‘Doc Castro’ is as ‘red’ as she can be– ex-commies

TWO former cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) have debunked the narrative being spewed by the front organizations and personalities of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) the party itself and their political allies that the lady-doctor arrested by the police in San Juan City last February 18, 2022, is not a ranking official of the terrorist group who is active in Mindanao.

In a social media post after the arrest of Dr. Natividad ‘Naty’ Castro, Kurt Russel Sosa, aka, ‘Ugnay, former secretary of GF (guerilla front) 3 and deputy secretary and political instructor, Sub-Regional Committee 4 of the CPP’s Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee (SMRPC), confirmed that Castro’s arrest would have “significant impact” in the operations of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) not only in Mindanao but the rest of the country.

Sosa is one of the complainants comprised of former CPP cadres who filed a case for human trafficking and child exploitation against CPP founder Jose Maria Sison and other top terrorist leaders last October 1, 2021, over the group’s continuing recruitment of youths and students into its ranks and the use of children as fighters for the New People’s Army (NPA).

Castro, who was arrested on the basis of a court-issued warrant for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, has been identified as a member of the CPP central committee, the party’s highest executive organ and head of its ‘National Health Bureau’ (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 8).

She is also tagged as the regional secretary for the Caraga region of ‘Karapatan,’ a bogus human rights organization created by the CPP in 1995.

Another CPP-NPA cadre in Mindanao, Gleceria ‘Ka Inday’ Balangiao, also joined the regular press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) this week and confirmed she has personal dealings with Castro while she was still with the terrorist movement in Mindanao.

Balangiao bared that she was in regular contact with Castro, with aliases, ‘Ka Yammy,’ ‘Ka Ami’ and ‘Dok,’ between 2006 to 2009 when they were operating out of Cagayan De Oro City. At the time, Balangiao was working as the liaison officer of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) for Northern Mindanao.

(National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon has an ongoing court case for perjury in Quezon City against RMP, Gabriela, Karapatan, which are all CPP-created organizations—Editor).

Aside from treating wounded NPA combatants, Castro, Balangiao added, also helps in the “recruitment, training and fund-raising activities” of the CPP.

“Doon siya nagtatrabaho, nagbibigay ng mga training sa mga community-based area na kontrolado ng NPA,” Balangiao bared.

She added that Castro has been “recruiting health professionals” to join the communist movement.

Castro, she added, is particularly adept in the preparation of ‘project proposals’ that they sent abroad to dupe foreign organizations into giving them financial support.

The CPP is known for only coming to the defense or of issuing ‘tribute’ and praises on behalf of its own members and close political allies.

A ‘briefer’ on Castro’s activities by the intelligence community also disclosed that she was present during the 44^th anniversary of the CPP held in Surigao del Sur in 2012; she was also identified as personally attending to the medical needs of Jorge ‘Ka Oris’ Madlos, erstwhile CPP spokesperson who was killed by the military last October 30, 2021 (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 42/43).

Castro is also personally known to Pedro ‘Gonyong’ Codaste and Rochelle ‘Bok’ Dahoyla, whom she met separately in Agusan del Sur sometime in 2016.

Like Castro, Codaste is also a member of the CPP central committee but is now dead after a military encounter in Impasugong, Bukidnon, last January 21, 2022 (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 5).

Why is CPP taking cudgel for Castro if she is not a member?

Aside from the revelations of former CPP cadres in Mindanao, the fact that the CPP is taking the lead in defending Castro proves hallow, if not suspicious, the narrative that she is an ordinary volunteer community doctor and standing up to promote and defend the human rights of indigenous peoples.

“The Party adds its voice to the immediate demand of human rights organizations, colleagues and friends of Dr. Castro for her immediate release and dropping of all trumped-up charges against her” said Marco Valbuena, the fictional spokesperson of the CPP in a statement issued last February 19, 2022, a day after Castro’s arrest.

The CPP is known for only coming to the defense or of issuing ‘tribute’ and praises on behalf of its own members and close political allies.

Unwittingly, the CPP also added to the dossier of Castro’s services for the CPP, when it said, “Dr. Castro was former chair of Karapatan-Caraga region and is known for having helped in the establishment of Lumad schools and extending medical services to rural areas.”

The government data presented to the media only disclosed Castro’s role in the treatment of wounded NPAs and the training of NPA members in basic medical practices and her being chair of Karapatan for the Caraga region (Region 13).

No mention was made of her being instrumental in the creation of various schools for the IPs in Mindanao that have become a profitable source of funding for CPP-NPA operations thru solicited funds from abroad.

These illegal schools, such as ‘Alcadev, ‘Salugpungan,’ etc., were all shut down by the government in 2019 after being found to be institutions where IP youths and children are being brainwashed at an early age into supporting the CPP’s violent ideology and against the government.

On the other hand, ‘lumad’ is a term concocted by the CPP to deliberately erase the individual identities of the dozens of IP tribes in Mindanao from public consciousness and to suit its propaganda narratives and organizational activities in its systematic recruitment and exploitation of IPs, especially as fighters for the NPA.

With the CPP first to defend Castro, its other front organizations and allies, also immediately fell in line and mouthed the same call for her release and the dropping of all charges against her.

They include the Makabayan Bloc in Congress, Karapatan, RMP, CEGP, NUPL, FLAG, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Liberal Party (LP) whose connection with the CPP is now established fact.

Politicians seeking to curry the votes in the coming elections but too lazy to study the matter like Sen. Richard Gordon, also called for Castro’s release.

On the other hand, the government, thru the NTF-ELCAC, urged the public to look into the merit of the cases filed against Castro and legality of the warrant issued by the Bayugan City Regional Trial Court, Agusan del Sur, instead of falling into the narrative of her defenders that is centered on her personal achievements as a state scholar at the University of the Philippines (UP) and as a physician.