Pabling’ and, Pfc. Christopher Alada of the 79th Infantry Battalion.
Pinoy Weekly, which claims to represent the “voice of the marginalized Pinoy,” used to be a weekly tabloid that gets its funding thru “donations” from CPP-established front organizations in Metro Manila.
It is now coming out online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and diminishing contributions, sources familiar with the situation told Pinoy Exposé.
The contributed article, by one ‘Rey Liwanag,’ tried to picture Tariman not just as an ordinary person and a bright student at the University of the Philippines, Diliman campus, who ended up joining the communist terrorist movement, but someone who became a “mother, a fierce warrior and now a revolutionary hero.”
Liwanag also claimed that soon, Filipino scholars would not only “recognize” but even “canonized” Tariman, a ranking member of the CPP Peasant Bureau in Negros Island, as “one of the greatest Filipino poets of our time.”
But despite the glowing article on Tariman, netizen reactions were quick and direct to the point.
“Teroristang NPA siya,” commented Abaka K Ugon.
“Traydor ng ating bansa, perwisyo sa mga kanayunan, terorista, huwag tularan,” said Leopoldo Hernandez.
“Sinayang lang niya ang talent at sumapi sa kilusan na hindi naman alam ang ipinaglalaban. “Kung naging guro na lang siya naibahagi pa niya ang karunungan niya,” added Euan Campo.
“Sayang ang pera ng gobyerno sa inyo. Good job AFP. More power,” said Mark Mark.
“Revolutionary poet? Revolutionary ba ang tawag sa mga taong nagsusulong ng idelohiya na hindi kumikilala sa karapatang pantao,” asked Arnel Cabugon, adding:
“She was never a martyr for being one of them but a SISONite who wants to help the rise of absolute tyrant SISON,” apparently referring to CPP founder Jose Maria Sison.
As of this posting, of the 140 comments browsed by Pinoy Exposé since the article was posted online on August 23, 2021, not a single comment favored Tariman.
The campaign to turn Tariman into a “martyr” and a “hero” in the eyes of the public apparently has the imprimatur of the top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
A day after the encounter, ‘Philippine Revolution Web Central’ (PRWC), the official website of the CPP, also issued a glowing tribute to Tariman under the name of its ‘information officer,’ Marco Valbuena.
Another CPP website, ‘Redspark,’ also issued a similar glowing article on Tariman.
Presidential communications undersecretary, Ma. Lorraine Badoy, one of the spokespersons of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), reacting to the CPP campaign to romanticized Tariman, issued a statement on August 23, 2021, noting that while Tariman may have been a poet and a former campus journalist, Tariman died as a communist terrorist (see also Pinoy Exposé post on August 23, 2021).
“Her comrades at the CPP NPA NDF and their mouthpieces in media have described her as the ‘former managing editor of the Philippine Collegian,’” Badoy said.
“She’s also been romantically called a ‘poet’ and a ‘writer.’
“And indeed, she may have been all these in the short violent life she chose to live.
“But while she was all these, Kerima was also a terrorist of the CPP NPA NDF—someone who, like her comrades in that terrorist organization, deluded herself into thinking she was ‘champion of the people’ while at the same time causing untold grief and suffering on the Filipino people—starting with the deceptive recruitment into the CPP NPA NDF of various UP Diliman students,” Badoy pointed out.
Valbuena, in another post last August 24, 2021, also issued another statement, this time accusing the 79th IB of committing a “war crime,” citing “new information” purportedly gathered by the NPA.
The propaganda claimed that Tariman was “captured alive” by government troops but was not given medical treatment and was left to die.
However, the soldiers, despite sustaining their own casualty in the person of Alada, rushed all the victims to the nearest hospital where Tariman was declared ‘DOA’ (dead on arrival).
